Field Report at Revival Fest – photos

I was already a huge fan of Field Report before the band’s appearance at Revival Fest on Saturday, so I’m not sure what kind of fan that makes me now.

On the dramatically lit stage (well done, Capital A Productions) in the soaring space of the old paint shop for railroad cars, Chris Porterfield and company’s songs built layer upon layer while at the same time seeming to unfold, as if some mystery would eventually be revealed at the center.

That contradictory effect is largely due to Field Report’s lyrics, which are at once bitingly specific and mysteriously general. Like the opening of “Route 18” from the band’s self-titled debut album:

Elizabeth said last night the lake roared like the ocean; I was landlocked under the orange-white solstice moon. Imagine: imagining a place meant to conjure up another. Three degrees of hometown disconnect in my unborn daughter’s room.

I don’t know what any of that really means, but I’m drawn into the world of the song by the words alone. Set to music, well, that’s just artistic decadence:

That was one of the songs that Field Report played in their stunning hourlong set on Saturday night. Other highlights from the first album included renditions of “Fergus Falls”, “Taking Alcatraz”, and “Chico the American”.

In the general party atmosphere of the day, maybe the set was too much like church to some:

Chris Porterfield, no puppies for you. And no razors either.

I took some photos (with the requisite apology to the drummer, and to all drummers that I will never get good photos of).

Here’s one, more after the jump. Click for bigger versions.

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