Culture
NMF ’17: Campgrounds and the Magic of TMBG
By: Hiatt Hernon
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Hiatt Hernon says that he doesn’t know a lick about music festivals. Over the course of the past two days he’s been reporting from the grounds of the 2017 Nelsonville Music Festival. We now find our young protagonist on the festival campgrounds.
I was surrounded.
Tents are far as the eye could see in every direction. The summer breeze accented with the pitter-patter of hackey-sack against bare feet.
My walk became a run as I tried to find a way out of the labyrinth of campers. I barely escaped with my life when walking down “Psycho Path” and spryly dodged high school literature recommendations on “Heming Way”. It was only when all hope was lost that I could faintly make out the twanging tunes at the Nelsonville Music Fest 2017 Main stage.
Lesson five: Let’s not go to the campground. ‘Tis a silly place.
“Silly” is also a good segue to our NMF 2017 Day two headliner, the one and only They Might Be Giants! (We finally found out: they aren’t! They told us they may be giants, but indeed they are normal sized.)
While I may not be familiar with all of the band’s nearly 20 studio albums, one doesn’t have to be: there’s such a fun energy to the show that you could no none of the songs and still have a complete blast.
This extends beyond the music into the whole experience- the expectedly witty banter borders stand-up at times, with the group delving wholeheartedly into some pretty bizarre bits (including being blessed with a call from Mama TMBG, the woman who allegedly gave simultaneous birth to all five members).
Normally I’d tried to sum up lyrical themes, but fans of group would know that’s nearly impossible. A sampling of subjects touched upon: the sun, “music jail”, and eleventh U.S. president James K. Polk. Songs do often flirt with aforementioned “silliness”, but always stay sharp and interesting compositionally and are held up high by a buffet of vocal harmonies. The group garnered the festivals biggest crowd thus far, and everyone around me just cut lose and let themselves enjoy the show.
Rodriguez occupied the main stage just before TMBG. The Detroit singer-songwriter’s mythos tell of his overseas popularity in South Africa and Australia, but no one mentioned the third hotbed: Nelsonville, OH.
The crowd went absolutely bonkers for the man, perhaps highlighted best by the waves of cheers he received just for changing his hat mid-set. Smiling, he would return the crowds claims of love, stating smoothly, “I know it’s the drinks but I love you back,”.
Rodriguez’s style, both in music and performance, is undeniably timeless. The way he tells the stories in his songs, like the signature South African hit “Sugar Man”, has only gotten better with age, taking these words a making their meaning seem grander and grander as Rodriguez’s legend grows.
His style isn’t straightforward, he switches seamlessly between electric and acoustic guitars and there’s a nice groove to his work that even comes through in his covers. Notably played were versions of Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” and The Doors “Light My Fire”, crowd-pleasers that lead me to believe he may have done his homework.
The porch stage standout for me was Mothers, who had the benefit of playing in the perfect setting: the sunlight dwindled and disappearing as guitars swirl through songs that aren’t quite dream pop, but definitely ae dozing off.
Their set opened with the group’s guitarists strumming their strings with paintbrushes, perhaps the best possible physical representation of the band’s textured sound. As things moved forward they showcased some slithery earworms and provided just enough kick to energize m tired body to the level of my speeding mind.
Worried about Counterfeit Madison’s keyboard from earlier? Don’t be! She accompanied band Swarming Branch on keys as they chilled the porch stage with some jams and later played the No-Fi Cabin, a venue that has consistently overflowing with people to the point where I haven’t even been able to make my way inside. Singer Sharon Udoh got a standing ovation, so it must’ve been good.
And so that’s two days in the books. Day two was long, tired, and painful, but a lot of fun. Just fun that makes you sore. Like… getting beat up… by… that rat from Chuck E Cheese. Or the Philly Fanatic. Day two was like getting beat up by the Philly Fanatic. I’m tired, my similes are falling apart, and it’s a mess. Here’s to day three!
Scattered thoughts:
-Due to a personal and most certainly undeserved chip on my shoulder against fellow Cleveland area residents Cloud Nothings, I have decided morally I couldn’t review their set. I was told by less biased viewers that they “shredded it” and that I “messed up” by not being a bigger Cloud Nothings fan. High praise, but don’t quote me on it.
-A St. Lenox line I didn’t have room to shout out earlier, on missing an old love: “I read an article about the heat-death of the universe just for you, yesterday.” He could write the hell out of a nostalgia song.
-Best band shirts?
3. A Jimmy Eat World – Clarity shirt. This guy’s still a believer, baby.
2. A father/son duo wearing They Might Be Giant’s shirts. AKA a plea for more “adult” bands to make rockin’ kids albums!
1. A Will Ferrell as Blue Oyster Cult “More Cowbell Shirt”. And not just because I owned the same shirt at age 10.
-In my notes for TMBG: “So much fun!” I’m not sure why past me thought that would be helpful, but in the moment I’m sure it all made sense.