Mr. Bitter

The final day of the festival was packed. Seriously, I don’t know what the official crowd count was for the day, but it had to be close to 100,000. There was a good 15,000-20,000 in the Speedway Meadow watching Wilco.

I got there in the afternoon and watched Toots and the Maytals. They threw down a cover of “Country Roads,” the old Glen Campbell song. We used to sing Glen Campbell songs when I was in elementary school. Just thought I’d throw that out.

Trouble found me in the polo fields and we headed over to see Bon Iver. Across the meadow, the Drive-By Truckers were about to start, so I cut over there a few minutes early so I could get up close, right by the speakers. The Truckers, it should be noted, don’t fuck around at festivals. Only a couple of slow songs. They opened with “Marry Me,” which I had been singing to myself on the way over. Patterson said that he was going to be interviewed at the Democratic National Convention this week, which is kind of random. He said he would probably play “The Man I Shot” on some MSNBC show. He changed Reagan to Bush for “People on the Moon,” which I thought was a little obvious. Shonna sang “I’m Sorry Huston,” probably the only slow number of the 45-minute set. And when Patterson was introducing “The Living Bubba,” he recognized someone in the crowd who used to work at the club in Athens where the subject of the song used to play.

We moved over to where Broken Social Scene was playing where I met up with the neighbor. Eventually, we all grouped up and sat on a blanket on a hill stage right to watch Wilco. This was a smart decision, because the meadow was packed. Wilco has been getting both more acoustic and more jammy in its old age, and maybe a little proggy, too. I enjoyed the set though, and it ended just before sunset.

I had no need to see Jack Johnson (which must have been a madhouse with the number of people there) and headed out. Overall, the price was a little steep compared to what I see every year in Austin, but I can’t really complain. The main problem was the fencing herded people around in a way that made it feel even more crowded so when the masses showed up on Sunday, it got really bad. When they do free shows in the park, they don’t need the fencing and people can move around more.

My feet might not make it through this festival. Seriously, they are killing me. The MUNI is a little crowded to say the least, so I’ve been walking back from the park. I may need to re-evaluate.

(And to update yesterday’s post - friends don’t let friends answer drunk-n-dials)

I got out late today, and missed two pretty good locals - the Coup (whom I’ve seen and are awesome) and Goapele (whom I haven’t seen). I blame trouble. Anyway, I met up with the neighbor around 3 and we listened to M. Ward (without Zooey Deschanel) while catching up. It turns out her current “friend” is also a friend of mine. Uh, not in that way. Well, in that way for him and her but not me and her. Confused yet? Anyway, small world.

Across Lindley Meadow was Kaki King, a virtuoso guitarist known mostly for her acoustic solo instrumentals. She really is amazing - you can’t figure out how she gets all the sounds out of her own guitar. This time, she has a band, is plugged in on several songs, sings (she sounds like an early-90s chanteuse but I can’t think of which one) and had a guy behind the sound board working some kind of air instrument to add to the noise. I think I like her stripped down stuff better but she’s pretty cool rocking out. There was a dude there holding an American flag up throughout the set, including the cover of a German band’s song that closed. Was he lost? Did he think this was the Olympics? Where’s the medal ceremony, dude?

We heard a bit of Regina Spektor before heading over to Speedway Meadow where Cafe Tacvba, a band from Mexico, was playing. They invited half the crowd to join them onstage for one number and had the crowd dancing. Along the way, we ran into Pete Doolittle, famed cover artist for The Wendy Kroys album. He had been working the fest and told us he went up to Tom Petty in the hospitality tent and pretended that they knew each other.

Me and the neighbor each were pretty worn out, so we hung out to wait the 45 minutes for Primus rather than ramble out to another stage. I saw Primus once - back in 92 or so when they opened for Rush and played 45 minutes of Led Zeppelin covers. Good times. Les Claypool also played with Spinal Tap when I saw them around the same time. He played “Big Bottoms.” Choice.

Anyway, Primus is back together again and they brought the inflatable astronauts along with them. They opened with the opening part of Rush’s “YYZ,” then launched into their own stuff. I like Primus - despite the dedicated hippie following - although I can’t say that I’ve collected all of their albums. Claypool said that they worked many of their songs out at the dearly departed Nightbreak (now a coffee shop on Haight Street). I saw Stone Fox there many times and also heckled the Ace Frehley in a KISS cover band - he had a beer belly which I found very un-Acelike. So when the Paul Stanley yelled out, “What do you want?” I answered, “We want Ace to lose some weight?”

Anyway, the neighbor left after a few songs. I cut out late in the set to get a decent spot at the main stage for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Their set was good - mostly greatest hits, a two-song guest stint by Steve Winwood including “Gimme Some Lovin’,” goofy stage antics by Petty (mostly him spreading his arms out and acting like a 4-year old playing airplane) and more sound problems. The night before, Raidiohead’s set was marred by the main sound cutting out twice for at least 20 seconds each time. The Heartbreakers were pulled off the stage for five minutes mid-set because they were worried the PA would go out, then it cut out a couple of times late in the set for a couple of seconds each time. Apparently, the sound was only lost in the crowd, not in the monitors because both bands kept playing, not realizing what had happened.

The set opened with “You Wreck Me,” “Listen to Her Heart,” “I Won’t Back Down,” and “Only the Losers.” “End of the Line,” a Traveling Wilburys song, was on the list. The regular set closed with “Free Fallin,” and “Refugee,” and the three-song encore included a cover of “Gloria” and closed with “American Girl.”

I had never seen Petty before (and was not likely to pay $50 to do so), so I wanted to catch the set. I enjoyed it. A side note to Mike Campbell - Dude. You are a 58-year old white man from Florida. You should not be wearing died hair in dreadlocks. Seriously. Are you trying to look like a thin Adam Duritz?