After ACLs and an Outside Lands in my mid-to-late twenties and Bonnaroo two years in a row at 29 and 30, I was officially ready to hang up my festival hat, convinced I'd rather spend $100 on tickets to see a great band in a small space instead of $200 to see lots of bands in a huge, hot, crowed space with a bunch of sleep-deprived, smelly kids.
And then, I moved to New England, and read about the Newport Folk Festival. Sure, it's been around for 53 years, but you know what? I was under the age of 30 and lived west of the Mississippi. Fiddles?? Anyhow, my fave band and the boyfriend's fave band were both headlining, and there were a lot of reasons it'd be better than any Coachella or Lolla.
We stayed at my cousin's place in Newport (no, not a mansion). We rented a car to get down there, took our bikes so we could ride into Fort Adams State Park and avoid the hour long line of cars and parking fee.
We were practically the first two people to get there on Saturday, having zoomed by everyone in their cars on the park roads coming in - also, BEST. FEELING. EVER. In case you haven't been, it really is a fort. They have those in this part of America. Stages are set up in and around the big stone walls. You had to walk through a little corridor to get inside to the quad where a stage and a beer garden were. And on the other side of the fort are the harbor and bay. Sure, as the COS reviewer mentions, Guthrie may not have approved of the rich folk partying on their boats, but they weren't in my way. And that's better than kids talking loudly in front of the band I'm trying to enjoy. There were way fewer of the latter here.
Hippies selling their wares inside the soon-to-be-full quad of the fort
We saw a little bit or more of Apache Relay, Dawes, Head & the Heart, Guthrie Family Reunion, Gary Clarke Jr., Alabama Shakes, Blind Pilot, New Multitudes (amazing), Conor Oberst (flashback to 2004-2006), Trampled by Turtles, My Morning Jacket and Jackson Browne. And many of the artists brought each other up to help with their sets, which was pretty cool, too.
The highlight for me was My Morning Jacket's show, but of course I'm biased. While it ended a couple songs early due to the lightning, what followed was exciting: Pretty much the heaviest rain I have ever been in. It started to fucking pour the minute MMJ quit. We were handed a shitty garbage bag poncho on the way out as the whole crowd rushed the exit. We were drenched by the time we got to our bikes. And we rode through the hilly, winding streets out of the park in sheets of rain and through gushing streams and puddles deep enough to be swallow a bike. Halfway home, I couldn't keep the water out of my eyes so I was practically riding blind. May as well have been swimming underwater. I didn't even know if a bike would work in that kind of water. It did. Which was good, because those downhills needed brakes. It was kind of exhilarating. I mean, once you're soaked, who cares, right?
The "oh shit it's coming" photo
But then it did the same thing at pretty much the exact same time the following night for Jackson Browne, and, well, that ride home sucked. Once in the rain is fun. Twice in the rain and my legs were fucking screaming as I pedaled and I was over it.
All in all, the crowds were nice and well behaved, the food was great - or at least, one place was. We got the same Greek food both days, but it was amazing. The sound was good. The price was right. And it ended by 8pm each night so us old folk could be home in time for dinner and bed. The most annoying people I saw was the group next to us from Texas (shocker), which they proudly proclaimed as they passed around their disguised booze and lone star bandanas. Another positive for the old folks crowd is that you had to drink your beer in the beer garden - on one hand, lame, but also kind of a great way to control the little shits who get obnoxious.
The best, most reasonably priced festival food ever
If you're looking for a festival to retire to, this is it.
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