Illinois Hi-Fi: Summer Camp Music Festival: Saturday

Photos by Eric Heisig

12:15 a.m.– I am looking for my car in the lot, and a guy approaches me and asks "dude do you have any ganj?" I did not, but that pretty much summarizes why I am sometimes weirded out by this festival. It's the people that just expect everyone to share everything.

I had never met this kid before, and he just expects me to give him some weed if I had any? Maybe I just like having stuff to call my own, but I am not one to just give away things I paid for any earned. Yeah, a stick of gum or a drink of water is one thing, but something expensive? I don't think so (and if he thought I was a dealer, my mistake. My gripes are then worth nothing).

12:45 – I am in bed (well, the trunk of my car, with the seats pushed down for a semi-flat surface. How comfortable, but hey, the parking lot is quieter). I am exhausted, and hopefully I can stay up later tomorrow to check out late-night doings.

9:30 - I wake up, after sleeping much better. It wasn't the comfort (still just as bad) or the impending bad BO (which is starting to peak its ugly, smelly head), but I was just exhausted. The night before I got wise and covered my windows to the east with T-shirts so the sun wasn't shining directly on me, causing me to become a human loaf of bread and bake.

11:00 - I am still at my car, after uploading photos and writing a little bit about the night before. I am really dragging my feet in getting back to the campgrounds, but the first act I want to see isn't until noon. I am okay on time, so why not relax until I have to brave the oppressive sun and humidity? (again, this isn't a "woe is me" situation, but carrying a lot of camera equipment for a long time can take its toll)

12:20 p.m. - At the Moonshine Stage, a band named Secret Chiefs 3 are playing. I get there, and am pleasantly surprised. The band are all dressed in cloaks as they play music that I can only describe as soundtrack music (with maybe a bit of krautrock thrown in for good measure). It's pretty cool, and would work well in a car chase scene.

The music is sweeping and cinematic, and I love it. It was nothing like I expected (maybe I am narrow-minded, but just about every unknown band I see has been a jam band. These guys are far from that.

Note: No pictures for this band, sorry. I ended up just sitting down and enjoying the music too much.

1:00 - It rains a bit. This is a good thing, because it has been dusty and humid all weekend, and this helps a lot. It didn't storm or last for very long, but it did the trick. The dirt is padded down and there is some cool air moving through the area.

1:20 - I check out some of Family Groove Company's set. I had heard some good things about this band, including how they were more based in jazz and (hence the name) riding grooves instead of just jamming. In other words, there was some structure to this, and the music should benefit from it.

And yeah...they kind of did benefit from it, but not that much. Family Groove Company is a lot more focused than most, but it isn't great. Maybe I caught them during a weaker set, but they weren't anything great.

That being said, guitarist Adam Lewis has a great sound and somehow found a great way to fit into everything the rest of the band played. He displayed character when the music displayed none with a style of his own, mixing jazz, rock and soul effectively.

2:00 - Hill Country Revue come onto the Moonshine Stage. The band is a side project of North Mississippi Allstars member Cody Dickinson, and their side project-y status kind of showed. The band had some originals, but they weren't great, and no member of the band really seemed like they wanted to do anything more than just jam. That is fine though, it just makes for a less interesting concert than the North Mississippi Allstars.

Their bluesy music only really took off when they injected covers into their set, including Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," or when they just let the guitars do the work. Dickinson even brought out a washboard at one point, that was a strangely interesting instrument.

Also, big black men should be the only ones allowed to play bass. Witness bassist Chris Chew. He is the man.

3:20 - I just lie down on the grass. Nice and relaxing, and it's cool to forget about things. I decide to just hang out at the Moonshine Stage, because for a while it has all the acts I am interested in watching.

Also, less moving is involved.

4:00 - Gomez starts. Congratulations boys, you succeed in fully waking me up.

I had looked forward to seeing these guys, since I really liked their latest record, A New Tide, and I had played their song, "Girlshapedlovedrug," quite a bit when I was a DJ at WZND. It was a good song.

Gomez's set doesn't disappoint either. The band's songs wouldn't sound out of place in Britain in the early 90s, but there is something almost progressive about them. This isn't a jam band, but they are jamming. Their songs are layered, but there is still a kind of simplicity to them. I like it.

