Early Friday morning, some lucky individuals, including myself, were able to catch The Flaming Lips officially be the first band to ever play at The Echo Project (or so they proclaimed). Playing through Free Radicals and then Mountain Side, a crowd steadily rushed from all corners of the concert area to catch a preview for what would be later that night. Fantastic as expected, the Lips’ short set was a rare daylight performance that I was fortunate enough to catch. Shortly after the sound check, I was able to catch up with Wayne Coyne and talk to him about touring, their future, and music festivals.

Stephen Marley and his band promptly started on time. As the band started into a reggae groove, Marley’s two backup vocalists came out from stage-left dancing as they approached their microphones. Almost involuntarily, the entire crowd started dancing when the music started; a rather incredible site. Immediately after the band kicked in, Marley entered onto the stage singing and only getting the crowd more into the music. Playing through many of his own songs as well as his father’s classics, the crowd always seemed moved by the music and Marley’s messages between the songs. Throughout the entire set, one of Marley’s friends danced on stage waving the Rastafarian flag. Numerous times throughout the set, he pointed the microphone to the crowd while everyone sang along with him. This was certainly the perfect act to open the weekend with, setting a peaceful yet energized tone with the crowd.

The Polyphonic Spree started their set off with a large red curtain pulled across the front of the stage. Once the large ensemble started to play, Tom picked up a pair of scissors and cut out the shape of a heart in the fabric. After a moment’s pause, he cut the top and the bottom of the heart, causing it to drop to the front of the stage. The entire band filled the stage: a horn section; a strings section; two drum sets; the choir; and countless other musicians. Tom was constantly dancing around and through everyone during the high-energy performance. The band sounded a little muddy live, but with so many instruments it is impossible to fine-tune them to the perfect balance in an outdoor venue, and I was pleased with the show. Most people in the crowd were dancing, although a number of individuals were simply standing and (hopefully) enjoying the music. Later in the day, I also had the chance to sit down with Tom and talk about upcoming plans, his musical interests, The Echo Project, and fishing.

One of the founding-fathers of the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA teamed up with Slick Rick for a set, backed by The Fyre Department. The first of four hip-hop acts of the weekend, the duo got the entire crowd dancing shamelessly while holding up the Wu-Tang sign. Both GZA and Slick Rick had tremendous stage presence, interaction with the crowd – making it hard to believe that the hip-hop acts only continuously got better throughout the festival.
For the first year, I was surprised by the number of hip-hop/rap acts that were put on the bill. My only thought is that this was an effort to draw in a large Atlanta crowd, but unfortunately it seemed to have failed. Still, all the artists including GZA and Slick Rick put on fantastic shows that without being familiar with their music, anyone could enjoy.

Cypress Hill was probably and fittingly the most drug-active concert at The Echo Project. B-Real was not quiet about his stance on marijuana use, and encouraged the crowd to do so. It was rather evident that many people were from the large amounts of smoke that could be seen coming from the crowd. Due to many individual’s high state, it was not hard for Cypress Hill to get people to rap along with him during their more popular songs like, “Insane In the Brain” and “How Could I Just Kill A Man.” While GZA and Slick Rick had more on-stage energy, Cypress Hill was more successful at connecting with the crowd and created a more entertaining show. I’m merely “hypothesizing,” but this was probably due to the common opinion on marijuana use that both Cypress Hill and the predominantly hippie crowd share.

Up to his usual antics, Les Claypool entertained the crowd with his bass virtuosity. Playing with a drummer and a saxophonist, who also played some synthesizers, Les wore a black shirt, red bowtie and maestro-style jacket. Mainly playing his electric bass, he also brought out an upright bass, and a bass banjo for the song “Iowan Gal,” written about his wife. As he was beginning to play the banjo, the microphone for it stopped working. To pass the time while it was being fixed, Les told a funny story about how his pinky finger was injured earlier this summer and for awhile had to play without using it. But since some bionics were surgically added, he has been able to use it again. He then went on to explain how his bionic-pinky was too powerful and evidently caused the temporary audio malfunction. Always maintaining a fabulous funk-rock beat, Les was a definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

Describing The Flaming Lips in concert is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Having seen them earlier in the summer at Bonnaroo, I knew what to expect: Aliens and Santas; thousands of pieces of confetti; massive orange balloons; crazy lights; and smiles across every person’s face. Providing a show that is consistently out-of-this-world, the experience of The Flaming Lips in concert is as close as adults can get to returning to their childhood when imagination ran wild on a regular basis. Wayne Coyne’s microphone had a built in fish-eye camera that often projected close-up images of him singing onto a semi-circular screen that rose from the back of the stage. Needless to say, The Lips were up to their usual brilliance – including opening their set with Wayne running across the top of the crowd in what could only be described as a human-hamster ball.

The only low point of their performance? Wayne’s excessive talking between each song; particularly political rambling that eventually became redundant.

Opening night of The Echo Project ended with two sets by the Disco Biscuits that sandwiched a set by Bassnectar. When watching Disco Biscuits power through their predominantly instrumental dance grooves, I could only think of the word “transcendent” to describe the experience. Set with a light show that rivaled The Flaming Lips performance from moments earlier, Disco Biscuits captured the audience with their constant stream of pulsing, melodic guitars. Across the field, Album Leaf plowed through their own set of ambient rock. The fans in the smaller tent were much more devoted than the larger crowd at Disco Biscuits and seemed to be enjoying the show slightly more.

After such a long first day, I didn’t stay long, hiked to my car, and made the 40 minute drive back to my apartment.

Reporting by Charlie
Photography by Corey Jenkins

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