Land of NOD Experiment

A visit to the Land of Nod festival (part 1)

July 24, 2:13 PM · John Toman - Grand Rapids Rock Music Examiner

With the cancellation of this year's Rothbury Festival, music lovers from West Michigan and beyond have been presented with only a few alternative options for a Michigan-based camping and music summer weekend. The most intriguing of which began last night on Dalton Farms in Jackson, Michigan. The Land of Nod Experiment (read "music and arts festival") opened at noon on Friday and continues through Sunday evening with single day and weekend+camping passes still available.

The Land of Nod is a unique festival in that it does not primarily focus on one genre of music, it is organized so that music is being performed almost constantly on one of the three stages, and because the city of Jackson does not often see large concert events. Festival organizers expected to draw a larger audience from both Michigan as well as far away states with a diverse line-up and central location which focused mainly on advertising to Detroiters.

The word experiment appears in the title of the festival for a reason. Aside from the fact that this is the maiden voyage for the Land of Nod, it became clear even upon entering that there were some things that had been well planned, and others that had not. Severe thunderstorms and strong rains plagued the evening periodically throughout Friday night's performances and while one might compare the situation to festival goers who classically dealt with rain at the Woodstock 69 or 94 festivals, last night's rain was less about fun and mud and more about inconvenience. The grassy fields and walkways intended for concertgoers became swampy and flooded long before Friday evenings headlining performances began. Festival workers attempted to help by placing wooden planks over the areas that were the most flooded out, but it was impossible to walk around the festival without climbing over, around or through rain and mud puddles.

Parking was also a bit awkward, at least for single-day festival visitors who could have very easily become stuck in the mud and were charged an additional un-advertised $10.00 parking fee. Certainly those responsible for putting on the festival need to cover their investment if not profit from it but on several occasions the festival team which included volunteer staff and rented security personnel as well as local police, fire and EMT workers, appeared disorganized and unsure of how to assist or provide service to festival-goers with questions or even entering and exiting the festival grounds while music was still being performed. Any attendee of Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza or Rothbury can tell you this is simply not how it works at one of these things.

Certainly combining local, regional and national acts spanning the genres of rock, jam bands, art and dance music means The Land of Nod festival has one of the most diverse and eclectic line-ups of the season, bringing in fans of a certain act or sound and also introducing them to other acts and musical styles they might not have otherwise seen or heard.

A visit to the Land of Nod festival (part 2)

July 26, 3:12 PM · John Toman - Grand Rapids Rock Music Examiner

The layout of the festival itself was easy to navigate. The main stage was divided down the middle so that performers could set up or tear down equipment while another artist was performing next to them. This set up makes it much easier for the audience to enjoy more music with less wait time in between sets. Had the rain not affected the main stage performance schedule Friday night, this design would have been ideal. A short walk from the entrance featured a smaller second stage reserved primarily for underground and indie rock acts and a third stage even further back into the performance area featured electronic and dance music.

As the rain had delayed some performances while changing the order and length of others, Friday evening's performers presented a wide variety of musical styles. Morella & The Wheels of If from New Orleans played to a supportive but small crowd early in the evening in spite of the rain. When the rain picked up again, it looked as though the crew on the main stage were understandably more concerned with covering the equipment than anything else. Audience members congregated beneath one of a few small tents arranged in the open field near the main stage to keep dry and to enjoy the big band/tribal music and parade from a group that recalled the annual festival-launching parades at the Bonnaroo festival but on a smaller scale.

Once the weather allowed, music began on the main stage. Rasputina entertained a small group with precision and a dynamic original sound that featured cellos as the lead instruments (and yes, they've been doing it a lot longer than Apocalyptica.) Unfortunately, the rain shortened their set to only four quick songs before Ann Arbor's own My Dear Disco took over on the other side of the stage. Disco's music was mostly fast-tempo rave-up rockers with a degree of electronic influence (electric bagpipes folks!) that was vastly different than Rasputina's somber goth-rock. Audience members continued to come and go, but a hand full waited near the main stage for the headlining act, The Eagles of Death Metal!

TO BE CONTINUED (next up, Friday Night's Headliner.....)

A visit to the Land of Nod festival (part 3-The Eagles of Death Metal)

July 26, 3:35 PM · John Toman - Grand Rapids Rock Music Examiner

Friday night at the Land of Nod festival closed with a high-energy and very rocking set from California's Eagles of Death Metal. The Eagles are part of a large group of bands and musicians that revolve around one of the best rock bands of the past decade, Queens of The Stone Age. While that band's singer/guitarist Josh Homme is also officially the drummer for Eagles of Death Metal, he rarely performs this role live and was again absent on Friday. Instead the band featured longtime Eagles guitarist Dave Catching, Queens drummer Joey Castillo and an excellent female bassist who was unfortunately not introduced by name during the performance.

Front man Jesse "The Devil" Hughes commanded attention from the audience throughout the band's high-energy 75 minute performance. Hughes invoked a series of rock clichés including aviator sunglasses, comical facial hair and engaging call and response moments from the audience that bordered on that of a Baptist minister, such as "do you believe in rock and roll?!" 

The band announced during their set that they would be performing the following night at Small's bar in Hamtramck, a show that had not been previously advertised. In a few weeks, Eagles of Death Metal will perform in Los Angeles as part of a double bill with Queens of the Stone Age to raise money for Eagles bassist Brian O' Connor's ongoing cancer treatment.

From start to finish, the performance was a continuous rock and roll dance party with audience members singing, clapping and laughing along to songs from all three of the band's albums. The size of the crowd was irrelevant once the band began and those who were off wandering elsewhere or in the campsite area certainly missed what must have been one of the highlights of the entire festival weekend.