Live Review: Planet Caravan Festival
Posted 11/16/2009 12:29PM by Matt Murphy as Show Review
Asheville’s Planet Caravan Festival (named appropriately after one of Black Sabbath’s more popular tracks) recently assembled one of the world’s largest collections of stars from the sludge, doom and stoner rock genres’ past and present. Over the course of two days in the North Carolina Mountains, festival attendees were bombarded with all of the grimy beards, black t-shirts, unwashed hair, sweaty backs, non-light beer and unadulterated heavy metal they could handle – and loved every second of it.
Following a short drive from Chapel Hill, my friend and I made our way to Mo Daddy’s (a smaller bar splitting festival duties with locally renowned venue The Orange Peel) just in time to see Lionize make their way to the stage. Standing inches away from the group as they launched into their opening track, we couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sound and intensity pouring out of each member. The great thing about festivals is that most bands try their best to put on great performances – the spike in attendance offers them the opportunity to reach an inordinately large number of people, as well as sell more merchandise to any newly acquired fans, and Planet Caravan was no exception.
The festival’s clear highlight was Bison B.C., a Canadian group bound to blow up thanks to their gritty take on High on Fire’s speedy stoner metal. Other stand-outs included the psychedelic doom trio Yob, the classic rock-tinged Astra, heavy metal legends Orange Goblin and relative newcomers Hull. Unfortunately, not every band fared as well. Burst, playing their final show ever, was particularly disappointing due to some sound problems and a set list comprised mainly of newer material, while Clutch was surprisingly lifeless compared to their usual high-energy act. Despite the handful of lackluster performances, the festival offered a great opportunity to see old favorites (Yob), prominent up-and-comers (Battilius) and legends of the genre that I’d never gotten around to listening to (Pentagram).
As spectacular as the weekend was, one of the downsides of two-stage festivals is that you’re inevitably going to be forced to miss a band or two due to overlapping set times. This was the case with groups like Wino, The Gates of Slumber, Kylesa (who I regret missing despite having seen them numerous times) and Salome. However, that’s only one small complaint about a wonderful festival that was well-planned, well-run and not lacking in quality bands whatsoever. We came away hoping that the festival turn-out was high enough to justify a return next year to provide us with another weekend jaunt through the darker side of the musical spectrum.
Comments
Brooklyn, NY
that's awesome that you got to see Orange Goblin. i love those guys, but haven't had a chance to catch them live
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Minnesota
This sounds like a lot of fun.
So you really think Bison BC was fun live? I can't get into anything they've put to tape so I wonder if I'd actually get into their live show. Too bad about Burst and Clutch.
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Bison BC was so full of energy, heavy and precise - pretty much everything you could ask for from a performance at a festival like this. They also played on the small stage so they were practically in the crowd for most of their set. I do enjoy their newest album they really blew me away live.