A nearly perfect Memphis weekend greeted the third Shell Daze music festival at the historical Overton Park Shell. To define “historical,” it’s the same venue where on July 30,1954, a 19-year old Elvis Presley performed his first paid gig.
Shell Daze, an offshoot of the bigger Mempho music festival went off without a hitch providing fans one of the easiest festival experiences around. A chilly spring weekend was met with plenty of heat from the Shell stage. Both nights featured perfectly paired lineups. The first, a nod to the present and the second filled with loads of local musical history.
Colorado’s The Runaway Grooms kicked the fest off with their blend of southern flavored psychedelia. A perfect fit for their surroundings. Their laid-back, wide-open set was a fine example of the ascension the band is experiencing. Filled with wonderful harmonies mixed with free flowing instrumentals, the band is developing their own niche in the Indy/jamband world.
JJ Grey & Mofro cranked the energy up several notches the rest of the evening. The longtime area favorites greeted their fans with a night of pure southern swamp funk. Their bona-fide, beautifully nasty groove permeated the midtown air, warming up a lawn full of decades long enthusiasts.
Local roots band Devil Train got the second day of Shell Daze rolling. The early 90’s was the theme for the rest of the evening. Oxford’s Kudzo Kings, still sporadically playing, had one of a few Memphis shows in the last quarter of a century. The band, with its early lineup including former Widespread Panic guitarist George McConnell was a time portal back to the seedlings of Memphis’s jam band beginnings. The late eighties and early nineties where the local concert schedule rotated from Oxford’s Beanland and the Kudzo Kings to the Athens trio of R.E.M, a very young Widespread Panic, and Allgood, a band that should have made it big.
Oteil Burbridge, who spent plenty of time in Memphis in the 90’s as a member of Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Allman Brothers, and more, wrapped up the weekend festival with a funk and jam session featuring several of his oldest musical collaborators by his side. With multi-instrumentalist Jason Crosby on keys/violin, the legendary Steve Kimock on guitar, and Lamar Williams Jr on vocals, Burbridge and friends spent their opening set bouncing around some old school funk grooves. They switched gears in the second set with a nod to fallen Allman Brother Dickey Betts in opener Blue Sky and Encore Dreams. In between Burbridge took a swim in his current Dead and Company pool with a blistering Dark Star and Crosby’s must see mashup of the Dead’s Friend of the Devil and Nirvana’s Lithium.
Mempho Presents who put on the festival is quickly cementing a strong foundation in the Memphis music scene. Shell Daze is as fan friendly as you can get. Easy access to the venue with free parking. Once inside, there is plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the music, food, weather, and community. Their Mempho Music Fest has grown more than almost all of the hundred plus festivals popping up throughout the country attracting some of the top touring talent you can get. They’ve also taken the reins on the inaugural Riverbeat Festival which replaces the long running Beale Street Music Festival.
