I made the trip over the weekend to the west Chicago suburb of Berwyn to see Son Volt headline Night 1 of American Festival. It's a great event, 4 days on 3 stages, 2 indoors and a mainstage tent in between the 2 bars. Beers was relatively cheap ($5-$6) and a nearby bar-b-que joint provided the tasty concessions. I would guess the attendance was somewhere in the 1,200 - 1,500 neighborhood.
It was essentially the same set list as I saw in Chicago, but I am good with that. No downturn at all and the band seems even tighter. I have not been that close to the stage since I saw the first version of SV at the Troubadour back in 1996.
Of the other artists I saw, I would highly recommend checking out SG Goodman (sort of like a Lucinda Williams protege) and Jackie Jensen (sort of like a female Prince protege). They can both bring it. I also saw the last half of the Waco Brothers, who rocked.
Huge bonus, walking distance from my cousin's house. I don't think it will be my last American Festival.
I made a return trip the 40th American Music Festival at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, Illinois.
Night 1 featured a headlining performance by Lucinda Williams. With previous plans to hit the Cubs matinee at Wrigley Field, we did not jump on tix for that night which sold out quick. Since I was staying close by, I wondered over to the venue she was playing at what I figured the midway point of her set, and stood on the sidewalk behind the tent she was playing in. There were about 50 of us freeloaders out there, and the venue made zero attempt to shoo us away.
Got see the back of Lucinda's head as she performed the last 5 songs of here main set, which included a heartfelt tribute to Tom Petty. I stuck around for her encore, which included
Rockin' In the Free World. She sounds great. Vocals only at this point and her band (the Buick 6) is very tight.
Turns out I missed by like two songs prior, a surprise appearance by Steve Earle (Day 2 Headliner), right off a plane from Ireland. They actually played one of his songs for which Sweet Lu had helped out on the original recording,
You're Still Standing There. Bummer.
Her voice still sounds strong, though she was helped by a lyrics sheet. Once she was done, she walked off the stage to a waiting car right behind us on the sidewalk and off she went.
Day 2 I was a paying ticket holder. Saw Miles Nielson and the Rusted Heart. They don't really sound anything his old man's group, Cheap Trick. Much more roots rock orientated. Really good.
Also on the bill was The Cactus Blossoms, who made the same journey as I did via 90/94 from the Twin Cities to the West Chicago suburbs. I have seen them a few times on the local circuit, including once at their Turf residency. They were a big hit, and the bar was full for their 5pm show.
Steve Earle's solo headline appearance was just awesome. They only other times I had seen him by himself were at the Minnesota Zoo as an opener, so he was limited to a sets a little over an hour.
Saturday was close, maybe over, 2 hrs. Early featured great runs of
Someday, Guitar Town & Taney Town. He was quite pleased with the audience took over on
Someday for the lyric and shouted back:
Someday I'll put her on the inner state and never look back
For the most part it was the usual stuff one would expect to hear at a Steve Earle solo show. While I love the Dukes, it's also great to hear the raw emotion of him solo.
CCKMP was unbelievably haunting.
Towards the end, he waxed nostalgic about his mentors Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker, all of which he has now done tribute albums. He told the story of playing
Mr Bojangles in HS at talent shows/plays and learning the guitar to pick up chicks. He was asked by the Walker family to sing a song at his burial.
If that wasn't emotional enough, it got really heavy with him discussing his son's Justin's overdose, his coping, and moving on by performing
Harlem River Blues. It's obviously somewhat cathartic.
Other huge highlights were
Transcendental Blues and
Copperhead Road. The whole thing was amazing.
Fortunately the predicted Saturday night storms stayed to the north of Berwyn and the show went on with barley a few drops of rain. Sunday, Berwyn was the epicenter of storms. Just under 9 inches fell. The nearby Eisenhower (290) was shut down just 2 exits to the west.
I hope I can get back for the 41st American Festival in 2024.
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