When You Awake’s Free For All Festival – at The EchoPlex – Los Angeles, CA

This was the second Sunday in a row that The Echoplex hosted a large music festival. This time, instead of hard rocking metalheads, the venue was full with hipsters wearing oversized sunglasses and vintage clothing. The dark interior of The Echoplex was scattered with stations set up for arts and crafts, merch booths, and makeshift thrift shops. There were 3 stages set up to accommodate all the talent that would be performing throughout the day and evening.

Inside of The Echoplex, Hi Ho Silver Oh was kicking off the day on the main stage, while on the small outdoor stage, The Smart Brothers sang for an eager crowd of onlookers.

The sharp dressed trio’s voices harmonized perfectly as did their instruments. Some enjoyed the set while waiting for their food, and others were gathered around the tiny stage, completely engulfed by the sweet sound being produced by these three men. They played a beautiful and harmonic 30 minute set, and ended it with a cute little song called "My Girl".

Many great acts graced the stages at the Free For All Festival, but there were a few acts that really stuck out in my mind. The Dustbowl Revival was one of those bands. They played a great mixture of jazzy swing and Big Band style music, without the cliche pop swing sound that is commonly associated with this genre of music nowadays. They sounded authentic and had the audience up and moving. Most audience members ended up looking like hippies dancing around to a Grateful Dead tune more than swing dancers, but nontheless, people were feeling what The Dustbowl Revival was serving up and enjoying every minute of it.

Inside The Echo, the stage was ready for Old Man Markley. It was obvious right away that a great number of people at this festival were there to see OMM. As minutes grew closer to the beginning of their set, the crowd grew larger and the room seemed to become smaller. They took to the stage and in an instant the music commenced as they opened up their set with "For Better For Worse". Everyone knew the lyrics and chanted along, clapping their hands in unison. OMM is an upbeat, eclectic group of musicians that play several different instruments: a fiddle, washtub bass, harmonica, washboard, harp, banjo, drums, and guitars.

After seeing Old Man Markley on a large stage, it was great to see them play in a small intimate venue, and play hard they did! The overall interaction between the band members and the crowd made this show amazing.

Langhorne Slim came on shortly after Old Man Markley’s set. It was a good thing that they came on at different times, because both were acts that you didn’t want to miss. Every once in a while, there is a performance that completely grabs you. While I was expecting a good performance from Langhorne Slim, I had no idea how blown away I was about to be. He opened up with "Rebel Side of Heaven". He sounds like a modern style Paul Simon, backed up with a great bluegrass influenced band. His stage performance was nothing short of captivating. The whole band played with soul.

The banjo player played with such veracity that there was blood all over his banjo. You could see the intensity on the faces of the spectators as they sang along, and jumped around to his music.

Not sure how much money "The Free For All Fest" ended up making, the suggested donation was 12 dollars a head. But I can say for all those who attended, it was a  success. The festival had a great atmosphere and was filled with great music from different genres. Hopefully "When You Awake" will put on more shows like this in the future.
 When You Awake.com    www.freeforallfestival.com

-J. Moncrief-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

 
More photos from the show can be seen HERE
 

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