Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performing at the 2013 Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Most media coverage of Solid Sound focuses on the music, and rightly so. In addition to Wilco, this year’s festival included Yo La Tengo, Neko Case, Foxygen, Lucius, The Dream Syndicate, Low, Sam Amidon (with a surprise appearance by his wife, Beth Orton), Sean Rowe and more.
But Solid Sound is about much more than music. What makes it stand out from other festivals is the combination of contemporary art, film, comedy, acoustic pop-up concerts in the galleries, side projects by Wilco’s individual band members, plus the well-curated mix of established and emerging musicians.
And let’s not forget the setting. Nestled beside the Hoosic River in an old textile mill complex, Mass MoCA is a showpiece in and of itself and the mill-turned-art museum was humming with visitors, light installations, food and drink vendors, and a number of top-notch exhibitions.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that the average age of those attending Solid Sound hovered somewhere around 40. The festival was also very family friendly, and there were a number of events geared especially to children. Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich of WNYC’s Radiolab were also on hand for a special live broadcast of the show.
Day two of the Solid Sound Festival brought sunshine and hot weather. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Lauren Faria in front of a Sol LeWitt drawing in the Mass MoCA galleries (Photo by Shruti Adhar)
Mass MoCA was in fine form during Solid Sound. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Pat Sansone of Wilco celebrated a birthday on Friday, June 21st, also the first night of the festival. Wilco and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Sansone.
But one of the most popular covers of the night was Wilco’s rendition of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” which has been buzzing around the internet this past week. NYC Taper was on hand to make a record of the event, and he’s offering the entire set as a free stream or download here (though he’s predictably getting slammed with traffic, so keep clicking refresh if you have trouble downloading). You can listen to three songs from the set right here, including the covers of Daft Punk, Pavement, and Television:
There were a few new discoveries as well. Lucius wowed the crowd with their harmonies and lively stage presence (unfortunately, we have to wait until October for their debut record).
The young band Foxygen left a lasting impression on everyone, including Wilco front-man Jeff Tweedy, who referenced “an incident” with the band during his Saturday night set. Lead singer Sam France seemed to be channeling Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison, as he jumped, danced, and climbed the stage rigging France was halfway up a metal stage support before a member of the crew rushed onstage and pulled him down. The band kept playing through the incident. Afterward France declared, “It’s all part of the show. It’s theater.” Later Saturday night, Jeff Tweedy cracked a joke on stage about Foxygen “having too much fun.” According to Nippertown, Foxygen’s tambourine player was removed from the VIP area by security during Neko Case’s set for “some drunken offense.” Tweedy dedicated Wilco’s “Passenger Side” — a song about being too inebriated to drive — to the band.
One of the highlights of Solid Sound is the surprise pop-up concerts that occur throughout the museum during the festival. Here, Lucius performs beneath Xu Bing’s Phoenix in the big gallery. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
While Phoenix was a crowd pleaser, Xu Bing’s installation 1st Class, made of 500,000 1st Class brand cigarettes, was the stronger of the two installations, both aesthetically and conceptually. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Reggie Watts’ improvised musical sets are created on-the-spot using only his voice and a looping machine. No two songs are the same. The end result is a highly original mix of beatbox, satire, a cappella jamming, and stream-of-conscious stand-up. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A page from Tom Phillips’ artist-book masterpiece A Humument, on view at Mass MoCA through January (Photo © Tom Phillips)
Tom Phillips’ A Humument was another memorable exhibit at the museum. In 1966 Phillips bought the 1892 Victorian novel A Human Document for 30 pence in a South London junk shop and used it to create an entirely new series of works by altering every single page of the 367-page book through painting and collage. A Humument is now one of the best known and most highly regarded of all 20th-century artists books and has inspired many other postmodern works like it. The first version was published in 1973 and Phillips has since created four revised editions. (I encourage you to buy a copy of this gorgeous work from Thames & Hudson at your local bookstore or online). But to see these works in their original form and displayed so beautifully at Mass MoCA is a rare opportunity. The museum has over 1,100 individual prints from Phillips’ A Humument, including the original untouched book alongside the first and fifth editions on display.
