Conan Brings Jack White Back, Hip-Hop Gives New Definition to Newport Folk Festival: Review + Photos

The post Conan Brings Jack White Back, Hip-Hop Gives New Definition to Newport Folk Festival: Review + Photos appeared first on Consequence .

From the outside looking in, Newport Folk Festival has become increasingly defined by headline-grabbing performances. This year it was Beck’s surprise covers set and Conan O’Brien bringing out Jack White . Last year it was the Lana Del Rey experiment and The Muppets’ multiple cameos . The year before that, it was Joni Mitchell , a headline so big it actually relegated Paul Simon coming out of retirement to a subheadline.

There is, of course, a reason headlines are headlines. Besides, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it for 14 years: Newport Folk is better experienced than described. But the truth is, the story of the festival’s 65th anniversary edition is simply too large to be reduced to a single notable moment or a few blurbs saying “this excellent thing happened.”

That story will be told — in due time. Still, there were three attention-grabbing experiences that, in their ways, can act as a microcosm of Newport Folk Festival 2024: Conan’s star-studded Sunday night closing jam and both Killer Mike and De La Soul’s game-changing hip-hop shows. Put in context, these headline-worthy sets say much about this treasured music institution.

Conan O’Brien Jams with Jack White, Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe, and… Triumph

Conan O’Brien and Dawes, photo by Ben Kaye

There are generally three types of Newport Folk headliners: major star, folk heroes, and celebratory collaborations. This year saw Hozier charmingly fill the former slot, doing his part to recognize Newport’s legacy by bringing out Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Allison Russell, Madison Cunningham, Nathaniel Rateliff, The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz, and others to close with “The Weight” and lead the crowd in “We Shall Overcome.” Gillian Welch & David Rawlings took the heroes role, showcasing material off their forthcoming Woodland .

And then there was “Conan O’Brien & Real Musicians” to cap things off on Sunday. The beauty of the Newport Folk collaborative headline set is that you never really know what’s coming. With the late night host and comedian at the head this time, you really didn’t know what was coming. “I’m here tonight on a mission,” Conan said during his opening monologue, “to prove I can ruin any genre.”

The real joke was that not only did he not ruin a thing, but he demonstrated a sincere understanding of the setting and situation he was walking into. He just did it in a very Conan O’Brien way. That meant introducing his set like a late night show, riffing on Rhode Island town names (“Arraquontock! Ashananapanquonatock! Quonpawntucketchallog! I made up those last three and you didn’t know!”) and looking out at the harbor as he joked about people walking out of his sets “but swimming — that takes dedication.”

It also meant scripting a bit with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, who came out to sing a “classic Woody Guthrie song,” with lyrics like, “His hair looks like a rooster and his voice sounds like my cock.” When Conan pointed out this song from the ’40s felt specifically targeted to him, Triumph snapped back, “Pete Seeger covered it! I can’t believe you’re hosting a folk festival and you don’t know it! I think Joan Baez covered it yesterday.”

Conan O’Brien and Dawes, photo by Ben Kaye

Conan’s humor was tuned towards the festival, yet he also proved serious about delivering a classic Newport Folk set. With Dawes as his backing band (a frequent role for the regulars dating back to 2015’s “’65 Revisited” set) alongside his Conan bandleader Jimmy Vivino, he ripped into Ronnie Hawkins’ “Forty Days” to show he actually had the chops to lead the closing set.

But he also knew when to step back. He left Dawes to pay tribute to The Allman Brothers’ with a cover of “Ramblin’ Man.” Then came Folk Fest regular Langhorne Slim, teaming with Conan for Slim’s “Found My Heart.” Conan ceded the stage to the great Nick Lowe for “So it Goes” and “Cruel to Be Kind.” A tribute, giving spotlight to a smaller artist, and bringing out a surprise legend — each is a quintessential element of a Newport headline set.

As is upping the ante with each surprise guest. Brittany Howard (“Come and Get Your Love”) and Nathaniel Rateliff (“Everybody’s Talkin'” and “Let It Bleed”) were next, followed by the legendary Mavis Staples. A queen of Newport, her rendition of “I”ll Take You There,” which saw the 85-year-old directing the band in solos and working the crowd participation, was rightly described by Conan as “a religious experience.”

