Jam on the River 2008 Festival – Penn’s Landing, Philly – Memorial Day weekend

June 2nd, 2008 - by aeshleman

Festivals, Philly, Reviews, Shows

See the epic mustache?

Ah summer time…what a fine season. The sleepy drone of lawnmowers filling the neighborhoods, diffusing the sweet smell of fresh-cut grass. Birds singing playfully. Bees dancing whimsically through their aimless choreography. Flowers vibrant, trees verdant. The nostalgic scent of chlorine and sunscreen. Long days, warm nights. And of course, that one thing that keeps summer in our heads all year long: outdoor music festivals.

This year, on a picture-perfect Memorial Day weekend, I kicked-off what promises to be a great summer of music at Philadelphia’s Jam on the River. As always, it was a great time. But there were a few differences from previous years, some for better and some for worse.

First, due to some kind of scheduling fiasco, the event had to be moved from the Great Plaza of Penn’s Landing to the Festival Pier. This was a shame. In fact, one of my favorite aspects of previous JOTR’s was the location. Picture standing on stadium-style steps looking past the stage out over the Delaware River, boats and jet skis skipping by. That’s the Great Plaza. It’s fairly small and there isn’t a bad viewing spot in the whole joint. There are fountains, shade trees and a gorgeous view of Camden (if there is such a thing) from across the river. It is a chill spot for a concert, and I missed it very much this year.

The Festival Pier, a much larger venue, was not bad, but it lacks the charm of the Great Plaza. With a giant stage, a circus-sized tent of vendors, and no view whatsoever, it’s a pretty lackluster scene.

Another striking difference this year was a rather weak line-up. Well, it wasn’t terrible, but there were only two acts I was really excited about: The Flaming Lips and the Disco Biscuits (more about them later.) I usually like to hit up both days of the festival, but this year I only felt the need to check out Saturday’s line-up.

The one positive change was the diminished presence of the corporate sponsor mascot douche-bag. You see, this event is always sponsored by Captain Morgan’s. That’s cool, I’m fine with that (especially considering the free tropical rum shots they hand out), but they’ve always hired this ass in a pirate costume to pose as host of the event.

Between bands he would run up on stage, prance around like a fool and obnoxiously try to rally the audience. But not this year. He didn’t get any microphone time. Thank God. He was still around though. I even talked to him a little while waiting in line for free shots.

Now for the music. When we first showed up we caught RJD2 mixing it up inside the giant tent. At first he was good. But just when I started to get my dance on, he brought a band. Cool, I though at first, this’ll probably be great, I mean RJD2 spinning his bouncy, funky beats with a live band. What could be bad about that?

Well, it wasn’t long before I did find out what was wrong with that. With the band he just didn’t sound like the RJD2 I know and love. He sounded, dare I say, queer? It was generic. Absolutely weak. Like some top-40 radio bullshit. After four or five songs the band stepped down and RJ played a few I knew, including “Cornbread, Eddie & Me,” a personal favorite.

Outside on the main stage, we saw Josh Ritter, a band I never heard of. He was alright, but kind of forgettable. That is except for the bass player’s righteous mustache (see main picture). This thing was huge. I was standing a good hundred feet back and I could still see its fullness and curled-up ends. Can’t say I’m not a little jealous.

Josh Ritter had a good sound. Tight and mellow. They sounded like Keller Williams or Ben Folds or something. Not bad at all. In fact, rather enjoyable. I especially appreciated a Modest Mouse cover they slipped in. They played “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes,” but with their own spin on it. The only way I was able to recognize the song was the familiar lyrics.

Next up was Bassnectar. Again, he was okay, but nothing special. His high-energy brand of techno contrasted sharply with Josh Ritter’s folky, laid-back style. But it was nice. It was like a blasting wake up call to your grooving muscles, which had previously been in sleep mode. At one point he sampled in “Hip-Hop” by Dead Prez and later did the classic “Around the World” by Daft Punk. He also threw in a little RJD2. I think RJD2 is a much better DJ and I was disappointed not to see him on the main stage.

Finally, after I had acquired a nice buzz from several $7 MGD’s and a few free Captain Morgan’s, the Disco Biscuits took the stage for their first set. They came out swinging with “Wizards in Winter,” a vicious Trans Siberian Orchestra cover.

Next came the ever popular party song “Morph Dusseldorf.” They continued gaining momentum through some slower songs until they hit a new favorite of mine “Rockafella.” They closed the set with a rousing rendition of “Air Song.” All throughout this first set, my friends and I kept finding ourselves asking, “I wonder what’s in store for us next.” We would soon find out.

