Resonate Suwannee — Saturday Spectacular!
Resonate Suwannee closed the books Saturday evening (well, early Sunday) with a landmark set by hosts STS9, who earlier in the day had also delivered a magnificent Axe the Cables set. (Koan Sound had one final set in the Music Hall as well.)
The day started with a deluxe one-two punch from two of the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park’s favorite musical ambassadors: Vlad the Inhaler and Booty Boo (married with an 11-month-old!). They both led off with fine dance sets.
Dumpstaphunk returned to the Amphitheater stage they have played many times before. The band was minus bass player Nick Daniels III (in New Orleans and on the mend) but plus Ms. Nikki Glaspie on drums(!!) and singer ? Hawkins. There is funk, and then there’s NOLA funk! Great varied setlist, too! And so great to see Ian Neville shred!
Humandala was entertaining the fans on the EDM stage. Not my cup of tea.
Unfortunately, I missed too much of the set more people will be talking about than any other: Moontricks. Nathan Gurley and Sean Rodman play electro-folk or techno-bluegrass or something (it’s not Americana… because they’re Canadian). Whatever you call it, there was magic to their set. They’ve just released their first album. Do your research!
I have mentioned before — and will mention it repeatedly — that the superstars of the weekend were the sound engineers on all three stages. Best sound I can remember at a festival: start to finish. Case in point: Cimafunk. They just had three sets on Jam Cruise. Their Pool Deck set was OK, sound-wise. The one that should have been magical, in the theater, was instead a sonic disaster. The Cimafunk set at Resonate was PERFECTION (well, his mic was too low at the beginning). You could hear everybody and everything. The Resonate crews ROCKED.
And of course Cimafunk managed to get 30 or 40 dancers on stage for “Me Voy”!
Maddy O’Neal kept the dance party going on the Porch Stage.
The Tycho set was a true mixed bag. This was a set with his band. There was a technical issue at the beginning, and it seemed like there were others. There was no flow to the set: song, 30-45 seconds of silence, song. After the first 20 minutes, they played some great material, especially a new single and debut music from an album to come out in the fall. In fairness, they had not played out in almost a year, but he’s been in the business a long time.
Ott. was back for round two on the EDM stage. I made my only (successful) trip to the Music Hall. There is no reason to delay FUTURE JOY when you can have it now! Emily Cooper and Zachary David Simms were their usual delightful selves, bouncing, dancing, singing, saxophoning, and choir-directing. Also Emily crowd-surfing in a huge blow-up unicorn pool float! And Eric Kaufman absolutely nailed the sound in the hall!
That left it to hosts STS9 to follow up on their amazing Axe the Cables set with one of the greatest jamtronica sets I’ve ever heard!
Next year? DAMN SKIPPY!
Thanks to STS9, Paul Levine & Purple Hat Productions, Essential Productions, Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, and all of the vendors, volunteers, staff, LEOs, fire and rescue workers, and anyone I’ve missed. Full review coming.
