WERS 88.9 fm - Nateva Music & Camping Festival 2010

By Lindsay Tucker
7.6.10

Bringing a music festival from dream to reality is no easy feat—just ask Woodstock co-creator, Michael Lang—or better yet, Frank Chandler, president and founder of Nateva, who's inaugural festival was held over July Fourth weekend in Oxford, Maine. The festival featured a collection of acts from different genres—from psychedelic rockers like the Flaming Lips and the Nate Wilson Group, jammers moe and Umphrey's McGee, and indie favorites She & Him, Passion Pit, and the Crash Kings. Representatives from the rhythm & blues variety were certainly not lacking either. For those craving funky blues-ballads, Nateva offered Jakob Dylan, Dereck Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, the Drive by Truckers, and festival headliner, Further—featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.

Chandler estimates that 10,000 people were in attendance, although he has not released an official number. "We're just a regional northern New England festival," he told Rolling Stone. "If you're tired of walking forty-five minutes to your campsite at Bonnaroo, we've got a Fourth of July barbeque for you to hang with your friends in your backyard," he said. Although Chandler says he does not believe the festival made money this year, he was successful in creating a relaxed, back-yard-like atmosphere where attendees could kick back with friends and family and enjoy July Fourth in a traditional sense—friends, food, fireworks—and some particularly good music.

Local Boston bands Passion Pit, the Adam Ezra Group, Indobox, and the Nate Wilson Group did a good job representing the Boston music scene—each group offering very skilled and different performances. Passion Pit, who announced that they changed their set-list for the first time this tour specifically for Nateva, won the crowd over with sing-alongs, "the Reeling" and "Little Secrets," from their latest release, Manners, and smash hit "Sleepyhead," from 2008's Chunk of Change EP.

Saturday afternoon campers bopped and swayed to She & Him, in anticipation of the night's headliner, the Flaming Lips. The sun was blazing hot, but Zooey Deschanel was cool and collected in a sundress and oversized shades as she slapped a tambourine and sang. The light airy melodies from M. Ward and Deschanel were exactly what the overheated—and overtired—crowd of spectators needed to get through the afternoon. Highlights were WERS favorites "In the Sun," and Skeeter Davis cover, "Gonna Get Along Without You Now," both from She & Him Volume 2.

 And yet the act that stole the show Saturday night was the Flaming Lips, headed by Lips' eccentric frontman, Wayne Coyne. As usual, Coyne had many tricks up his sleeve, unleashing one surprise after another. Opening with "The Fear" into "Worm Mountain," Coyne kicked-off the show in his usual fashion by inserting himself into a plastic bubble, and rolling out into the audience: the crowd was elated. After that, Coyne was on the shoulders of a dancing black bear, in tribute of preceding indie-experimental act, Grizzly Bear.

Balloons and confetti bombarded the crowd as Coyne ran up and down stage blasting a long cylindrical smoke gun and belting into a megaphone.  Equally amazing, this animated performer has a genuine appreciation for his audience ("We throw paper and balloons at you—things you see every day—and you treat it like...magic," he said) and sincerely dedicated the performance closer, "Do You Realize," to "the best fans in the world"—his.

Other musical highlights were "She Don't Use Jelly" (from 1993, and probably the band's biggest radio hit to-date—although vastly different from the music they have since made), "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1," and others from 2009's Embryonic.

On Sunday the crowd attendance nearly doubled, as locals, and even out-of-towners, arrived for the Fourth of July rager. As WERS reporter Cady Drell points out in her Nateva Reflections, "Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks…were too good to be ignored. Tedeschi's signature rasp set up songs that Trucks's insane guitar solos pushed to another level." The fairgrounds were packed with dirty campers and face-painted children—and adults—all united by a love for the music.

And who could forget Nateva Festival headliner, Further—made up of remaining Grateful Dead members, (guitarist) Bob Weir and (bassist) Phil Lesh—with (drummer) Joe Russo of the Benevento-Russo duo, (keyboardist) Jeff Chimenti of Ratdog, and lead guitarist John Kadlecik—whom the group "borrowed" from Dead cover band Dark Star Orchestra. When the band encored with "U.S. Blues," they looked out to a sea of American flags attached to dancing fans—belting along in unison, "Wave that flag, wave it wide and high!" At the end of the set fireworks filled the night sky—and the inaugural Nateva Festival came to a (mostly) successful close.


