Father John Misty

XPoNential Fest presented by Subaru
Camden, New Jersey
July 22

Through wind, rain, and faulty power supply, WXPN’s 2016 XPoNential Music Festival persevered in its second day to serve a formidable cocktail of creole funk, Texas blues, and Americana roots. Shortly after The Felice Brothers kicked into a mid-afternoon set of energized folk at the Marina Stage, the power cut out, and the Americana quartet responded by unplugging their instruments, leaving the stage, and playing a good old-fashioned campfire jam in the audience.

The power returned just in time for the festival to be derailed by a more natural nuisance.
The legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band were just two songs into a promising 5:00 set, when a vicious storm cloud rolled in above the River Stage, bringing with it lightning and torrential rains. The rains pounded relentlessly for an hour. The streets of Camden began to flood. Just outside the festival perimeter, news had spread that the remainder of the shows slated for the Marina and River stages were cancelled. Headliners Chicano Batman, Gary Clark Jr., and Alabama Shakes, however, were to take the stage at BB&T Pavilion, rain or shine.

The previous day at XPoNential Fest had seen headlining sets from Kurt Vile and Ryan Adams on that same BB&T stage, after sweltering performances from White Denim and The Suffers back by the marina, and a bizarre, semi-musical diatribe by Father John Misty about the downfall of American entertainment.

The sun finally emerged in the wake of Saturday’s rains, just in time to paint the Philadelphia skyline across the river a brilliant yellow-orange. Down in the amphitheater, Chicano Batman got the crowd moving with a groove-heavy set, before Preservation Hall Jazz Band was invited back to continue what they had started before the storm. The band made the most of the extra time, packing the short set with their classic blend of New Orleans jazz and funk.

Gary Clark Jr. didn’t seem to mind pushing his set back 30 minutes to accommodate the Louisiana jazz troupe. He took the stage 15 minutes before 9:00 and strutted into “Bright Lights,” the hit single off 2012’s Blak and Blu. The Austin-based guitarist then jumped into a swinging cover of Elmore James’s “Can’t Stop Loving You,” asserting himself as a torch-carrying bluesman. On tracks like “Cold Blooded” and “The Healing” off his newest LP, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, Clark was polished and precise, while his roaring solo on “When My Train Pulls In” showed off something more raw and grungy.

Gary Clark had the blues covered, and Chicano Batman had a beat on new-wave millennial grooves. So, in came the Alabama Shakes, the perfect final act for a day full of artists blending old genres with the new.

Shortly after 10:15, the Shakes took the stage and Brittany Howard kicked the band into the stunning “Future People” off the band’s second and most recent album, Sound & Color. All energy leaving the stage flows through Howard, like a lightning rod, front and center.

Throughout the show, the Shakes rifled through 9 of the 12 songs on Sound & Color, filling in the gaps with tunes from their 2012 debut Boys & Girls. Highlights came in stirring versions of “You Ain’t Alone,” “Gemini,” “Don’t Wanna Fight” and “The Greatest,” which sounded like it could have used the New Jersey accompaniment of Springsteen’s E Street band. An inspiring one-two punch of “Sound And Color” and “Over My Head” brought day two of the festival to a close.

Fans had waved a white flag to Mother Nature just a few hours before. But by the end of the night, with help from the Shakes, Gary Clark, and more, live music had triumphed in all its glory.