Newport Folk Festival 2008: Saturday

It was a really great first day for the Newport fest this year -- despite the midday downpour that threw a few fans down into the mudpuddles running from one stage to another. Half the FUV crew greeted listeners at our tent right by the main “Fort” stage, while the other half camped out with the folks from NPR by the Harbor stage to broadcast/webcast the live sets happening there.

Our own Rita Houston hosted the cast with NPR’s Bob Boilen, and you couldn’t find two more excited people. The day started with the octogenarian-plus Young at Heart Chorus -- the Western Mass. group of seniors who sing rock tunes and really BRING down the HOUSE. Then we got to hear Jakob Dylan, and I won’t make the obvious reference, but you can hear his conversation with Rita on the NPR site; next was Steve Earle and Allison Moorer, who did all the Steve songs you want to hear the most.

She & Him were up when the skies opened up, and the lovely Zooey Deschanel sported a fabulous rain-cape in solidarity with the crowd -- she and M Ward have a great set of tunes that really came across live. And when you thought it couldn’t get any more packed, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) took the stage and blew the roof off the sucka, as he’s wont to do.

The Harbor Stage day ended with Cat Power, who I’d never seen live before. She puts it all into her beautiful songs, and except for the fact that she’s practically impossible to photograph which made me crazy, she brought some sweet soulfulness to the day. Chan even hopped down off the stage and did a few songs walking around in the crowd -- there’s always something unexpected with that one.

Take a look at the amazing photos I grabbed from the scene, thanks to the beautiful camera we’re sporting (thanks to Bergen County Camera), they’re on Flickr: Newport 2008 WFUV Photos

All I know now is my day tomorrow is gonna include Brandi Carlile, Calexico, Gillian Welch (sigh) *and* Levon Helm, so I’d better get some sleep.