I missed Day One of the 2017 Middle Waves Music Festival (Curse you, full-time job!), but I managed to make it to the latter half of Day Two. Sadly, I didn’t make it to Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne in time to catch Diarrhea Planet‘s set (Again, curse you, full-time job!), but I heard it was outstanding.
I snagged my press pass and soon spotted this pedicab nearby.
Yes, that’s an MGMT pedicab. You could hook up to a couple mp3 players attached to it and hear four songs of their upcoming album. It was a neat gimmick, and the four tracks weren’t bad either.
I wandered to the food court to snag a slice of pizza and noticed one vendor truck was a portable barber shop / styling salon giving out free haircuts. I debated partaking in one, but opted to check out some music instead.
One thing Middle Waves does that makes them stand out from most other music festivals is that they offer two free stages for the entire two days. This is genius. Some of the best bands play these free stages, so make sure you check out these shows next year. Again, it costs you nothing to see them.
I saw two local bands on a free stage this year, and both were excellent. The first was Wolfbearhawk. How do you not see a band with that name? They played a solid rock set, and it was good to hear some power chords after a long, hot day of work.
I then walked to the other free stage to see Selector Dub Narcotic. This wasn’t to be, however, because SDN (known in real life as music producer Calvin Johnson) was yanked off the stage as soon as I arrived after he stood on one of the monitors.
I was told by two other press members that Calvin Johnson attempted to move two monitors from the center of the stage just before I arrived and the sound booth guy told him not to move them. He then attempted to move them again and the sound booth guy warned him he would be cut off if he attempted it a third time.
As I arrived at the stage, the sound booth guy was standing at stage left and watching CJ as he performed a freestyle rap without any microphone or instruments. CJ then stood on one of the monitors at center stage and the sound booth guy told him he was cut off / done and he pulled him to stage right. Another man came out from stage right as CJ was being pulled away. Fans began yelling, and one yelled, “You can’t do that!” The man who entered from stage right yelled back, “Yes, we can. That’s OUR stuff.” So, the guys contracted to do sound for this stage were concerned CJ was going to break something.
Fans began pounding on the stage and nearby police officers ran to the scene and made sure nobody stormed the stage. No one was injured. No arrests were made. No one was handcuffed. No pepper spray or Tasers were deployed. I didn’t see the officers put a hand on anyone in the crowd. One officer stood on stage while CJ packed up his minimal gear and seemed to be having an amicable chat with him as fans booed. CJ told fans he’d take his gear somewhere west of the stage and play there. He instead came into the crowd and finished his rap among the fans, took some photos, grabbed his backpack and then left without looking back while a MW volunteer walked with him. The sound booth guy who shut CJ down did at one point walk to down center stage and attempt to get his attention while he was rapping amongst the fans. I don’t know if this was going to be an offer to play his set, but the dye was cast by then and CJ was out of there.
I hung out by the free stages for a little while and eventually caught a great set by Ft. Wayne’s Love Hustler. They put down a great set of electro-disco-funk. I knew it was going to be a good set as soon as I saw a key-tar and a “golden throat” guitar effect microphone on stage. They put on the best set of the day, in my opinion. I’m eager to hear their upcoming EP.
The Middle Waves Twitter feed recommended getting to the main stage early for headliners MGMT. They figured a long line would be the result of extra security checks there. They were right.
I got in quick thanks to my press pass (Thanks again, Middle Waves!), and MGMT were already playing their blend of trippy electro and psychedelic rock.
This was my first time seeing them live, so I was surprised to see five people onstage. MGMT is mainly two guys, but I’m sure they need more people to replicate their sound live. They played a good mix of old and new tracks. One big highlight, of course, was “Fated to Pretend,” which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
They announced that their upcoming album is “rugby themed,” and played “Me & Michael” from it. It’s a catchy tune, and I thought, “Yeah, MGMT recording an entire album about rugby seems right.”
Outside the main stage area, fans were peeking through the fence and standing on pillars and what-not to see and hear MGMT’s set. It made me grin. It’s always good to see “old school” concert cheating like that.
So, another good festival put on by the Middle Waves crew. There were some bumps, like any other festival, but I think they’ll improve on them and come back stronger next year.
Keep your mind open.
