FloydFest 12: Music, Mud and Memories

Updated:

August 8, 2013 2:53 pm

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Folk rock band Delta Rae began their melodic set around half past noon on the headlining Dreaming Creek stage. The Durham, NC-based 6-member ensemble, touring behind their 2012 album Carry the Fire, opened the afternoon for FloydFest on a rain-soaked and muddy Saturday.

As steady rain continued falling into the mid afternoon hours, on the Dreaming Creek stage, British bluesman and guitarist Michael Kiwanuka kept everyone’s minds on music as he sang and jammed his way through a soulful set supporting his 2012 debut Home Again.

39_Infamous Stringdusters — The Infamous Stringdusters

After the Infamous Stringdusters played their second headlining set on the Dreaming Creek main stage, up next was Blitzen Trapper, the Portland, Oregon country-folk quintet. Led by Eric Earley (vocals and guitar), Blitzen Trapper is made up of Eric Menteer (guitar and keys), Brian Adrian Koch (drums and vocals), Michael Van Pelt (bass), and Marty Marquis (guitar, keys and vocals). Currently on a nationwide tour, Blitzen Trapper is touring behind their 2011 release American Goldwing.

Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile continued the Western feel of the festival into the evening hours. Calling from Washington State, Carlile rocked the packed afternoon crowd during her evening set at the Dreaming Creek stage, playing her rock-infused alt country to large cheers and even channeling her inner Thom Yorke with a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros began their late night headlining performance just after 10pm before a crowded Dreaming Creek stage on Saturday night. The Los Angeles-based 11-member group, fronted by Alex Ebert on lead vocals, as well as singer Jade Castrinos, had the crowd dancing and swaying in the mud-soaked field throughout their hit-packed melodic and psychedelic set.

Around 1:30 Sunday morning, Xavier Rudd took to the Dreaming Creek headlining stage and made his presence felt as soon as he stepped on stage, in support of his latest release Spirit Bird. The Australian multi-instrumentalist, singer and activist, based in Torquay, Victoria showed off his musical talents as a one-man band, dancing, singing his emotionally and environmentally-focused messages with melodies from a lap steel guitar to multiple didgeridoos, sans any shoes. A drummer joined Rudd onstage to continue his up-tempo world music well into the final morning of the festival.