Los de Abajo, Low, Rickie Lee Jones, Solomon Burke, Steve Earl, and That 1 Guy at Winnipeg Folk Festival on 7/6/06

By: David de Young

Neko Case at the Winnipeg Folk Festival - Photo by David de Young

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a festival junkie. To date I've been to England's Glastonbury, Reading, and V Festivals (2001), Ireland's Witness/Oxegen (3 times), Denmark's Roskilde Festival (3 times) and Germany's Hurricane Festival. I hazard to say that makes me no festival newbie. But what lay in store for me at Manitoba's Winnipeg Folk Festival when I attended it for the first time last week was something I could not have foreseen. I may have had the best weekend of my life, let alone the best festival.

When the 2006 event stopped selling tickets on Sunday, July 9th at 5 p.m. 45,190 tickets had been sold, beating even last year's new record. Festival attendance has increased steadily over the past six years, from around 34,000 in 2000, to 41,000 in 2003 to the past couple years hovering around the 45,000 point.

Also, in terms of records, this year, for the first time ever, the festival campground sold out at least two days before it opened, to the tune of 5,300 happy campers.

Okay, I know. Size doesn't matter. And it's true. So what was it that bowled me over about Winnipeg that hadn't been there for me at all my previous festivals? That's what I aim to address.

Alan Sparhawk - Photo by David de Young

Winnipeg is a mere 7.5 hour trip from my home base of Minneapolis, Minnesota, which makes it all the more surprising I had not ventured up there before. Many Minnesotans make this journey yearly. If you go, remember that you need a passport to get into Canada, or your driver's license and birth certificate.

Before heading north, I had no idea what to expect. Based on the festival's lineup I had hunch the attendees would be a somewhat mellower bunch, and that alcohol consumption might take a back seat to consumption of other substances. To a certain degree, this proved true. The rock festivals I have attended in are generally populated by hip young punters who drink too much and are frequently boisterous. Though people aren't unpleasant to each other, they do tend keep a cool distance. I don't mean to denigrate the European festivals I've attended. I've made many good friends at those events over the years. But I likely made more in just one weekend in Canada than at all my previous festival experiences put together.

So the people are friendlier, and in some ways this was the Kum Ba Ya sort of thing you might guess. But the kicker is, it's still cooler than hell. Several people smiled at me knowingly when they saw my glee and realized I'd figured that out. Many regular festival goers said they were glad that the Winnipeg Folk Festival keeps the "Folk" as its middle name to keep away many of the wannabe partiers, who stay away figuring the place is crawling with aging hippies and young children. Again, true. But again, cool. Segregated campgrounds (festival vs. quiet camping) don't serve to separate the old (and the families) from the young rowdies as much as bring people together even more. The people who wanted to sleep were able to get a good night's rest, and the one's who didn't . . . well.

Solomon Burke - Photo by David de Young

Not many people sleep in the Folk Fest campgrounds. There's no need, and there's always plenty going on. The first night we were up until 5, the second until 6, and the third until 8 a.m.. (Sunday night we tucked in early at 3 to prepare for Monday's drive back to the States.) Every campfire seemed to have its own guitar, and the number of drums-per-capita approached one, making the all-night drum jams in the spaces between the tents and on Pope's Hill sights to be seen. It's easier than you think to fall asleep to the sound of distant drums in the morning woods after 8-12 hours of vodka Tangs.

Winnipeg is also the cleanest festival I've ever been to, even cleaner than Roskilde where a beer cup deposit means that any cup dropped will be picked up by someone else and returned for recycling credit. (If I recall, picking up about 20 cups at the Danish festival was enough to buy another beer.) Since beer is only allowed in the campsites at Winnipeg and in the tavern tent area of the festival grounds, beer consumption was already localized, and plates from food vendors (amazingly good food, by the way) were lent on deposit of $2 Canadian. And these were heavy orange plastic plates that you were expected to scrape clean before returning that would do your picnic basket proud. I didn't see a single one lying around the whole time there. And I was looking.

The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone - Photo, de Young

I know what you're saying. This is a music festival, right? On to that part. Folk acts were definitely the main course, but the eclectic fare kept even non-folk fans happy as Canadian land clams (I think I just invented that species); and I even discovered I was more of a folk fan than I thought. I enjoyed sets by Boston's Crooked Still (who took the festival by storm and were the epitome of adorable - after an unscheduled 'tweener on the main stage Thursday night the band sold out of all their CDs before even playing their actual full concert Saturday afternoon), Ruthie Foster, Oh Susanna, Mike Seeger (Pete Seeger's younger brother) and a plethora of other acts I can't even recall. Also on hand were Steve Earle, Low, Bruce Cockburn, Rickie Lee Jones, The Sadies, Neko Case, Son Volt, and acts like The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone, That 1 Guy, and Mexico City'Los de Abajo who, whatever they may be, are surely not folk. And I don't think that's something that Solomon Burke has ever been accused of either.

