Friday, January 27th was the first night of the 35th annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival. The Hill Auditorium was sold out, but many people didn’t arrive until about half-way through the night, as there were 7 performers total, not including Heywood Banks, the MC who entertained the crowd in-between bands with comical songs and cheesy jokes. My favorite was the “Toast” song, where he banged on a toaster like a drum and sang about how great toast it! Sometimes really silly humor is fun and refreshing.
The first performer to take the stage was Sunny War, a beautiful African American woman with incredible skills in her clawhammer, banjo playing style of playing the guitar. Her sound was delicate and airy, with a bluesy tone. Her voice was very girly and pretty, with an element of old-hollywood simplicity and elegance. Her songs were very calming, and I really enjoyed listening to her.
Second to perform was the band Elephant Revival, who reminded me a bit of the contemporary bluegrass group Nickel Creek. They had a very full-sounding band, and often sounded very rustic and traditional. I loved the strings, and that their songs often built in intensity over time. The vocals were beautiful and breathy, a nice contrast to the full-sounding band. They performed an a capella song as the last in their set, about a raven, that was absolutely beautiful and breath-taking.
The David Wax Museum was next to perform. The band members wore much more modern dress than Elephant Revival, and had a much tinnier, less full sound. The band has a Mexican-folk sound, and they used a unique addition, a saxophone, in some of their songs, unusual in my conception of folk music. I felt that some of their songs were a bit too loud–not one of my favorite bands being showcased that night. But one of the great benefits of attending the folk festival is having the opportunity to be exposed to artists that you are unfamiliar with, so nonetheless I enjoyed experiencing their music for the first time.
Next to take the stage was a band called Carbon Leaf, a group of older men who reminded me a bit of a folk barbershop quartet, as they all stood in a tight circle throughout their performance, beginning their set with an a capella piece, in which their voices were beautifully in unison. Aside from the beautiful opening piece, however, I can’t say their music was my cup of tea.
A band called Dawes was next to perform, the last band to perform before the intermission. They were a bit too rock n’ roll for the folk fest, in my opinion. They had a full band with electric guitars, drums, and a piano. Their songs were quite repetitive and the droning drum beat made me sleepy!
After the intermission, Devotchka took the stage, a Denver band with a Russian name. This band was very unique, with each song having a much different sound. At times it reminded me of Fiddler on the Roof, others I felt like I was being serenaded by a Mexican band–I also wrote down that their sound sometimes reminded me of a Jewish wedding, that song, The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and sometimes even of bands like The Boxer Rebellion or Coldplay. Despite the variety that caused a bit of confusion for me, their sound really began to grow on me and I found myself looking up their music online after the concert. The band did seem to play for a bit too long, however. The other bands that were not headlining only played for about 30 minutes each, while Devotchka played for over an hour, which seemed to be a bit unfair. By the time RyanAdams, the headliner for the evening, took the stage, I was pretty worn out.
Finally, Ryan Adams ended the evening with an incredible acoustic performance. He was not what I expected–his songs are so beautiful and sensitive, but in person he dressed like a rocker with medium-length dark hair that falls in front of his face, hiding his face throughout the performance, and skinny jeans with Converse shoes… Not what I expected. His humor was also a bit different and weird at times–he joked about dinosaurs and smoking weed. But his music was beautiful! He played a lot of his hits, switching between acoustic guitar and piano on several occasions. He sounds just perfect live–I was very impressed. His performance was far too short–it seemed that most of the crowd was there to see him, but we all had to sit through four hours of other bands’ sets in anticipation. By the time Ryan Adams took the stage, unfortunately I felt quite restless and tired from sitting for so long.
This was my first folk festival experience, and I have to admit I’m not sure that I would go again… I would certainly recommend that you go and experience it once, because it really is a unique opportunity to see a lot of great bands in one night, and it is the biggest music event of the year here in Ann Arbor. But the Hill Auditorium was not the most conducive setting for something like a folk festival. I imagined the festival being a very laid-back event where you come and go as you please, and it’s loud, and exciting, and people get up and dance and enjoy the music, take pictures and sing along. But none of this happened. The Hill imposed a lot of rules on the event, like no getting up to come or go during a song, no photography, no standing in the aisles… We were forced to sit in our incredibly cramped seats for five hours. No one took pictures, (except quickly and secretly so no one notices!) no one sang along or got up to dance the entire time. And in the end, the audience clapped and cheered for an encore to no avail. Then we all went home. It really was much too quiet and boring, really stuffy for a music festival. I would love to see the folk festival move to a different location that is freer, possibly even outdoors during the summer. I think the atmosphere would have made a big difference in improving my overall experience of the festival.
