Kid Koala
Date: July 6, 2007 Broken Strings and Mosquitos Day 3 of Bluesfest was one of superlative musical craftsmanship, in a wide range of styles. Although I only saw three acts on this day, each was as technically impressive as they were fun. First off was Wil, who served as my introduction to the Blacksheep Stage, one of the two smaller festival stages. As with the first time that I saw Wil, his guitar skills were assisted only by a drummer; but the two had no trouble kicking out enough noise to fill the mostly-open ground in front of the stage. Wil started with a series of folk-rock songs, setting a casual mood. It wasn't until a string broke that things got truly interesting, though. Joking about his decision to not pack a backup guitar due to the high cost of extra airline baggage, he instead tuned his instrument to compensate. After being unsatisfied with a five-string version of his next song, Wil decided that the best thing to do was cut another string, taking out the middle pair and laying into a blistering four-string solo. This was the first moment that really showed off Wil's amazing guitar talent; and the small crowd of early arrivals, which had been entertained to this point, seemed to be blown away. From there, Wil picked up his second guitar, which was specifically targeted for the slide blues that he used to finish the set. In the end, this was a perfect opening set: Wil and his drummer had evoked a casual mood in the sunshine, chatting with the fans while delivering a great set of music. The second act of the evening for me was Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, which brought me back to the large stage. Where Wil had saved his most impressive talents for a few choice moments, Fleck and his band served up a continuous wave of virtuoso performances. It was the kind of concert in which the crowd cheered after every solo, of which there were many. Victor Wooten was a monster on bass; his brother Roy Wooten (FutureMan) dazzled with a Drumitar, a custom made drum machine in a guitar body; Jeff Coffin sometimes played two saxophones at once; while Fleck demonstrated his nimble picking on the banjo. The banjo sound gave the music a bluegrass foundation but the final product was a mix of styles, with a strong jazz feel to the playing. The band tried to keep a light mood in the midst of such towering musicianship; and their rabid fan base clearly adored their every effort. After a set that approached an hour and a half, I found myself impressed by somewhat exhausted by the band's output. I returned to the Blacksheep Stage to see Kid Koala, who was already playing to a full crowd. While the grounds in front of the stage had been almost bare three hours earlier, Koala had drawn a large and responsive audience. I had seen Koala play at Virgin Festival last year, crammed into a very tight time slot while the stage was being set for The Flaming Lips. On this night, he proved capable of filling a headliner's time slot, whether displaying turntable skills, such as the "mosquito blues scratch"; finding the perfect sample ("if he's married, I wonder what kind of bear his wife thinks he is"); or simply acting as a party DJ, blending songs for the crowd. A video mounted above his turntables provided a visual focus for an art that can be difficult to appreciate from the floor. He also periodically flipped through a large pad of paper that he had set up beside his equipment, scrolling through his messages to the crowd. A soft touch like that goes a long way in a DJ set, humanizing the performance; and Kid Koala was a consistently likeable performer. Although I saw three very different acts on the first Friday of Bluesfest, each displayed a notably high level of musicianship, resulting in a commonality that I had not considered going into the evening. As is often the case, the festival approach offered a look at disparate artists that added up to a cohesive night of fun. <--Prev (Bob Dylan/Radio Birdman) | Next (Manu Chao)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |