Illinois Hi-Fi: Summer Camp Music Festival: Sunday

Photos by Eric Heisig

12:40 a.m. - I get back from my car and watch a little bit of The Wood Brothers, who are playing on the Campfire Stage. They are okay, but not good enough to hold my interest. I press on.

1:00 - I get back from my car, and start walking around in the woods. It is really fun to walk around in a pitch-black area surrounded by campsites and.

With my press pass, I am let into the VIP area (I didn't think this got me into these kind of places!), which has a trail lit-up by arches of different colors. It's kind of cool, but then the arches end, and it's just campsites. Meh.

2:30 - I go to bed. I am exhausted. Shooting, walking with heavy equipment and taking in the sun are taking their toll on me. My car's back seat is mighty enticing right now.

10:15 - I wake up, because I have an interview with the rock band Backyard Tire Fire around 11 a.m. Better get a-moving.

11:00 - I get onto festival grounds, and call the tour manager for Backyard Tire Fire. He tells me Willie Nelson's soundcheck ran late, so they are going to be a little rushed to get their soundcheck in before they play. We agree to do the interview after the show.

11:15 - Now that I have some free time to kill, I check out a band called Seeker playing at the Starshine Stage. They sound like a less-accomplished, more annoying version of Incubus. There is a little big of progressive rock to them, but their music lacks the propulsion necessarily to really captivate an audience. Plus, from a visual standpoint, they don't do that much.

I get bored, and believe it or not, silence and sitting down sounds more interesting right now than this band.

11:45 - It is quite hot outside, so I am just sitting by the Sunshine Stage, waiting for Backyard Tire Fire to start. I still have some time, but by now, I am getting exhausted.

11:55 - There is a man in the front row that I have seen at a bunch of shows. He's a nice guy, who shares a lot of the same musical tastes that I have. We chat for a bit.

12:00 p.m. - Backyard Tire Fire hit the stage. I remember them having less members when I saw them last year ... I think there were two less.

The band plays a good set though, playing a bunch of songs off their to-be-released album produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. It's kind of weird to hear a bunch of new songs, since their latest album, The Places We Lived, came out last August, but the new material is strong. These guys are only getting better.

In all, Backyard Tire Fire only plays one song from that last album ("How in the Hell Did You Get Back Here" was the closer), but their set is solid. The addition of an extra guitarist and keyboardist makes for a fuller sound onstage, and their cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle with Care" is spot-on.

Last year, I had heard of this band but never saw them. I saw their set and was impressed. This year they played just as well. While the crowd is small (it is early in the day), they are dedicated (the band would later tell me Summer Camp shows feel like hometown shows, since they are from Bloomington, Ill.), knowing most of the material they are playing.

It is one of the better shows I have seen this the weekend.

1:20 - I call Backyard Tire Fire's manager again, and I meet him and he takes me backstage. I interview the band (all very nice, funny guys).

Here is the interview. Click on the text to hear the band speak.

Lead singer Ed Anderson talks about the formation of the band

The band talks about recording their new, upcoming album with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos

Why do they come back to Summer Camp year after year?

1:45 - I realized I forgot to call the tour manager for Easy Star All-Stars, which I was supposed to do earlier in the day. I have an interview scheduled with the band, and calling her completely escaped me.

Feeling stupid, I frantically call her, and she is nice enough to go with it. The band goes on at 2:30, and we plan on doing the interview right after the show. Instead of trying to go through the hassle of getting backstage (it can be a hassle, but I have luckily avoided it for most of the weekend), she asks if I want to just hang out backstage and then do the interview right after.

I agree. It is backstage, after all.

2:15 - I get to the gate for the backstage area and call her. She comes to the gate and gets me, and asks someone who works at the festival to take me to get a backstage VIP pass.

I am then taken to an office, where we are told that they are completely out for the weekend. Apparently a lot of bands and managers went overboard and gave out too many (something I really noticed this year ... I know there weren't a lot of press passes given out by the festival organizers, but it seems like press and VIP passes were handed out like crack by the bands and managers playing the festivals. They are everywhere).

We go back to the backstage area, and the lady tells me to just hang out, and if anyone hassles me to drop her name. Nice lady, and really was able to deal with a difficult situation well.

2:30 - Easy Star All-Stars take the stage, and I am watching on the side. I have never really been backstage like this before, and it is pretty cool (Al from moe. is right next to me, watching the set).

My roommate obsessed over Easy Star's latest album, Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (I'll give you one guess on what they are covering), and I have heard some of their Radiohead covers. I was really looking forward to them, and I wasn't let down.

The band started with an instrumental two-step, and slowly the full band appears onstage. There is skanking, dancing and anything else you can do to reggae.

