Wanee Music Festival • April 16-18
Spirit of Suwannee Music Park • Live Oak, FL
By Lauren Cobb
Wanee 2015 saw its first year without the Allman Brothers Band headlining. However, the festival and its crew took what they learned the past 10 years since its inception and created a beautiful, fulfilling, and all around amazing experience for anyone who attended. For a weekend that started out with a forecast of intense rain and thunderstorms, the weather ended up to be quite perfect – not too hot, not too cold, and only one rainstorm that came at a very welcomed time.
As people kept rolling into the campgrounds on Thursday, the excitement grew. The Spirit of Suwanee Music Park already brings happiness to anyone that steps foot on it, but the vibes during this particular weekend were unlike anything I’ve experienced there before. Every single person was smiling from ear to ear at pretty much all times, and anyone you met instantly felt like family.
Royal Southern Brotherhood got the party started on Thursday night. The weather didn’t look too promising at first, but quickly cleared up and throngs of people started to arrive at the Mushroom Stage. Raw Oyster Cult was up next, and brought the heat with a high energy set. By the time Pink Talking Fish came on stage, the vibe in the crowd was full of excitement and the alcohol was flowing strong. One of the highlights of the set was the insane sandwich of songs that included “Divided Sky”>”One Of These Days”>”Lengthwise”>”One Of These Days”>”Divided Sky.” They came back out for a fun encore starting off with “Quinn the Eskimo” which people singing at the top of their lungs. They rounded off the encore with Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse,” sneaking in some Simpsons secret language for all the Phish fans in the crowd.
Friday was overcast all day, but the rain stayed at bay aside from a few bursts of mist that were welcomed by most. The day started off with Twiddle on the Mushroom Stage. The crowd quickly grew in numbers as people happily danced along to their reggae-rock-funk vibes. The entire field at the Peach Stage during Earth, Wind, and Fire was full of people grooving, especially when they broke into one of their staples, “September.” Gov’t Mule was up next on the main stage and did not disappoint as they powered through covers of Elton John’s “Have Mercy on the Criminal” and Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.” Leftover Salmon featuring Bill Payne ripped through “Aquatic Hitchhiker,” and Vince Herman gave off the most contagious energy as he threw in lyrics about Suwanee and the festival at every chance he got. Leftover Salmon was the perfect pregame for Panic, and that energy carried over.
When it was finally time for Widespread Panic to come on, festival attendees were beyond antsy. “Love Tractor” opener got everyone moving quickly, and you could tell that the band was about to shred it. They powered through classics such as “Who Do You Belong To?” and “Radio Child,” and by the time they started an especially insane “Papa’s Home,” everyone realized that they did not plan on taking a set-break, and were indeed going to give us three straight hours of WSMFP. All members of the band except for Duane Trucks got a short break during the “Drums” solo in between “Blackout Blues” and “Diner.” As they went into Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning,” people could be seen running up and down the once designated walking aisles in the crowd with hands in the air and smiles on their faces. They closed out the set with “Use Me,” during which fireworks were going off left and right and seemed to make the band jam even harder as each one exploded. By the time they finished the last few notes of an encore that included “Tail Dragger” and “Porch Song,” everyone in the crowd looked beat. As some people wandered back to their campsites to rest up for day three, most people powered through and mustered up enough energy to make it to the funky party set that was Dumpstaphunk 70’s style. The lights and lasers at the Mushroom Stage rounded out the party and everyone was getting down to the funk before they headed back to camp at the end of a very long day.
The sun came out to play on Saturday and warmed things up. Saturday early afternoon featured a rocking set from The Revivalists, as well as a special set from Butch Trucks and Very Special Friends which included Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones, Vaylor Trucks, Dave Yoke, and Bruce Katz. Butch led them through a fun set with a number of crowd pleasing covers such as “Midnight Rider” and “Whipping Post.” JJ Grey and Mofro provided everyone a chance to relax and unwind at the Peach Stage, while Dragon Smoke was laying down the New Orleans blues at the Mushroom Stage. Dragon Smoke (comprised of Ivan Neville, Robert Mercurio, Eric Lindell, and Stanton Moore) seemed to be the set of the day that most surprised people who had not seen or even heard of them before. Even with a few bands overlapping, The Nth Power still drew a huge crowd out to their Steely Dan set. They channeled Steely Dan so well that the end of their set left everyone asking for more. Gregg Allman was doing his thing on the main stage around this time, and also had a huge crowd as Allman Brothers Band followers packed into the front of the stage. The entire crowd from front to back was hugging, singing, and loving life as Gregg sang deep into our souls with “Soulshine.” The temperature was really heating up right around this time, so when the rain started coming down as Yonder Mountain String Band took the stage, it was welcomed with open arms. Everyone in the crowd was frolicking like a huge group of kids in the rain, kicking up their feet and chugging rain-filled beers.
As Yonder was coming to a close, people were sprinting to the main stage to post up for round two of Panic. After Friday night’s set everyone was excited and had no idea what to expect, but knew it would be a heater. An opener of “Makes Sense to Me” got everyone amped up and as they moved into “Chainsaw City,” there were definitely no bad vibes.
“Ribs and Whiskey” had the crowd jumping all the way through the next few songs until they played favorite “All Time Low.” When the first notes of “Arleen” were played, it was as if the entire crowd at Wanee turned into its very own zoo full of animals. After that insanity, they slowed things down with a beautiful “Pilgrims” into the always loved “Airplane.” It was not long, though, before they picked it back up as Jimmy Herring ripped through “Red Hot Mama” and John Bell belted out “Conrad the Caterpillar.” We got the pleasure of a three song encore featuring “Big Wooly Mammoth” with some funky bass lines from Dave Schools that was closed out with “Mr. Soul.” As the band thanked the crowd and wandered off stage, people made their way to Galactic for the last show of the weekend. Their amped up funk and killer vocals had everyone dancing along. The pit was packed with people refusing to let their festival weekend end.
As people said their goodbyes after Galactic, it started to sink in that the festival had come to a close. After such an amazing weekend, going back to reality proved to be extremely hard. I do not think I have ever woken up after a weekend with such a huge smile on my face, or left a place with so many amazing new friends that will be here to stay. Wanee will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will continue to return.