Bettye LaVette was the big draw for me. I love her track "Joy" originally written by Lucinda Williams from her album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, and album solely of covers of songs written by women. She didn't perform this song, but I wasn't disappointed. Some of my favorites were "Take Me As I Am," "You Don't Know Me At All," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," "Reign O'er Me," and, excerpt below, "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad."
She's a great entertainer with a great voice and a lot of personality. Its modern standards she's creating with her soulful voice and reputation for putting a new personality into new favorites. Unfortunately my camera died in the middle of her set, but here's a shot of the stage and her band during the day.
Arrested Development was a new band for me. They were billed as hip hop, but it was more soulful vocals with a hip hop beat and a few rap solos. I like the song "Tennessee" and that seemed to be a crowd favorite too. It was a little cheesy or trite, but I suppose that is bound to happen with the messages they put forward like peace, love, etc. and the fact that their heyday was the 90s. I may not buy the music, but they put on a good show. It was fun to dance to and an entertaining hour and fifteen minutes.
Michael Franti & Spearhead was a real surprise for me. I think like everyone else I love "Say Hey" so much that it didn't take much to convince me to see them for free, even for just one song. He is an amazing time though. I found my self sad when his set was over despite the fact that he went way over on time. His messages of love and friendship didn't rub me as anything but genuine. He was happy and he wanted to share that too. Each song was catchy, but beware he loves to trick the audience into thinking the song is over...only to start the chorus back up after applause. After two or three songs though, you know its coming, but he still waits for the applause. Franti was also all over the crowd. At one point he set up his guitar way back in the field to perform a song out there, inviting everyone in the back to crowd around him while he did. On other songs he just ran around through the crowd, making a difficult time for the spotlight guy to do his job. Some songs he let some of the audience on stage to dance and play his guitars. Everyone looked like they were having a blast. Then for the grand finale, he called all the little kids on stage to jump, dance, and sing with him while the band played "Say Hey" and the fireworks went off behind the stage.
I highly recommend a Michael Franti show whenever he's in your area. Its just feel good, sunshine and summer music. I couldn't help but dance through the entire set despite the heat and already sitting through 3 hours of the opening bands. Most of the songs I enjoyed are on his latest release All Rebel Rockers, but a few were from his other albums with Spearhead. They might all be worth checking out. I was impressed.
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