Now Age Six, Aura Music & Arts Festival Hits Its Stride

Chuck Jones from Dopapod Jason Koerner photo.

The Aura Music & Arts Festival delivered in a big way for its sixth year. Over a beautiful weekend March 6-8, headliners moe. and The Disco Biscuits brought sophisticated, extended-play sets and mind-blowing light shows.

The setting for the main stage – Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park’s mystical moss-draped ampitheater – is one of the most beautiful venues in its own right; adding futuristic lasers and Papadosio’s crazy video screens was just about over the top.

 Jason Koerner photo.

Jason Koerner photo.

Fest organizers Daryl Wolff and Cameron Ferguson picked a nice musical roster this year with a mix of funk, jam, live electronica, and even a little bluegrass and roots music for good measure.

Aura had a really sweet vibe, with musicians mixing in the crowd, Yoga and art everywhere, hoopers and twirlers and pretty lights.

Awwww! festgrrl photo.

With about 5,000 people in the large venue, it never felt crowded – except (thankfully) on the dance floor.

Lucky us -- the Thursday night pre-party got moved out of the indoor Music Hall into the ampitheater and  featured Ghost Owl (which has members of Perpetual Groove,) Colorado funk masters The Motet, and electronic prog-rockers Dopapod.

The Motet. festgrrl photo.

moe. delivered two fine sets Friday night, heavy on the groove. They didn’t exactly break out the untz, but they did spin out some very cool dancey-trancey lines. You can check out this excellent video of an extended Bearsong-Meat jam here. (Thank you Cheesehead Productions!) The highlight of the night was a two-man extended vibe solo (check it out on the video, it starts about 24 minutes in) with guest Matt Dillon on stage.

Meet-and-greet with moe. Owleyesonyou photo.

The moe. set list Jeffrey Dupuis photo.

moe. festgrrl photo.

moe. festgrrl photo.

The Heavy Pets, Jimkata, Fusik, The Mantras, Juke, Brother Bean, Spontaneous Underground, the McLovins, Turbo Suit, Papadosio and Dopapod also played Friday night. I personally loved the “Funkin Grateful”  band made up of members of The Heavy Pets and other Florida jam bands, with excellent string player Billy Gilmore holding down lead. They presided over a nice dance party and jam in the Music Hall that had everybody smiling.

festgrrl photo.

festgrrl photo.

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong pulled out the twangy jam-funk (see some of it here)  at a late night show that started at 2 a.m. in the Music Hall. After that, the dancers headed to the Silent Disco, which went until 5 a.m.

festgrrl photo.

Saturday afternoon came pretty fast, with Consider the Source kicking things off, followed by sets from Ghost Owl, Ketchy Shuby, The Motet, Lucky Costello, The Main Squeeze, Lather Up!, and The Fritz.

festgrrl photo.

Papadosio delivered an ethereal early-evening show in the ampitheater, then the crowd was off to catch Raq and the Mike Dillon Band. I caught a band I’d never heard before, a South Florida jam band called Stinky Pockets (check them out here,)  and they absolutely killed it with trumpeter/singer Emily Carroll sitting in. (Carroll had her own ensemble Sunday evening, which I heard good things about.)

festgrrl photo.

The Disco Biscuits turned in a balls-to-the-wall dance show that had the packed ampitheater boogieing from 10:30 to almost 2 a.m., just when you thought you couldn't dance anymore, well, they wouldn't let you sit down.

festgrrl photo.

So many people came to see buzzed-about New York fusion band Tauk in the Music Hall that there was a line out the door, and new people could only go in when other people left. This instrumental improvisational quartet is something to see, and Tauk drummer Isaac Teel is simply a force of nature.

Isaac Teel of Tauk. festgrrl photo.

American Babies took the Music Hall stage at 2 a.m. for those who still had steam after the Biscuits finished.

Sadly, festgrrl had to bug out early Sunday due to Real Life Concerns after a great bluegrass set by Uproot Hootenanny. Tauk, Fat Mannequin, and McLovins played through the Sunday afternoon. Killer funk band Kung Fu played early Sunday evening and the Break Science Live Band, a supergroup with members of Pretty Lights and Lettuce: featuring Jesus Coomes, Adam Smirnoff, Ryan Zoidis, and Eric Bloom, Borahm Lee and drummer Adam Deitch closed out the wonderful weekend.

festgrrl photo.

The talk later was all about The Main Squeeze’s Michael Jackson cover set Sunday afternoon - you can see one of the songs here, Aura Music & Arts Festival liked it so much they made an official video. Warning: It will make you wish you were back there right now!