John Paul Jones
Rain ain’t nuthin. Them Crooked Vultures are somethin’. And the Green Stage was definitely thumpin’ on Friday with its second to last performance of the day.
Dave Grohl had already made an appearance up at the Field of Heaven sitting in on the kit with Taylor Hawkins and his Coattail Riders about 90 minutes earlier, so he was already primed. The crowd was, too, as evidenced by the huge eruption of applause when Grohl walked out on the Green Stage to his drum set. In fact, each member of the quote-unquote “supergroup” got their applause as the took the stage, but even the venerable John Paul Jones’ reception paled in comparison to that of Grohl.
From that point on, there wasn’t a lot of talk and a whole lotta rawk. Blasting through pretty much every song from their self-titled album, the Vultures stomped like rhythmich mnachines through time changes, key alterations, double stops and double kicks and an incredibly tasty solo from touring guitar player Alaines Johannes that lasted so long I thought the rest of the band was going to come out in new costumes. It could have gone on longer, for all I cared, because Johannes finger-picked his Fender Mustang into tone drenched state of bliss that was a complete left turn from the rest of the sets proceedings and showcased just how much each member of this band contributed to the sum of its parts.
I mean, this band is tight. And the only act so far that I stayed to watch from the rain soaked walk onstage to the last fading guitar note dissipated into the mountains. And I still wanted more.
I mean, let’s face it: how can you go wrong with Mssrs Grohl, Jones and Homme all onstage together? Easily the hardest rock act of this fest, one of the more technically proficient, and with degrees of separation that fan deep into modern rock iconology; this was a destination set that lived up to its bill. Hard to dance to? Yep. Easy to bash the shit outta your air drum kit? Fuckin’ right.
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