Johnny Carrera is best known for his 400-page alteration of the 1898 edition of The International Dictionary, a work that is very much in the tradition of Tom Phillips. Carrera’s art is also featured in this Mass MoCA exhibit, Life’s Work (on view through January 20th). Carrera’s work was particularly popular with young museum-goers.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. If you couldn’t be in North Adams last weekend, don’t worry. You can take a virtual tour of the 2013 Solid Sound Festival right here…
Nestled beside the Hoosic River in an old textile mill complex, Mass MoCA is a showpiece in and of itself and the mill-turned-art museum was humming with visitors, light installations, food and drink vendors, and a number of top-notch exhibitions. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A memorable super moon hung over Joe’s Field all weekend (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Wilco kicked off the festival Friday night with a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town.” (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A festival-goer watches Wilco perform on Saturday night. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
The Solid Sound program (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Jeff Tweedy (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A projection on the Hoosic River. “W” for Wilco? (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
“M” for Mass MoCA? (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Wilco guitarist Nels Cline (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Wilco plays the main stage on Joe’s Field. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Referencing indigenous totem poles, New York-based sculptor Marko Remec turns readymade objects such as mops, brooms, safety and rearview mirrors into contemporary totems. The works speak to facets of the urban and suburban condition—surveillance and paranoia, narcissism and indifference, and the complex relationship between the built and natural worlds. His site-specific work Can’t Hear You (Fat Totem) features over 500 convex mirrors wrapped around a massive water tower. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
John Sirratt of Wilco (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A map of the festival (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Jeff Tweedy on stage (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A view of the stage, crowd, old mill buildings, and vendors at Joe’s Field (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Filmmaker Sam Green preparing to perform his live cinema piece The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller with band Yo La Tengo on Friday night (Photo courtesy Sam Green)
Sam Green and Yo La Tengo performing the live film The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller. Demand for the late-night screening was so large that the room quickly filled to capacity (Photo courtesy Sam Green)
Reggie Watts (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Because Reggie Watts’ songs are improvised, each one is unique. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Chinese artist Xu Bing’s Phoenix on view in Mass MoCA’s big gallery (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Xu’s Phoenix is comprised of two 100-foot, 20-ton sculptures made of demolition and building debris from Beijing. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Illustrations detail the history of Xu Bing’s sculpture (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Phoenix artist Xu Bing is shown on the left. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A close-up of some of the demolition materials used to construct Phoenix (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
The underbelly of Xu Bing’s Phoenix (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
An aerial view of Xu Bing’s Phoenix (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A film in the galleries detailed the construction of the installation. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Staring up at Xu Bing’s Phoenix (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
One of the most interesting elements of Xu Bing’s 1st Class (besides the strong tobacco smell and the fact it is made with half-a-million cigarettes) was the way the texture of the “tiger-skin rug” changed as I moved around the piece. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
The tiger-skin rug is a symbol of colonialism and luxury in Asia. Xu Bing’s version references the history of the global tobacco trade. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
1st Class is a discount brand of cigarettes. Xu’s choice to use this specific brand hints at the socioeconomic disparities associated with both cigarettes and the tobacco industry. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Brooklyn-based band Lucius, led by vocalists-keyboardists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, were the break-out band of Solid Sound. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Lucius’ pop-up concert in the big gallery drew a huge crowd. Their first album will be released in October. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Lucius performing beneath Xu Bing’s Phoenix at Mass MoCA (Photo by Lauren Faria)
Lucius acquired many new admirers over the course of the weekend. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Filmmaker Sam Green, dancer and artist Catherine Galasso, and filmmaker Brent Green (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Neko Case’s dog, Liza, hanging out on stage during the festival (Photo courtesy Neko Case via Facebook)
Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and bassist Darin Gray (known as On Filmore) performing a live Radiolab show with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. On Fillmore will be joining Radiolab for their 21-city tour this fall. (Photo by Joanna Chattman via the Radiolab Facebook page)
(Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Two editions of Tom Phillips’ erasure poem masterpiece A Humument are currently on view at Mass MoCA. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
The exhibit shows all 367 pages of W.H. Mallok’s original Victorian novel A Human Document, followed by the first edition of Phillips’ A Humument, and finally the second edition, which is not yet complete. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
I had never seen the first edition of A Humument before and was surprised to find myself preferring its style over the 2nd edition. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Johnny Carrera’s Pictorial Webster’s is a 400-page alteration of the 1898 edition of The International Dictionary. (Photo courtesy Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair)
Comedian and Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal performing on Saturday. He and John Hodgman got plenty of comic mileage out of one mother who allowed her young son, Ronin, to attend the adults-only performance. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Foxygen performing an acoustic pop-up show inside one of the museum galleries. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Foxygen proved to be a crowd favorite at Solid Sound. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Michael Oatman’s All Utopias Fell is, in part, a 1970s-era ‘satellite’ that crash-landed at MASS MoCA. This beautifully reflective, repurposed Airstream trailer – with large parachutes and active solar panels – is inspired by an earlier era of pulp aeronauts like Buck Rogers, Tom Swift and Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, as well as the works of Giotto, Jules Verne, NASA, and Chris Marker’s 1962 film La Jetée. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Comedian, Daily Show regular, writer, and Massachusetts native John Hodgman emceed Wilco’s all-covers show on Friday night, as well as the comedy program on Saturday. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
For his set, John Hodgman dressed as writer Ann Raynd and cracked jokes in a fake German accent about Atlas Shrugged and laissez-faire capitalism. (Solid Sound audiences are not your typical festival-goers.) (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Sam Amidon and surprise guest Beth Orton (Photo courtesy the Solid Sound Festival via Facebook)
Two children play with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche’s installation Earth Drums, which encourages kids to try morse code. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Foxygen’s lead singer Sam France won over the crowd with his boundless energy and Mick Jagger moves. France was halfway up a metal stage support before a stage-crew member rushed onstage and pulled him down. The band kept playing through the incident. Afterward France declared, “It’s all part of the show. It’s theater.” (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Later Saturday night, Jeff Tweedy cracked a joke on stage about Foxygen “having too much fun.” According to Nippertown, Foxygen’s tambourine player was removed from the VIP area by security during Neko Case’s set for “some drunken offense.” Tweedy dedicated Wilco’s “Passenger Side” – a song about being too inebriated to drive – to the band. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
(Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Sunset gives way to stars at Joe’s Field on Saturday night. The crowd cheered Friday and Saturday night when a train barreled by the stage blowing its whistle. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Wilco’s Saturday night set consisted of 28 songs. The encore included “A Shot in the Arm,” “California Stars,” (with Julian Lage), “Just a Kid,” and “Dreamer in My Dreams” (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
John Stirratt of Wilco (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A festival-goer enjoys Wilco by candlelight. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Jeff Tweedy and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Nels Cline of Wilco. Each band member had solo projects represented at the festival. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Wilco’s Saturday night set also included “Laminated Cat” by Jeff Tweedy’s side band Loose Fur. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
“I Might,” “Summer Teeth,” “Candyfloss,” “I’m Always in Love,” “Sunken Treasure,” “Far, Far Away,” “Via Chicago,” and “Heavy Metal Drummer” were also part of the Saturday-night line-up. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
A number of filmmakers, including Jem Cohen, were on hand to record footage for an upcoming documentary about Wilco and the festival. Cohen’s latest feature, Museum Hours, opened in New York this past weekend. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
The all-covers show ranged from classic songs by The Band, Beatles, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones to tunes by Cheap Trick, The Velvet Underground, Television, and ABBA. (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
As the Hartford Courant says, Solid Sound is “an antidote to big-name destination festivals elsewhere in the country.” (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Fans listening to Wilco on Joe’s Field (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
One of the most popular covers of the night was Wilco’s rendition of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
Late night at Mass MoCA (Photo by Michelle Aldredge)
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