To cap it off, Conan brought out his old pal Jack White. After gifting Conan a tooth-shaped rock (“I realized we’ve been friends all these years and I never really got you anything, so I found this Megalodon tooth,” White joked), they dueted on The White Stripes “We’re Going to Be Friends” before ripping into Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” with the full band. White stayed to play guitar on the all-hands-on-deck (including John C. Reilly) closer of “Midnight Special.”

Cool, right? But what’s really cool is White coming back 10 years after headlining Newport Folk Festival just to pop in for a few songs with a friend. It’s the same magic that drew in Dolly Parton and paired Jim James and Kermit the Frog in 2019, that got Roger Waters to fly across country to sing two songs with John Prine in 2017, that made Rateliff appear all across the grounds this year despite not being anywhere on the schedule. Once you’re accepted by the capital-F Folk, you find it hard to stay away.

With a set like this, the Folk will likely welcome Conan O’Brien back anytime he’d like.

Killer Mike and De La Soul Prove Hip-Hop Is Folk Music

Killer Mike, photo by Ben Kaye

The legacy of Newport Folk Festival has long included redefining the very meaning of “folk music.” The Staples Singers brought gospel music in 1964, receiving a warm welcome from the secular, mostly white crowd. Sixty years later, Killer Mike and De La Soul brought hip-hop, and each absolutely brought the house down on their respective Quad Stage sets.

The Folk Fest has dipped into hip-hop before, with The Roots playing in 2022 and Noname being booked in 2019. (Noname was forced to cancel; not-so-incidentally, she’s scheduled to play Newport Jazz Festival next weekend). But Fort Adams has never seen anything like the sets delivered by this modern hip-hop star and this iconic hip-hop group.

Backed by his Mighty Midnight Revival chorus, Killer Mike first turned the Quad into the Church on Saturday. His poignant storytelling, both within the lyrics of tracks like “MOTHERLESS” and “Raegan” and the interludes in between, instantly connected him with the folk tradition. As did his strong advocacy for political reform, dedicating “SOMETHING FOR JUNKIES” to anyone who copped a record before the wave of marijuana legalization, and introing “Raegan” by encouraging everyone to vote downticket and locally despite not having “much of an opinion” about who anyone chooses at the top.

It equated to something like a gospel or soul concert, only delivered with Killer Mike’s ATL-bred rap intensity. He may have been using language rarely (if ever) heard at this fest, but his message was no different than a familiar Newport Folk slogan: Be present. Be kind. Be open. Be together. It ended with the MC expressing his continued hope before “HIGH & HOLY,” and afterwards, I overheard Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray (who was onsite as a spectator) sum it up simply: “So moving.”

De La Soul also moved the crowd the following day — though in a very different way. For the first time ever, the Quad’s chairs were removed at the request of Sunday’s closer, Dropkick Murphys. The festival apparently decided to comply a set early, a wise move as it opened the space up to truly capture De La’s energy.

Da La Soul, photo by Ben Kaye

Even after a technical delay, the Folk Festival audience immediately welcomed De La Soul’s Posdnuos and Maseo to the Folk fold, elated at every note of “Potholes in My Lawn” and “A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’.” It was joyous, the duo’s positive energy delivered through every bar. Even guest Pharoahe Monch was embraced, hyping the crowd during “The Light” and the familiar beat of “Simon Says.”

“I don’t mean no disrespect in what I’m about to say, but goddamnit, there’s a lot of beautiful caucasian brothers in here,” Posdnuos said before the latter. “But I need all y’all motherfuckers to be Jamaican right now! I need you to blow this shit off!” And the Folk happily obliged.

Again, the sounds were different than anything Newport Folk had seen, but the feeling was aligned with all 65 years of the event. The ability to bring people together via a story or a message — consider other perspectives, get involved, be open to beauty — is folk music. That’s exactly what Killer Mike and De La Soul’s hip-hop does. Ergo, hip-hop is folk music.

Conan Brings Jack White Back, Hip-Hop Gives New Definition to Newport Folk Festival: Review + Photos
Ben Kaye