July, July, July, It never seemed so strange
Newport Folk Festival Recap: Sunday and Monday
Sunday
So Sunday we left much earlier and the traffic was much less, which was nice. And the line to get in moved much faster. After getting drinks to have with us (I got another delicious half and half) we wandered over and watched a tiny bit of Mountain Man. They were ok, but not really my thing. So we’d seen that Trampled By Turtles would be in the same tent as Middle Brother before Justin Townes Earle who was right before MB. So we decided to just head over there and try to stake out a good spot. The Secret Sisters were playing when we got over there. If you remember me mentioning seeing them open for Ray LaMontagne you know I wasn’t the biggest fan. Haha They have nice voices, but I wouldn’t really listen to them by choice. While they were playing we were right outside the tent on the side again, like we were for Delta Spirit, but closer up by the stage. After they were done we managed to get in the tent and were standing right by the front row of chairs the festival had in place. There were like 15 or so rows like that and then behind them people could bring in their own lawn chairs and blankets. We stood in that spot for Trampled By Turtles and Justin Townes Earle without getting seats despite trying. Trampled By Turtles were awesome once again and it was nice seeing a slightly longer set. They got to come back for an encore and did the Pixies cover again. During their set some girl yelled out "I want to be trampled by your turtles." That makes no sense, but Dave was like Oh I guess I was wrong about you folk audiences. lol
He had an awesome green shiny bow- Kelly complimented him on it the night before since he was right in front of her!
Next was Justin Townes Earle. He was good, but didn’t really draw me in that much. Plus about half way through his John and Matt and the Dawes boys arrived backstage, which we could see from our standing spot, so we got a little distracted. Haha OH- One side note on walking through the fort to the area where this stage was I spotted John from The Civil Wars and he and Joy ended up standing backstage to watch Justin. After doing an encore song it was time for Middle Brother. Right after Justin we hit the jackpot on a spot. Two girls were leaving from the second row and offered us their seats! It was a great view, especially because the guy in front of me kept sitting down a lot during the MB set. We were also super excited to spot Jonny Corndawg backstage, as we didn’t know if he’d be there. So after some set-up, which included Taylor switching his guitar strap to a red guitar I hadn’t seen him use before, it was time!
Justin
So Middle Brother were AMAZING. I mean I loved their show so much back in March, so it was so great to see them again. Especially since this could be the last show, at least for quite a while. They did the whole album, which was awesome and I’d hoped/figured they’d do. Alright some fave moments, not really in order of happening: Before “Blood and Guts” Matt told us it was one of his favorite songs of Taylor’s and then told us a story about first hearing it a few years ago when they were in Texas and caught in a tornado while on tour with Dawes. Apparently Taylor played it for them. Imagining Taylor singing “Blood and Guts” while a tornado blows through was an entertaining image for me. “Million Dollar Bill” was amazing. It’s my favorite track on the album pretty much besides like “Blue Eyes” During John’s part he started out his verse in a slow, sexy jam kind of voice before cracking himself and Taylor up. He then continued on normally. It was hilarious though. During “Wilderness” Taylor forgot some of the words towards the end. Sometimes he pauses for dramatic effect before starting a verse in songs, so I thought that was what was going on at first, but then he was like shit I forgot the words! I was so distracted and off from the song that I couldn’t think of them either and I know them. So then Matt runs back on stage to help and after kind of bows and puts out his hand as if to say Taylor Goldsmith ladies and gentlemen. His admiration of Taylor is adorable. At the endTaylor started to say and now the special guest you’ve all been waiting for, which we knew would be Jonny, but then he stopped and said something to John, which I totally read his lips and knew he was like what about “Portland”. And then he goes to the audience, after this next song. So then Wylie comes on to play on “Portland” and I think John was like the special guest…Wylie! Haha At one point Matt jumps over the barricade and was dancing in the front row. Jonny came on with a green re-usable grocery bag and ended up throwing out copies of his album and I think a couple of his handmade leather wallets. Sadly we didn’t get anything. He then did “Middle Brother” with them, which is always super fun. Jonny has the silliest and coolest dance moves. So then they leave the stage and the announcer comes back up and goes how about an encore…with Dawes! We were like OMG YES! So they came up and played “Fire Away”, which was fun and had most of us singing along. So then they go off and it’s announced that Middle Brother is going to come back up. Well they ended up doing “When My Time Comes” OMG EPIC. John and Matt took turns singing verses and the entire crowd sang along. It was the most magical thing. And Jonny was up there dancing and Taylor did his fist pump and hopping around. So when they got to the verse where they kind of stop playing and just let the audience take it we were all screaming along and Taylor got so happy and John held his mic stand out into the front row and kept putting it in people’s faces. lol And John mentioned the after show and was like rumor has it a certain band will be there. Someone yelled Jonny and he was like yep I will be. But John was pointing at Taylor aka Dawes. We were psyched!
