Jam On The River, Live Nation’s annual daylong jam festival in Philadelphia, usually marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Mother Nature wasn’t ready to comply for this year’s iteration. The sunny, warm weather that kicked off the day quickly moved to torrential downpours and lightning, ultimately cutting Papadosio’s set short and causing delays which forced Lotus to abridge their headlining set as well. They made an announcement asking fans to get to cover, which led to the vast majority of the crowd to exit Festival Pier.
Prior to the rains coming down, some of the jam scene’s best put on a killer show. Twiddle kicked things off early, showing no signs of fatigue after playing the kickoff show in downtown Philly just 12 hours earlier (the bassist still had the access sticker from the previous night’s venue on his pants). Lead singer and guitarist Mihali Savoulidis absolutely shredded throughout Twiddle’s set- setting the tone for the rest of the day.
The Werks and Dopapod followed. The Werks drummer Rob Chafin led the band through “Better Than Before” to open their set as lead vocal, before a killer electric organ solo by Dan Shaw. The Werks heavy bass-driven sound was a good complement to the jamtronica that was to follow later in the day. About halfway through their set a speaker blew on stage. The sound booth recovered quickly, the fans cheered and the show kept moving.
Dopapod took the traditional jam rock and flipped it on its head. They are an improvising prog-rock band that delves into jazz with a touch of EDM. In many ways, they were the perfect bridge from The Werks into Savoy. They opened with “Trapper Keeper,” led by keyboardist Eli Winderman, before working into a few other tunes and bringing it right back to “Trapper Keeper.” They ended with a great version of “Psycho Nature” from their 2014 release, Never Odd or Even, with the entire crowd singing along: “Eat. Drink. Breathe. Sleep.”
The second stage at Jam On The River was set up for some bands from the local Philly scene. Catullus kicked things off with a chilled out set that was perfect for an afternoon on the Delaware River. These guys had the time of their lives on stage, as illustrated by their keyboardist taking videos of the crowd with his phone while he played.
Later in the day, Tweed performed on the second stage. The local band has a very loyal following in Philly, and it showed as they packed the second stage area for their set. Flux Capacitor closed out the locals set with a solid set. The backdrop of the Ben Franklin Bridge behind the stage made for a very picturesque scene.
Back on the main stage, Philly jam super group Electron took the stage. Electron consists of Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of The Disco Biscuits, Tom Hamilton of American Babies and Mike Greenfield of Lotus, all Philadelphia-based bands. Electron takes sounds from each of the members’ main projects and creates something new and powerful. It was clear that the members were having a great time performing in this project, since they are not able to do so very often with their busy tour schedules.
These Philly all stars really kicked their set into gear in the second half with a killer rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” You can watch footage of that below, courtesy of 215music:
Papadosio came on next with their patented electro-jam sound, working the crowd into a frenzy. Throughout the set, the band was able to fuse just about every genre of music imaginable into a smart set list that was full of clever transitions and maintained the tempo right where it needed to be.
The momentum that was building from Papadosio’s set came to a screeching halt, unfortunately, as the skies opened up and the light rain falling on the dancing crowd turned into a downpour. The storm forced Papadosio to cut their set short, and ultimately delayed Lotus’s performance. The jamtronica band had time for an abridged set, but the venue had a hard curfew at 11 PM.
While Jam On The River didn’t end the way everyone was hoping, the event showcased some of the best that the jam scene has to offer, especially the Philadelphia jam scene. Lotus fans may not have gotten what they were expecting, but great music made Jam on the River 2015 an event to remember!
[Words by Adam Furtado, Photos by Katherine Dey Furtado]
