Firefly Music Festival, Dover Downs, Dover, Delaware

Bonnaroo Lite: Not as intense, not as far

Friday, July 20, 2012

While it can’t claim the history or grandeur of Bonnaroo, it was great to devote a weekend to camping, music, and shenanigans with some of my best friends. And the fact that the festival was in the Mid-Atlantic and boasted a solid line up made it all the better.

Firefly Festival is held on the grounds surrounding Dover Speedway. We arrived at the campground on late afternoon/early evening on Friday to set up our somewhat minimalist campsite. There would be no large canopy or tent community. The weather was overcast with clouds and while the sky looked ominous, the rain was so far holding off. For late July in Delaware, it was actually quite pleasant. Our campsite was pretty far away from the venue, about a 25 minute walk to the gate, so like Bonnaroo and unlike All Good, once we went into the venue for the day, we would stay till the end. The campsite was a lot like Bonnaroo in terms of set up, although food options near our campsite were pretty limited. There also did not seem to be much of a Shakedown Street either. Unlike Bonnaroo in recent years, at least the lines to get into the venue did not take more than a few minutes.

By the time we were all set up, had our fill of relaxing at the campsite, and were ready to see some tunes, it was after 8pm. We entered the festival area to find that Firefly was set up as four stages, arranged in two pairs, with a major and minor stage within each pair. When the major stage on one side was playing, the minor on the other side would play. This meant that there were always two acts on stage, but one of acts was less well known. This meant there weren’t too many conflicts and tough choices to make; a very good set up.

As we entered, dubstep electronic dance musician Bassnectar was midway through his set on the Lawn Stage right in front of us. Since the last time I saw him at All Good several years ago, his show had become larger than life. Bright lights were shining, even to the back of the lawn, casting red, blue, and green hues on a feverous crowd. Everyone in the audience was dancing and jumping. After learning more about dubstep, which has gained substantial mainstream popularity in the past few years, I was particularly excited to hear a live bass drop. I had my ear plugs in and was ready for it; I could hear the build up of sound and anticipation, but the crescendo didn’t blow me away as I might have thought it would. Perhaps we weren’t close enough to really feel it. Or perhaps my ear plugs kept even the vibrations I was expecting to hit my chest from producing their full effect. That slight disappointment didn’t diminish that Bassnectar is an amazing live act.

After Bassnectar, all that was left for the evening was Jack White, a trek over to the Firefly (main) Stage on the other side of the venue. Firefly goers are required to take the long way around venue. At times, this would prevent us from seeing an act because we just didn’t feel like making the trip. Though most of the time we didn’t care and just followed the mass exodus from one side of the venue to another. Jack White was great. He’s just an amazingly talented musician. Equally incredible were the rest of his band, one more talented than the next. I don’t know where he found all of them, but he really knows how to put a top notch band together. They joined him on a mix of his new solo stuff, some Raconteurs , some Dead Weather, and some White Stripes. He played a variety of instruments as well. One particularly cool part was when he played back to back dueling pianos with one of his band mates. As I expected, Jack is an act to behold, and getting to knock him off my bucket list at a festival was the perfect opportunity.

Jack White Setlist:
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (White Stripes Song)
Freedom At 21

Missing Pieces

I Cut Like A Buffalo (Dead Weather Song)
Love Interruption
Hotel Yorba (White Stripes Song)
Trash Tongue Talker
Hello Operator (White Stripes Song)
Weep Themselves to Sleep
Top Yourself (Raconteurs Song)
Steady, As She Goes (Raconteurs Song)
Ball and Biscuit (White Stripes Song)
We're Going to Be Friends (White Stripes Song)
Carolina Drama (Raconteurs Song)
Catch Hell Blues (White Stripes Song)
Seven Nation Army (White Stripes Song)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Another nice tidbit about Firefly was that in addition to parking one car at the campground, campers are allowed to park extra cars in the companion lot, a reasonable walk from the campground. This gave us the opportunity to run a few errands in the morning, notably get some ice and a hot breakfast at good old Bob Evans. It was another overcast day, which was fine by me because it meant another relatively cool day for July. It would rain a bit here and there throughout the day, but never too hard or for too long.

We started in on the music fairly early with Kids These Day on the Porch Stage, the smallest stage in the venue. The looked really young, barely out of high school, and played a brand of rock music with horns and hip hop lyrics. Sure it’s been done before and perhaps by better musicians, but they brought more than enough energy and excitement to compensate for it.

Next up was Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires on the Backyard Stage. Charles was a James Brown-esque figure, belting out some serious soul jams. The story going around was that he had been a long time soul musician who was recently getting the acclaim that he deserved. He was dressed in a fancy suit on a hot day and doing quite a bit of moving and shaking for an older guy. At one point, he took a break from the stage, while his band jammed a bit, but then he returned for the end of the set to belt out some more. His music, energy, and story were all a real treat.

We migrated over to the Firefly Stage for Michael Franti & Spearhead, who looks and sounds a lot like Lenny Kravitz and even covered one of his songs. I’ve seen him before and remember that he was a great festival addition. All his songs are about peace and love and being happy. It’s a little cheesy but perfect for a festival atmosphere. It’s the kind of music that I think everyone likes, but no one truly loves, just good music for hanging out with friends on a lawn on a summer day.

Following Lenny, er, I mean Michael Franti, was indie rock/pop band Grouplove on the Lawn Stage. I was looking forward to their set and they didn’t disappoint. It ended up being one of the better sets of the weekend. They’re just a fun concert band, with catchy little ditties and lots of energy. Being close to the stage and amongst a group of fun people helped too.

