"Two Tone" Tommy of My Morning Jacket
Bill Ellman of Galactic
Trey Anastasio
Hunter Brown and Jeffree Lerner of Sound Tribe Sector 9
Marc Brownstein of The Disco Biscuits
Billy Martin & Chris Wood of Medeski, Martin, & Wood
Day 1 by: Erin Keene
In the words of one committed fan, “This year’s Langerado line-up was thick!” Celebrating its fifth year, the festival grew into a three day event with more than 50 bands, boasting headliners Trey Anastasio and Widespread Panic and bringing back favorites such as moe, Bela Fleck and MoFro. With clear sunny skies, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect if it were hand picked, and the art scene was outrageous.
Although the Heavy Pets officially kicked off the fest early Friday at Markham Park, most devotee’s had begun the party the night before with Tea Leaf Green and New Monsoon at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale; that is if they couldn’t get a ticket into Revolution’s Trey Anastasio show, which sold out within minutes.
Any “out-of-towners” who missed these local shows were up early to steal a good spot for their tent in Langerado’s camping section. By popular demand, this year’s designated area was expanded, and even though it still became overcrowded, campers didn’t seem to mind as they made a party out of it.
With three stages set up, people filed in throughout the first day choosing the direction of their sound of choice. In the swamp tent, the electronica jam quintet Lotus was a popular favorite. However, the contrasting country rock of the North Mississippi AllStars pulled a big crowd over to the Everglades stage. With mix tastes aside, most people took a midday rest as they spread out their blankets and relaxed to the instrumentals of Galactic at the Sunset stage, who closed their set with a cover of Led Zeppelin's “Immigrant Song.”
As the sun began to set, the mood changed from leisurely to high energy. moe stirred up the crowd with a light show flashing to their beats, while colorful balloons floated overhead. People packed up their blankets and moved in tighter around the stage to sing along with the famous lyrics “She knows nothing at all about life / but she knows everything about livin…” Everyone was in agreement that “moe shredded it.”
With the starry night sky above, headliner Trey Anastasio brought another jamming night of music to South Florida, keeping up with his star power reputation. People were still pouring in the entrance, paying a full days’ admission just to get a piece of the Phish legend. While under the swamp tent Sound Tribe Sector 9 sent fans into a trance with their electronic instrumental rock.
Day 2 & 3 by: Packy
Saturday brought another brilliant day to Langerado. It was obvious that the night before had taken a toll as patrons trickled in during the early afternoon and prepared for enjoyment. Past the gates to the beer tent and onto the piercing sounds of the organ and sax, the early morning drag was washed away with the fruitful grooves of Soulive. Soulive, a band that brings back jazz and shows the depth of their talent in nearly every song, was a good way to get ramped up for the day.
Then Perpetual Groove cooled down the crowd with their southern style eclectic tunes, which were as good as always. Their classic rifts are what Jam music is all about: exploring the outer spectrum of each song. A great performance by a band we can look forward to seeing a lot of in the future.
As the day turned to night, the masses shifted to a crowd favorite Medeski, Martin and Wood. This trio really brought it to the table with their mind-boggling acid jazz beats that turned everyone into dancing soldiers at the band’s fingertips. Michael, Franti and Spearhead then played to a fully attentive crowd bringing old classic to light and coving some interesting choices, from Sublime’s “What I Got” to a remixed version of “Nursery Show Rhymes.” The crowd was left dazed and dancing as always.
To end the evening The Disco Biscuits, who had played the night before at Revolution, opened with a version of “Paul Revere” that enticed a crowd that was ready for more. The Biscuit’s electric jazz came screaming out to enchant the crowd’s intellects and overwhelm their senses. The swamp tent, living up to it’s name, was swimming with people all getting a great view of one the most cherished bands by it’s followers newcomers alike.
Sunday started off no different than the two before, beautiful skies and fans scrambling to get to the venue. Highlights came locally from The Spam Allstars, a Miami favorite whose Latin funk moved their energetic supporters. And Pepper, with their Sublime-esque sound, brought forth some good afternoon punk.
Widespread Panic closed out the festival’s last night with an awesome set. A definite crowd pleaser, Panic’s southern style rock was a great end to this terrific weekend, jamming hard into the night, with the only negative being that it ended abruptly at 10:00 p.m.
The Langerado Festival is a great compilation of people, music and ages. Each band brings a piece to the table allowing for some fantastic characters, fun and some of the best music South Florida hardly gets to see live. Overall the Festival was a real success. A big THANK YOU for all those involved in bringing such a fun festival to our area.
Email Erin or Packy your thoughts: outloud@outloud.com
Michael Franti of Michael Franti & Spearhead
Rob Derhak of moe
Staton Moore and Rich Vogel of Galactic
Jeff Coffin of Beck Fleck and the Flecktones
Concert-goers sit by an illuminated art teepee
"Two Tone" Tommy & Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket
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