The setup was changed a bit from last year, with more space being used away from the Rose Garden and areas closer to Lincoln Parkway, which was closed off on the block right at the festival, and it appeared to be a good idea. The main stage, actually three joint stages, were set up on the main concourse cross from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, a smart move, and as you walked down the main concourse away from the stages, the main exhibit area, which includes several other stages and performance areas, was on one side, and about 15 food truck and other mobile food stations were located on the other side.
In particular, the Lloyd Taco truck line was extremely long, because of the high quality of the food they make and sell as well as the popularity of it. While it took me about 20-30 minutes from getting in line to actually getting our food, I could hear the main stage bands nicely and didn't mind the wait, talking to several people I just met and answered a few questions about Lloyd and whether or not the food was worth the wait (it is).
Musically: Flatbed played a real good set, maybe nothing spectacular to some but this is one band that does not get the credit it deserves; the Pillagers seemed to vying for the designation of Buffalo's new guitar army, and played some new material; Free Henry! sounded very sharp and impressed me more than then last time I heard them. The Ruby Spirit played some painful Pat Benatar meets goth rock songs; if we hadn't had Harold neutered Thursday, we could have used the singer's voice to have done so and saved some money. Advice to the Canary Girls: if you are going to ply the synthesizer/voice sound in an early 1980s mode, and you do not sound anywhere near as good as Depeche Mode, early OMD, Kraftwerk, early New Order, Cabaret Voltaire or Gary Numan (or hell, even Human League), take my advice and stop. Just stop. I was in the Lloyd Taco truck line for part of their set, and I missed out on a dissing session Val and a few other people had on the Canary Girls; I still feel the loss.
Also, the Good kicked some serious ass and blew away a lot of pretension; I don't care how old or experienced these guys are or may seem to some, they have the proper rock and roll attitude, turn it up and rip it up, and secret weapon/front man he who shall remain nameless shames all of us with his energy and demeanor. While I thought the gaggle of dancers, bystanders and so on up on stage with Whiskey Reverb was somewhat douchy, their music, kind of driving Americana with some sensitive pseudo hippydom tossed in, worked for me. The Grace Stumberg Band again sounded quite good, and I was particularly impressed by Stumberg's vocals, which had an added touch of sensuality and sultriness without losing any of their edge. We enjoyed Brother Andre (formerly DJ Andre) DJing, and it was unfortunate the technical difficulties interrupted his set; I also got to enjoy some of DJ Xotec's work while searching for Val, and sadly just missed DJ Soma.
As always, Robbie Takac and his merry band of workers and volunteers deserve a lot of credit for pulling off another successful Music Is Art Festival; the attendance was seriously large, the music was quite varied and both good and bad, and the art, photography, dancing, painting, spoken word and zombies made it a great event, with something for everyone, including all ages. Finally, I do not know of a Buffalo/Western New York festival that breaks down and cleans up as well or as fast as Music Is Art.
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