ONDAY,AUGUST 16,2004
OFF THE HILL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3D
C. COM
WAKARUSA REWIND Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival highlights summer music scene.
Jayplay File Photo
Jamie Masefield of The Jazz Mandolin Project responds to the crowd at the Wakaraus Music and Camping Festival during the group's set Saturday evening. The Jazz Mandolin Project was just one of 70 bands who played at the festival over a four day period.
By Zach Sias special to Jayplay
At 9:30 p.m. Friday, June 17, with beach balls flying, glow sticks abundant and the aroma of marijuana saturating the air, Lawrence played host to one of the biggest local music events of the summer, the first Wakaraus Music and Camping Festival. From June 17 through June 20 more than 70 bands playing on three stages converged on the fields at Clinton Park to perform for people from all over the country. Thousands crowded in for the four-day event listening to their favorite acts before retiring to nearby campgrounds at night. And it was a diverse mix; the concert-goers ranged from college students to middle aged hippies living past glory.
One of the biggest crowds of the weekend flocked to the Sun Up stage to see Keller Williams perform. Later on that evening an even larger crowd moved over to the Sun Down stage to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band play well into the night. Randolph, who plays the steel guitar and was one of the headliners for the festival, played until 1:30 a.m. He was able to get the energy of a tired and sunburned crowd going with excellent guitar riffs. He even indulged the crowd with a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze."
Acts such as Mofro, and Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, whose blind singer entertained the audience with his banter and vocals, highlighted Saturday's shows. The evening's shows included Omaha-native and frequent Lawrence visitor, Pomeroy and were concluded with the band O.A.R. As the festival's headliner, O.A.R. was the only act with much radio success. The band was up to the headliner task and played an hour and half a set that
Peterson says she wishes they some of these damn chiggers. Welcome to Kansas sweetie
included fan favorites "City on Down," "Anyway," and early hit "Crazy Game of Poker."
Sunday's music started at noon and included Lonesky Boys, who were fresh off their summer hit "How Far is Heaven." Nick Diegel, Topeka junior, was impressed by its set. "It's a shame that 'How Far is Heaven' gets all the airplay," Diegel says. "Because in my opinion it was the worst song they did that night." Diegel says that besides the sound that bled from the West stage over to the East stage, he enjoyed the shows. "Galactic on Friday night tore the place up, energy like that just makes a night everything."
With the festival being the first of its kind here in Lawrence, organizers hope to improve on this year's test run, while at the same time attracting more popular artists. Check out the official Wakarusa Web site, wakarausafestival.com to see the suggestions made for who will rock Lawrence next summer.
Behind the music, the festival went down without any major problems. Ryan Taintor and Sarah Peterson, Minnesota residents, traveled to the festival after being in Tennessee for the Bonnaro festival. (See sidebar, right) Taintor and Peterson volunteered at Wakaraus and began camping Wednesday. Taintor saves Wakarusa was more laid back and chilled compared to Bonnaroo, but he disliked the conflicting stage times and thought the organizers should have staggered times. Both Taintor and Peterson say there were problems with volunteers not showing up, and would spray the fields to "kill
How other summer music festivals stacked up to the Wakarusa:
Bonnaroo
June 10-14th 85,000 people
A 600-acre farm south of Nashville,
Tenn.
sands: Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, Dave Mathews and Friends, the String Cheese Incident, Primus, Ween
Specials: Screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and an arcade of vintage video games.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
May 1st and 2nd
Indio, Calif.
Bands: Radiohead, the Pixies, the Cure, the Flaming Lips, International noise conspiracy, the Crystal Method, Mogwai.
Schwagstock 21
Estimated 4-6.000 people
Zoe camp, 28 miles south of Salem Missouri
Bands: The Schwag (Grateful Dead tribute band), Shady Mix, SOMA, Naked Groove, the Brody Buster Band, Nervous pudding.
- Compiled by Robert Riley
[We can't get you the number of that tree-hugging hotte architecture major in your 8 a.m. Coms class, but
NUMBERS
17. 901= number of
trees on campus
trees on campus
5 = number of ginkgo trees on campus **************
324,849 = the square footage of Mat
at least we can give you some ice breakers. Providing that you can actually make an 8 a.m. class. Lord knows we're never there — we're in our jammies eating our Lucky Charms, sucker]
lott Hall, the biggest building on campus 273,792 = the square footage of Haworth Hall, the second biggest building on campus
228,732 = square footage of the Kansas Union, the third biggest building on campus
more than 7.25 million = the square footage of all of the more than 200 buildings on
campus
1058 = acreage of campus (includes the main campus, west campus, Endowment
Association-owned lands and lands owned by the state)
120 = the height of the Campanile in feet
53 = the number of bells in the
10 = the weight of the lightest bell in pounds
Campanile
7 = the weight of the heavier bell in tons
32 = the weight of all the bells in the Campanile in tons
Source:
www.kuinfo.libku.edu & Elizabeth Berghout, campus carillonere
8. 19.04 Jayplay