It’s sunny side up at Newport Folk Festival
NEWPORT, R.I. — It turns out that it’s possible to have a major outdoor concert or festival in New England in the summer of 2023 without rainstorms putting a literal and figurative damper on things. After downpours drenched Taylor Swift, truncated Luke Combs, and nixed LCD Soundsystem altogether, it wasn’t looking good for the sold-out second day of this year’s Newport Folk Festival, as little lightning clouds dotted forecast apps throughout the day. But somehow, the weather that dogged the Boston area seemed to hold off from hitting Fort Adams State Park until after Saturday’s scheduled 7:30 p.m. end time. The only protection from the elements that turned out to be necessary was sunscreen.
With five stages, two of which were little more than tents covering the bare ground (and one of which was powered by bicycles pedaled by eager audience members), there were always options and always hard choices to make; committing to Aimee Mann meant forgoing Jason Isbell and vice versa. The smaller, grassier stages tended to hew more closely to the traditional understanding of folk, like earnest but not saccharine Virginia trio Palmyra, 2023 John Prine Songwriter Fellowship winner Jobi Riccio (who recalled early Shawn Colvin mixed with a little classic country heartache), and Odie Leigh, who was Joni Mitchell by way of Ani DiFranco.
Some of the larger-stage acts were at least folk-adjacent. Jaime Wyatt’s throaty and sharp vocals suited rousing dive-bar country and organ-fired soul/rock grooves, while Danielle Ponder offered a ’70s-style soul revue capped by an astonishing gospel-ballad version of Radiohead’s “Creep.” And Goose continued their jam-royalty ascension, making like the Band on “Baby Don’t You Do It” before partaking in the Newport tradition of inviting a guest on stage, which in this case meant Animal from the Muppets drumming (unnervingly convincingly) on the band’s own “Animal.”
Other acts similarly hit harder than the Newport reputation would imply. Indigo De Souza played her frayed-edges indie rock with admirable tension and sang in a voice like Olivia Rodrigo’s, where it wasn’t clear if she was on the verge of fury or tears. And with their roaring guitars, ringing piano, and propulsive drums, the Hold Steady came out of the gate with the day’s most unabashed rock ’n’ roll, though the calland-response and audience clapping in rhythm fit solidly within the folk tradition.
Then there was the adult pop contingent, beginning with Of Monsters and Men singer Nanna, who funneled the elemental feel of fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós into more straightforward material that showcased her as an open, beating heart always reaching for connection. South Africa’s Alice Phoebe Lou offered a sparking, driving variant, while Angel Olsen sang her atmospheric Americana in a tightened voice that was particularly suited to soft disappointment, though she seemed slightly detached, letting her songs emote for her. Aimee Mann was similarly not especially demonstrative, but her voice’s nasal thinness and quaver instantly gave it an ache that was more than sufficient to supercharge sad and direct songs like “You Never Loved Me” and “I Can’t Help You Anymore,” an excellent anthem of giving up on someone, a.k.a. Mann’s sweet spot.
Jon Batiste’s wide-ranging headlining set covered Indigenous chanting, soul-based rock, New Orleans second line, and acoustic-based adult contemporary, and transformed blues standard “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” into a dense, existentially wounded churn. Despite rumors all day of a James Taylor collaboration, it was Lauren Daigle who joined Batiste on the Colbie Caillat-like “Saint Ferdinand” and a “Down by the Riverside”/”When the Saints Go Marching In” medley that led into the audience and then petered out. By then it was 7:30, and organizers anticlimactically announced the concert’s end to get ahead of the inclement weather that miraculously hadn’t arrived yet. Since it’s Newport, though, that was no guarantee that this year’s festival had seen the last of him.