The Revival Festival is a two day event held out in the Texas Hill Country at the Nutty Brown Amphitheater. While this venue is quite a distance away from the city, the setting is quite nice. Plenty of shade under the Live Oak trees, lots of places to sit, and enough places to buy beer so you didn't get stuck in line for hours on end. Nutty Brown is really a great venue and I'd like to see more events held out there.
The general gathering place and the busiest place on the sight had to be the Gretsch booth. People were attracted like moths to a flame by the shiny and brightly colored guitars of Gretsch not to mention the beautiful Gretsch girl; Kim Falcon who was on hand to sign posters. Marketing manger Joe Carducci was also around to answer any questions you had about Gretsch guitars. There was also a steady flow of Gretsch artists like Buzz Campbell around to talk shop with.
Gretsch girl - Kim Falcon
Gretsch Marketing Manager - Joe Carducci
Day One
On the first day I was running late. I missed the first two bands, but made it just in time to catch the Blasters starting their set. The Blasters have a hybrid blues / rockabilly sound and singer Phil Alvin puts 100% of his energy into the show. Joining the group on guitar (presumably filling Dave Alvin's shoes) was local Austin guitarist Nick Curran. Nick has been battling with cancer and although he looked gaunt he played with much energy and fire.
The Blasters kicked out a frenetic set of some of their most well known songs as well as a slew of standards. The band was pretty tight although you could tell at times that they haven't been playing together for some time.
Phil Alvin
Nick Curran
Up next was Lee Rocker of Stray Cats fame. His band featured two kick ass guitarists, Buzz Campbell from Hot Rod Lincoln and Brophy Dale. As you might expect the music was straight up rockabilly ala Stray Cats. The guys rocked out many Stray Cats tunes as well as some Lee Rocker originals and a few standards. Lee rocker was amazing, working that big doghouse bass and singin' and croonin' away the night. The crowd was boppin' and rockin' and they were obviously the crowd favorites that night, and for good reason.
Lee Rocker
Buzz Campbell
Ending out the night was local Austin western swing legends Asleep At The Wheel. I was a bit puzzled as to why they were chosen to close out the night. It was pretty obvious that the crowd was just as puzzled as I and half of the audience trickled away. Front man Ray Benson and group are always tight and they do what they do well, but they lacked some sort of spark. About halfway through the set I found my self falling asleep (at the wheel) and decided to call it a night since I had a very long motorcycle ride back into town.
Ray Benson
Day Two
I was able to make it out early on day two. The weather was cloudy and mild and generally perfect for a festival. The first band to go on was Buzz Campbell and Hot Rod Lincoln from San Diego, these dudes are straight up high-octane rockabilly and really blazed through their entire set. Killer leads, frenetic bass-lines, rocket fueled drumbeats are their signature. If you haven't heard these guys check 'em out. My favorite part was when they slowed things down and did a kick-ass version of Springteen's I'm On Fire (which I've always wanted to cover). The drummer Stinky came out from behind the kit to play brushes on a Gretsch box. Nice...
Buzz Campbell
Stinky and Jonny
Up next was Matt Hole and Hot Rod Gang from Corpus Christi. These guys blazed. The play fast and furious psychobilly. Matt really knows his way around a fretboard and he's got a cool buzzsaw pickguard on his 6120. The bass player may look like a hippie but he was all over that bass and kicked out some serious low-end groove. You have to see these guys if they ever come to your town.
Matt Hole
Up next was a very surprising addition to the lineup, and I don't mean good surprise. It was horrid. Rick Treviño. This guy is a cross between main-stream Nashville schlock and crappy Tejano music. Absolutely wretched. I took this time to kick it back stage and swill down a few beers with Kim Falcon and Eddie and Scott from the Supersuckers.
After the debacle of Rick Treviño the Supersuckers were up. I was wondering whether they were going to do country or rock and they came out and rocked the joint. Unfortunately their set was cut short to about 20 minutes. Just as they were getting warmed up they had to go. At least they got a few of their hits out there and played my favorite tune "Dirt Roads, Dead Ends, and Dust". The really crappy part about them getting cut short was that it was obvious that the crowd wanted more. Rick Treviño played for an hour to about half the crowd that the 'suckers had.
After the 'suckers blazed through their short set it was time for the main attraction. "The Killer" Jerry Lee Lewis. Once the band was set up they played played about 5 songs. Without Jerry Lee. Once again this could have been time that the Supersuckers could have had. I'm sorry, but nobody really wanted to hear Jerry Lee's backing band sing old standards.
The Killer took stage to thunderous applause. Now I would love to say that Jerry Lee came out and tore it up, but I'd be lying. He's old. His piano playing doesn't quite have the flourish that it used to but you can still here that familiar Jerry Lee signature in there. His voice is a little hoarse and tends to waver, but he's still The Killer and it was good to see him up there. He performed all of the hits and although he didn't blow me away, he was still great. Long live The Killer!
Jerry Lee Lewis
All in all it was a pretty good time. I have to say that they treated the photographers somewhat snobbishly. I was denied an all access pass and damn near didn't get to shoot Jerry Lee because of it.
I heard plenty of grumblings from the festival goers complaining about the high ticket prices ($50!!!/day) and the odd lineup. The general consensus seemed to be that people wanted more rockabilly.
Other complaints were that there wasn't a car show anymore and the number of vendors had dwindled to almost nothing. I can't attest to these facts because this was my first year to attend, but from the number of people that were unhappy I'd say they need to do another revamp of this festival or it's gonna die on the vine.
No comments:
Post a Comment