Nateva Reflections
By Cady Drell
7.6.10

Certainly, Nateva headliners the Flaming Lips, Further, and moe gave standout performances. But there were smaller acts who played at odd hours and deserve their own credit.

For example, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks—whose skilled, soulful set created the perfect mood for Further—were too good to be ignored. Tedeschi's signature rasp set up songs that Trucks's insane guitar solos pushed to another level. Umphrey's McGee has been more exciting in past performances than they were at Nateva—but if they lacked enthusiasm, it did not hinder their technical skill. And Ghostland Observatory's outstanding laser spectacle, combined with the antics of frontman Aaron Behrens, brought the tired crowd out of their heat-induced catatonic state and back to life. This is an example of a would-be mismatch for the festival that ended up working: Mixed in with jam bands and roots artists is an electronic duo from Texas who killed it, producing one of the best performances of Nateva's first day.

Late-night performances in the smaller stages were also incredible. Even at four in the morning, EOTO's dub-step beats were so on-point that it was hard to believe it was being played live by Jason Hann and Michael Travis (formerly of Colorado-based outfit The String Cheese Incident).

Additionally, Keller Williams (who recently played a live set in WERS studios), a staple at folk festivals, played a set that many Nateva-goers referred to as the best of Friday's lineup. His up-tempo folk guitar and witty lyricism on song "Freeker by the Speaker" (from 2002's Laugh) cannot be done full justice until heard live. This is mainly due to Williams's funky vocal agility. When he began scatting into the microphone, the largest crowd of the day (so far) went wild. He was exciting and goofy without losing anything in his instrumental performance.

Jakob Dylan played a decent show, whether the sun got to him or his placement in the middle of the afternoon put him at a lag in the festival's overall mood, his performance was less than dynamic. Technically speaking, he played well and his voice sounded strikingly like his father's (but more melodious, obviously). Playing tracks like "Something Good This Way Comes" off of his 2008 release, Seeing Things, and "Nothing But The Whole Wide World" from his latest, Women and Country. By all means, his folky voice and roots-inspired lyrics earned him a fair spot among other main-stage acts like Jackie Greene and Ryan Montbleau—both several years his junior—but there was a lack of enthusiasm in Dylan's short set that did not do his normally soulful sound justice.

WERS favorite Ryan Montbleau, on the other hand, played a set with energy and thoughtfulness. Seated the majority of his set with an acoustic guitar, Montbleau's gorgeous bluesy voice sailed through songs from 2006's One Fine Color, and his 2009 release, Stages Vol. II, an album originally recorded through a set of live solo shows. His performance was certainly mellowed (possibly due to his two a.m. set at the Barn Stage the night before), but with his trusty band in tow, Montbleau's joy onstage permeated the audience and began Saturday's lineup on a great note.

Grizzly Bear took the stage after She & Him on Saturday evening, to a sizable and excited audience (perhaps the first truly large crowd of the day). Opening their set with "Southern Point" from 2009's brilliant Veckatimest, the Brooklyn-based foursome played with notorious precision that made their set sound like it had been ripped directly from the album. Their single "Two Weeks," which they played later in the performance, caused even more people to join the audience. Offstage, the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne danced around to the set, distracting frontman Ed Droste (though not enough to actually affect his focus). As one of the bigger indie acts present at Nateva, Grizzly Bear did not disappoint.

Further, of course, was incredible. Playing two sets, Grateful Dead legends Phil Lesh and Bob Weir enlisted the help of Dark Star Orchestra's frontman John Kadlecik and Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo. The effect was loud, exciting, and a quintessential Dead jam session. Classics like "Casey Jones" were given new life, as if Weir and Lesh hadn't aged a day since the 60s. Ok, well maybe a day...

Nateva, above all else, created an eclectic atmosphere. From the people in attendance, to the music played, to the vibe of the camp after-hours, the lack of a cohesive "feeling," rather than hindering the experience, made it interesting. As a first-year festival, there were inevitable kinks. The constantly-changing press guidelines were frustrating, and figuring out where to set up a campground was more of a free-for-all than organized. But Nateva showed that there are more important things to a festival than organization. For instance, security was great. It felt like a safe environment—with police on horseback and bag-checks at the entrance to the stages. There are issues to be worked out, certainly, but fears of no Nateva Redux seem to be put aside for the time being. The small size worked, even created a temporary community feeling to the whole festival.

Images by Lindsay Tucker and Cady Drell