The next set was straight fire. After a twenty minute break, they picked up right where they left off, taking the stage in a raging cyclone of rhythm and energy. I feel like a lot of the time the band’s performance hangs on that of Barber, their guitarist. And today he was zeroed in. He didn’t even hit one foul note during both sets. Today he scorched the Heavens, soloing clear out of the stratosphere. As the sun dipped behind the stage and dusk settled over the pier, the Disco Biscuits turned up the intensity. After the frenzied set drew to a close with “The World is Spinning,” – a song I’ve never heard live before – I felt totally drained. After about six straight hours of drinking and music I didn’t see how I was going to able to make it any longer. But Alas, I must persevere. I must. The Flaming Lips were up next and I was more excited about them than anything else.

What an unbelievable, unforgettable, unimaginable show the Flaming Lips put on. I’d never seen them before this, so I had no idea what was in store. Looking back, I’d say the show began hours before frontman Wayne Coyne took the stage. Men dressed as construction workers in Dayglo orange jumpsuits and hardhats and reflective safety vests were milling around backstage pretty much all day. As show time got closer they revealed the stage piece by piece, allowing the anticipation to build and build. First you saw them wheeling out neon orange amps that matched their uniforms. Then they began stringing LED lights up on a giant semi-circular structure that would later became a screen.

After the Biscuits wrapped up their set, the men-in-orange began an agonizingly long sound check. It all seemed to be orchestrated, just a tease to the audience. Wayne came out with the band. They would play a few bars, and just when you thought they were going to break into a song they halted. Wayne mumbled something into the mic and more men-in-orange rushed out for some last-minute tweaks. They fired up the brilliantly bright screen, just to run a few images and turn it to flat laser blue again. This went on and on. Tease after tease. I figured it had to part of the show because it didn’t seem very professional to be fooling around like this.

At long last the lights went off. The band kicked up a waltzy little number – i think it was “Race for the Prize.” Strobes kicked on. The screen flared to life. Confetti blasted from giant cannons filling the sky with waves of shimmering orange paper. Huge party balloons tumbled off the stage bouncing into the crowd. What a shock that was. After about a minute Wayne, encapsulated in an inflatable plastic bubble rolled into the audience, crawling his way around, trying to stand. A big goofy smile plastered itself on my face and remained for the rest of the show.

Throughout the entire show, Wayne shot confetti and streamers into the air from hand held confetti cannons. The stage was flanked by people – presumably picked from the crowd – wearing Ironman costumes dancing with hand-held spotlights.

On the left side an huge inflatable Santa Claus danced with the Ironmen and on the right an enormous green alien kept the guys on that side company. The semi-circular screen behind the stage pulsed with sharp imagary, sometimes a trippy galaxy/starfield, sometimes an image from a camera mounted on Waynes microphone that yielded a great shot up his nose, other times flashing rainbows, naked women, and all other kinds of crazy stuff.

Speaking of naked women, after conceding to the audience that he likes to picture them naked, he urged everyone to strip down for the next song. The audience had a good laugh but was taken aback when, moments later, four naked women ran out on stage and danced and bounced and jiggled for the rest of the song. Good God this was a great show. It seemed something totally surprising happened around every turn. They played all the songs I wanted to hear and even one or two I didn’t recognize. The band was phenomenally tight and synced right into the imagery behind them like clockwork.

In spite of all the wonderful foolishness The Flaming Lips bring to the stage, I do have a few complaints about the show. First off, when they played everyone’s favorite “Yoshimi” – a quirky little anime-flavored song – Wayne insisted that everyone sing along. It ended up being a kumbaya-style sing along session rather than the song I hold so dear. There’s nothing wrong with a little sing along, but when I’m paying to see a band, I expect to hear them play rather than hear an audience a cappella cop-out. Particularly when it’s my favorite song we’re talking about.

My next complaint involves Wayne. Man is that guy ever a talker. He blathered on about this and that the whole night, wasting precious minutes that could have been filled by beautiful Flaming Lips music. Things really got bad when he introduced the politically-charged “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.” He want off an a serious rant about Bush and the power of togetherness and of rock music to change the world and all other manner of other idealistic swill that died out with bell-bottoms. Jeez. Shut up and play already.

Finally, I was rather disappointed when I got home the next day and borrowed “UFO’s at the Zoo,” a Flaming Lips live DVD, from a buddy. It was filmed in 2006 and was essentially a carbon copy (minus the naked chicks) of the show I had just seen. That to me is weak. But hey, I’ll still see them again, even knowing they will play the exact same show. All and all I feel like this was a show I’ll be telling my grandkids about. It was that good.

After we left the Festival Pier feeling exhausted and satisfied on so many levels with the day, we headed over to the Electric Factory to catch a late-night performance by the Biscuits. We showed up late and missed almost the entire first set. I was fairly upset when I learned from a guy at the bar that I had missed “Crickets,” my all-time favorite Bisco song. No big deal though. I’m glad I saw The Flaming Lips.

And anyway, I’m disappointed to say that the performance here was so-so. They continued “Morph Dusseldof” and played a few other good songs. But it was a mediocre show. They didn’t play badly but they failed to top the second set at JOTR. Or perhaps I was just too tired and drunk to really appreciate it.