Concert Review: North vs. South Festival, 8/23/08
North Vs. South Festival
Saturday, 8-23-08
Better than: Getting slaughtered in an early morning raid by Confederate sympathizers.
By RICHARD GINTOWT
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Brothers and Sisters
Ever showed up to summer camp a couple days late and felt like you missed all the fun? That's a bit how I felt Saturday night at the third and final evening of the North Vs. South music festival, where the crowd collectively looked like a zombie on a sleepless coke binge. I asked festival director Mike McCoy if he had a long night Friday and he deadpanned “a long two months.” Presumably he was referring to all the work that went into planning the festival, which invited 70 bands from Minneapolis, Texas, Kansas City and beyond.
The first four editions of the festival took place in Lawrence, using that town's Civil War history as the symbolic inspiration for the North vs. South theme. The events provided a convenient way to inhabit another town's music scene for an eve or two and check out a bunch of bands that are relatively unknown outside of their respective regions (and maybe inside them as well).
The festival's first year in Kansas City was hindered by the fact that its five venues – The Brick, The Record Bar, Harling's, Davey's Uptown and a converted Crossroads warehouse called Big Al's Speakesy – were spread across town, making it highly impractical to get smashed and drive from venue to venue. But with a bit of self-imposed restraint, I managed to get to four venues Saturday night and save the DUI for my dreams.
I kicked things off at the Brick, where armchair historian Sean Williams related an account of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence. A respectful audience listened attentively as Williams painted a picture of abject terror, portraying the raid as the work of dubious rogues who simply wanted to loot the town. We shared a toast to peace and agreed to appreciate not being pulled out of our beds at 5am and shot in cold blood.
From there it was on to Harling's Upstairs to see F for Fake – an Austin band that caught my ear with goofy lyrics like Not everyone who rides the bus is crazy / But when a crazy person has to go somewhere, they take the bus. Apparently songwriter Kevin Higginbotham has also written an album about the Peloponnesian War, which sounds about as exciting as a sunburn, but kudos. His band's ramshackle take on alt-country and lo-fi folk is charming but a bit sloppy in the live setting. It didn't help that there was no sound guy at Harling's, the monitors didn't work and the one working microphone elicited 30 seconds of hell-raising feedback. I split about the time the band shamelessly copped the riff from Led Zeppelin's “Dancing Days,” which is a pretty good riff, but maybe better left for Led Zeppelin.
Beaten By Them
Next up was the Record Bar and Beaten By Them, an instrumental band that cooks up some languid jams in the style of Dirty Three. The Australian quintet rounds out its lineup with a cellist and a laptop for samples (though I could rarely hear them and I suspect guitarist Andrew Harris may have been simply perusing lolcats). Beaten by Them's recent album Signs of Life is distributed by Thrill Jockey, a label that shares the band's obsession with heady compositions that crescendo and ebb. The Record Bar proved to be perfect stage for the group's slow-building numbers. Instrumental bands in such nebulous territory sometimes are lost causes on pop-trained ears like mine, but these Aussies suckered me in and put on a not-sleepy performance.
With lackluster crowds at the first two shows, I was hoping to find the pulse of the North Vs. South Festival at Big Al's Speakeasy – a warehouse in the Crossroads District with a makeshift stage. Apparently this place was ragin' on Friday night, but folks just looked plumb pooped when I rolled in. Thankfully, Brothers and Sisters perked things up with a poppy set of alt-country numbers that reeked sweetly of The Jayhawks (always a good thing).
The Austin group is out in support of its new album Fortunately, which sounds more lush and perky than its also laudable 2006 debut. The only disappointment was the low level on Lily Courtney's vocals, which mesh comfortably with those of her actual brother Will Courtney. Guitarist Ray Jackson is an ace on pedal steel, an instrument that seduces me back with dirty text messages every time I break up with it. Apparently Jackson's steel prowess is powered by marijuana, because he repeatedly made onstage overtures for it. I don't know if he succeeded in finding any, but it's rarely a good idea to advertise that thing on a PA system when a cop is parked outside. Weed or no weed, Brothers and Sisters are a big ol' bong hit of sunny California twang pop.
A few closing thoughts about the festival:
• Kansas City is a great place to host a festival and connect with local fans, but Lawrence is a better place to find five venues within walking distance. I wouldn't mind seeing it back in Larryville next year.
• Given the caliber of talent, I was hoping to find bigger crowds. Maybe a cheaper ticket ($5 all-access?) would do the trick, or maybe it's just a tough sell given the geography of it all.
• Beyond this weekend, North vs. South helps create a network for these bands to come to KC the rest of the year. Kudos to the promoters who make it happen; their labor of love is our scene's gain.
Critic's bias: Minneapolis and Austin = The Jayhawks and Spoon. 'Nuff said.
Random detail:
By the way: Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy = beer lemonade = surprisingly refreshing.
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