In Anticipation of Wakarusa 2011
I made around 10,000 new friends last summer. I don’t know all their names, but festival comradery makes them all friends of mine. I found these fellow music-loving free spirits at Wakarusa. I look forward to returning with these old friends and making new friends at Waka this year.
Although I was excited to see many of the artists at Waka last year, I made the trek to Arkansas to see my folk-hero Todd Snider. Todd gave a great performance and my overall experience was worth far more than my ticket price. The Wakarusa festival exposed me to more music and art forms than I even knew existed. Bluegrass, foot-stompin’ Hoots & Hellmouth stopped me in my tracks as I strolled past the Backwoods Stage and I finally saw Widespread Panic. Waka also introduced me to the art of hoop dance. I bought my first hula hoop on Shakedown Street and look forward to filming my “hoopiversary” video in front of the eminent Wakarusa sign.
This year’s line-up is phenomenal. Ben Harper. My Morning Jacket. Mumford & Sons. Beats Antique. Any of these artists alone are enough to make this festival a success, but I’m most stoked to see Lucero. After spotting their name on the line-up, I danced as if I were in that Fatboy Slim video. Memphis-native Ben Nichol’s whiskey-saturated vocal cords perfectly compliment the group’s gut-wrenching ballads about the trials and tribulations of love, loss, and liquor. Although the guys don’t claim a genre, they are what Southern rock’s all about.
With glow sticks and glitter galore, electronic music dominates the midnight hours. Since Bassnectar’s energy overflowed the Revival Tent last year, this year, Lorin will be commanding the Main Stage. This is THE party of Wakarusa. My fellow Bass Heads: I will be there, tutu in tow.
(Having been occupied all year with this little thing called law school, please let me go outside and play with my friends. I look forward to utilizing my journalism degree and channeling my inner Hunter S. Thompson. See y’all there!)