Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance took place during the weekend and, despite the sporadically gloomy weather, the weekend was filled with excellent music and cheerful vibes.
The festival boasts an impressive array of high-caliber artists from around the world, but its main draw comes from the highly localized environment around the 70-plus acre farmlands. The lineup consisted of more than 60 artists performing on four separate stages for a weekend filled with everything from bluegrass and soul, to hip-hop and electronic music.
Though the first day of the festival was marked by overcast weather, things kicked off vivaciously with the Afrobeat-fusion of Greensboro’s Brand New Life. From the comfort of your campsite, the band’s mesmerizing grooves filled the airwaves, sparking some life into an otherwise drab day.
After Brand New Life, festivalgoers had some rough decisions to make in terms of scheduling.
The Grassroots house band, Donna The Buffalo, had its first of three sets of the weekend on Thursday night and its infectious zydeco melodies compelled even the most stoic of attendees to loosen up and dance along to the wild jams.
The evening rounded out with two accomplished DJs, DJ Bill Kelly and DJ Richard McVay, spinning a genre-bending selection of dance tunes at the festival’s second-largest stage, while Haitian-rock band Compa brought some serious rhythms to the Dance Tent.
The weekend was defined by a spastic selection of music. One minute you’re entranced by the robust orchestral sounds of Triangle standouts like Morning Brigade, and the next you find yourself darting off to check out some mesmerizing world music.
However, Friday proved to be one of the weekend’s surprising standouts. Although the festival’s marquee headliners wouldn’t take the stage until later in the weekend, the powerful undercard proved Shakori’s lineup depth.
Raleigh jazz act Peter Lamb & The Wolves put on a compelling show that came after a swing dance workshop in the Dance Tent, making for a wonderful ambiance to surround this whimsical jazz outfit.
The highlight of the festival surprisingly came from Auxiliary House’s rare performance. The self-proclaimed Trekky Records house-band combines members of Lost in the Trees, Midtown Dickens, Bowerbirds and Butterflies to make one massive folk-rock powerhouse. Donning bandannas, Auxiliary House brought a compelling and fresh sound to Shakori with a raucous live performance. This long broken-up band dusted off the cobwebs for a tantalizing set that shook Shakori to its core.
While Bombadil brought a fantastic set that showcased some of its fantastic new songs from the recently dropped album Metrics of Affection, much of Friday night just fell in the wake of Auxiliary House. Even the mammoth 9-piece funk band Orgone couldn’t hold up to the North Carolina stars’ valiant return to the stage.
Saturday was easily the most subdued day of the festival. The lineup’s standout acts were placed comfortably apart from each other, allowing fans time to relax at the campsite, sprawl out in the grass for a mid-day performance or take in the many instrument workshops and lessons.
The Paperhand Puppet Parade once again proved to be one of the weekend’s standout moments, as adults and children alike put on papier-mâché heads and hoisted up robust puppets that towered over the crowd for a band-driven parade that marches throughout the grounds.
Acts like this highlight the deep-rooted community aspect of Shakori Hills — everyone stands side by side as the music comes to a halt and simply basks in the overwhelming joy that Shakori Hills emanates.
After the parade, the Latin-funk of Suenalo and Cajun rhythms of Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole provided a vigorous soundtrack for the afternoon before things calmed down for a bit. However, once Yonder Mountain String band brought its jam-infused bluegrass music to the stage, the rest of the night was an all-out dance-off for most festivalgoers.
Miami’s Elastic Bond brought Latin rhythms to the Dance Tent, Durham’s Shirlette Ammons put on an engaging and energetic set as the festival’s sole hip-hop act and dub Addis brought its sweet reggae stylings to the main stage.
One of the weekend’s disappointments came from beloved North Carolina natives, Holy Ghost Tent Revival. Despite a large lineup that consisted of two accompanying female vocalists, the band felt a bit like it was just going through the motions for its set, which proves to be the first disappointing encounter I’ve had with the band.
There’s plenty of music to choose from when things like this happen though, so Shakori is rarely plagued with disappointments.
The festival wound down on Sunday, with attendees slowly leaving the campgrounds throughout the day. But this year’s schedule lent to far more stragglers who hung around throughout the misty final day.
Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag (formerly of Squirrel Nut Zippers) and marquee headliner Robert Randolph & The Family Band were reason enough to hang around and soak in the last of the weekend’s offerings. Robert Randolph’s steel guitar blues jams were enough to brighten up this sleepy Sunday and Donna The Buffalo’s star-studded, seemingly endless set closed out the weekend’s festivities.
All in all, Shakori Hills continues to prove itself as an anomaly amongst the festival scene. Every trip out to Pittsboro will give you a brand new festival experience but will still feel like a familiar setting. Shakori Hills could act as the poster child for music festivals — it’s a family friendly fest that bridges the age gap between young and old by selling itself as an event filled with great people and great music. Really what more could you ask for from a festival?
