April 30 2006: Jason Anderson, Mount Eerie, Thanksgiving – Camp Stanica Lawn, Palmer MA
I’ve been to a lot of rock shows, but I’ve never been to one like this. In terms of rock show, this was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. In terms of sheer religious experience, this show was probably THE best I’ve ever seen. Really.
I was almost thinking about not going to this show, but then my coworker David said he’d be up for going and would even drive. And it was a beautiful sunny day and David brought some beer and we picked up another sixer on the way there and things were looking up before we even got onto the turnpike.
Upon arrival a couple of guys waved our car over and welcomed us to Camp Stanica. “Welcome to Camp Stanica! Just park over there.” We paid six dollars apiece into a jar on a card table. “Punk Show. $6” read the sign. We drank our beers at a picnic table by the lake. We shot the shit. The sun went down.
Thanksgiving played first. It was Adrian on guitar/vocals, Jason on bass, Phil on drums. Mount Eerie played second. It was Phil on guitar/vocals, Jason on bass, Adrian on drums. I will not try to write about the music of these groups. It was just too much. But try to picture this little three piece, ten feet away from the bonfire, tiny little PA, everybody just standing and rocking and rolling, no stage, no lights save the light in the bass drum and the fire, the stars overhead, a few beers in my belly, a few kids eating smores, etc. I called my buddy Ryan after Mount Eerie played and he said I sounded pretty stoned. I told him I wasn’t stoned, but that the music was getting me pretty fucking high. You know the way that “Universe Conclusion” sounds on the “Live in Japan” record? This show sounded like that, only better. You know how Neil Young sounds on “Tonight’s the Night” and just the whole general feel of that record? That’s what the combined back-to-back Thanksgiving/Mount Eerie sets felt like. Fucking amazing.
And the best was yet to come.
Jason Anderson starts out his set by yelling at everyone, “Hey! I know the fire’s warm but let’s head out into the field!,” and the crowd (maybe 50? 75 folks?) follows him a few hundred yards into this field where the stars are even brighter, everyone singing along with Jason the chorus of Pearl Jam’s “Alive” as we walk those few hundred yards. You know, the “whooooa-oh ooooooh-oh I’m still alive, yeah-e-yeah-ah I-high I-I I’m still alive” bit? Over and over. Until we’re in the middle of this field and we’re all surrounding Jason and it’s just him and his acoustic guitar and six strings and a strap and his fingers and a pick and his voice and our voices and such a beautiful sound was made. The next hour was a lot of call-and-response stuff interspersed with just outright singing along. A few songs were written on the spot with audience participation as a full-on songwriting collaborator with Jason. A few of Jason’s tunes were sung with the audience singing and dancing away. A few cover tunes, really epic stuff like “All Along the Watchtower” were sung and it was almost as if Jason were accompanying this mass choir singing spirituals rather than the other way around. It was perfect. I don’t know what else to say.
Long story short: the Thanksgiving/Mount Eerie sets were great. Jason Anderson could have told me to drink poisoned kool-aid and I would have. I don’t know what else to say.
I was almost thinking about not going to this show, but then my coworker David said he’d be up for going and would even drive. And it was a beautiful sunny day and David brought some beer and we picked up another sixer on the way there and things were looking up before we even got onto the turnpike.
Upon arrival a couple of guys waved our car over and welcomed us to Camp Stanica. “Welcome to Camp Stanica! Just park over there.” We paid six dollars apiece into a jar on a card table. “Punk Show. $6” read the sign. We drank our beers at a picnic table by the lake. We shot the shit. The sun went down.
Thanksgiving played first. It was Adrian on guitar/vocals, Jason on bass, Phil on drums. Mount Eerie played second. It was Phil on guitar/vocals, Jason on bass, Adrian on drums. I will not try to write about the music of these groups. It was just too much. But try to picture this little three piece, ten feet away from the bonfire, tiny little PA, everybody just standing and rocking and rolling, no stage, no lights save the light in the bass drum and the fire, the stars overhead, a few beers in my belly, a few kids eating smores, etc. I called my buddy Ryan after Mount Eerie played and he said I sounded pretty stoned. I told him I wasn’t stoned, but that the music was getting me pretty fucking high. You know the way that “Universe Conclusion” sounds on the “Live in Japan” record? This show sounded like that, only better. You know how Neil Young sounds on “Tonight’s the Night” and just the whole general feel of that record? That’s what the combined back-to-back Thanksgiving/Mount Eerie sets felt like. Fucking amazing.
And the best was yet to come.
Jason Anderson starts out his set by yelling at everyone, “Hey! I know the fire’s warm but let’s head out into the field!,” and the crowd (maybe 50? 75 folks?) follows him a few hundred yards into this field where the stars are even brighter, everyone singing along with Jason the chorus of Pearl Jam’s “Alive” as we walk those few hundred yards. You know, the “whooooa-oh ooooooh-oh I’m still alive, yeah-e-yeah-ah I-high I-I I’m still alive” bit? Over and over. Until we’re in the middle of this field and we’re all surrounding Jason and it’s just him and his acoustic guitar and six strings and a strap and his fingers and a pick and his voice and our voices and such a beautiful sound was made. The next hour was a lot of call-and-response stuff interspersed with just outright singing along. A few songs were written on the spot with audience participation as a full-on songwriting collaborator with Jason. A few of Jason’s tunes were sung with the audience singing and dancing away. A few cover tunes, really epic stuff like “All Along the Watchtower” were sung and it was almost as if Jason were accompanying this mass choir singing spirituals rather than the other way around. It was perfect. I don’t know what else to say.
Long story short: the Thanksgiving/Mount Eerie sets were great. Jason Anderson could have told me to drink poisoned kool-aid and I would have. I don’t know what else to say.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 1:22 PM
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