Hoo Boy! Day two and all was well! Overcast skies hovered above the festival grounds Sunday morning but of course did not deter the thousands of music goers from flooding in to gorge themselves on the music set aside for July 19th.
The Wailers helped lay the foundation for day two with and early set in the Rhapsody tent. The vocals were smoothly laid down by frontman Elan Ataias. The set predictably and satisfactorily pulled from the entire list of hits that were originally recorded by Mr. Marley. Rhapsody was bustin’ at the seams with people gathered far beyond every portal showing that the spirit of The Wailers could reach anyone within relative proximity.
A quick jump across the field took us to see Aussie ensemble Jet. The boys came out to a sunny stage and a very full crowd. They laid heavily on promoting a lot of tracks off their new album “Shaka Rock”. On the second song of the set they cracked into K.I.A, one of the singles from the August 25th dropping album. Before playing the nearly maddeningly anticipated Are You Gonna Be My Girl in the six slot, Nic Cester, prepped the crowd with, “Alright, lets do this...” After the obtusely exposed single was over, they went through a handful more songs not forgetting tracks like Cold Hearted Bitch and Rollover DJ.
Gogol Bordello provided hands down the most energetic set of the festival. Eugene Hütz brought his gypsy energy to Main Stage West and destroyed! We took a moment to regroup and then headed to see Devotchka. It was awesome to run into AWD fan and frontman Nick Urata backstage. He told us about how he just bought an iPhone and how it had totally taken over his life. When Castro joked about a possible iPhone app, Nick stated that there was actually one in the works. iPhone users and Devotchka fans alike stay aware!
After Devotchka, Robert headed back to the Rhapsody Tent to check out 3OH!3 and I went right back to Main Stage West for Thievery Corporation. Since I have heard Thievery Corporation’s music for years but had never seen them live, I tried to go into it as clear headed as possible with no knowledge of how they set up. I was amazed to see how many different people they brought on stage. It was an endless cycle of artists as they built a solid setlist from their six album library.
We did the overlapping set shuffle and rolled back to the the Westword Tent to catch Matisyahu. He threw down a chill emcee set taking off his Red Stripe hat partway through to reveal his kippuh underneath.
As the sun began its long decent in and out of threatening but, in the end, harmless storm clouds, we headed back to the Playstation Experience to have a rematch at MLB ’09 The Show. The end results don’t need to be discussed right now but it was an even match up...
8:30 found Castro in the pit and myself in the crowd enjoying hometown boys The Fray. There was a sense of local pride in the air as Isaac and Company played on a massive stage with a giant light show. “I don’t say this in any other city...it’s good to be home.” Isaac told the crowd. and they kept filing in from the Pepper show.
The second time around for the MHMF was successful and smooth. Dick’s Sporting Goods Complex got turned to dust again and a whole lot of Front Range occupants were supplied with killer tunes and a solid lineup. It seems that MHMF has a five year contract with the DSGC which equals three more summers. Denver is starting to really come into its own on the music scene and with festivals like this and the upcoming Monolith Festival at Red Rocks, it shows that we will be holding it down for a while.
You can see more pics here
Also check out my pics on the Denver Post's Reverb
