Friday The 13th
I awoke this morning to a brilliant sunrise (not nearly as pleasant as it sounds). I thought I would sleep like a rock until at LEAST ten or so after a long Thursday. Obviously I didn't learn anything from last years experience. But yeah, I woke up at 6:30am, with six hours to kill until music of any sort started playing.
We sat around at the campsite for a while, but it was already hot as hell outside and we had no cold beverages. Centeroo is open 24 hrs., so we headed there. Began our day with a DELICIOUS breakfast and then browsed the usual mixed bag of vendors.
The problem with music festivals, especially the good ones, is set-time clutter. In other words, if you like enough of the artists, chances are that one or two (or 4 or 5!) will be scheduled to play at the same time.
This was certainly the case Friday. Right off the bat, Drive-By Truckers, Steel Train, and Jose Gonzalez were all playing around 12:30. I had to sacrifice DBT because they were playing halfway across the universe from the other two. Would have been nice to see them, maybe next time.
Steel Train sounded great, but they played twice so I'll talk about them later. I left after a few tunes and met up with my friend Michelle to see Jose Gonzalez.
Friday always makes for the most crowded festival experience. By then pretty much everyone and their grandmother has arrived in Manchester, and hasn't had enough time to exhaust themselves yet. Simply walking around felt like one giant game of frogger.
See that picture up there? That's not from this year, but it gives you an idea of how many goddamn people were at that stage watching Jose Gonzalez. It was an odd mix of die-hard fans, casual fans, people who heard "that one song on the commercial", and spectators simply seeking refuge under the shaded roof.
As expected, Jose played by himself. Just imagine being a lone person onstage, armed with only a silver voice and an acoustic guitar, up against a sea of thousands. I think I would have passed out right away from stage-fright to be honest.
Against all odds, he put on a wonderful show. Even as louder sets adjacent to his stage threatened to overpower his mellow sound, he was in complete control of the spellbound audience.
First off, stage presence. You have it or you don't. Jose was SITTING DOWN, and still projected a powerful aura. So you couldn't look away while he was playing (even though it was crowded and I couldn't really see him too well).
Also, I didn't realize what a fantastic rhythm player he is. Watch him do his thing in a captivating rendition of "Down the Line", a song off his second full-length In Our Nature (buy).
No rest for the weary. After Jose's set we had just enough time to grab a quick lunch before scurrying over to get up close for Minus the Bear.
..to be continued..
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