Culture
NMF ’17 Pt. 1: St. Lenox and Portable Potty Tips
By: Hiatt Hernon
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Self-proclaimed music festival novice Hiatt Hernon is taking on the 2017 Nelsonville Music Festival one day at a time. Check out the first installment of his writings on the subject right here.
Music festival attendee lesson 3: There’s a sweet spot on the so-called “portable potty” that makes it look like it’s locked when it actually isn’t. I suffered to get you this knowledge. Use it wisely.
Lesson 4: Get here early! I know getting up and heading to see a performance at noon may seem like an entirely foreign concept (or maybe it isn’t? I’m new at this) but I was able to catch two of the most captivating acts I’ve seen thus far before lunchtime.
St. Lenox kicked off the main stage at 12:30 p.m. and as someone who was unfamiliar with his work I was completely blown away. The old adage goes “write what you know” and Andrew Choi of St. Lenox brings such a unique lyrical perspective to Nelsonville Music Festival. The NYU law alum poured out a set that was maybe half about being an attorney, a background that brings simultaneously a sense of class and a commendable wit.
Early on most notable was the constant pleas of the backing band for the sound guy to turn Choi’s vocals up and it’s not hard to figure out why his gorgeous voice and stage mannerisms present him as a sort of millennial club singer crooning over glistening guitars, with songs touching on memories of the public school system, new-age nostalgia for Brooklyn living, and having to reject a friend’s crush while said friend’s father was in the hospital (a song filled with much more humor than it sounds.) Most memorable, however, was the best chorus of NMF 2017 so far: “I still dream of the ’90s in my flying car”.
Damn, what a good line.
1:30 p.m. saw Counterfeit Madison bring some straight bops to the porch stage. Singer Shannon Udoh and the band tour the house down- at times literally, with Udoh ripping her keyboard off stand and throwing to the ground during their final song (on if it broke: “It wouldn’t be the first and it won’t be the last”). The bands upbeat energy and Udoh’s unbelievable and commanding voice had the exponentially gathering crowd eating out of the palm their hands, with the first three rows filled near-exclusively with bodies twisting and turning to the irresistible tunes.
With day two shaping up to be the most pure-fun day of NMF 2017 (They Might Be Giants anyone?) Counterfeit Madison provided a much-needed early afternoon adrenaline boost.
We’ve still got a lot to look forward to in the afternoon, but heed my words for the next two days: You’re gonna miss something surprising if you’re not the early bird pecking at the musical worm.
(Also lock those porta-potties!)