The crowd is into it too, which proves my prediction kind of wrong. Their attracted audience isn't very big, but it is bigger than I thought it would be. I leave the set early, which I know I will later regret, but it puts me in a better mood.

And yeah, they did play "Girlshapedlovedrug." It was pretty sweet.

5:00 - I knew I would regret leaving Gomez early, but I had never seen Keller Williams before. I wish I had stayed at Gomez, even though he was pretty cool.

Keller Williams is an artist whose live shows are built on him looping different instruments to create songs onstage. It makes for a unique experience, so maybe the one I am watching is not one of his best.

Williams is a great guitar player, no doubt, but his songs are wispy and dry. He has a character, but doesn't let his freak flag fly enough. He is content with just letting a breezy song go by without any distractions, and I get kind of bored. Aside from a few humorous lyrics and a lot more proficiency on guitar, it's nothing to distinguish it from any other hippie with a guitar.

I had my hopes up for Keller Williams, after I heard a lot of good things, and while it was pleasant and occasionally made me laugh, I am ultimately let down.

6:00 - Les Claypool does not let me down though. He is just as weird as I thought he would be and more.

For starters, his entire band (consisting of a cellist, percussionist/xylophonist and drummer) are all wearing tuxedos and masks, and the music is all built around is skronk-y bass playing technique. It's quirky yet funny at the same time.

I have always been picky about Claypool. I don't follow all of the work he does, but what I have heard, I like. For example, Primus is good, as is Oysterhead and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. However, I have never listened to his solo albums or anything else.

That may change though, since his performance is really good. He prances around the stage as if he is in a Jewish wedding, and brings out a variety of basses, including an electric, standup and acoustic slide bass. They all simply add color to the mix.

Claypool's band is tight as well. The cellist more or less takes the role a guitarist would, and the percussionist and drummer are perfectly in-sync with each other.

Even if I can't name song titles, it was still one of the best sets I saw at the festival.

8:00 - After the Les Claypool show, I ended up following a group of fans as they waited to meet him and get his autograph. I recorded the entire thing, so look for some sort of audio story to come out of this in the coming week. I will post it here, and it was a pretty entertaining time.

The Les fans are dedicated, following him through every project he does, so these fans weren't giving up easily. Just wait and listen.

8:30 - moe. performs their best set yet. I miss the first part of it due to hanging out with the Les fans, but what I see is awesome. In this set, the band is knee-deep in psychedelia, and towards the end, the band brings on a member of Gomez to take them even deeper.

I am thrilled. This is the set I have been waiting to see them perform, and moe. finally comes through.

Their set ends with a colorful version of The Doors' "Soul Kitchen," which gives way to a drone that lasts for a good 10 minutes. I leave their set to walk over to the other stage, hoping Umphrey's can match it.

9:20 - Umphrey's McGee doesn't match moe., but it is a pretty good set as it is.

The band is in progressive-rock mode, and they wouldn't be out of place sharing a stage with Rush. This is the kind of Umphrey's that I wish I saw last year, and this is shaping up to be the best stretch of music (Les, moe., Umphrey's) I have seen at the festival yet. Everyone is on tip of their game.

The best part of the set is a cover mash-up they do, combining Metallica's "Sad But True" and Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood." It's weird, but they make it their own.

Umphrey's McGee's set closes with a monster song (of which I do not know the name of, whoops), and fireworks are shot into the air. This is a celebration, and damn if those fireworks don't add something great to the mix.

And as with all great things, I leave early to catch moe.'s last set of the night. I am hoping it's not my second mistake of the day, as it was with Gomez.

10:15 - moe.'s last set doesn't even come close to the one earlier, and it is a mistake. This this time they are in funk mode. I get bored because there's nothing worse than unfunky white boys trying to do funk.

In addition, I'll take a moment to pose a question: why do moe. and Umphrey's McGee have extra percussionists? They are of no use and don't do anything that adds significantly to the music. It would be one less salary to pay. Just...get rid of them and it would be a better live show. For both bands.

11:20 - I leave moe.'s set early, partially because I am getting sick of the music and partially because I wanted to get back to my car to drop off some equipment before I went exploring into the ssccccarrrryyy woods (nah, just the woods, but I still didn't need all my camera equipment).

Here are some more photos from throughout the day:

Family Groove Company