Grouplove Setlist:

Lovely Cup

Itchin' on a Photograph

Love Will Save Your Soul

Don't Say Oh Well

Gold Coast

Naked Kids
Spun
Chloe
Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten
Slow
Tongue Tied
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston Cover)
Colours

Next we killed a bit of time on the Porch Stage watching Graffiti6 , but were mainly just killing time before Cake took the Lawn Stage. Benji is a big Cake fan, so he really wanted to see the entirety of their set up close. I was curious to see them as well. We were super close and it was packed. Ben and Jamie bailed and we miscommunicated about the time and place to meet up. I was worried that I wouldn’t find them, so after a few songs, I went to try to go find them. That didn’t work and I ended up waiting at the Firefly Stage before Modest Mouse’s set for 45 minutes or so, until they, along with Benji approached the area. So as much as I tried to engineer an easy meet up, it was completely bust.

Nonetheless, the four of us meeting up again for Modest Mouse at the Firefly Stage made me forget my previous stress. We had a decent spot on the left side but still had some room to move around a bit. Modest Mouse’s show was similar to the past two times, and truthfully it wasn’t their greatest set, but truthfully, they’re not the greatest live band. Nonetheless, finally seeing them live with this group of friends was the culmination of many nights spent in Blooming Grove and other places, belting out their lyrics while sharing cigars and stories. For a band we’ve listened to for so many years, many of which we were absolutely clueless as to where our lives would take us, it was cathartic to get to hear them live at a time when the road is starting to look a little clearer.

Modest Mouse Setlist
Fire It Up
Dark Center of the Universe
Shit Luck
Dashboard
This Devil's Workday
Satin in a Coffin
3rd Planet
Doin' the Cockroach
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
The World at Large
Bury Me With It
Dance Hall
Missed the Boat
Float On
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Bob Dylan Cover)
Poison the Well
Encore:
Fly Trapped in a Jar
The Whale Song
The View

Passion Pit was scheduled to follow on the Lawn Stage, but was replaced by Yeasayer a few days before, who’s set we only caught a bit of and no one was particularly engaged with. Rather, we were content to catch our breath a bit before headliners, The Killers, another big draw for me, took the stage. It was my third time seeing The Killers and like every time before, they brought it. We found ourselves a great spot, just behind a pair of large speakers on the back lawn. The sound wasn’t exceptional, but it was certainly good enough and we had plenty of space to spread out and cut loose, and we certainly used it – dancing, jumping, and of course wiggling. Ben had a weekend penchant for wanting us to climb atop his shoulders. The Killers’ set list was great. I could have made a better one, but there’s damn good. It included lots of staples from Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town. Honestly, it was a solid contender for one of my favorite shows ever even if it wasn’t able to knock the top five from their perch. The Killers do however win the award for putting on an amazing show every single time I’ve seen them. Each time that I’ve seen them, I’ve just loved it.

The Killers Setlist
Somebody Told Me

Smile Like You Mean It

Spaceman

This Is Your Life

Runaways

Here On Out

For Reasons Unknown

Bling (Confession of a King)

Shadowplay (Joy Division Cover)
Human
A Dustland Fairytale

Read My Mind

Mr. Brightside
All These Things I've Done
Encore:
Flesh And Bone
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
When You Were Young

Sunday, July 22, 2012

The duality of the final day of a camping music festival (or any camping trip for that matter): on one hand, you’re trying to squeeze in as much more of the experience as you can. On the other hand, you’re kind of just ready for the whole thing to be over so you can take a shower.

After another Bob Evan’s breakfast and a little prodding on my part, we packed up the car and were able to get into the festival in time to see at least part of indie folk band The Head and the Heart on the Firefly Stage. After seeing them on Sunday on the smallest stage at Bonnaroo last year, it was good to see that they had moved up quite a bit in terms of stage size, even if they were still the first act of the day.

Afterwards, we caught indie rockers Bombay Bicycle Club, who sounded quite familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Next we caught some Cold War Kids. Then, we moved over to Fitz and the Tantrums, who are more good festival music. Good set, good energy, and a fun band to see live. By mid-afternoon, it was time for Death Cab for Cutie, another band I’ve liked for a number of years. Unfortunately, frontman Ben Gibbard was sick and had to shy away from all the high notes. While his voice issues were pretty obviously, he seemed to power through the rest of the set and still performed well. There was no orchestra this time, but the stripped down set rocked pretty hard.

Death Cab for Cutie Setlist:

I Will Possess Your Heart

Crooked Teeth

Why You'd Want to Live Here

Doors Unlocked and Open

Long Division

Grapevine Fires
Portable Television
You Are a Tourist
The New Year
Amputations
A Movie Script Ending
Cath
We Looked Like Giants
Soul Meets Body
Marching Bands of Manhattan

We moved over to the Lawn Stage for psychedelic rock veterans, The Flaming Lips. It was my fourth time seeing them and this ended up being one of their better shows. What makes or breaks it for me every time is how much blabbering frontman Wayne Coyne decides to add. He always chats a bit, but I get annoyed when it gets excessive. The rest of the show was more or less the same as always – trippy music, dancing girls on the stage (this time dressed as Dorothy), loads of confetti, stage props, and Wayne walking atop the crowd in a big plastic ball.

As it turned out, everyone else was tuckered out as well, and we ended up leaving towards the end of the Flaming Lips’ set. I was a little surprised that no one wanted to stay for the Black Keys, but I certainly welcomed the chance to get back to Baltimore at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow was a regular day at work after all, so getting more sleep than expected was lovely. It’s difficult to gage whether a music festival is successive, but I certainly hope and expect that Firefly was. No doubt I’d be interested in going again. Of course, it is a plane ride away from Chicago.