NELSONVILLE — The lush field at Robbins Crossing at Hocking College was transformed into a confetti-covered mud pit yesterday after three days of music and torrential downpours during the Nelsonville Music Festival.
Heavy rain fell at least once during each day of the seventh annual Nelsonville Music Festival, with main stage performances postponed briefly because of lightning Saturday.
Tim Peacock, executive director of Stuart’s Opera House, said the rain seemed to improve some of the performances.
“Sometimes in the rain, something a little extra special happens,” Peacock said. “ … People will be talking about this for years, for 10 years or for a long time like, ‘Remember that one time we were standing in the mud and saw that crazy-ass band?’”
The rain fell particularly hard throughout the day on Saturday, leading up to the Flaming Lips’ performance. Despite the precipitation, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne still managed to thrill the largest crowd of the weekend.
The stage served as Coyne’s personal playground as he climbed atop a person donning a large bear costume, repeatedly shot confetti into the crowd and traveled over the masses while encased in a transparent, self-described “space bubble.”
Smoke, fog, dancers in Wizard of Oz costumes and a huge video screen that projected extreme close-ups of Coyne’s face and various other videos accented the Flaming Lips’ performance.
“I really liked seeing the Flaming Lips,” said Robin White, an Ohio University senior who volunteered at this year’s festival. “Despite the rain, they did a really good job of getting the crowd excited.”
Coyne elicited excitement throughout the day with brief appearances at other artists’ shows. He peeked out from the side of the stage during Sean Lennon’s performance with his band, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, was seen dancing during Yo La Tengo’s act and ventured to the No-Fi Cabin to listen to fellow Oklahoman Samantha Crain’s acoustic set.
Yo La Tengo also thrilled the crowd, with guitarist Ira Kaplan contorting himself around his guitar throughout.
“I think Yo La Tengo had to respond after following (marching band Mucca Pazza) because they were so over the top energy-wise,” Peacock said. “So Yo La Tengo’s set was definitely the most pushed, I think, and I think they were awesome.”
Kaplan also evoked a large cheer from the crowd when he mentioned OU’s Student Senate race.
Yo La Tengo had eaten lunch in Athens and seen the large picture of FACE presidential candidate Matthew Wallace hanging near the intersection of Court and State Street. Kaplan said that the band had released many albums, but never printed a photo of its members that large.
“I’m impressed with his gumption, he’s a go-getter,” Kaplan said. “... We endorse him. Unless he turns out to be a dick, in which case we don’t.”
Saturday’s shows on the main stage were delayed because the Flaming Lips arrived late, and the band’s stage takes about four hours to assemble.
“They didn’t get here until about 9:15 (a.m.),” Peacock said. “The only time of day we could set it up is in the morning before everything happens, so we just had to hold things. So, we started the day almost two hours behind schedule.”
Peacock added that the festival had caught up by Mucca Pazza’s act at 7:30 p.m. after cutting set lists by a song or two and hurrying between acts.
Friday’s shows included performances by country legend George Jones and Americana singer Justin Townes Earle.
During his performance, Jones said, “Have you noticed they just quit altogether playing the good ol’ drinking songs? And the shooting songs? I’ve got a fair amount of those buggers for you guys tonight.”
While Earle may not have sung about drinking and shooting, he did sing about drowning and moving, respectively, on “Harlem River Blues” and “One More Night in Brooklyn.”
Earle’s bluesy country steadily won the crowd over throughout his set.
Although Earle enjoyed a relatively dry set, yesterday was significantly wetter after Saturday’s downpour, and rain continued to fall throughout the day.
Neko Case, among other artists, thanked the crowd for staying in the mud-drenched field.
While he was introducing her, Peacock said, “I don’t know if (Hocking College) is going to let us do it here again because this field is kind of messed up. But we’ll buy them some grass and say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ and hope they let us do it here again because we love this site.”
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