The modern iteration of the Newport Folk Festival has made blending the past and the future its brand, but never was that dynamic more present than at this year’s 65th annual festival. There were, as always, plenty of reminders of the festival’s Sixties heyday: Joan Baez serving as this year’s Newport Patron Saint, mainstage sing-alongs to “This Land Is Your Land” and “We Shall Overcome,” Taj Mahal carrying the folk-blues torch. Even Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” was covered multiple times (by Beck and Molly Tuttle) on a single day.
Here are some of the best performances we saw this year.
Adrianne Lenker
It’s no easy task showing up to a blistering hot festival and keeping a crowd’s attention for an hour playing mostly unreleased material by yourself. But that’s exactly what Adrianne Lenker did during her solo set, which was mostly a preview of unreleased material — what Lenker described as “some Big Thief songs I’m testing out.” Lenker invited her Big Thief bandmate Buck Meek out for a couple songs towards the end, but the majority of her solo-acoustic set felt like an anointing of sorts, a feeling that may have been accentuated when Joan Baez was spotted watching a few songs from the side of the stage. That feeling crystallized the moment Lenker finished her stunning unreleased song called “Incomprehensible,” a gorgeous reflection on Canadian road trips and aging with chords that conjured Neil Young’s “Helpless.” The crowd stood up and gave Lenker one of the longer standing ovations in the festival’s recent memory.
Beck
Every year at Newport there’s a TBA (To Be Announced) or two, and this year’s Friday TBA, fresh off his show the night before with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Beck rolled into the Quad stage for an hour to play a few of his own songs, but mostly to pay homage to the great legends of past Newport Folk Fests. Beck opened with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm,” followed by Fred Neil’s “The Other Side Of This Life,” Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting For A Train,” (with some excellent yodeling by Beck), a couple of traditional folk songs and ended his set with four originals including “Loser,” and “One Foot In The Grave.”
De La Soul
Even though the start of De La Soul’s Sunday set at Newport’s Quad Stage was delayed by technical difficulties, once started, the hip-hop legends brought the party to the Newport crowd with a non-stop energetic set of hits that included “Me, Myself and I,” “Potholes In My Lawn,” and “A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays.” Maseo (Vincent Lamont Mason Jr.) and Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer) remain De La’s two members; David Jude Jolicoeur, AKA, Trugoy The Dove sadly passed away in 2023. They wasted no time in getting the crowd to wave their hands in the air like they just didn’t care, and were joined by rapper Pharoahe Monch on a handful of songs including Monch’s “Simon Says,” which sent the crowd into a De La Folk frenzy.
Here’s what’s equally as important to know – the Quad stage is tented and is mostly chairs. At the request of the Dropkick Murphys, who played after De La, they removed the chairs (“an experiment based on trust” announced Newport’s producer Jay Sweet to the crown). The feeling that De La brought to Newport was in keeping with the energy and the spirit of the folk fest, even though there wasn’t an acoustic guitar in site on the stage.
Allison Russell
Allison Russell began her Newport set by lighting a candle and speaking an incantation of love, joy, and hope out over the audience. She took her time, creating an intentionally sacred space on stage before diving into an incredible set that included If Eve Was Black, Demons (featuring the Newport County Choral Group), and a gorgeous version of Requiem (featuring a duet with Hozier). Backed by her Rainbow Coalition band, a tight-knit group of Black and POC, queer, and historically marginalized musicians, Russel personified the power of music to bring people together in what she calls “Beloved Community.”
Sierra Ferrell
It was hard to treat Sierra Ferrell’s Sunday-afternoon mainstage set as anything but her star-making turn at Newport, and that’s not because luminaries like Jack White and Gillian Welch were watching from side-stage. Welch joined Ferrell for a rousing duet of the folk standard “Handsome Molly” a few songs after Ferrell dueted with John C. Reilly on Ray Price’s country classic “Heartaches by the Number.” But those were outliers: Ferrell’s set was, above all, a stunning showcase for her new LP, Trail of Flowers, from the rousing opener “I Could Drive You Crazy” to her band’s blistering rock rendition of the 1930s tune “Chitlin Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County” to Ferrell’s fiddle-stomp closer “Fox Hunt.” It all amounted to a triumphant display from a singer being christened — in real time — as a next-gen torchbearer.
Conan O’Brien
The closing set at Newport is historically one of those big culminating “kumbaya” moments where dozens of musicians show up to sing at least one folk music classic, sing a bunch of cool covers, and to make one big final musical statement. This year was no exception. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, with Dawes as the house band along with Jimmy Vivino, the parade of musicians and great choice of covers brought smiles and sing-alongs to the dozens of people I was surrounded by.
Some of the highlights: Nathaniel Rateliff sang “Let It Bleed” (The Rolling Stones) and Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talking.” Mavis Staples followed with “I’ll Take You There.” Nick Lowe showed up to sing his classics “So It Goes” and “Cruel To Be Kind.” Jack White surprised many when he came out on stage to play “We’re Going To Be Friends,” and a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.” Then everyone came on stage to sing “The Midnight Special,” as a light rain fell on the crowd, putting a final goodnight kiss on Newport Folk, 2024.
Rhiannon Giddens
Rhiannon Giddens’ set began with a litany of sound issues: She sang a few songs with no functioning microphone, then bought time by leading the crowd through an a cappella version of Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.” Once everything was (mostly) resolved, Giddens thrilled with a set of string band tunes, Cajun jams, and highlights from her solo catalog, including “We Could Fly” and “Another Wasted Life.” But the highlight of the set, and of all of Saturday, was when one of Giddens’ heroes, Taj Mahal, came out to perform the banjo instrumental “Roscoe’s Mule Down in Roscoe’s Barn.” Halfway through the song, out came Joan Baez, who, at 83, spent the rest of the song in a hoedown dance-off with Giddens. Baez, Giddens, and Taj Mahal then capped off the set with a tear-jerking cover of the spiritual “I Shall Not Be Moved.”