Taylor laughing as they set up
Matt
Jonny backstage
John still rocking the captain hat
Griffin and one of his famous drum faces
Taylor
Wylie
Mountain Man joining in for "Daydreaming"
Crazy shorts twins
Middle Brother
This is pretty much my fave shot of the weekend. He's so cute. :)
Ladies and gentlemen.... Taylor Goldsmith!
Jonny Corndawg and Matt- another fave shot
Jonny wearing a Jonny shirt haha
So next up was M. Ward. (Small sidenote- during M. Ward I saw Taylor backstage talking to Justin Townes Earle and then they hugged) A few people left our row, so we got to move down a little bit closer. By then the sun was going down right behind the stage though, so it was like torture! We were happy to have been avoiding the sun mostly by being under the tent all day because we both got pretty bad burns the day before. My chest was burned from wearing a v-neck and the top of my forehead, which I figure is because I kept wiping sweat from there and thus wiped off my sunscreen. So M. Ward was having Dawes back him, but first he was just solo. He started out with an instrumental tune- just him on acoustic guitar as he wandered around the stage. It was really pretty. He also did one of my faves “Poison Cup”, “Sad, Sad Song”, and a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Story of An Artist” that was really awesome. He also did a Bowie cover, but I didn’t realize it was Bowie until Kelly told me after. He then brought Dawes up and they did a few songs including “Never Had Nobody Like You” Taylor rocked some guitar solos and also helped Wylie a couple times by going by him and mouthing notes or something. At one point M. Ward busted out a song and the guys had to scramble to figure out what to play, but they did great! For his last song M. Ward brought up The Secret Sisters to sing with him. So after M. Ward was done we headed out. Emmylou Harris was still playing, but we wanted to make sure we avoided another parking lot disaster, so we’d have time to eat before the after show. We got out pretty quickly and headed over near the Newport Blues Café. We couldn’t find parking at first, so Kelly dropped me off and I went to find a place to eat, while she sought out parking. I found a place with calamari, which I had really wanted to have while on the coast, so I picked it. I stood outside for a bit and enjoyed the pretty scenery and the sunset. I overheard some people inside (the windows were open) talking about the festival and Middle Brother. I finally went in and nabbed a table and then Kelly arrived.
M. Ward
Dawes joining M. Ward
Taylor and M. Ward
Tay
Wylie
Gorgeous!
