Purposefully arriving to the festival slightly late, I had no plans as far as would be doing until 2:00pm when I was set to see RJD2. Fortunately some attractive female friends in the media tent coerced me to head to Afromotive. Routed in African influences, the boys of Afromotive put on a tremendous performance, highlighted by their eclectic rhythms. Albeit early in the day, the steadily growing crowd was a constant dance party for all. Many times throughout their songs, the crowd was invited to join in on African chants. We had no clue what we were saying, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Attracting one of the largest crowds on Sunday, RJD2 set up shop on the Eclipse Stage. Spinning through four turntables and a sampler, the crowd could not have been more excited about the vinyl hip-hop beats percolating from the stage. One of the best parts of the show was how evident it was that RJD2 was having a blast during the performance. Midway through a song one of RJ’s turntables broke down on him. Seamlessly not skipping a beat, he worked around it and was never obviously hindered by the loss of it throughout the rest of his set. If there was a set that I didn’t want to end, this was certainly it.

Similar to Cat Power the day before, Spoon sounded fantastic on stage but otherwise left much to be desired. What was even more unfortunate was the lack of enthusiasm that the crowd shared as well. Overall both entertainer and the entertained lacked a great deal of energy and passion that should I feel be prevalent in all live concerts.

After being blown away by The Roots at Bonnaroo earlier this year, I was incredibly excited to see them on The Echo Project bill. A large portion of my Sunday was trying to track down an interview with ?uestlove. I was unsuccessful but have one great story to tell from the experience – which I’ll refrain from bore you with details of. Lacking the horn section present at Bonnaroo, and without longtime bass player Hub (although they’ve found an excellent new bassist), The Roots yet again blew me away. Playing many of their own tracks and a hip-hop medley, Black Thought and boys injected the crowd with dance fever before halftime when ?uestlove, Captain Kirk Douglas, and Tuba Gooding Jr. performed their popular cover of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War.” If you’ve never seen The Roots live – my advice to you is to correct that mistake as quickly as you can. Regardless of loving, liking, or hating hip-hop music you will find yourself in front of one of the best live bands around.

Sunday night finished up with Phil Lesh & Friends on stage for a solid four hours, all of which I did not stay for. Regardless of knowing his history, Phil Lesh always puts on a legendary performance. Clearly having some of the most talented friends in the music industry, Phil Lesh simply made it seem easy. Evident that they were having a fantastic time on stage, the band jammed through both Grateful Dead and his own hits. At the end of such a long weekend, a sweeter end could not have been asked for.

Saying my goodbyes, exchanging contact information, and thanking Corey for doing more than I could have ever asked for, I headed to my car and eventually my bed incredibly satisfied and excited that a fantastic new music festival is officially on the map.

Reporting by Charlie
Photography by Corey Jenkins

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