NORMAN — If anyone tells you they heard all the music at the 2010 Norman Music Festival, know it’s a whopping fib.
There was a year’s worth of concerts packed into two full days. The first two years of the festival were impressive but it only got better on this charming third effort.
Saturday, April 24 found Norman’s downtown awash with people walking from show to show. Guestroom Records has an alley alcove behind thier store that works great for concerts. Easy Lovers played a mid-afternoon set before yielding to Mickey Reece’s latest project Gang Starr Museum that came on like gangbusters. They played an explosive cover of Cherry Bomb.
Wandering down to Bill and Dees found the joint hopping wall to wall for Plaid Rabbit’s show.
Next stop was at the Latino stage and it was my bad fortune to arrive just as Son del Barrio was wrapping up their hot salsa performance.
A few blocks away, I got in line for entrance to the Brewhouse Stage. Klipspringer has played infrequently of late but their fan base remains loyal. Their energetic several songs went to a capacity crowd. Similarly Love Button’s faithful followers attended en masse which left the bass player’s mom who’d arrived late listening from the sidewalk.
Sunday, April 25, dawned clear, promising a perfect day of festival weather. I headed for the Blackwatch Studios stage and heard Red Alert from Tulsa. They’re a power pop/rock trio founded by siblings Hank III (21) and Christy (15) Hanewinkel. Many will recall their first project, a White Stripes cover band called the Red Stripes. Red Alert played SWSW this year. Here in Norman they demonstrated a joyful polish and sophistication. No reliance on imbecilic levels of volume necessary, Red Alert’s songs stick to the fundamentals of lyricism and musicality.
The Jagermeister stage hosted hayseed music and to my mind some of this festival’s most memorable. The Hillbenders did an old school Ozark radio set like you’d have heard crackling across 1947 airwaves. “Lord make it easier on me,” was their sung prayer asking for money to grow on trees and drinks for free.
Oklahoma City rapper Jabee gave a rest in peace shout-out to Michael Jackson from the main stage. “Cash rules everything around me,” he intoned before gliding into a series of ancient rhythm and blues samples. Jabee’s album “Blood is the New Black” is the metro’s best hip hop to date.
Mike Hosty dished up “Mac ‘n’ Cheese” for the masses, turning his set into a fist-pumping shout along. Nothing says Cleveland County funk like songs about pterodactyls (“why’d you have to die”), “metho-cyclones” and chicken fry in the slammer. “From now on this stage will be set up here at Main and Porter every weekend,” Hosty promised.
Grupo Fantasma was arguably the main stage highlight. They were a huge Latino brass and percussion fiesta from Austin.
“I usually hear a lot of crappy bands on this job, but these guys are good,” stage security officer Ben Bishop said.
It was a street dance party from jump.
Those Darlins from Murfreesboro, Tenn., gave us some “Red Light Love” in the first number of their raucous alt-country smash up. Quite rightly “DUI or Die” was performed from the Jagermeister stage. Lead vocalist Jesse Darlin channeled Wanda Jackson’s golden pipes in one tune. Nikki Darlin shredded and scarfed some rotisserie chicken during her vocal solo. A fan had brought the bird in honor of Those Darlins’ tune “The Whole Damned Thing,” an anthem to gnoshing under the influence.
The Sword played serious head banging heavy metal. They were long, loud and heavy. Murking and occasionally transfixing, The Sword inspired ecstasy in fans who looked like they’d just come from the State Fair.
Electric Six’s Dick Valentine was asked in the interview room to comment on Oklahoma’s U.S. Senatorial delegation. Last time in Norman he’d publicly invited Mssrs. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn to a gay bar. His comment about them here was unprintable in a community newspaper. Later Electric Six rocked a high voltage show that lit up the Oklahoma dusk.
Dirty Projectors show was Flaming Lips lite. Tingling lips perhaps from these musician’s musicians.
“We drove up from Texas today and saw grasses and flowers. It was lovely,” their front man said between numbers in a gently groovy show.
Norman Music Festival III was a delight on so many levels. The organizers have set the bar at a dizzy height for themselves in 2011.
