Lockn’ Festival continued with another full day of music on Saturday.  The morning started off with Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass. Jeremy Garrett, of the Infamous Stringdusters, provided a mean fiddle to the morning set. He had that rosin screaming as it danced across the well played strings. Andy Falco pounded out the chords on the guitar, as the group sang the lyrics with a smile. It was a perfect way to get the venue to wake up on a high note. 


The main stage opened a half hour later due to the last minute cancellation of Brandi Carlile, as the first act was pushed up to 12:30. Opening main stage was the first of this year’s two Rockn’ to Lockn’ winners, DJ Williams Projekt. Talk about a funked out powerhouse. This group was heavy on the bass and back brass line. Every tune was crammed with nuggets of intense beats. They were joined early on by Samantha Reed for a performance of The Doors’ “Light My Fire.” They had a strong, positive reception from the crowd. Expect more from this band down the road.

Moon Taxi came out balls to the wall. Guitarist, Trevor Terndrup, was full of energy and jumped on a speaker to perform early on. They wasted no time getting down and dirty in the early afternoon. They were charged up and on full blast. “Year Zero” was a ripper of a jam. The song just took off and had a mind of its own. Midway through their set, they took the audience on a crazy musical journey that built the hell up before cooling down and heading into blast off mode. These guys raged their set non-stop. A little jazzy key melody eased its way in before building the vibes to full on extreme mode back into “Cabaret.” “Mercury” splashed into the set list and how appropriate this song was for the heat baking the venue. They casually strolled into “All Along The Watchtower” before shredding the hell out of the song. Keyboardist, Wes Bailey, went ape all over the ivories and took no prisoners by shredding the tune into a thousand pieces. They closed their set with “Morocco”, followed by fan favorite, “All Day All Night.” The crowd joined in towards the end of the song to bring it home. Talk about an incredibly steamy closing song for their set. If you’ve never heard Moon Taxi, do yourself a favor and check them out.

As the last notes were being dropped from Moon Taxi, the stage rotated right into the first notes of Twiddle. Keyboardist, Ryan Dempsey, enjoyed the rotation standing on his chair with toes just barely touching his keys. These guys were ready to go. An extra microphone set up hinted at a surprise guest to join in. Slight technical difficulties made the stage crew quickly act to fix the sound situation with guitarist and lead singer, Mihali Savoulidi‘s microphone. Once the situation was remedied, they went into an extensive jam that curved around tones bordering on psychedelic vibes. After dropping sick tunes to start their set, Keller Williams joined in to perform his song “Best Feeling.” It got super funky, down and dirty as they rolled into it. Michael Jackson‘s “Smooth Criminal” became an improvisational work of art. Rolling from reggae funk to down and dirty ripping jams, this band instantly gained new fans from their first set of the festival. They will be performing once again on Sunday afternoon.

The stage rotated to bring out the funkiest of grooves in the afternoon. Galactic, with Lee Oskar, rolled out and instantly went right into some tasty deep funk. Forget about sitting on your ass, Stanton Moore is only one of the best drummers out there and pulls the beats out of clouds of energy, setting the grooves on fire. The horns just blew the beats out of the water and exploded in an endless jam that went for miles. The crowd was already sweating but their tunes busted the seams, drenching people in energy they were pouring out. At one point, Moore used his tambourine to help pull out one of the most incredible drum solos. He would tap it and slide it along both the cymbals and drum heads, while using a drum stick with the other hand. He then switched up to using drum brushes before going back into full use of his sticks. One of his drums fell over mid solo, but stage crew was quick to respond and get his set corrected. Erica Falls whipped out one seriously incredible vocal performance when she joined the group on stage. Her vocal control was simply stunning, and her voice an absolute pleasure to drink in the ears. Lee Oskar, the harmonica master himself, was tremendous on his harps. Wow. Hands down one of the hottest performances of Lockn’ so far.

Hard Working Americans came around for the crowd next. They grabbed the set by the balls and unleashed a fury of pounding tunes throughout. Guitarists, Neal Casal, and Jesse Aycock gingerly strummed their way through each tune, having the audience think it may be a light song then, without even realizing, the melodies would become fully charged and rock out with wicked intensity. Todd Snider’s growly vocals added to the dynamite group, and perfectly matched the tone of the instruments. Raw, rough, rock and roll, hands down.

Phil Lesh and Friends went on later than scheduled, keeping everyone on their toes as to when the set would begin. Lesh was joined by Jon Fishman and Page McConnell of Phish, Anders Osborne, Joe Russo, and the Infamous Stringdusters.  The packed stage of musicians opened the show with “Scarlet Begonias.” The mix of fiddle and bluegrass tones really added a flair never heard with Phil & Friends before. Russo and Fishman pulled out a double duty drum solo early on in the set, however the crew was still getting the sound dialed in.

