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Review: 9th Annual Square Roots Festival, A Ravenswood Secret Music Getaway
By Vern Hester
One of the fondest memories from my pre-pubescent years was a family outing to the long-gone south side amusement park known as River View. The one thing that I remember is letting my eleven-year-old older cousin, Omar, talk me into riding a rollercoaster called “The Comet.” It wasn’t the biggest rollercoaster at the park, but the minimum age for riding it was seven years of age. Ingenious little squirts that we were, we just lied and added a year to my actual age. Granted, this was the first rollercoaster ride of my life and also the last. I screamed my fucking head off and I’ve never known sheer unadulterated terror like it since. I can proudly say that I didn’t hurl my lunch or crap my pants but as I wiped away the tears and stopped trembling, I took in two valuable lessons. First, there were so many other rides at the park I could have fun with without fearing for my life and lunch besides a rollercoaster and, second, at least I gained the experience of going on the ride[my cousin is still one of my best friends].
That second point brings to mind many of the performances I saw at the 9th Annual Square Roots Festival which took place from July 8-10 over a five-block stretch along Lincoln Avenue. The festival, which is put on by the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce and The Old Town School of Folk Music featured two outdoor stages for performances, three more performance spaces in the Old Town school itself, a host of local businesses selling goods, and a broad selection of food and beer.
Before I delve into the music, which I must add was largely new to me, I must add that this festival seemed designed for leisure and walking around and was perfect for a pleasant weekend of lolling about. No pushy crowds, no deafening overlap of unwanted loud music, no mounds of ripe garbage or aromas of warm spilt high-end craft beer, lots of cute kids running around and being kids, and barely a sprinkle from the heavens [actually there was a small one Friday afternoon]. My point in all of this laid-back imagery is that these smaller festivals, like the storied Hideout Block Parties from years ago or the recent American Music Festival [see my coverage from last week], seem to re-define what going to a festival is all about. Not the monstrous extravaganzas like Lollapalooza or the insanity of Pitchfork, but a user friendly event made for chilling out, hanging out, and listening to music.
Despite the size of the Square Roots Festival, I couldn’t just sit through an entire set of music and the packed line up kept me running between the two stages. First up was the duo of Big Samir and his wife Aja Black whose exuberant and thrilling performance as The Reminders was a refreshing surprise. Hailing from Colorado [!!!!] by way of Brussels and Queens the two shimmied and sang with a bracing joy which I’ve never seen in a hip-hop performance. Samir’s talent for bouncing syllables off his lips had an elegant way of whipping around Black’s hard soul vocals and the ever-growing crowd [especially the cute little kids] bounced and danced in unison. Next up was Seattle’s Deep Sea Diver, Jessica Dobson’s haunting and blistering art rock band who shot through the tight compositions with bracing hooks and her stinging guitar work. I’d never heard of either band but they left a ringing impression.
I certainly have seen and heard Bob Mould’s trio innumerable times before, and before he got onstage, I was cursing my lost ear plugs which I could not find before I left the house. Despite playing two other shows in Chicago that weekend, Mould’s fans were out in force and he and partner Jason Narducy did not disappoint. The fact that Mould is loud does not hide the fact that he has always sung and played with such intense and primal emotion that he comes across as both enthralling and scary at precisely the same time. Seeing him at a close proximity is akin to being engulfed by a sonic wave of molten lead, which I have to admit is quite pleasurable. To cap off the evening [Friday] I was able to catch the last couple of songs from Armando Perez’s Latin funk collective ESSO Afrojam Funkbeat who had their packed audience rocking out just as hard as Mould had his. Producer, guitarist, vocalist Perez has wisely surrounded himself with a group of collaborators who have created a cohesion which has an unnerving way of pushing their funk crescendos to insane levels.
DEHD was the top “wanna see” band on the schedule for me. I loved bassist Emily Kemph’s pageant art rock spectacle known as Vail and I already had an addiction to guitarist Jason Balla’s previous band Ne-Hi, so I was psyched to hear this newer collaboration [DEHD has been getting plenty of red-hot ink in the local media for the past couple of years]. What I got was a three ring circus full of delights; Kemph, now a tattooed goddess eschewing sunny vibes and a striking command of her space without seeming threatening, Balla, who rolls his eyes up to the back of his lids while stumbling about like a drunken puppet and seeming like an amiable sweet natured clown with drummer Eric McGrady smack in the middle whacking his drums like a solemn sentry shorn of chill and emotion. If watching them was a blast, hearing their concoction of compelling heartfelt pop shot through with Balla’s fizzy flourishes and Kemph’s shimmering vocals made for a heady mix. I have to admit, I had to stay for the entirety of DEHD’s set, and I won’t feel bad about that.
Dayton Ohio’s grand daddies of alternative rock, Robert Pollard’s latest incarnation of Guided by Voices followed these newbies and they proved a wise follow up. The joke in the audience was how Pollard and the band would contain their set to a little over sixty minutes given that their reputation is to deliver sets that go on for hours. Given that this band has been recording off and on for thirty-one years, this time out they were especially tight and focused. I felt kinda crummy because I wanted to check out chk-chk-chk [aka !!!] because of a friend’s strong recommendation. As tasty as Guided by Voices was, I was stunned by the all-out funk assault that chk-chk-chk was laying out, and the last of their set was closer to an out and out freak out with soul mama Meah Pace and frantic Nic Offer literally torching everything in sight.
Early Sunday evening Lilly Hiatt from Nashville closed out the festival for me with a set of twangy and lithe balladry that was at once haunting, fierce, and tart in all the right places.
After this jamboree it may be a while before I go to another massive, extravagant, monstrously hyped music festival, because, well, smaller can be better.
For more on the festival and next years events, click here
For photos from the 9th annual festival, click here
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