Day One
Hopping on the hotel shuttle early Friday afternoon was the first of many pleasant surprises that this festival had to offer. They made arrangements for different shuttles to bring festivalgoers to and from the grounds (and campgrounds) each day, fully equipped with witty and politically savvy bus drivers. One of which made an announcement that Eaux Claires’ ticketing system had been hacked “probably by the Russians,” and that they had hired ex-FBI director James Comey to investigate since he “recently has a lot of time on his hands.” Oof.
With the soothing tunes of Paris-based This is the Kit guiding us in the background, we ventured off onto the forest trails to see some art. Just off the central field with the 2 main stages were trails leading into the forest lit by bright purple lights and strewn with bright red wood chips (think: that sawdust that appeared from the depths of your grade school whenever a sick kid threw up her bologna sandwich all over the hallway).
Some trails led to small installations that we viewed just walking by, while others led to bigger and more profound setups. The Pickup Music Project, which hails from Boston, returned to Eaux Claires with a sound piece called “Fluid Process” that created music through falling water. Located in the middle of the forest, it encouraged festivalgoers to use different buttons on an electronic screen to get the water to fall from the top of the woodwork. This project “mirror[ed] the organic, unpredictable nature of rain.”
Other installations included a build-your-own log sculpture, tilted monkey bars, coloring wall, and a living room scene built within the trees that seemed to turn into a prime festivalgoer’s dream photobooth. People were invited to “get comfortable” in this Midwestern ‘70s vibe living room by sitting on a couch and listening to a vintage stereo console. Becky and I watched from afar — the line to “get comfortable” was a bit too long — as friends and families posed for photos that most likely went straight to the ‘gram.
As we explored the grounds within the forest, we also came across a couple wooden stages that were hand-built for smaller acts and secret musical collaborations. The first one we made sure to catch was indie-folk trio Mountain Man from Vermont, of which Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath makes up 1/3. Singing mostly a cappella with the exception of a soft acoustic guitar on a few tunes, the 3 women of Mountain Man really brought some vocal beauty to the woods. Despite the tiny stage that they performed on, the woodsy area around them was packed with people coming to watch their performance, which was their first in about 5 years. At one point while singing a rather angelic tune, one of them started laughing and tearing up saying something along the lines of, “well it wouldn’t be a true Mountain Man set without one of us crying!”
After making our way out of the crowded forest, Becky and I headed over to an area labeled The Creek to catch Francis and the Lights – one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend. The Creek turned out to be one of our favorite listening spots for the weekend, with many thanks to the multiple lawn chairs that were available to lounge our weary and broken bones in. As Francis appeared on the stage, everyone shot out of their chairs and was prepared to dance – everyone, that is, except Becky who had fallen asleep with a little help from her pain meds. Thinking that Francis’ high energy would jolt her from her slumber, her catnap lasted into the first part of his set, as he sat at the piano and played some slow tunes that had the crowd wondering, “Is this it? Should we sit back down?” Just as everyone started to reconsider their mood, Francis jumped out of his seat and shouted, “Let’s go Eaux Claires!” Playing many of his hits from his album Farewell, Starlite!, he flailed his body around the stage in true Francis-form and ended his performance by bringing up members of the audience, including many kids, to have some sort of spontaneous dance party. Although Becky has been skeptical of Francis’ appeal, she thought that everyone seemed to genuinely be having fun both on stage and in the crowd, ending her thoughts with, “You know what, Francis sounds like a hipster version of Phil Collins.” As for me, I’m here for it.
However, somewhat of a disappointing set for us was Bon Iver’s tribute to legend John Prine, which they titled “The American Songbook.” In what seemed like a consistent jumble of “and please welcome to the stage…” as different artists and bands were called to join Justin Vernon on stage, John Prine didn’t even appear on his own tribute until over an hour into the set just as the first downpour of the weekend began. Feeling a little bummed that this wasn’t the direction we expected the performance to go, we decided to take this time to do what we do best, eat.
After finding newfound energy in some dumplings and kimchi, Becky and I set off to catch Sylvan Esso at the Flambeaux stage, one of the bigger performance spaces of the festival. As the crew worked hard to dry off the equipment and the stage itself after what seemed like a never-ending cats-and-dogs type of rain, the clouds passed over exposing a fire-like sunset just as Sylvan Esso took the stage. From Durham, North Carolina, Sylvan Esso consists of singer Amelia Meath (of Mountain Man) and producer Nick Sanborn. Together they put on a performance for the books. With Meath’s vocal strength ranging from sweet to raspy and Sanborn’s catchy beats, they had the crowd absolutely beaming after being soaked to the bone. Performing songs from both their self-titled first album and recent What Now, Sylvan Esso seemed to be on point their entire set, with an equally impressive light show that shadowed the rhythm of their songs. Definitely a standout of the weekend!
Last, but certainly not least, Chicago hero Lil Chano from the 79th, or as most know him as Chance the Rapper, closed out the festival Friday night. After putting out his third mixtape Coloring Book last summer, he has most notably been popping up in the news for his generous donations to the Chicago Public Schools and his recent win of the Grammy’s 2017 Best New Artist. After recently watching him perform at Boston Calling, we had a feeling that he would bring his A-game once again to Eaux Claires. With a slideshow tribute of his friendship with Kanye and a choreographed dance with Francis + Justin Vernon on both “Friends” and “May I Have This Dance,” Chance had all eyes on him as he played the new hits and some old fan favorites, including “Acid Rap” and “Sunday Candy.” I walked out of day one on a very high note just thinking, “still can’t believe that dude is younger than me.”