Everyone comes to Cornerstone Festival for a variety of reasons to see a variety of bands, but almost everyone looks at the schedule and singles out “The Day.” It’s that day when from afternoon to after midnight, there is a great show after great show happening all day long.
The first thing I do is to check out the band Centralia Mine Fire They are a very young band that is mostly instrumental with a little bit of the old, old emo sound. Somewhat interesting stuff, though they are just getting off the ground. While walking back, I stop by a tent where a band called Oh! The Humanity is playing. They have sort of an Owl City meets 80’s metal guitar sound which makes me stop for a moment before continuing on to the New Band Stage.
The soundcheck took too long and by the time the show started a band curiously named Campbell The Band had only three songs to win the crowd over. Of course, the band had already done their work, canvasing the Cornerstone grounds playing impromptu shows for crowds of people. So, the tent was completely full for Campbell The Band and those three songs.
And how were those three songs? Not bad. The band got the crowd involved immediately by handing a drum into the crowd and playing it from the stage. It only took three songs to get the crowd rushing back to the merch table to buy the EP. The sound reminds me a little bit of a more rocking, ensemble sound based around Sufjan Steven’s symphonic music.
I was initially a little apprehensive about seeing Deas Vail on the Main Stage in the afternoon. Their shows on the tent stages in previous years have been great with a packed, excited crowd, but sometimes the crowd can be dead at the Main Stage early in the day and the band can wither. Fortunately, Deas Vail handled things just fine and delivered a quality show. Their new album Birds and Cages is one of the early leaders for my favorite album of the year so far.
On Friday, I got not one but two concerts by Over The Rhine, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The band spread their material out over the two shows and I don’t think played the same song in either set, which was impressive. The afternoon set was a little more familiar, but they threw in a new song or two. For the festival appearance, they picked up Caedmon’s Call drummer Todd Bragg which was like two of my separate worlds colliding. The afternoon show was a fun preview of their traditional midnight appearance.
Quiet Science was one of the bands that debuted at Cornerstone last year that I was really looking forward to seeing again this year. They returned to Cornerstone with aggressive promotion dressing up in strange costumes and even bringing their own “protesters” to generate a buzz at the festival. I missed their show earlier in the week, but from what I heard the show I saw at the Impact Stage was better. I really think this band has a lot of potential. They haven’t quite achieved that potential yet, but it’s there, they are original and creative and I love the show. The execution will get there. I’m not a video person by any means, but I’ve uploaded my video of their song Queen Elisabeth on YouTube
Paper Route was probably the best I looked forward to seeing the most at Cornerstone this year and they completely and totally delivered. I’ve seen the band a couple of times now, even at the first appearance here at the festival a couple years ago. The band has energy and stage presence sure, but this year’s show at Cornerstone was something else. The band was all smiles, leaping across the stage and playing with gusto I’ve never seen in their previous shows. Girls in the crowd were so overwhelmed they were crying. Guys were nodding along with their eyes closed. These kind of shows are what make Cornerstone so special and different from other concerts.
More shaky-cam video from me here.
Later in the evening, Eisley continued the incredible lineup of artists on the Gallery Stage. The DuPree family is overflowing with talent as the four siblings and cousin played their first show at Cornerstone since they were mere children in 2002. Hopefully there will more material from this group soon as they have wriggled their way out of their contract with Warner Bro. Records.
By the time Over the Rhine returned to the stage for their midnight performance, it really did feel like an “encore” show as there had been so much great music all day. Over the Rhine was the cherry on top. Karin Bergquist and husband Linford Detweiler let us in on a couple more new songs as they are wrapping up the recording process of their newest album.
Up to the Over the Rhine show, the Gallery had taken on a younger and more rocking crowd than normal, but I’m glad it did. The stage has badly needed an injection of youth in both bands and crowds. The kids just need to learn that you sit down at this stage (that’s why there are chairs all over the place) and you stand at all the other stages. Other than some “down in front!” “everybody stand up!” drama in the crowd, I thought the changes to the younger were good for Gallery stage. What an incredible lineup of artists on Friday night. This was the peak of the festival for me.