Patti Smith, Michael Kiwanuka Make Good Friday At Bluesfest Pretty Bloody Good

It’s a stunning day which only serves to magnify the inherent beauty of the Bluesfest experience, as colourful waves of humanity file back into Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm for Friday at the annual Easter pilgrimage.

A strong crowd has turned up early at the Crossroads stage to see singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens open proceedings there, the former Carolina Chocolate Drops mainstay promptly invited back after making huge waves at last year’s festival in her new solo guise. Giddens’ humble personality bathes the crowd in warmth as she flits between banjo and fiddle, leading her band through a set of retro-leaning Americana, the highlight proving a beautiful rendition of Hank Cochran’s She’s Got You which really unleashes her beautiful voice through the full gamut of the emotional spectrum.

Over at the massive Mojo tent UK soul crooner Michael Kiwanuka is another Bluesfest returnee, his profile having risen exponentially since the 2013 debut performance that got so many tongues wagging. Kiwanuka’s music is soulful and ruminative and beautifully-sculpted, his voice huge and dripping with expression as he leads his accomplished six-piece backing band — featuring two dexterous drummers — through a succession of emotive tunes such as Cold Little Heart and One More Night. Yet it’s his powerful reading of the inspiring Black Man In A White World that completely steals the show, the moving indictment coated with liberal doses of slinky funk to soften the blow.

Photo by Josh Groom

Decades into her incredible career veteran gospel legend Mavis Staples has lost none of her compelling power, leading the massive congregation before her through songs old and new with equal aplomb. It’s like going back through time when she revisits her familial heritage of '60s civil rights legend The Staple Singers with the timeless Touch A Hand, Make A Friend, before finishing with a potent run through of old standard Mighty Good God.

Over at the Delta stage Canadian six-piece The Strumbellas are playing their fun hybrid of disparate styles that they dub “folk popgrass”, the tent full of people young and old bopping along to tunes like Sharks and Rhinestone which are delivered with complete joie de vivre by the consummate entertainers. They play to a sea of smiles which seem to get wider as the set progresses, the experience peaking during the lazily anthemic Wild Sun.

Back at Crossroads the inimitable Patti Smith backs up her incendiary opening night headlight slot with a more restrained acoustic performance which nonetheless finds her fronting a massive ensemble, alternating between passionate covers of protest standards like Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall and fascinating spoken word interludes which keep the Beat spirit alive in both content and cadence. She preaches the power of the people like a prophet, pushing peace to the next generations with her powerful polemic and rallying cries like “people raise your arms, we have our fucking freedom!” delivered with so much passion and conviction that it’s virtually impossible not to be swept away by the unity.

Photo by Josh Groom

Hordes of people in colourful Hawaiian shirts — many sporting even more colourful parrot attire on their heads — can only mean that Jimmy Buffett is back peddling his unique brand of island escapism with his band The Coral Reefers. Buffett’s easygoing shtick seems to be a lifestyle choice for many attendees who sing along en masse to stapes like Cheeseburger In Paradise and the perennial Margaritaville, interspersed with affable covers of faves like Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and even Crowded House’s Weather With You for some local flavour.

Photo by Josh Groom

Over at the more intimate Juke Joint The California Honeydrops are peddling the unique hybrid of styles they honed busking in Oakland rail stations, an effortless blend of R&B, funk and soul united by the large band’s inherent camaraderie. Affable frontman Lech Wierzynski does his utmost to turn the experience into a full party, exhorting both his bandmates and the delighted crowd to increase their investment in proceedings to take things to the next level during catchy numbers like Candy Man and Drown In My Own Tears.

We head past the Mojo tent to spy regular visitor Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue in the midst of a massive and impressive percussion frenzy, which eventually subsides and allows the resumption of the band’s energetic horn-fuelled jazz/rock/funk stylings which by now seem so familiar in this environment.

Over at Crossroads, flame-haired guitar virtuoso Bonnie Raitt has lost none of her fire or flair, her honeyed voice and skilful slide work breathing abundant life into songs like Something To Talk About and The Comin’ Round Is Going Through which have the full tent jiving and dancing with gleeful abandon.

Up against massive headliners in Mary J Blige and The Lumineers, veteran indie rock exponents The Mountain Goats more than hold their own in the outlying Jambalaya tent. Skittish and slightly eccentric singer-songwriter John Darnielle is like a dervish as he leads his band through a slew of off-kilter gems like Jam Eater Blues and The Diaz Brothers, but it’s their big hit This Year — with its rousing and uplifting refrain “I’m going to make it through this year if it kills me” — which proves a fitting finale to a typically diverse and enriching day of music, culture and fun.

Photo by Damien Stacy