Here's just a smattering of few musical acts that stood out for me:

• Thursday night, Steve Earl headlined the main stage. Earl's outspoken political commentary, some of which was critical of the Canadian politics, may have shocked a few people, but his songs like "Rich Man's War" still hit their mark. At one point Earl said he understood the Canadian Prime Minister was "down South" and suggested Canadians take the opportunity to revoke his passport as, "he wants to be an American anyway." Earl's between-song speeches - and there was one between nearly every song - also touched on a growing controversy over who owns the vast stores of fresh water in Canada and the "real reasons" behind the September 11 attacks on America.
• Friday afternoon, Hawksley Workman did a workshop featuring Minnesota's own Alan Sparhawk, Oh Susanna and Chad VanGaalen. The session was called Strange Songs Not So Long, and the format was kind of loose, but Sparhawk seemed to stick to it, especially with a haunting song that almost seemed made up on the spot. To a droning, almost clumsy strum he sang a few verses that included lines like, "All the poets, and all the writers are all gonna die. And all you beautiful people are all gonna die." It may have been the most memorable song of the festival for me. In context, it made me wonder why he chose to present it as he did, and because of that it took on a deeper meaning than it may have had at face value. To be honest, it was a bit of a show stopper.

• Low - Photo by David de Young

  Friday night, Low played the alternate nighttime venue, a tent called the Firefly Palace. Minneapolis's Tom Herbers of Third Ear Studios was on hand running sound. Complete with video by Hope Peterson, it was a beautiful show, despite the somewhat distracting overflow of sound from Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience on the Main Stage. I knew the band could also hear the other acts plain as day, and ultimately Sparhawk commented (not realizing the main stage schedule was running a bit behind), "Is that Solomon Burke on the Main Stage?" Some people said yeah, and Sparhawk replied in typical self-deprecating fashion, "Then what are you people doing here?"
• Later Friday night on the main stage, I found out just how immense Solomon Burke is as a performer. The festival emcee introduced Burke as having 21 children, 87 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, which would be almost enough to make him a legend without his musical contribution as an influence to the Rolling Stones and other 60s rock icons. He was wheeled out in a wheelchair and placed in a throne - yes, a real throne with live flower arrangements at the side. Don't let his size fool you, this man can groove. His stage show is an extravaganza. After a song or two, one of his female back up singers stepped over to dab the sweat from his head with a towel.

• That 1 Guy - Photo, de Young

  That 1 Guy was a Saturday night 'tweener who followed the Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone and played just before Mexico's Los De Abajo. That 1 Guy's instrument, which I jokingly referred to as "that 1 thing," was a two-stringed electronically rigged pipe. Having already experience a few all-night parties in the festival campgrounds, I can only compare That 1 Guy to a one man all night drum jam. I still have no idea how he produced all the sounds, but I am certain he he would be as popular at a rave as he was at the folk festival. Though he was also scheduled to play later at a 1 a.m. concert at Pope's Hill, it was unfortunately cancelled due to inclement weather. Management told us, "That 1 Guy cannot play in this mist. If he were to try, he would be electrocuted."
• Mexico City's Los de Abajo headlined the main stage Saturday night. Lead singer Liber Terán looked like a Mexican Freddie Mercury and had all the moves down pat including the fist pumping and kicks, not to mention the perfect Mercury mustache. Los de Abajo's name means those from underneath, or the underground. Originally a Latin ska outfit, the band morphed into a politically inclined, Latin-influenced punk dance band. I think these guys surprised a lot of people with their energy and show. Again, I was blown away. (See above. This is a folk festival?)
• Sunday afternoon, Rickie Lee Jones' piano and vocals wafted over the crowd and was the perfect way to allow us all to start coming down on the final day of the festival. As the full moon rose behind the stage, veteran Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn took the stage in a long trench coat with just his acoustic guitar. Cockburn was the final scheduled act, and his smiles showed how much fun he was having performing, even after all these years. He did not seem to be jaded at all, playing through hits from long ago like 1979's "Wondering Where the Lions Are" (complete with a sing-a-long, and yes, I sang) and 1984's "If I had a Rocket Launcher." When he was through, what looked like about 100 people took the stage, including all the remaining musicians left at the festival, who led the crowd through renditions of The Mary Ellen Carter, Wild Mountain Time and Amazing Grace. Kum Ba Ya, indeed.

Related links:

• My complete set of musician shots from the festival.
• My complete set of personal and campground shots.

Location Info: Winnipeg Folk Festival
Artist Info: Los de Abajo, Low, Rickie Lee Jones, Solomon Burke, Steve Earl, That 1 Guy

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