BY YVONNE ZUSEL
The first day of Sweetwater 420 Fest at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta kicked off with a whole lot of rain. But if there’s one thing Atlanta festivalgoers are used to, it’s experiencing their live music with a side of the wet stuff -- the past two years has seen CounterPoint Festival, two Shaky Knees Festivals and Music Midtown, amongst others dumped on.
420 Fest-goers in particular saw the less-than-stellar weather as an opportunity rather than a drawback. The field in front of the main stage has become a mud pit? No problem, we’ll just turn it into a slippery dance floor. We had to cover up our cute outfits with a poncho? That’s OK, you can still see our flower crowns and stylish hats from beneath our hoods.
It does help that the fest has a history of catering to the “what’s from the earth is of the greatest worth”, go with the flow-variety of crowd, and there seemed to be few complaints once the beer and other fun-time substances began to flow freely. Women swung illuminated hula hoops around their waists to the music, friends greeted each other with pats on the back and everyone danced along to the music, especially when Snoop Dogg, the Crown Prince of Weed City, took the stage at the end of the night.
Centennial Park provides the perfect setting for 420 Fest's hippie village for the second year in a row (the event moved to the venue last year from Candler Park to celebrate its 10th anniversary and an expanded musical lineup).
The setup – including two live music stages, a Not-So-Silent Disco area featuring DJs and electronic acts. a Relapse 420 Comedy Tent headlined by Rory Scovel; and a Planet 420 Eco-Village, not to mention food trucks and art and clothing vendors – is easy to navigate, and is just spread out enough so sound doesn’t travel between stages (a necessity at outdoor festivals) but not so spread out that you feel like you’re going on a cross-country hike every time you want a beer.
Read: Everything you need to know about this year's Sweetwater 420 Fest
Of course, the festival’s first day wasn’t without its snags– there were reportedly issues at will call later in the evening, with people waiting up to 30 minutes for their wristbands and then another 10 minutes to get in, and Mr. Dogg took the stage about 25 minutes late, just as the rain resumed.
But overall, it was a solid start to the three-day event, with appearances from Big Data, Aer, Beats Antique, Cold War Kids, Thievery Corporation and Snoop Dogg. It bodes well for the rest of the weekend, even if more rain is in the forecast.
Some musical highlights:
Cold War Kids – The first act of the night to take the stage from Long Beach, Calif. (Snoop Dogg also hails from the city just outside of L.A.), indie rock stalwarts Cold War Kids played a solid mix of tunes from their newest album, 2014's "Hold My Home," including "Hot Coals" and favorites off their first couple of albums, including the hit "Hang Me Up To Dry," from their 2006 debut "Robbres & Cowards," which turned into a rainy singalong. Nathan Willett's distinctive voice and the band's tight playing made the case for their third appearance in Atlanta in the past year (they appeared at last year's Shaky Knees Fest and headlined at the Buckhead Theatre earlier this year).
Thievery Corporation -- It's hard to believe 2015 marks two decades since the Washington, D.C.-based
Credit: Yvonne Zusel
Credit: Yvonne Zusel
collective Thievery Corporation hit the music scene, mostly because they still sound so fresh. Rob Garza and Eric Hilton got a strong assist from their frequent collaborators including hip-hop artist Mr. Lif on the "wave your hands like you just don't care" song "Unified Tribes," and Sleepy Wonder and Ras Puma, who lent some Rasta vibes to "Amerimacka." At times, there were so many people onstage that it appeared to be a small village, lending to the air of collaboration, and a nod to how seamlessly the group weaves their many and varied influences. It was a performance that rivaled their set at last year's CounterPoint Fest, and provided a nice set up for the headliner who next took the stage. Speaking of which...
Snoop Dogg -- It's been awhile since Snoop Dogg's been in peak form as a rapper -- you'd have to look back to the '90s for that -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't put on a damn fun show. He's dabbled in reggae of late -- he recorded his 2013 release "Reincarnated" as his alter ego Snoop Lion -- and his Sweetwater appearance might have been a decent place for him to try out some Rasta-inspired material.
But Friday night was all about the rap and pop hits. Snoop performed backing tracks to perform his parts in recent collaborations with Katy Perry ("California Girls"), Akon (during which he made an ill-advised attempt at singing the chorus to "I Wanna F*** You") and older ones including the classic "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" with mentor Dr. Dre. He sounded decent, although he'd sometimes lose track of his flow and let the backing track take over. He fared better on hits including "Gin and Juice" which, not surprisingly, got the biggest reaction of the night and "Drop It Like It's Hot," which he originally recorded with Pharrell. At one point, he inexplicably paced the stage while Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll" played, and then encouraged the crowd to rap along to a Notorious B.I.G. song. But ever for the missteps, there was no getting around the infectiousness of Snoop's happiness. The guy was clearly having a good time, at one point sparking up a special cigarette on stage, bringing out a man dressed in a giant dog head smoking his own blunt and encouraging the crowd to -- what else? -- smoke weed. Performance-wise, it was slightly lackluster, but you still left feeling like an hour spent with the Doggfather was time well spent.
On tap for today: Stokeswood, Marc Broussard, The Wood Brothers, Anders Osborne. Marchfourth Marching Band, Gov't Mule, The Floozies, Primus and Cage the Elephant.
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