North Coast Festival - Claypool Lennon Delirium

When it comes to music festivals, the city of Chicago is plentiful. That's why it's such a great city for a person like me. Now, this festival peaked my interest for a few reasons; first off, a few of the headlining bands fall under my radar, (Umphrey's McGee and the up and coming Claypool Lennon Delirium) The other reason I decided to go was the obvious reason to experience exciting new bands that I otherwise wouldn't listen to.

The Festival for me started and ended on Saturday, I was unable to make the other days due to the Conflicting schedule with the Phish webcast. The morning bands were quite good, such as Twiddle (third picture) who played an amazing set, and Vulfpeck who I enjoyed very much. They did an exquisite cover of "Boogie On Reggae Woman," by Stevie Wonder which happens to be one of my favorites. 

Later on, Ty Dolla $ign played his set consisting of a bottle of Bombay and a blunt (second picture). All of the opening bands seemed to be a strange assortment of genres, from jam bands to EDM to rap. The lineup was definitely an awesome representation of new music. 

After the opening bands, the group I came to see played an amazing set. The Claypool Lennon Delirium was able to artfully recreate the Yes song, "Heart Of The Sunrise" in a wicked combination of Sir Les Claypool's godlike bass playing and Sean Lennon's ambient tonal guitar corresponding with the rest of the group. I went into this festival expecting a lot from this group having purchased their debut album, "Monolith of Phobos" when it came out. I can gladly say their performance Significantly exceeded my expectations. 

Les Claypool's funky, steam punk-esque demeanor combined with Sean Lennon's vocal characteristics eerily reminiscent of his father makes for a crazy group that can only be explained as Primus meets The Beatles. With lyrical content spanning from perverted plight to pill popping, you really don't know what to expect with these guys.  

When it comes to the festival as a whole, I give it a 6.9/10 for musical diversity. Really the only criticism I have is the lack of organization. I noticed the website and its social presence seemed hard to navigate and busy. Plus their lack of communication with media was disappointing. 

As for The Claypool Lennon Delirium, they get an 8.3/10 for setlist spontaneity and overall just being a fun group. 

I haven't much knowledge on the other groups, thus I cannot officially rate their performances. however, I can list some of my favorite groups from this weekend. 

This list includes: Vulfpeck, Twiddle, Bassnectar, and Future Rock. 

Thank you for a wonderful weekend, my next review will be up by Monday!