The 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru AWARDS: - a festival recap

The 21st Edition of WXPN's Summer Music Festival was quite the success!  Just a little lightning Sunday night was the only scare as the entire weekend went off without a hitch. No storm, no sick artists, great crowds, happy crowds, and incredible performances.   There was so much to see, it's near impossible to recap it all.  

So, for our best attempt to hit all the high points, here are The 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru  AWARDS:

Photo by Dan McGurk

Best Performance:  Hands down this was Man Man.  The JerseyArts.com Marina Stage was overrun by fans to eager to see Man Man, many of whom skipped the entire Lake Street Dive set, even cheering on the band's sound check.  Honus, Pow, Shono, and Brown Sugar put on an inspired show geared toward blowing minds.  Taking all the hits from On Oni Pond and mixing in more of their ongoing collection, the hometown Philly band had the intensity and moves of a luchador wrestler with outfits to match.  Don't confuse the intensity with gimmicks; Man Man was engaging and made connections with all the fans.  If you were not a fan before the show, there was no way they could have escaped your attention.  The fans were so frenzied they completely drowned out emcee Helen Leicht begging for an encore! 

Photo By Dan McGurk

Photo by Jeff Coon

Photo by Jeff Coon

Photo by Jeff Coon

Photo by Jeff Coon

Best Set:  J Roddy Walston & The Business.  
The set by Baltimore rockers J Roddy Walston & The Business gave seven reasons to be totally into this band.  Seven songs, all hits!  One rocker after another, these guys riled up the crowd with songs from their self-titled debut and last fall's Essential Tremors including "Don't Break The Needle", "Heavy Bells", and "Same Days".   No filler, no covers, J Roddy Walston came, rocked, and conquered.   It will be no small stretch to imagine the TLA filled with XPoNential Fest T-shirt wearing fans on November 8th, when J Roddy Walson & the Business come back to town

J Roddy Walson & The Business - photo by Dan McGurk

Best Hello Again:  Signaling how much artists like love working with WXPN, Nicole Atkins, Dave Hause, The Hold Steady, Ingrid Michaelson, The Districts, Joan Osborne, Diego Garcia, and Marah all made return trips to XPoNential Music Festival, but Dawes made a memorable 4th appearance.  Previously they played the 2010 River Stage, 2012 River Stage, and in 2013 were set for the River Stage, but set was cancelled due to storms.  Later that night, they joined My Morning Jacket at Susquehanna Bank Center Amphitheater to make the best of their trip to Camden, NJ.

For their fourth appearance Dawes had a short but sweet set which opened the 2014 SBC portion of the XPoNential Music Festival.  They played favorites "From A Window Seat", 'Time Spent In Los Angeles", "When My Time Comes", and "Most People" plus brand new song "Things Happen".

Best Goodbye:  The Districts said hello again to their WXPN family, playing their second XPoNential Festival opening for Band of Horses and Beck on Sunday .  However, at the end of the set at SBC they said goodbye to their brother of many years.  Guitarist Mark Larson played his last show with the Districts stepping away from the young band on a crazy journey.

Best opener:

Commonwealth Choir - Photo by Jeff Coon

Our Griffins - photo by Jeff Coon

Holy hell, this is a crazy one and no clear winner.  At first glance, it seemed WXPN followed a somewhat obvious model here: put the local band first, so we can check them off the list.  Yeah, but they didn't. In a lot of cases, the band that starts of the festival each day isn’t one that’s going to be remembered down the line, but what XPoNential Music Festival had was some amazing bands to start off each day.  There was no room for stragglers at this festival, as the lineups rocked from the start every stage/every day.   

On Friday, Lucius opened the River stage before an incredible evening lineup with The Hold Steady and Rodrigo y Gabriela.   Dawes and The Districts had the distinction of opening up at Susquehanna Bank Center Saturday and Sunday respectively.  Back at Wiggins Park on Saturday Our Griffins start off the marina stage and Commonwealth Choir the River stage, before a full day of great bands.  Likewise on Sunday Ginger Coyle and The Lawsuits made many people regret staying up so late the night before with their start-off spots!  All in all, there was no reason to show up late to this feast.  The lineup was solid beginning to end, leaving no spots to skip bands or find time to rest with these rousing bands kicking off each day.

Ginger Coyle - Photo by Dan McGurk

The Lawsuits - photo by Dan McGurk

Ingrid Michaelson - photo by Dan McGurk

Best Line-up:
Damn WXPN nailed it. I remember before the fest thinking: “yeah, they've got some bands I absolutely love on a local (The Districts, The Lawsuits, Our Griffins, Commonwealth Choir) and national level (J Roddy Walston & The Business, Lucius, Beck, Dawes) and bands I'm really curious about seeing (Man Man, Strand of Oaks, Ginger Coyle), but how can they compare to the incredible XPoNential '13?

Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff  - photo by Jeff Coon

WXPN did a great job of expanding my musical horizon in so many directions. Lots of bands, that I wasn't giving enough credit to, did fantastic jobs. Who knew that Rodrigo Y Gabriela were festival headlining strength, but damn, they were! (See BEST COVER below) Who knew that Ingrid Michaelson had some sass and brought a fun band with her to rock the River stage? Who knew that Lake Street Dive was cool enough to get the only encore of the Wiggins park side of the fest? Who knew Caitlin Rose was equally cute and talented? Who knew that Nicole Atkins has been channeling Stevie Nicks? Who knew Ginger Coyle would smile her way into the audience's attention and woo them with her songs? Who knew The Lawsuits would rock so hard (ok I knew that, but you get the point)

Everywhere you looked on the line-up it was a band you needed to know (Our Griffins, Lucius, Commonwealth Choir; a band you might not have caught onto before (Jeremy Messersmith, The Hold Steady, Old 97’s, The Lawsuits), legends (James Cotton, Trigger Hippy) and new hip popular artists that were doing the festival circuit (Hurray For the Riff Raff, Lake Street Dive, Band of Horses, Houndmouth, and more).  Kudos XPN!

Best Visit To My Youth:  Beck.  Although he didn't bite on my offer to hang before the set, the set was amazing.  To quote John Vettese over at the Key "He played “Derbra.” He played freaking “Debra.” Unbelievable."  Seriously, he only skipped over Mutations in his career spanning set.  He could have gone all Beck on us, and played songs from Song Reader or just songs from Morning Phase but seeing as how he hasn't been to Philly/Camden in years.  He did made up for it with a best of.  While "Debra" blew many a mind, "Beercan" was the hat tip to the serious fans taking the non-hit and making it a party anthem!

Best Beard:  We'll let you decide:

Will Chamuris of Commonwealth Choir - Photo by Dan McGurk

Brendan Cunningham of The Lawsuits - Photo by Jeff Coon

Tim Showalter - Strand of Oaks - Photo By Jeff Coon

Longest Commute:  XPoNential attendees may have been surprised to find the little treat from across the pond. London's Bear's Den took the JerseyArts.com Marina Stage in the afternoon, amongst the many local acts throughout the fest. Impressing the crowds despite the heat of the sun bearing down on us. They even played the growing crowd favorite, "Elysium," who's breathtaking video has been making it's rounds on the interwebs as of late. Bear's Den have been busy touring this year, having just been in Philly back in March for Communion Philly's Clubnight. Rumour has it that their debut album announcement may be coming up soon...  (by Carolyn Lederach)

Bear's Den

Rodrigo y Gabriela - photo by Jeff Coon

Best Cover: This is a serious toss up.  It could be either Lake Street Dive with their Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" encore or Beck taking on "Billie Jean" each getting major attention, but Friday night's headliners Rodrigo y Gabriela take the prize with some crazy covers ranging from Pink Floyd to Metallica to Radiohead.  The covers were remarkable for many reasons, the most significant was the out of character vocals by Rodrigo for Stone Temple Pilots, "Creep" and Red Hot Chili Peppers "Breaking The Girl", that really brought it home.  Not only did they go a little off-radar, but with this instrumental group actually singing a few lyrics was the cherry-on-top!

Rodrigo y Gabriela - photo by Jeff Coon

Best Family Experience \ Fan :  Lucius
XPoNential Festival, is hands down the best experience for all music fans.  From the wonderful care WXPN takes for it's members with the free drinks, meet & greets, and $5 youth tickets; it's a great way to bring a child to the show for just a bit without crushing the budget.  This year I took my daughter to see one of her favorites, the gorgeous Lucius.  

She loved every minute of the set.  She loved getting in line to meet them.  She loves listening to the LP and and treasures the experience!

http://www.xpn.org/xponential-music-festival/2014/xpnfest-fan-gallery - Photo by Rachel Barrish

Photo by Patti Wyatt

1. Genevieve (Lucius EP)
2. Tempest
3. Nothing Ordinary
4. Go Home
5. Don't Just Sit There
6. How Loud Your Heart Gets
7. Wildewoman
8. Turn It Around





Best Family Experience \ Band : Marah.

Photo by Jeff Coon

The JerseyARts.com Marina Stage set by Marah was unexpected on so many levels.  First the band broke every rule of bluegrass.  The went electric, they looked like rock n rollers who picked up the wrong instruments, and they rocked so very hard.

Every where you looked or listened, there was a great divergence from what "they were supposed to"
sound like.   But then things got weird.  The excitement over Marah was eclipsed by two young brothers named Gus & Huck.  They were cute, yes, that's true.  But they both had some serious skills they brought to the stage.  These junior masters did an incredible job on stage, undaunted by the crowd.  Check out a quick video by site contributor Jeff Coon of Marah.

Marah - Photo by Jeff Coon