ALL IN MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL – INDIANAPOLIS

By Eric Rauert

All In Music & Arts Festival is a fledging festival in its second year hosted on the Indianapolis Indiana state fairgrounds. It totes itself as the “most comfortable fest in America” due to its air conditioned main stage and ample seating. This year’s lineup was best categorized as a “jam band” festival, with headliners of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead on Saturday and Umphrey’s McGee doing a specially planned “dreamset” (more on that later). The rest of the schedule was packed with funk, soul, jam, blues, and rock players from all over the country and some local Indiana talent.

The festival was two weekend days (although Friday night camping was available) and only has two stages, which means it was definitely on the smaller side with 20 acts all weekend and an attendance cap of 7000. This smaller feel was not a problem for me, as there was plenty of room to have your own space and navigate around.

And the festival certainly kept us busy by staggering the show times. As one show ended on the side stage, another began on the main stage and vice versa. In theory this would mean missing the first couple minutes as you transition over and this did happen sometimes but the festival is so compressed that it is easy to travel to each stage quickly without missing a beat (or song).

The food choices were varied and delicious. Organizers brought in local food trucks to sell to the hungry, hungry hippies and they delivered with plenty of options, from a cheese themed truck to vegan food to the usual carnival fare. Drinks and food were of course just as expensive as any other festival or venue but I was happy with my food picks and reentry is allowed until 8 PM, so you can swing back to camp or elsewhere for food.

Camping was geared toward the “most comfortable fest in America” angle and delivered slightly better than most onsite camping. Included with a camping pass was a 20’ x 20’ spot, unlimited parking and campground access, two shower and bathroom facilities, and shuttles running every fifteen minutes to the venue about a mile away. These were all great features and much appreciated, especially for those who might not want to grunge it up all weekend in the classic festival style. It was definitely cheaper than a hotel room and we met some great people at the campsite, so I would recommend camping for the full All In experience.

As for the music, I won’t cover every act I saw but here are some of my standout thoughts from the weekend.

Saturday

Eggy was a band I had been looking to catch for awhile. They’re an up and coming jam band that everyone seems to love and I thought I would be no exception. I was not impressed with their set. It felt too meandering and noodly to really get a chance to see what the band was like. 45 minute sets on a small stage are tough (and a downside of this festival as well) but I certainly wasn’t impressed in the short time I had with them. I’ll still try to catch them locally to give them a chance at some two set jams and I hope I like what I see.

Trombone Shorty is an excellent musician with a backing band who is a ton of fun to see. I saw him open for Red Hot Chili Peppers years ago: he had a lively, killer opening show and as a headliner, that didn’t change. Shorty plays a trombone and trumpet, backed by a saxophone section, bass, guitar, and female singer. This is a can’t miss show if you are a fan of blues, funk, and wind instruments.

“Dreamsets” are a concept I’ve seen only by name at All In but they are collaborative cover sets for a specific band. The Beatles Dreamset was picked for Saturday and a main band of Beatles cover artists were joined by special guests consisting of various musicians. “The Main Squeeze”, “Eggy”, “Andy Frasco and the UN”, and more joined in on covering classic Beatles hits. This was a very fun set but I don’t know how much you would get out of it if you didn’t like the band being covered; I happen to love the Beatles.

Tenacious D was back for a tour this year and I was graced with their formidable metal presence. This show was best put by my friend as “WWE but a rock show”. Fun times were had by audience and performers alike, with Jack Black and Kyle Gauss leading what basically amounted to a slapstick rock opera. They played all the D classics, yelled at their pyrotechnics guy constantly, and had a giant blow up demon. If you’re a fan of comedy with some pretty solid musicianship thrown in, you should catch this devilish parody of a metal show.

Andy Frasco and the UN: wow, wow, wow. To say I was impressed by these guys is an understatement. I have never seen better stage presence from a band, period. This five piece plays like they simultaneously lit 5 fireworks displays on stage. The guitarist (Shawn Eckels) plays with an intensity and skill that few have (they covered Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On and… I liked it better than the original) while just absolutely working the stage and audience.

Front man Andy Frasco (piano) received from the audience: two bras, a bottle of tequila, a bottle of jack, AND led the Hava Nagila from the crowd all in 45 minutes. The other three members (saxophonist Ernie Chang, Frasco’s son on bass, and drummer Andee Avila) are all incredible musicians and match the energy of their counterparts with different antics. This show is a party and a half while playing some of the best rock and funk I’ve ever heard.. See these guys whenever you can if you’re ready to party, you won’t regret it.

Sunday

The Main Squeeze is a local Indiana band with big chops. I caught their lead guitarist (Max Newman) during the Beatles Dreamset as well as in a sit in with Andy Frasco and was impressed by his skill. Their main stage set was no exception. Guitar takes less of a front seat in the main act, as this entire band is composed of incredibly talented funk musicians and a soulful lead singer in Corey Frye.

Its probably no surprise that Greensky Bluegrass was a great show as I’ve only ever heard good things. This band is a set of expert musicians and their bluegrass jams bordered on the psychedelic with a matching light show to boot. Incredible musicians playing soulful and passionate music, not much else to say except their cover of “Bonedigger” was excellent.

Neighbor was my surprise stand out of the weekend. This Boston, MA jam band knows how to chill real hard but still finds some amazing pace with their keys (Richard James) and guitar (Lyle Brewer of Pink Talking Shrimp). Honestly, their core music sounds very country but nowhere near country pop. The talented musicianship, unique lyrics, and breakdowns in the jams keep this soulful music interesting while having a very accessible feel. I’ve been listening to “Trippin’ in a Van” non stop since the weekend
and am excited for their upcoming concept album involving fictional interplanetary space travel. Definitely a jam band to keep an eye on.

Trey Anastasio and his band were a little too noodly to enjoy for me. A very talented band would queue Trey up to just… fiddle around on guitar for awhile. Not knocking anyone who likes Phish or Trey’s music but I don’t think this is for me. I will say that the lighting was some of the best I’ve ever seen: its true what they say about Phish’s lighting guy being an extra member of the band.

Umphrey’s McGee closed the weekend with a Led Zeppelin dreamset. Since their drummer is out with shoulder surgery, they brought Jason Bonham (John Bonham of Zed Zeppelin’s son) to sit in and just played a bunch of classic Led Zeppelin songs. This set was a ton of fun, as Umphrey’s McGee are a very talented and technical band but can lack vocals. They brought in an incredibly talented musician (who’s name I can’t find for the life of me) who sounded EXACTLY like Robert Plant.

This dream set did exactly as intended: brought a collection of incredible musicians together to absolutely nail a tribute set; they even got to throw in a couple Umphrey’s originals that fit the vibe and bring up Greensky Bluegrass for awhile. I could see these sets being very hit or miss depending on the covered artist but this one was incredible. I can confess to only having heard “Kashmere”, “The Immigrant Song”, and a few others but I still had a ton of fun appreciating Umphrey’s world class lights and listening to a Led Zeppelin catalogue I should clearly get more familiar with.

Well organized and well scheduled, this festival is one I will be returning to. The lineup knocked it out of the park this year and last year’s attendees included Cage the Elephant and Portugal the Man, so clearly the organizers are no strangers to attracting skilled and original acts. With so many of the small jam and other festivals falling victim to getting priced out of existence, its refreshing to see a great start up festival offering such a great weekend.

The one major downside of this festival was half the acts only getting 45 minutes, which can be a bummer for acts you were looking to catch. Still, this is my new
favorite weekend festival in recent memory. I’m excited to see this festival develop and I’ve already got the 2024 dates on my calendar.

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