Wednesday
“I’m so surprised they asked us to play,” Karly Hartzman confessed halfway through her band’s smoldering Friday-afternoon set, where the band previewed new material and ran through highlights like “Formula One,” “Quarry,” and “Bath County.” from their acclaimed 2023 album Rat Saw God. The band had no intention of toning down their feedback-filled shredding for the surroundings, and that was for the better. Wednesday’s set was not only one of the loudest all weekend, it was also one of the most talked-about. Most exciting was a particularly heavy, brand-new song that found Hartzman rhyming “ass” with “cast” and screaming the song’s refrain: “They’ll meet you outside!”
MUNA
Muna. Muna. Muna!!! Swapping their usual high-energy pop performance for a stripped-back and vibey set of some of their biggest hits, Muna’s Newport Folk debut was filled with surprises. Their set also included a solo performance from lead vocalist Katie Gavin of ‘As Good As It Gets,’ an unreleased track off of her upcoming EP, and the announcement that she’ll be playing a solo set later this weekend!
Hozier
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, also known as Hozier, closed out the festival with a set of spoken humor and hearty vocals. “Unknown,” made up of vocals which draw questions on how he can possibly hold enough air to produce such sounds in his body, filled in the evening air. He brought Allison Russell, who he told the crowd he met at the Newport Folk Festival, to the stage to share a song with him. They also happen to be on North American tour together.
This duo brought the crowd to their feet and compelled the attendees enough to take their phones out as well — to take home a piece of the experience. Singing in the end of the evening, people brought their hands together to the beat. The sheer size of his voice and stage presence (yes, being as tall as he is does help this cause) filled the main stage.
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys began their set calling the festival the Newport Punk Rock festival, before launching into their 2013 song “The Boys Are Back.”
Another group from this festival that draws inspiration from the lyrics of Woodie Guthrie (Billy Bragg from Saturday also being notable in that regard), Dropkick Murphys formed in Quincy in 1996. Their most streamed song “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” is a reimagining of Guthrie lyrics.
The American-Celtic punk band has a total of twelve studio albums (not to mention their many live and compilation albums) and seem to remain a favorite of festival attendees despite their music being far from what the festival’s name might lead you to expect.
Brittany Howard
Brittany Howard was her usual force of nature in a set that unfortunately overlapped with Mighty Popular, De La Soul, and Dropkick Murphys. Raising the arms of her flowing outfit like wings, Howard began with the tour-de-force “Earth Sign” and aired out songs from her arty solo albums, from the flirty “Stay High” to the testimonial “13th Century Metal,” her band anchored by former Alabama Shakes bandmate Zac Cockrell on bass and jazz dynamo Nate Smith on drums. Howard also returns to Newport Jazz Festival, which can surely fit her genre-breaking sweep.
Cunningham/Bird
Cunningham/Bird, a collaboration containing Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, took the Fort stage in the mid-afternoon Sunday. The duo took the stage, beginning their planned set with a “You ready?” from Cunningham. Close-knit harmonies blended the technically grand violin and guitar playing from both members of the duo. Cunningham, a 27-year-old Grammy-award-winning folk artist hailing from Escondido, California, is known for her unique instrumentation on guitar.
Bird, 51, whose career has spanned multiple decades since his first release in 1996 (16 studio albums since then is nothing to sneeze at) and who has two GRAMMY nominations himself, is also known for his virtuous instrumentals on violin. Although, his whistling is a close second in terms of musical talent outside of vocalization.
Molly Tuttle
Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway gave bluegrass an ebullient, contemporary sheen in their smart originals (including the winking “Down Home Dispensary”) and a pre-Beck romp through “Maggie’s Farm.” The band drew rousing cheers after Tuttle explained her alopecia and doffed her hairpiece to go bald for the band’s finale. And in a cross-over from bluegrass, mandolin ace Sierra Hull appeared as one of guitar personality Cory Wong’s friends (among them Flecktones bass guitar virtuoso Victor Wooten), bridging folk and jazz, as Wong also plays Newport Jazz Festival.
Black Pumas
Black Pumas, one of the last sets on the nautical Fort stage, is composed of singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Their psychedelic soul sound made for a grand entrance onto the stage on the edge of the sea, while hundreds without official tickets floated by the edge of the peninsula in devices of varying kinds. The group’s most recent release is a record titled, “Chronicles of a Diamond” in 2023.
“It’s alright to get down as you feel it,” said Burton at the beginning of “Fire.” Although the sun beat down on the crowd, people filled the front of the space and raised their hands in the air. “When the sun comes up in the morning, darling, you look so good,” crooned the singer as he sang “Gemini Sun.”
Vocal effects, such as the echoing of Burton’s singular voice throughout the space, created a sense of stateliness to the group’s performance on the grand stage. “Ice Cream (Pay Phone)” included powerful backing vocals from Angela Miller and Lauren Cervantes as well as Burton’s signature pizzazz and the essential guitar riffs from Quesada.
Orville Peck
Woah settle down here, cowboy. We need a moment to breathe and process what just happened. Orville Peck took the Quad stage Saturday afternoon and oh boy did we fangirl. His brawny yet endearing presence held up as the crowd went crazy.
We had an eye on the details of both his on-stage tux and his crew’s outfits. Dazzled yet rooted in southern-inspired embroidery, they all had their unique setup – it felt priceless to witness. We are so in love with Orville and his crew and he did not fail in exceeding our expectations.
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