The food was good and we then headed over to the Café. However they were having another show beforehand and we couldn’t go in yet. So we wandered across the street and sat on a wall and watched a bunch of the Dawes and Deer Tick guys arrive. Eventually I noticed on the side of the venue what looked like a line and sure enough the bouncers were directing people over there. It was pitch black down that alley, so I was lucky to have spotted it. We went over and got a place about 20 or more people back. We were like great now we’ll never be up front. After they got the whole place cleared out of the people who were there for the other concert they started letting us in. When we handed our IDs to the security guy he was like you were here yesterday right, go on in. haha But then the guy who I swear gave us guff the day before acted all dumb when I handed him my confirmation number I’d written down. He was like what is this in a rude tone. But we got in then and were ecstatic to see almost no one by the stage. Basically the good ol everyone is more worried about getting drinks first rule applied. We got a spot on down a bit from where we were the night before, which turned out to be best spot in the house aka right in front of Taylor. So I was looking at Chris from Deer Tick’s guitar strap and commenting to Kelly how I’d wondered what was on it back when I saw them in March (It looks like pilgrim dudes or something…idk) when she was like ahem Rachel and I realized Taylor had walked on stage. He was tuning up and at one point it seemed like he was looking right at us. So I decided, or rather just sort of acted without thinking, to wave at him. Well he didn’t see me because apparently he was just sort of staring out blankly. So I then waved again and he saw me and started to wave and then a huge smile broke out on his face that seemed to have some recognition in it. Like OH HEY, HI! So I’m going to believe he remembered me. I mean I would hope my tattoo in his handwriting had made my face memorable to him. Haha So that was an awesome moment and after he left the stage I couldn’t stop grinning and freaking out about it.
So first up was Dawes, which eventually morphed into CornDawes aka Jonny joined them. So first Dawes did this kind of instrumental jam. I think they were just doing a little sound checking and decided to keep going with it. They then did “If I Wanted Someone” I adore that song, so I was psyched. Then they did “Time Spent in Los Angeles” and “Peace in the Valley” Jonny came up next and they backed him on his songs like “Keep Your Body Happy Through Exercise” and “Trash Day.” I could hear Kelly singing along to “Trash Day” and then I saw Taylor look at her in surprise like how do you know the words!? Eventually the set morphed into Middle Brother with John and Matt coming up. We were so excited to hear some of the songs one more time. They did “Blue Eyes”, “Me, Me, Me”, “Portland”, and “Middle Brother” with Jonny of course. Then Jonny ended up doing “Silver Pantiliners” (his song) with Taylor and John singing too. I found myself caught up in singing along to that one too.
It was hard to see Griffin behind the giant cymbal
Slightly blurry Jonny
John joining in for Middle Brother songs
John and Matt
John playing Taylor's guitar
Taylor and John
So then it was time for Deer Tick. John walked on stage with a pretty long set list written on like a ripped piece of a beer carton, so I was excited for that. They eventually had to kind of cut it down because it was getting late and there was a noise ordinance. But they did a new song (they actually did one Saturday night too) and I’m so excited for the new album. Also I’d been hoping for “Ashamed” again just because it was so fun singing along and what do you know someone requested it. Jonny handed up this like five dollar bill to John that had it written on there. John was like we got a tip! He tried to put it on his mic, but couldn’t so he just put it by the drumset. They ended up playing it too, so that was fun. So at one point John had taken out his phone and was looking at it. He then goes, so I think our sound lady has a message she wants to share. He then goes a message for Chris (DT bassist). Chris looked super confused and I was like what is going on. So she starts talking over the sound system in this weird voice and after a minute I realized she was saying Happy birthday Chris. So then John was like it’s his birthday! Chris was grinning when he realized what was going on. He was like well it’s not quite midnight. So John was like let’s sing and then it will be. So we sang him Happy Birthday and then John walked over and grabbed his face and kissed him. First on one cheek then when he went to maybe do the other cheek he ended up kissing him on the mouth. Oh John.
