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| The 2023 Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The Mill Valley Music Festival took full advantage of its change to a two-day format in 2023 to spotlight a widely diverse menu of musical styles, food and fun for big crowds at Friends Field on Saturday and Sunday May 13th-14th. Featuring talent from throughout the country and beyond performing on two stages, the event brought everything that we love and cherish about great music festivals to Marin County without any of the stuff we hate. It was attended by fans who came for the music and created a sense of community vs. the uninterested content-creating Influencers who have made their presence so obvious elsewhere. The 7pm-ish curfew to the shows and long set times meant that artists were greeted by early arriving crowds that maintained their enthusiasm and energy. A feeling of community threated through the festival from the local food and craft vendors to the artists up on stage. With a five-year agreement in place with organizers and the city, the festival should serve as the official start of the summer concert season for years to come.
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| Sun & fun @ the Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The weather for the weekend was a tale of two cities that locals were well aware of with Saturday offering a cloud-free scorching 85 degrees with little breeze. While everyone acknowledged the heat, coming out of a winter that never ended, complaints were extremely muted. Organizers had done a great job of putting large blue water dispensers throughout the venue and selling only refillable bottles of water to those who came unprepared. The blue skies, green hills and Mount Tamalpais offered a perfect background for a day filled with positivity and capped with an uplifting performance from Michael Franti & Spearhead. Sunday’s lineup showcased a musical spectrum headlined Sacramento’s Cake and saw Karl The Fog set in thick overnight and never clear – bringing a 30-degree temperature drop, some heavy winds and even a little mist. This type of weather shift in May was far from unexpected to the layers-carrying locals but surprised some of those in from out of town.
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| Orchestra Gold's Mariam Diakite @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Oakland’s Orchestra Gold kicked things off on the main stage on time at 12:30 pm. Lead singer Mariam Diakite brought her Malian stylings to a lushly layered sound that combined rock guitar, funky bass and drums and screaming brass horns. In the bright blue sunshine, Diakite was the perfect fuse to light off the weekend with her sounds and moves weaving a unique tapestry over the audience. As Orchestra Gold’s set wound down, the audience meandered through the vendor village to the smaller Sweetwater Stage on the opposite side of the field where bands performed on and in a hollowed-out camper from BandwagonSF. Guyville – an acoustic female duo up from LA, but originally from the Bay Area, led things off to an appreciative audience peppered with friends and family.
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| Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears @ the Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears were next up over at the Main Stage. Lewis brought his Austin-based blues rock to an appreciate audience who had by then filled in the majority of the main lawn. Their performance showcased Lewis’ Texas accented guitar playing. Shortly afterward, local favorite Alex Jordan Band took to the Sweetwater Stage in front of one of the largest audiences to make the journey to the other side all weekend. Jordan – who was a member of Midnight North and has performed with both Bob Weir and Phil Lesh – hosts a monthly Dead @ The Junction in Mill Valley a few miles away, along with numerous local gigs. He recorded his second album earlier this year and the Bandwagon gave him and the band an opportunity to stretch out songs in front of an intimate and adoring crowd.
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| Alex Jordan Band @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The Dip – an upbeat jazz ensemble took the main stage at 2:45 pm fronted by lead vocalist Tom Eddy. “I’ve got a secret to share with you,” Eddy told the now full main field audience. “I’m from here. I went to high school over there at Tam. I played little league baseball right here,” he said – gesturing to the backstop right behind the stage. ”This is home.” The crowd roared with appreciation at their hometown boy made good. Eddy’s strong, friendly voice and guitar playing combined nicely with Jacob Lundgren’s lead guitar-playing and the double sax and trumpet brass section. The Dip has a very unique, festival-friendly sound with a lot of depth (witness their cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”). They will be back in the Bay Area at Outside Lands and should be on people’s don’t miss list. Across the way, Laura Benitez & The Heartache brought a countrified, Americana sound to the camper.
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| Tank and the Bangas @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Tank And The Bangas shared the honor of “most buzzed about” artists of the weekend with Sunday’s appearance of Valerie June and they more than lived up to the hype on the main stage 4 pm slot. Tank Ball releases energy like fireballs that shoot through the audience and had the entire crowd up on its feet. Live, they are a whirling dervish of musical styles with rock, folk and gospel only a few of the genres they move fluidly between. Nominated for a 2020 Grammy and supporting their 2022 album Red Balloon they eliminated any concerns of audience suffering from sun exposure as drummer Joshua Johnson and bassist Norman Spence II (celebrating a birthday) laid out an infectious groove while their background singer provided never-ending smiles and soul in support. Their performance had the audience still buzzing about it on festival grounds the next day.
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| Tank & the Bangas @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Marin County’s Marble Party brought warm harmonies and 60’s influence over on the second stage in a nice change of pace after the frenetic energy of Tank And The Bangs and before Michael Franti’s headlining set. Eric Eisenberg’s lead vocals and guitar stood out as the band in many ways served as the only traditional rock ‘n’ roll band on Day 1’s bill.
