10KLF Festival Review - Day 3 - 07/20/07

The day starts off weather-wise as a repeat of Day 2 as well as my lack of sleep, but I am a trooper and I will suck it up as the MusicRoadMan never complains….Plenty of time to sleep when you die…..

It was a fairly laid back day for me as I hung out in the tent, chatted up the fellow festival attendees and was wondering if there was a way I could have caffeine injected straight into the vein…Hmm….

First band on the agenda was Everyone Orchestra, a collection of musicians that is picked from whatever festival they are playing. The only constant is Matt Butler acting as chief conducter as the audience and musicians are directed by him through hand signals and a ever changing whiteboard. Just like a real orchestra, nobody stands out but everybody gets their chance to do a bit of solo action to show off their expertise with whatever weapon of choice they bring to stage. For a somewhat improv act, I was surprised how well it went and would encourage you to visit the website to troll through the audio bootlegs.

The first act on the Main Stage was moe. for Burlington, VT and I can’t put a timeline when I saw them last. So many festivals and getting older and it all starts to get fuzzy after a while. They put on a powerful set and the crowd was appreciative of the long jams and especially the fiery guitar and drum solos. This quintet is certainly on my must see again list when they pass through the Metroplex area again.

I was not broken hearted when Trey Anastasio cancelled and String Cheese Incident stepped in to take his place. I last saw them back in 2002 at JazzFest and I was taken aback by their ability to go from one genre of music to another and I was not disappointed with this version either.

With beach balls of various sizes and a plastic Shamu that was swimming across the wide expanse of awaiting hands, they open up with "Outside And Inside" and that was the start of the carpet bombing of glow sticks coming from all corners of the festival grounds. "Good Times Around The Bend" brought out another onslaught of flying neon before heading into a bit of downhome roots with "Doin’ My Time" with Michael Kang breaking the horse hairs on violin. The electricity did not stop with "Close Your Eyes" as the lights were flashing on a crowd waiting for more as the guys exited for a break.

After starting off with some bluegrass, Jason Hann and Michael Travis were left alone to do a percussion duel that ended with a reggae sound as Kyle Hollingsworth led the troops back on stage with an island dance. Billy Nershi’s hips did not seem to move that well. To paraphrase the twenty something kid who was standing by me, their set was "totally sick". I tend to agree….

I head back to camping area listening to our friends from the North, The Tragically Hip, starting their set and for a laid back day, there was plenty of energy in the air.