After a bit John brought Matt up to sing a couple Nirvana covers (Deervana!). So the crowd was getting a little pushy before that and Kelly and I suddenly felt someone trying to like push between us to like come through. I almost pushed them back when I turned and saw Matt! He was like sorry, I need to get through. He was so polite about it. We were like OH MATT- go ahead. Also I guess Jonny had been dancing behind us for the longest time. So during the Nirvana covers people got crazy. There was even someone trying to crowd surf in the super tiny area. Luckily they didn’t come over by me. This crazy guy did then push through Kelly and I and we became separated. He ended up sitting on the stage and then laying back and John came over and played his guitar on him. Like rubbed it on his chest. It was weird. So during all this I ended up like right in front of John’s mic kind of holding onto the monitor in front of him out of desperation not to get knocked around. Well John was singing and looking right at me and I swear he gave me a look like oh no, I’m sorry. It was sweet. I’m sure I looked a little terrified. Haha I ended up staying in that spot for the rest of the set and John looked at me a lot while singing, so it was kind of cool. :D I mean I was right down his eye sight line from the microphone. They had to cut a few things from the set list like I said, but they did keep “Smith Hill” Kelly had said that was her fave, so I was glad. It’s an amazing song. They also did a cover of “Maybelline” that was fun. So for the last song they did a cover of “La Bamba” John was like I want to invite all our friends from the folk fest to join us for this one. And no one came up. ☹ After a minute Jonny made his way up from behind us and told John they left (mainly meaning Dawes I think). John was like they left? He looked sad. Jonny was like yeah, I think they were tired. I think John was just disappointed they left without saying bye. But he started the song and Jonny was there to help. Well then all of a sudden out of nowhere M. Ward came up on stage from the right side. He was wearing glasses and had on a backpack, but he came up and picked up one of the guitars. It was tangled in Ian’s guitar cord though, so as M. Ward’s trying to solo Jonny was over there trying to untangle them. And John was trying to keep the song going longer, so he could play on it. It was kind of comical. He managed to untangle him though and then M. Ward wandered over near John and was playing with his back to us and John was like pointing at the mic trying to get him to sing. After a minute of prompting he joined John in singing the song. It was so awesome! What an epic end to the weekend.
Chris
John changed shirts for the Deer Tick set
But the night wasn’t over just yet. We wanted to see if we could meet anybody, so we headed through the crowd and spotted John talking with people. While waiting our turn these pretty drunk like 40 year old ladies came up and were all asking John for a kiss. He did for each of them. Then one of them decided she wanted a picture of it. She made him kiss her like 5 more times before her friend could get the shot. Ridiculous. So then we went up and Kelly was like these shows have been freaking amazing and told him we had been there Saturday too. He thanked us and then we asked if we could take a pic with him. He agreed and I went first. I handed Kelly my camera and then went over by him. He had two drinks in his hands, but I just kind of automatically put my arm around him for the pic. Well he then juggled the drinks to one hand/arm and put his arm around me and pulled me in closer. He then put his face on mine and she took the pic. I think it turned out really cute and I didn’t look insane despite the long hot day and night. Next I took Kelly’s and John made a thumbs up sign in hers. She then talked to him for a minute about some NY shows they have coming up and then I told him I was from Indiana and that he should come play in Indianapolis. He was like ok, I can do that. I’m sure he won’t actually remember because he was a bit drunk, but hey why not at least mention it. So then we saw Jonny on the other side, so we went and said hi to him and told him he did a great job. We then took a pic with him and the both of us that came out nicely. We wanted to meet Matt, but didn’t see him around anywhere. He was probably back upstairs in the bar. When he came on stage he was raving about the clam chowder or something and the bar upstairs. Haha So we headed out then reeling from all the amazingness that had just occurred. We seriously kept being like that all really just happened right? It was kind of unreal. We made another 7 Eleven run on the way back and then went to the hotel and crashed.
Me and John
Me and Kelly and Jonny Corndawg
Monday
Monday was going home day, but my flight wasn’t until like 5:30 so we killed some time in Providence. We got a sort of brunch at Panera and then went to Newbury Comics, a cool record store. I got the 2 Deer Tick albums I didn’t have since they were both on sale. I also got this cute owl magnet that says Whom. Lol And a Dexter pin. We then went to Barnes and Noble for a bit and then I got dropped at the airport. My flights home were uneventful except for a small delay in the Cleveland airport, which is the lamest airport ever. But yeah what an amazing weekend! Pretty much BEST WEEKEND EVER. I’ll never forget all that awesomeness and I’m glad Kelly and I got to meet up because she’s super cool. Always good to have fellow Dawes friends.