Day 2 of the Biennial Wilco-palooza at Mass MoCA in North Adams

The stony tower atop Mt. Greylock watched over three days of Solid Sound, the biennial, Wilco-driven, music madness on the campus of Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.

A lineup curated by the alt country legends? With a Wilco or Wilco-adjacent headliner every night? It’s a dream come true for stalwart fans, of which the band has plenty, and a nice introduction to a quirky niche in a quirky subculture for any new arrivals.

You’re not required to know the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot track listing by heart to attend, but it can’t hurt.

Saturday

Who goes to the biennial Solid Sound?

Wilco fans, obviously. But who are Wilco fans?

Cool moms and cool dads, wheeling around their cool-in-training kiddos in high-priced strollers.

Old buddies, reuniting for a Boys Weekend, full of brews and nostalgic brouhaha.

Curious Zoomers on a lark.

Well-heeled older couples who still like to get out to live music, and see Solid Sound as a safe space.

Woodsy locals, undecided about the music, but happy enough to cash in a free ticket they got through one connection or another.

The lawn chair crowd, who will travel & pay admission for any excuse to camp out on green grass with a cold, coozie-covered beer.

All these characters and more filled the campus at Mass MoCA for Saturday’s lineup, the longest day of music in the three-day schedule, stretching from noon until past midnight. What a wonderful opportunity for the weather not to turn to rain… And it didn’t! Mostly! Scattered showers moistened most of the sets in the afternoon. Enough for huddled masses to don ponchos, but not enough to drive them indoors.

Unless, of course, the festgoers want to take advantage of free admission to the galleries. Visiting hours were running later than usual, ensuring that there was plenty of cubic footage, inside and outside, to explore. The contemporary art collection in residence provides ample eye candy by itself, but the arts and artists-in-residence at the fest added an additional interactive layer to the event.

One noteworthy inclusion in this respect: Steve Keene was at the festival. The painter is known for a rapid-fire, serial technique of image making that blurs the boundaries between the aesthetics of “hand-crafted” versus “mass-produced.” Music lovers also know him for his subject matter, which frequently takes famous album covers as a model for his painting. Or, in the case of Pavement, Silver Jews, and The Apples In Stereo, Keene’s paintings become famous album covers.

The afternoon schedule saw different takes on contemporary African popular music. Hailu Mergia at Courtyard C took a jazzier slant, offering a three-piece of guitar, keys, and percussion. Etran de l’Air at Courtyard D brought a more rock and roll impact. The latter group plays the so-called “desert blues,” a dense, hard-driving, rhythm-forward sound out of Niger. What passes as experimental stateside might just be tradition in Africa. It would have been a magical experience to hear an improvised collaboration between either of these bands and Horse Lords.

Saturday was also a day for comedy. The standup comedy option has become a regular feature of most major fests, offering a curveball entertainment alternative. And a few of the comics have a little music industry overlap, including Eugene Mirman, who has opened for both Dinosaur Jr. and Guided By Voices before. He’s also released some of his comedy sets on vinyl collections. The guy seems to dig the whole Hi-Fidelity aesthetic.

And music-cum-comedy bills? In ancient Athens it was customary for a trio of tragic plays to be followed by a slapstick sendup of the plot called a Satyr play. Whatever gets people through the door.

Joanna Sternberg made a pop-up appearance inside the museum at “the Prow.” It was her second of the day, with the first featuring a collaboration with Mary Lou Lord. The second time through, though, Lord was content to watch in the wings.

Brooklyn’s Water From Your Eyes was a stretch for the Wilco crowd. Points awarded to the fest organizers, though, for not playing it too safe. Throw a bone to the Zoomers who never knew a world in which Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had dropped, even if they never knew who or what Yankee Something Foxtrot was.

The lead vocalist Rachel Brown announced they had blown out their vocal chords the day before, the night before, something before. The art of “making-do” is a special virtue on the road. The glitched-out alt rock rumbling from the quartet survived the set just fine with a bit of gravel in the pipes.

The UK’s Dry Cleaning was a post punk change of pace early contender at Joe’s Field, but the meaty middle of the entire three-day fest was the straight ahead Wilco set headlining Saturday night. There was no pussyfooting around with deep cuts for diehards. They played the hits, more or less – and if you didn’t recognize the hits as hits, you might not like Wilco.

Mikaela Davis, practically a local yokel out of the Catskills, played the crowd out with an alt folk set in Courtyard D. If you were planning to stay a bit longer, you stayed there. Sure, the Sylvan Esso DJ set in Courtyard C was probably the last music festgoers heard before they hit the road, but nobody is going to mistake the Solid Sound scene for a DJ crowd. Strictly sonic wallpaper for this scene – music to disregard while you fumble for your keys or figure out how to catch the shuttle back to your off-site parking lot.

Shout out to the shuttles. Quickish and easy, and looking for Venmo tips. Don’t be a cheapskate!

Check out Friday and Sunday’s coverage of Solid Sound 2024.

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