Jam on the River 2008
Phrazz Pix on Flickr
The Flaming Lips at this year's Jam on the River was quite a spectacle! Definitely the most amazing visuals and music combined. They busted out Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Led Zep's What is and What Should Never Be. Epic shows and party all weekend. The Biscuits were also in top form, but Lotus was the real surprise of the weekend. They brought the heat! Bassnectar is also a wildman...great crowd appeal.
I'll have more pix...took around 1500 on 3 cameras, so takes some hours to go through the sets.
Wayne Coyne should be elected Freakmaster General. He bends your mind in ways it'll never be the same. Wonderful production ... obviously takes a lot of work to put on a stage show like that. Not for everyone, however...definitely takes some getting used to (not for the timid or queasy, either ;-}).
I ran into lots of friends I know, and some major rager Jamcruisers. They really know how to have a good time. Overtly social (I could go further with my story, but only in person ;-}). Ya know, there are different kinds of Bisco fans, too...the spun sketchies seem to be either maturing or dwindling. There were lots of cool kids there...including one unsuspecting fan who played me a game of chess for a beer. [ I almost felt guilty about that charade, but it was Anchor Steam. ;-} ]
Caught the duo Biodiesel, who has a ridiculously fast drummer, but you don't notice how fast he's playing because he's that good. This hip little club called Silk City is definitely highly recommended (diner attached for some late-night munchies). Cool scene and real friendly peeps. WKDU had some DJs there...so Drexel kids and refugees from JotR who couldn't get tix for the DSO late-night (I've seen them enough, like to check out smaller clubs after a huge festival).
Sat. for The Flaming Lips and Biscuits was around 8K people (maybe 10K if you include staff, bands and misc) but Sunday was much less crowded...probably about half that (got kinda crowed as Lotus peaked around 10:30 PM). Bassnectar had just about the whole crowd down and dancing before Bisco. RJD2 was decent, better on the second day. The Pier is a pit...all flat and you can't see the water. But Penn's Landing is beautiful and has a nice amphitheatre with many tiers so you can even see the stage in many spots while sitting. You face the water there so the sun is at your back in the afternoon, and there's partial shade. The stage must be really hot for the musicians facing the strong afternoon sun, but the breeze and weather cooperated for perfect weather.
American Babies kicked off the second day and I'm starting to learn their songs better, but I have to be in the mood for straight up rock (well, of course it's easy to call it Americana, but with solid musicianship). They're fun though and I have infinite respect for Sir Joe and Tom. I have to see them in a smaller club...starting the afternoon on Sunday was a bad slot...we were barely recovered from the night before...still fuzzy.
Overall, however, the best thing about Philly was the people there. It helped to know a bunch of people, but it was definitely much more social than DC crowds. I tend towards Baltimore these days anyways...after you cross out the 930 Club for overcrowded attitudes, the State and Birchmere don't leave you a whole lot to go on (though they're both getting better, especially The State, but it's so far from everywhere).
Old City Philly is quite charming. Nice to wander around the historical places, but also the Kyber, this great diner called the Continental, Rotten Ralph's, there are plenty of other great bars and food spots, and most of them know how to make a decent bloody mary (best I ever had was in NOLA, but hard to compete with that). The twisty roads off Columbus Blvd are not for the tame drivers...gets tricky maneuvering down there, but once you're on the city side it's easy to walk everywhere.
Back to photography: first of all it was a surprisingly large amount of work to get pro access at this festival, but I guess it's grown a bit and as you get larger with bigger bands, you incur more rules. First 3 no flash is typical, but not being able to take pix from the public areas was a little weird and I never got that in writing. Some of the nuances of the rules kept changing and I still can't quite figure out all the publishing rules, though I get the general gist of it. You can't write a page of rules and not have any questions, especially reasonable ones where ambiguity exists. I as a writer get a bit more frustrated when the ambiguity is questioned and still not resolved...it's like they're not sure (maybe they aren't) and you have to just go with the flow. There were photographers there from GQ and WireImage, so my pub (State of Mind ... thanks Beth!!!) is lesser known in the larger music scene. Though I did run into some kids who are the types to seek out indie music mags and they loved State of Mind. They made some comments about the how the writing is so music-focused and more fun to read than the larger commercial mags.
Well, I had a few extra copies of the magazine (Nathan Moore cover) so I handed them out to a select few friends who would appreciate it the most. That was a good way to socialize and felt more personal and interesting than handing someone a business card. I met some fledgling photographers but also some seasoned pros in the process. Overall a friendly bunch in the photo pit, but it got a bit intense during the Lips and when we all started to run into each other, I took a corner and just watched the action and the chaos. There were many crazy scenes throughout the weekend, but the Lips had something nuts going on during every song. Theatrical overkill some might say, but "too much of everything is just enough" others may argue.
Last 2 JotRs it poured buckets and lightning hit the majestic Ben Franklin bridge, which abruptly ended what could have been a perfect weekend. This time the weather was beyond ideal...so everyone was in great moods and the sun kept people from drinking past their limits. Other limits we'll talk about later (outer limits were reached and breached). The Lips apparently have no limits. They don't believe in the system, for sure, and really are encouraging that we can all work together to fix it. Lovely thoughts at least.
Well, I'll have some of the other bands' photos up soon...might try to get a little set up each night and finish up this weekend.
-Philly Rocks,
Phrazz
