The annual 10,000 Lakes Music Festival took place from July 23-26 in Detroit Lake MN, hosting tour-closing performances from three of its headliners: The Flaming Lips, Phil Lesh & Friends and the new Mickey Hart Band. Lesh also expanded his current friends roster to include former member John Scofield, who played guitar throughout the groups entire first set on selections like Shakedown Street, Alabama Getaway, Althea, Beat It On Down the Line and its climax, Cosmic Charlie After Lesh ended his performance with Tom Thumb’s Blues, all eyes shifted upwards for 10,00 Lakes annual firework finale.
Both the Flaming Lips and Mickey Hart Band offered well-received headlining spots sets over the course of the weekend, while jazz-fusionists The Bad Plus and MSMW took center stage on the festivals Field Stage Saturday. Vocalist Jen Durkin took home the weekends Warren Haynes Award for most appearances, singing with Hart, The Everyone Orchestra and her longtime funk outfit Deep Banana Blackout. The latter group performed immediately after The Lips encore and brought out P-Funk vocalist Kim Manning for a few of the classic funk covers. Nearby, the Secret Chiefs 3 won over a slew of new fans during their late night set on the Barn Stage.
Fridays set from The Everyone Orchestra found conductor Matt Butler leading a diverse mix of musicians, including Durkin, Manning, Steve Kimock, Michael Kang, Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident, EOTO), Allie Kral (Cornmeal), Zac Lasher (U-Melt), Johnny Polanski (One Under) and Janis Wallin (Family Groove Company). In addition, Panjea bassist Patrice Blanchard joined the ad hoc ensemble for a few extended jams. The Everyone Orchestras set also included a Rex Jam, where Rex Foundation volunteers collected monetary donations to help local Detroit Lakes, MN-area schools purchase musical instruments for students who cannot afford them.
Other weekend highlights included Papa Malis sit in with The New Mastersounds, Slightly Stoopids blend of party music and a performance by Leftover Salmon on the festivals Main Stage that featured favorites like Mama Boulee, Zombee Jamboree and Whispering Waters. In the visual department, 10KLF artist Chuck Hues painted onstage with Minnesota global arts collective WookieFoot, while the Flaming Lips set seamlessly meshed elements of music, theater, video and, of course, confetti.
Please visit 10,000 Lakes’ official homepage for images from this years festivities.