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| Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Michael Franti & Spearhead were introduced by a powerful video of Franti narrating his journey and learnings through and out of Covid. Franti’s patented blend of upbeat, soul-nourishing, feel good music might never see a more perfect and appropriate setting of crowd, weather and background. With Mount Tam looking down approvingly, he and his band, Spearhead brought out hit after hit – supported by an arm-waving and jumping crowd led on by Franti. A former basketball player at USF, Franti had one of his ankles wrapped heavily as though getting ready for game action. But any nagging injuries were not going to stop the barefoot, Oakland-raised environmentalist from being one with the crowd. He supplemented his journeys to the front of the stage by descending down a front stage ramp to the barricades and even out into the crowd. The 6’ 6’’ star was the perfect icon for sunny day one as popped up from the main field crowd to lead the festival in singing, jumping, dancing and making friends with one another.
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| Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Day two took place completely in the blustery cold weather as Saturday’s longest lines for Humphry Slocombe ice cream shifted on Sunday over to Johnny Doughnuts for coffee. The main stage brought a lineup that ran the gamut of musical styles. Festival Director Jim Welte began the day introducing The Alive – a Tam high-formed hard rock band that has quickly ascended beyond the local scene. Featuring bassist Manoa Neukermans, his brother Kai on drums and lead singer/guitarist Bastian Evans – this band is on a rocket ship headed to big stages throughout the world. Kai’s appearance on the drum kit last year with Pearl Jam in Oakland didn’t hurt in gaining them notoriety, but their talent and sound is powerful and has already been recognized with spots on the bill at Lollapalooza, BottleRock and OhanaFest. They brought high octane to a cold engine in Mill Valley on Day 1. The Sweetwater Stage after saw Yorn’s Apostles – another Tam High hard rock band – blast off with a blend of punk and metal that carries strong elements of Nirvana angst rock with Motorhead accelerated metal. They created a huge sound out of the little van early Sunday afternoon.
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| Valerie June @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Valerie June’s performance on the main stage defied the weather as she provided a warm and welcoming blanket of positive sounds with her distinctive blend of Americana and country twang. If you could blend a soup with Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and Prince, you’d have the recipe for the Valerie June sound. She combined the authentic and inspiring message with her one-of-a-kind vocals and arrangements that had the early-arriving crowd rapt with attention and appreciation. Her solo banjo version of Luis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World,” was the perfect soundtrack for the weekend festival filled with bubble-chasing children, friends arm-in arm, stilt walkers, knife jugglers and face painters. When she donned her plastic butterfly layer, the breeze transitioned to a strong wind that blew it out from behind her like a superhero’s cape. Highlights of June’s performance included “Workin’ Woman Blues”, “Call Me a Fool” and “Astral Plane.”
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| Durand Jones @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Durand Jones brought his soul review style to the main stage next. Supporting his new album Wait Til I Get Over he brought front man moves reminiscent of James Brown to the stage in his bright blue striped suit sans shirt. The winds forced him to forego his large cowboy style hat shortly after starting and he switched over to a baseball cap. The Louisiana native’s saxophone playing was also top notch. Matt Jaffe a mentee of the Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison (who was next up on the main stage). A Marin native, Jaffe first recorded demos in Sausalito before his junior year in high school and dropped out of Yale University after a year and a half to pursue music. Still sporting the look of a teenager, Jaffe’s guitar-playing lit up the second stage and saw a large crowd gather.
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| Jerry Harrison @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Perhaps the highest point of the weekend was the set by Mill Valley resident Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew performing the Talking Heads Remain In Light on the main stage. The frenetic energy and original pacing and complexities of the Talking Heads were fully on display Sunday with Harrison, Belew and saxophonist Josh Schwartz trading off lead vocal duties very capably. If one closed their eyes, Talking Heads classics such as “Psycho Killer,” “Rev it Up” and “Once in a Lifetime” sounded true to the originals – if not a bit livelier. Harrison smiled throughout the performance and Belew’s face belied his vast experience as he maintained an “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we’re playing here” look while demonstrating his guitar virtuosity. By the time, the large ensemble had brought it to a close with “Take Me to the River” and “The Great Curve” the crowd had been whipped into a joyous frenzy.
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| Cake @ Mill Valley Music Festival (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As CAKE took the stage as the headline with the sun never having emerged in the entire day and the wind having picked up, lead singer John McCrea summed up the audience’s reality. “Brrrrrrr,” he repeated several times before leading the band into “Frank Sinatra” to start off the set. The band seemed to glide charmingly throughout the performance, not from a lack of effort or energy – but rather from a polish and abundant musicianship. Highlights included their cover of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” and “Meanwhile, Rick James…” They concluded their festival with the gargantuan hit (and appropriate for the moment titled) “The Distance” to send the festival audience out to warm back up with fond memories of a wonderful festival weekend in Mill Valley.
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