Watch full set video, courtesy of Tom Rowles.

After a brief moment of sound correction, “Dire Wolf” popped its head, with McConnell’s gentle keys shining through. This version gave the feel of being in a dusty bar in the old west during the gold rush. “Uncle John’s Band” got the whole place dancing and joining in song. The field was jam packed and the energy was top notch. With so many musicians on stage, it was hard to know where to look first. They took the tune on a quick paced ride around the notes, creating a magical journey.

As if there weren’t enough musicians on stage, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi joined the group making for one very packed stage. The super group busted out “Mr. Charlie,” as Tedeschi took the lead on vocals before taking “Sugaree” on a breezy trip through the song. Trucks does what Trucks does best and made the tune sound seamless as he went into a remarkable slide guitar jam. The fiddle in the background added touches of beauty throughout.

Osborne sat out for the few songs while the power couple joined, but once they got off stage, he joined back in. The crowd was going nuts when they slammed into “Shakedown Street.” Osborne was visibly having a blast on stage as he danced around, all while keeping a giant smile on his face. “Terrapin Station,” for the finish, was absolutely insane. What happened on stage was tearjerkingly good. So goddamn good. An absolute top fan favorite, the venue could not believe they were closing with such a magical tune. The band bowed and the crowd deafeningly cheered to the super group that just blew everyone away. 

Tedeschi Trucks Band came up next, continuing the intense evening of sick musical acts. Their set was crammed with high energy tunes. Tedeschi belted out her powerful vocals to “The Letter,” followed by “Laugh About It,” featuring Trucks’ cutting loose and tearing up the strings on his guitar. They slowly slid into “Within You Without You,” building it up with mystical tones only to roll into a solid, drum heavy beat.

The hot set continued with a heavy brass “Just As Strange,” which featured a fast paced soulful vibe. Kofi Burbridge busted out the flute, adding a delicate tone throughout the tight melody. Trucks was sweating his ass off in the heat, as he dripped all over his guitar. The flawless build up of energy that is plucked from the musical heavens, and spills out of his strings, is unbelievably intense. Then he brings the energy down to a trickle without even trying. The man is a guitar genius.

Stream the full audio of the set below, courtesy of taper opsopcopolis.

My Morning Jacket headlined for the evening on the main stage. The show started off on a high note with “Victory Dance.” The band wanted to make sure the venue was heating up again, as cooler air was finally rolling in. “Off The Record” had the crowd shouting the lyrics to the band. Guitarist and frontman Jim James really tore into the vibe and his vocals amped up the energy for the evening.  Burt Bacharach’s song “What the World Needs Now Is Love” was made into an entirely new version of jam awesome. The packed venue was singing along. Bassist, Tom Blankenship, looked seriously dapper in his vest and tie throughout the evening. “State of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)” was overflowing at the seams with energy, screaming to be unleashed. The build up was calm and smooth, with keyboardist Bo Kester, starting out on piano, followed by an intro of all instruments one at a time. The energy built and built, until the song went on blast off into the sky. It was insane. Their set also included covers of some of the greatest artists this world has recently lost. Prince’s “Purple Rain” and David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” honored these two legends appropriately. “One Big Holiday” closed the killer set and had the venue going insane! For those who had never seen My Morning Jacket, they were blown away.  One of the, if not THE, hottest set of the festival so far.

Stream the full audio of the set below, courtesy of taper opsopcopolis.

Following the end of the evening on the main stage, Super VIP attendees were treated to an intimate Hard Working Americans show. The set began with a rocking, in your face “Opening Statement,” an extensive jam that turned into another dimension with trippy vibes floating around the waves of notes. Within the musical journey, Phil Lesh and Phish’s Mike Gordon joined Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools. A golden trifecta of bass players. Bass bombs and deep tones reverberated throughout the floor, and the crowd, could feel every note being dropped. Susan Tedeschi joined in for a performance of “He’s Gone.” Stuff of legends happened last night. 

Late night on the Blue Ridge Bowl featured Lettuce.  They provided super trippy melodies for the late night crowd as they played until about 3:30 in the morning. Out in the Woods Stage, Khruangbing, followed by a second night of “Jazz & Woods,” featuring DJ Logic, filled the forest with nuggets of crisp tones and late night vibes. 

Saturday was absolutely nuts with the mega acts that performed. Let’s see what the fourth, and final day has in store. Stay tuned!

For more information on the Lockn’ Festival, please visit their official website.

Words by Sarah Bourque.  Follow on Twitter.

Photographs by Sam Shinault Photography.