Easy Star All-Stars play a mix of originals, Beatles songs and Radiohead songs (they have a weird but cool version of "Paranoid Android," and they keep their energy up for the entire show. The audience wasn't huge (at least from what I see on the side), but they knew just about every word to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "With a Little Help from My Friends" (no wonder).

The band goes a little bit overtime, but no one seems to care.

4:10 - After waiting and pacing a bit backstage (there is no good way to not look suspicious when doing this, especially when bands are sitting with friends and families right by where you are), I get a hold of Easy Star's manager, and she brings me into their dressing room, where I interview producer and co-creator Michael Goldwasser. Very generous man, especially since he had just played a show not 15 minutes prior.

Note: Here is my interview with Goldwasser. Click on the links below to hear him.

Goldwasser talks about the creation of Easy Star Records

Goldwasser talks about what would not work as an album to cover/create for Easy Star

Goldwasser talks about picking Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to recreate as a reggae album

Goldwasser talks about hearing back from the artists he has covered

4:30 - Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood are so sweet. I love me some jazz, and they are doing free jazz the way it was intended.

John Scofield is probably the most interesting to listen to, only because he doesn't overplay. He plays few notes, and has the ability to milk every note for all of its energy. Medeski, Martin & Wood (who don't do too badly on their own) surround his playing with frenetic beats, organ stabs and fast bass lines. They are clearly inspired, and consistently trying to find the best way to make Scofield fit in.

For the most part, they succeed. Their cover of The Beatles' "Julia" is a highlight, keeping in mind how much Scofield underplays. He isn't interested in flashiness, just the melody and making its simplicity and beauty shine through.

I leave a bit early because I want to catch the beginning of Los Lobos.

5:45 - Los Lobos begins. The first album of theirs I really got into was 2004's The Ride (even though they have been around for much longer than that), and I was really looking forward to seeing them.

They blew me away. Los Lobos are one of the most versatile bands I have ever seen on stage, effortlessly blending rock, blues, jazz, Latin, folk and other styles into one big mish mash of music. They jammed, but not to excess. They were very good at their instruments, but they weren't showing off. Everything was only to improve the structure of the song, and it showed.

In addition, Willie Nelson harmonica player Mickey Raphael played with Los Lobos for nearly their entire set, finding an interesting way to incorporate himself and add color to their music.

During the festival, I have usually stayed in the photo pit for a band for about 10 minutes. I left earlier for them, so I could take it all in.

It's a wonder how criminally underrated this band is, but by the end of the set they were working the crowds like the pros they are (even if a singalong to Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" didn't work, the audience was still trying to remember the words).

By the end of their performance, I am convinced they put on the best show of the festival. Hands down.

7:30 - This festival needs to end. Great music, but I am so tired.

8:00 - Willie Nelson starts. I have seen him before, so I know what to expect.

And this time, it's just about the same as last time. At age 76, Nelson is the epitome of country gone Vegas. It's all about the choruses, and the quickest way to get to them so the audience (who mostly bought one-day passes to watch Willie) can recognize what the song is.

Nelson frequently ends songs prematurely, so he can move right on to the next song. I don't know if it's his boredom, or if he fears the audience will get bored, but the show can go through 30 songs in about 70 minutes. It reminded me of the time I saw rapper Nas perform, and how it was a miracle if he did an entire song.

I suppose he can rest on his laurels at this point, but I know Nelson is still capable of doing relevant work (witness 2006's Songbird). It's a shame he sticks to truncated classics to hold him over, and doesn't perform very much new material (save for a couple of dopey songs about drugs and being a superher0).

I will say though, that his incorporating of old gospel tunes. These days, Nelson ends his show with the hymn "I'll Fly Away." Even though it sounds like it was recorded in Vegas, there is a certain poignancy to it, that even though he is going through the motions, it's better to see a legend now before he's not here anymore.

Personally, I don't buy it. Willie, put some effort into your damn shows.

Oh, one more thing I noticed: women over 50 love Willie Nelson.

9:30 - I had decided that if moe.'s set was good, I'd stay. If not, I'm leaving.

moe. takes the stage, and it's only okay. I decide to stay for a little while, to give it one more chance. Even though I am running on fumes, these guys have played five sets, plus countless other side shows. One more on my end can't hurt.

10:15 - I leave the festival. moe.'s last is not particularly inspiring, and my want for a shower and a real bed wins out.

I bet moe. does too. They have been here just as long as me, if not longer.

Sorry, Summer Camp, it's been great, but I think we should see other people. Let's give it a time, say, one year, and see where we are then.

Here are some more photos from the day:

Backyard Tire Fire