The day started off all sorts of cool. Driving to Mammoth is beautiful and relaxing and you get to go through a few old school American small townsto get there. Mammoth Lakes is a cool spot, and the venue Sam's Wood Site is like a summer camp ampitheatre on steroids. Everywhere you looked around the rim was a craft beer booth selling kind beers for not so cheap but not Dodger stadium prices. People were already hanging out with lawn chairs waiting for the show when we got there. Must have been a crowd of a couple thousand folks.
Me and Tink found a spot on the side of the stage to relax and we went and got a couple of beers and laid a couple of towels out and looked up at the big pine trees and listened to the first act in a chill fashion. They were these two geezers Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan, playing a good set of old blues with a harmonica and a six string. We laid back and relaxed from a good 5 hour road trip and took in the mellowness that is old school rythm and blues.
After that came on Ana Povic, and I will tell you what, that girl can jam. I left the side of the stage and grabbed a spot up front at the barrier and the crowd quickly followed. This woman is seriously a female version of Stevie Ray Vaugn. She was pulling off licks that were amazing and she had a great voice for some good old Caddillac Red White and Blues. What is amazing is that the whole band save for the Keyboard player are from Europe. Can you believe that shit, they even had a Frenchie, a Frog, a Zoot ti Fruit, smashing the skins. I was highly impressed with their rythm section, the bassist was a star in his own right and he was capable of creating a heavy sound without Ana grinding out the blues licks on her axe. The most entrancing thing about watching this woman playing is not only is she easy on the eyes, but you can see her up in her head riding the wave of a great lick and she smiles real slightly when she pulls it off. The crowd was into this broad and with good reason and I thought to myself, man, BT is gonna have a tough act to follow.
Some platitudes by the owner of Mammoth Brewing Company, and the theme song America!!! The fellas took the stage and broke out with Sweet Talking Hippy, and the crowd started to groove a bit. What really got the crowd started was What I Got, which alot of older fans don't like so much, but us younger fans (I'm 36) love that song from our childhood and it really connected with the crowd. I had to work really hard to keep our spot on the bar at that point, Mammoth women are really aggressive. From then on the fellas had the crowd in the palm of their hands and worked them with a groove that had everyone dancing or bobbing. Tads solo was spot on, and he dug really deep to keep it grooving which the crowd really responded to. I especially loved You Reach Me which I had never heard live, and Regarding Steven was a first for me as well. They laid down a monster mammo jam with Mountain Cry, and Ana came out and played with the band. Jesus, it blue my mind, and it was so sonically overwhelming to where you just had to open up to it, and let it all blast through you. Ana went back and forth with Chan who had a great night and he held his own, and challenged John Guitar against Harp, Popper schooled her down, and it was great to hear the reaction of the Blues fans around me as they were witnessing a John Popper jam battle for the first time. If the crowd wasn't done at that point, they encored with Devil Went Down to Georgia and that left the crowd spent. Me and Tink slipped out and joined the crowd on the march up the hill. What I was impressed with was the youth of the fans at that point, and how everyone was talking about the performance. I really feel like the fellas gained alot of young fans in Mammoth that night because, They Came They Saw They Conquered. The boyos seemed tired but they rose to the challenge and could not be beat.
All in all it was a great ending to a great summer of following BT around a bit. Mammoth rocks, Sams Wood Sight rocks, and BT Rocked, and I hope they get invited year after year and that that fest grows and grows.