WXPN’s Xponential Music Festival is Summer Staple in Camden, New Jersey

Story, photos by David Krakow

Ah festivals. The all-you-can-eat buffets of concert going.

Although I’m of an age where folks went to concerts mostly and festivals hardly at all, they do hold a special place. I was living in San Francisco at the beginning of the 1990s and was able to jump on the Lollapalooza bandwagon with such folks as guiding spirits Jane’s Addiction, Alice In Chains and some new Seattle quintet called Pearl Jam.

Later that decade I moved to New Orleans and took in two Jazzfests. By that time they were already as much pop and rock fests as jazz fests but any musical fest in New Orleans is something you remember forever.

In Philly we of course have – and seems from recent news this is still accurate – Made in America and, for the past quarter century, WXPN‘s Xponential Music Festival. The festival took during a late July weekend on two Camden stages at Wiggins Park and the BB&T Pavilion and this year featured, among others: Bermuda Triangle (featuring Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes); Josh Ritter; Femi Kuti; Margo Price; The Blind Boys of Alabama; David Byrne; The Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Sturgill Simpson, and, to close out Saturday’s festivities, Philadelphia‘s own band of now The War On Drugs.

During Saturday’s visit, the sun was unobscured and hot, I was sweating before I even danced. And dancing is not optional when the London-born, Nigerian-raised Kuti and his ensemble The Positive Force unleashes its Afrobeat which Kuti punctuates – activist that he is – with his spoken-sung diatribes against bad government and those who wield religion for nefarious purpose. But the seriousness of the message in no way detracts from the onslaught of guitar, bass and horn that had folks in the back of Wiggins’ River Stage gyrating.

At that point we meandered the short walk to BB&T for the powerhouse trio of – speaking of New Orleans – the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, country rocker Simpson and the War on Drugs. It was a marathon – TWOD didn’t take the stage until 10:15 p.m, – but if you spaced out your attention, inebriants and food intake just right, it worked well.

The food choices at BB&T were a tad more pedestrian, befitting its status as the Big Daddy of the Camden concert scene but the alcohol choices expanded to include wine, liquor and many interesting summer hybrids. I did the Lime-A-Rita in a can; I do not like being at the mercy of standardized pours.

The touring company of Preservation Hall was harder and funkier than the Dixieland jazz you hear when you visit the flagship venue in the French Quarter. It is not as quaint and unique as what you hear sitting on a musty bench at Preservation Hall but probably more apropos in a large venue. And when I heard that first squirt of trombone, we immediately started shaking and grooving. Forty-five minutes later I had a headache. The instrumental facility of this band is stunning; every note was supple and powerful at the same time.

We hung with other concert goers in the vendor area during Sturgill Simpson whose guitar chops are undeniable. The fretwork was more meaningful to me than the songs themselves; he made his biggest impact during a molten version of Otis Redding‘s You Don’t Miss Your Water when the band seemed less like sidemen than they did during much of the set.

And then, the finale.

Despite the plethora of bands – a good and versatile mix it was – most of the attendees I spoke to were in attendance for the headliner.

“I really like War On Drugs” said Dave Olson. “I do want to see the others” added Carl Baker, “but I’m here mostly to see The War On Drugs.”

Samatha Gilbert – visiting from Brooklyn which of course is home to many bands of the moment itself – came via invitation from her dad. “He’s also at the fest” she noted. “We did listen to Sturgill Simpson on the way here” and clearly wanted to see him also.

Beverly, who chose not to share her last name, is a veteran of the fest. “I’ve been a fan since the beginning,” she proclaimed. “I’ve even taken my daughter to many,” another echo of the multi-generational theme which played out throughout the lawn. “It’s relaxed, which I like.” Though she also professed a preference for the headliners, she added “I’m also happy to see Sturgill Simpson.”

The War On Drugs is a transcendent band, period. I’m suspicious of hyperbolic accolades and I don’t know if they’re the best band in America or “The Band We Need Right Now,” as Philadelphia Magazine recently proclaimed.

I have a simple litmus test for live music; I want to close my eyes and gently shake my head and want to not stop shaking my head until the music’s over. It can be the singer’s versimilitude or a particular melody or a twin guitar solo but usually its a beat that jerks you in opposing directions, an ecstatic push and pull.

TWOD has this and more.

Lead Drug Adam Granduciel is a guitar hero that gives the term a good rep; he doesn’t play impressive guitar to impress you or at least not overtly to impress you. There is no noodling or pointless departures. He wrings more emotion out of a single song that most guitarists manage in an entire show.

And though not showy, the supporting Drugs – bass, drums and rotating doses of second guitar, one or two keyboards and horns – lay down a beat that percolates and pings in just the right places in delicious counterpoint to Granduciel’s searing leads. On a song like 2015’s An Ocean In Between The Waves from the breakout record Lost In A Dream, the effect is positively mesmerizing. It is to these ears the best rock song of the past 10 years.

I don’t feel I have a lot to do with TWOD’s success but regardless, I’m proud to claim them as my/our own. It’s a pretty magic moment for Philly acts right now – not the least being former Drug Kurt Vile with his band the Violators – but The War On Drugs is setting the standard whether playing alone or headlining a multi-day festival.

Don’t expect a good seat at the Xponential music festival.

The corn looks a little too healthy for this impressive display of meat sweats.

Unfortunately, Wiggins had only beer and, though I don’t drink beer, I did. I have no idea if it was good because I no longer drink beer and therefore have no frame of reference.

All ages welcome other than at the bar at Xponential music festival.

My wife Jamie chooses the slightly more healthy option of a chicken wrap.

Just outside the River Stage entrance was the vendor area where the food choices were plentiful and – possibly befitting a mostly middle-aged crowd – somewhat healthy. My wife had the Chicken Supreme wrap with chicken and fresh grilled vegetables which, she said, was delicious. Never one to ignore the advice that when at a party, you eat what you want, I had a beef briscuit sandwich that was possibly one of the best I ever had. The beef were small slabs that had substance, in size, texture and spices and seemed a bargain at $9.