Mountain Jam and Arm Chair Review

I would first like to thank all the folks at Mountain Jam for letting us who could not be there, for one reason or another, the ability to experience Mountain Jam from the comfort of our own homes via the web. The quality of the broadcast was outstanding! Mountain Jam is on Hunter Mountain among the rolling green Catskill mountains in upstate New York. Rolling Stone Magazine has named Mountain Jam one of the top 8 festivals in the country and this years', the 7th, did not disappoint.
The festival includes the two main stages, the East Stage and the West Stage, that are positioned next to one another, so that the music rotates non-stop, without any over-lapping. An indoor stage and the Awareness Village are also featured. The awareness Village features an Acoustic Music Stage, Children's Entertainment Area with music and interactive fun, a beer and wine garden, not-for-profit exhibitor tables as well as performance and sculpture art.
The festival actually started Thursday evening, however for this review we will concentrate on Saturday and Sunday.
12:30 East Stage - Ryan Montblaeau proved to be a great early act beginning at 12:30. Ryan, a Massachusetts Native and his band brought some fresh acoustic funk.
1:15 West Stage - Zach Deputy, self-described "Island infused Drum 'n Bass Gospel Ninja Soul" show left no one guessing. He is the good time one man band. Sitting behind a group of microphones with his, black framed glasses, full beard, truckers style baseball cap and brown t-shirt he infused the crowd with some early afternoon energy. Zach pulled out a funky Magic Carpet Ride into James Browns' Sex Machine into Parliament Funkadelic's (Tear the Roof off/ We Want the Funk) that would make George Clinton proud. The crowd responded with yells of "one more song". The first encore at 2:00 PM - the beginning of a great day.
2:15 East Stage - Mavis Staples and her straight 3 piece band (drums, bass, guitar) plus three background singers opened with some beautiful gospel band, all dressed in black the band soon went into The Weight - can anyone do The Weight like she can anymore? After giving homage to The Band she went into her newest release, produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Soon after we heard Freedom's Highway. Mavis and her band looked and sounded great. I'll Take You There was exceptional with excellent crowd participation - still so good 40 years later.
3:30 West Stage - Portugal, the Man, a high energy piece (2 guitar drums bass, keyboard) from Oregon and Alaska, kicked it up a notch with some high energy psychedelic rock and roll. I found them to be more high energy than psychedelic and found them to be fun to listen to and easy to follow for not knowing any of their music.
4:30 East Stage- The Avett Brothers came out to enthusiastic applause and gave it all back with a high energy Tin Man. Paul Difliglia (sp) was standing in on bass and they added a drummer for some songs. Soon they were into Shame, And it Spread, Paranoia, January Wedding, an a Capella duet on "Down to the River to Pray."and a mesmerizing Headful of Doubt. Heart Like a Kick Drum, Go to Sleep and I and Love and You ended the set leaving the audience to sing the last line - I and love and You. The crowd demanded an encore from the Avett Brothers who replied;"We might have one or two more in us". The encore started with a sit-in from Simon Felice of the Felice Brothers on Dylan's "Just Like A Woman". The Avett's owned Saturday - until Mule came out.
5:45 West Stage - North Mississippi Allstars Duo. No Chew, just Cody and Luther who have been opening up for Robert Plant's Band of Joy. The Dickinson brothers went right into Shake em' on Down, Poor Black Maddie and Skinny Women. They both sounded great, Luther had his cigar box slide and Cody also had his guitar and washboard time. The Dickinson brothers also played Shake What Your Mama Gave You, Jelly Rollin Over heaven, Goin' Down South and Mean ol' Wind Died Down. Great mix of old and new.
6:45 East Stage - Michael Franti and Spearhead. George Carlin's brother introduced the band and everyone was immediately jumping together singing "Everyone deserves Music Sweet Music" and that is how the set went - a high energy open exchange between band and audience.
9:00 East Stage - Government Mule. Absolutely Amazing! This may be the only time they will be playing as Mule this summer and they made it count.Highlights included the Who's Won't Get Fooled Again and Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." The second set started with Pink Floyd's Money and Have A Cigar. Hook Carrera, Cody and Luther Dickinson, and Ron Holloway joined the rest of the band for a lengthy rendition of 32-20 Blues, John Lennon's Working Class Hero, Who Do You Love, Whole Lotta Love, Norwegian Wood Jam and Thank You Fa Lettin' Me Be Mice Elf...again. WOW!
Sunday
12:00 West Stage - Wiyos, a 5 piece with great harmonies great hats, nice lap steel, harmonics, stand up bass and harmonica - off we go.
12:45 East Stage - Civil Twilight, a trio from South Africa is nice three-piece who shows a strong U2 influence.
1:30 West Stage - Dawes comes off just as clean and approachable as their CD. Great instrumentation and clean sound. These guys are only going to get better and better.
2:30 East Stage - Who wants to do a song now? The Bohemian 9 piece Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes started with a fantastic "new song" featuring the lead vocals of Jade with harmonies by the rest of the band. They always seemed a bit unorganized but the band offers fantastic harmonies and fine contributions from all of the nine members. Is it just me or are they just way too happy. Dig the hand painted upright piano!
4:00 West Stage Preservation Jazz Hall band - missed them - my apologies. I have seen different incarnations of the Preservation Jazz Hall Band and I have love them all. They provided a great musical mix to the afternoon.
5:15 East Stage - Grace Potter, in a super short dress and super high heels with her 5 piece band whipped the crowd up quick frenzy. The highlight of the set was Warren Haynes sitting in for a song. My favorite was the gal on the side signing (no not singing - signing - for the deaf) and dancing to the crowd.