Dave Matthews rounded out the second and final day of an overall coherent, successful Mile High Music Festival. Photos by .
God bless the greenskeepers. The souls that fill that thankless job will have their work cut out for them in the coming days as the last of the plastic bottles and cigarette butts are swept from the brown, matted soccer fields surrounding .
The two-day , which wrapped up Sunday night, brought nearly 100,000 people overall to the plains of Commerce City. And the more successful the festival was, the more it destroyed the coifed environs.
By festival standards, the first event was extremely successful. Despite scattered first-day hiccups, everything went smoothly. Five hundred portable toilets and countless food and alcohol vendors ably serviced the space across the 24 soccer fields surrounding the park, despite occasionally irksome lines.
Local and national acts peppered themselves over the five massive stages. Denver hip-hop group energized a midday crowd with songs from its latest disc, “Fight with Tools,” including the title track. Just before the song, MCs Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit rallied around their activist message of peace and mental fortitude — and against the war in Iraq. Brer, his forehead sweat soaking through a Rasta-style hat, held aloft a black sign with “IRAQ” in red letters as Jonny 5 preached a message of tolerance.
“We can all agree on one thing,” he said as the crowd roared, “and that’s that we support our troops overseas in Iraq.” He also pointed out the symbolism of his American flag neck scarf, noting that it didn’t imply disrespect for the flag but rather “the future” of tolerance and peace. The band, which is currently experiencing a national run of popularity thanks to its single “Handlebars,” enjoyed perhaps the biggest live audience of its career, fists pumping and bodies moving to songs like “I.R.A.Q.”
Wading through the sunburned flesh, camping chairs, shirtless frat dudes, babies, hacky-sack games and passed out drunks brought you to the main stage, where John Mayer started his set early and worked his wah-wah pedal and beat-up blue Stratocaster on songs like, “Say What You Need to Say” and “Vultures.” Clad in a sleeveless brown shirt that displayed his many upper-arm tattoos, the charming blues-pop singer looked every bit the festival leader, particularly as swooping crane shots revealed the undulating crowd on giant video screens, Mayer smiling out at the crowd or indulging in his borderline-alarming facial tics while singing.
Hip-hop/rock act The Roots captivated a sweaty tent crowd with extended-jam covers of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” and instrumental nods toward Led Zeppelin (a brief, dead-on tease of “Immigrant Song”) and “The Wizard of Oz” (the familiar chants of the evil army, which the band nailed). The booming sound and shoulder-to-shoulder audience conspired to create a scene out of some indoor version of Woodstock, although it’s doubtful Woodstock ever heard such sonorous Sousaphone solos or booming drums solos.
Indie rock mainstays Pinback drew a smaller crowd to their tent gathering, speeding through a set that included noodly, textured compositions like “Fortress,” principals Rob Crow (looking quite metal with his long, sweaty hair) and Zach Smith sounding tighter than in recent Denver appearances. The crowd may have been relatively sparse, but the set was one of the day’s best.
Black Crowes’ triumphant “Remedy” set a large but loosely packed open-air audience on fire just as the sun dipped behind the Front Range. Lead singer Chris Robinson’s mountain-main beard looked oddly appropriate as the Rolling Stones-esque backup singers dug into his melodies, his brown locks mashing against the side of his face.
His band also displayed an American flag with a peace symbol in place of the stars, and (reportedly, although I missed it) brought out a drum with a representation of George W. Bush’s head inside — and beat it heartily.
Headliners Dave Matthews Band took the stage in silhouette, video screens and speakers bringing them to the fans more than a quarter-mile away in the darkening fields.
Drawing a noticeably larger crowd than Saturday’s Tom Petty set, the band jammed on familiar hits like opener “Don’t Drink the Water,” “Satellite,” “Stay” and “Ants Marching,” indulging many with tight, extended jams. Say what you will about his vanilla music; the man is a faultless guitar player and knows how to work a crowd.
Matthews took time to beam at the audience, his acoustic guitar high and tight against his chest. He mimicked the amiability of a Colorado crowd that seemed ready to welcome another Mile High Music Festival back — provided it’s done as well as this one.
John Wenzel is an arts and entertainment reporter for The Denver Post.
is a Denver-based photographer and regular Reverb contributor.
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