Once again the great folks at 24/7 Entertainment set up camp in Baltimore’s Carroll Park for the second annual Shindig Music Festival. This time music legends Jane’s Addiction held the reins as headlining act and captivated Baltimore music fans with an ample dose of their brand of eccentric west coast Rock and Roll.
While I didn’t think that the Shindig Festival could ever outdo the experience they provided in their inaugural 2013 season, this year’s festival featured a wonderful and diverse group of musicians who played throughout the day—not to mention some of my personal favorite bands to see live—Clutch and Jane’s in particular.
Shindig also welcomed Lucero, Fishbone, and Gogol Bodello into the mix for 2014. The ever-mighty Clutch served as the mainstay act and is one of the few bands to return from last year’s festival. (I can only hope that Clutch should return again in 2015 and show everyone how things are done around here.) Overall, the lineup was slightly stronger this year, largely based upon Jane’s as the headliner. I mean, lets face it, as hard as it is to follow last year’s line-up where Dropkick Murphys, Joan Jett, and Clutch brought down the house, Jane’s Addiction had no problem stepping in and blowing away the crowd at the night’s end.
It’s always a good sign of things to come when festivals can outdo themselves and improve progressively, even when it’s just the small things. It seems that the front gates and will call area had been expanded to get people inside faster and the festival seemed to run right on schedule. The two stage / no overlapping sets are great so attendees can hear every note of every band that the festival has to offer. The basic layout of the festival remained about the same as last year too, and Shindig still rocked some of the best names in Baltimore’s drinking and dining establishments with an arsenal of food and drink choices which included Dangerously Delicious Pies, Mother’s Grille, and even drink vendors like Jack Daniels, Genius, and Jagermeister.
Readers will have to excuse my tardiness to Saturday’s show as I unfortunately did not make it to the festival on time this year and therefore did not get the full “Shindig experience.” I was in fact out joyriding with my friend and TVD writer, Michael H. Little when we discovered that some sort of alien spacecraft had landed right on the Baltimore Washington Parkway. It turns out that the spaceship was there to drop off the members of Gogol Bordello to Shindig.
While it’s always been clear to me that Gogol Bodello was “not of this Earth,” it’s really nice to have my suspicions confirmed and perhaps now I’ll be able to get some sleep at night instead of wondering where the hell their music comes from. Although it was a little freaky at the first sight of our alien encounter, I simply chose to put all of our interstellar differences aside and do what I could to photograph the rest of the festival properly. Luckily, I made it in time to see Clutch play and also to secure some additional photographs by my good friend Erica Bruce. She got to cover all the moments that I had missed and like everyone else at the festival, she knew nothing of Gogol Bordello’s spaceship.
When Jane’s Addition took the stage, a thick, heavy rumble of bass guitar provided by Chris Chaney set the pace and the mood with the opening chords of “Up The Beach.” The rest of the band added their parts as they appeared before us, and as drummer Steve Perkins hit his beginning snare drum note, you knew Jane’s Addiction had arrived.
Dave Navarro took the stage wearing his classic stage attire—tight, black leather pants/ no shirt—and the crowd went wild. Perry Farrell, who is always sharply dressed for his performances, emerged form the back of the stage complete with a fitted pin stripe suit and custom hat. He went right to his wooden vocal processor and howled the introductions to the song. Jane’s was in full swing and it was great to hear them in the Baltimore air. The band always conveys a larger than life presence and it really comes through in their live performance.
The setlist included classics like “Ocean Size,” the ever-present “Jane Says,” the cultish “Summertime Rolls,” and “Mountain Song.” For their encore Jane’s blasted through popular favorites, “Been Caught Stealing” and “Stop!”
This year’s Shindig Festival wailed loudly into the night and once again provided Baltimore music fans with an amazing experience. This year also proved once again that the Shindig is one of the best, and most fun end of Summer festivals in our area and is on its way to becoming a Baltimore tradition that will hopefully endure for years to come.
JANE’S ADDICTION
GOGOL BORDELLO
RISE AGAINST
CLUTCH
LUCERO
FISHBONE
