String Cheese Incident Cover Eminem, STS9 and Umphrey’s Deliver New Material at Wakarusa

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The String Cheese Incident, STS9, Umphrey’s McGee Bassnectar, The Flaming Lips and more rolled through Ozark, AR over the weekend for this year’s Wakarusa. The festival was once again marred by frequent rain, though it never reached the biblical proportions of the previous year’s festival.

Michael Franti & Spearhead and STS9 held things down on the Main Stage on Thursday night with a set that featured the new tunes “New Dawn, New Day” and “Click Lang Echo.” The band kept up their post-David Murphy trend of segueing songs, as the set featured a “When The Dust Settles” that played into “Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist,” a “New Dawn, New Day” that transitioned into “Kaya,” an “Awesome (STS9 Cool Kids Remix)” that became “Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature” and a finale that featured a “Vapors” segue into “Inspire Strikes Back.”

Friday saw Lettuce bring the funk to the Main Stage before Dr. Dog delivered a top notch set that reiterated their place as one of the best live indie-rock bands around. STS9 then took the stage for their second show of the festival, which featured a take on the recently revived “Poseidon” (the song returned for the first time in ten years during their April show in Vail, CO), as well as a transition between the new tracks “World Go Round” and “Totem.” Fans may have noticed that the band has not yet addressed the crowd since making their post-David Murphy return with new bassist Alanna Rocklin (the crowd interaction was traditionally left to Murphy).

Next, the Flaming Lips took over the Main Stage for one of their signature spectacle heavy sets, which included a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” Infected Mushroom followed with a psytrance party as The String Cheese Incident began their first show of the festival over at the Revival Tent. The Colorado jam titans played one-set rager that wrapped up with a cover of Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed & Painless” that was sandwiched in the middle of “Rollover.”

Much of the festival woke up Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers on Saturday morning as the band worked their way through plenty of material from their self-titled debut album on the Main Stage. The band was followed by Xavier Rudd and Reignwolf before Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic played one of their shows since booting longtime singer Jade Castrinos from the group. Their show was followed by a two-set performance from The String Cheese Incident. The show, which was heavy on material from the band’s new album Song In My Head, also featured renditions of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On,” Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” and a surprise rendition of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” that saw Jason Hann put his rap game to use.

Bassnectar, who is gearing up to release his new album Noise vs Beauty late this month, led the crowd through one of his ever-evolving late-night throwdowns after Cheese left the stage. Meanwhile, Umphrey’s McGee were busy in the Revival Tent, where they treated fans to newer tunes like “Gurgle,” “Similar Skin” (the title track off the new album, which dropped today) and “Bad Friday,” along with a take on Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains The Same.” Umphrey’s was followed by Papadosio, who kept the tent packed until 4am.

While many festivals opt for a more subdued final day, Wakarusa fans kept it going full throttle with Main Stage sets from Cherub, EOTO, Umphrey’s McGee and a Claude VonStroke late night. Umphrey’s McGee once again delivered some new tunes such as “Bathing Digits” and Cut The Cable,” while the band encored with a cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” that was placed in the middle of “Bridgeless.”

Other notable sets throughout the weekend include a Saturday Twiddle/The Werks (billed as The Twerks) combo set on the Grassroots Stage that featured a solid rendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Eyes of the World,” as well as a disco-filled Poolside Live Band set at the Satellite Stage on Sunday afternoon.

Here’s a look at some setlists from this year’s Wakarusa

Friday, June 6, 2014, String Cheese Incident, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Valley of The Jig, Joyful Sound > Black Clouds, Give Me The Love, You’ve Got The World, Shantytown > Beautiful, Windy Mountain > Rollover, Crosseyed & Painless

Saturday, June 7, 2014, String Cheese Incident, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Set I: Can’t Wait Another Day, Sweet Spot, Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance, Dudley’s Kitchen, Here To Stay, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Colliding, Just One Story

Set II: Let’s Go Outside, Restless Wind, BollyMunster, I’m Still Here, It Is What It Is, Sirens, Lose Yourself, Rosie

Enc: Barstool, Ramble On, Colorado Bluebird Sky

Source: Friendsofcheese.com

Thursday, June 5, 2014, STS9, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Baraka, When The Dust Settles > Hidden Hand Hidden Fist, New Dawn New Day > Kaya, Golden Gate, Click Lang Echo, Awesome feat Cool Kids (STS9 Remix) > Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature, Scheme > What Is Love?, Vapors > Inspire Strikes Back

Friday, June 6, 2014, STS9, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Wika Chikana, Frequencies 2 > 3, Bigs > 1…2…3… > Rent, Poseidon, March, Circus, 20-12, Tap-In, World Go Round > Totem > Four Year Puma

Source: Facebook.com/STS9

Saturday, June 7, 2014, Umphrey’s McGee, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Gurgle > Mulche’s Odyssey, Similar Skin, Liberty Echo > 1348, The Linear > Blue Echo > Booth Love > Bad Friday

Enc: The Song Remains the Same

Sunday, June 8, 2014, Umphrey’s McGee, Ozark, AR, Wakarusa

Bathing Digits > All In Time > Ocean Billy, Cut the Cable, Wellwishers > All In Time, Nothing Too Fancy

Enc: Bridgeless > Tom Sawyer > Bridgeless

Source: http://allthings.umphreys.com/