For the third year in a row I’ve managed to make it down to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. There are so many reasons to attend this event, which took place Friday through Sunday in the city’s incredible Golden Gate Park.
One of the biggest reasons is that thanks to rich-guy music-lover Warren Hellman, the entire event is free. The cost for the festival is getting there, finding a place to stay and food.
There are five stages featuring music throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. The difficult decision becomes who are you going to see (and therefore who are you going to miss).
Although the event attracts several thousand people each day, we’ve found it easy to secure great spots to see and hear the music. If you reach the event in the morning, you’ll have no problem setting up a blanket in a good spot in front of one of the stages.
Staying put in a good spot is a nice tactic, but so is wandering.
On Saturday, we joined friends near the Banjo Stage to catch Laurie Lewis and Friends and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band (both great acts have performed at the Oaksong Society’s excellent concert series in Oak Run). Then came an incredible music moment — Three Girls and their Buddy — Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller. It was a stunning combination of vocal harmony and song presentation by four brilliant artists.
Then we finished out the day by seeing portions of the following — Hot Rize (Tim O’Brien, Nick Forester, Brian Sutton and Pete Wernick), Jerry Jeff Walker (heard “Mr. Bojangles” and “Up Against the Wall”), Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women (Dave was playing with eight women including the likes of Nina Gerber and Cindy Cashdollar), Steve Earle and the Bluegrass Dukes and Robert Earl Keen.
The Waybacks
Sunday we had a “light” day seeing the following: Kevin Welch, Kieran Kane and Fats Kaplin; Allison Brown with Joe Craven; The Infamous Stringdusters; and The Waybacks.
The Waybacks (who have also played the Oaksong series and MarketFest) continued to prove why they have become one of the top bands in the country. A huge crowd went nuts for their virtuoso mix of bluegrass/gypsy swing/psychedelic rock. Welch, Kane and Kaplin continue to be one of my favorite acts that not many people know about.
(From left: Fats Kaplin, Kevin Welch, Kieran Kane and Lucas Kane.)
It’s a testament to the city (and the power of music) that there appeared to be no problems even though the police presence seemed so light with so many thousands in the park. Everybody just seemed to be getting along and smiling, enjoying beautiful weather and music.
I guess I know what I’ll be doing next year when this event rolls around. Did I mention it’s free?
