By Abigail Lynn Davidson
All images provided by FORMAT Festival
Over the course of the weekend, I interviewed several artists performing at the festival. Find those here.
DAY ONE
Getting There
FORMAT Festival started an hour late. The organizers determined that the rain warranted a delay and opened the gates at two rather than one. I took the festival’s shuttle offering from lot 56 in Fayetteville to the Momentary grounds and arrived a few minutes after gates opening. The first thing I did was grab a coffee from Onyx, which was, of course, fantastic.
DJ Afrosia
Kicking off the main stages was local KXUA Alum, DJ Afrosia. I understand why the delay happened, but I do think the situation caused the crowd at the south stage to be smaller than I would have anticipated. I also personally think she deserved a set time after dark in one of the more unique venues, like the Røde House or Drag Me to The Disco.
Regardless of the venue, she brought the energy with her set, spinning a little bit of every era. The crowd progressively got a little bigger as people arrived at the grounds, and everyone was dancing. My favorite part was when she sampled “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas & The Papas, which is one of my favorite fall songs. I know that song is popular right now, but I still don’t think I’ve heard anyone else mix it like that.
Check out my interview with the performer here.
Digable Planets
Digable Planets is the first group that people start arriving in droves for. A lot of Friday-only attendees seemed to buy tickets specifically because of the Digable/Little Simz combination. I think them being on the same day was a great call.
It was a fun set with a focus on Reachin’, their first studio album, because it’s the thirtieth anniversary of its release. Some highlights from me were their performance of “Pacifics” and “Nickel Bags”, and just how talented their backing band was. Plus, I liked their matching shirts.
The crowd really brought the energy, and so did the trio.
Check out my interview with the group here.
Little Simz
Due to my interview with Digable Planets, I couldn’t catch the first half of Little Simz set.
Arriving halfway through her set, I went to the VIP area because I could get a little closer than in GA. I’m so happy I did, because I got to catch “Introvert” from her breakthrough album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, which was a fantastic performance. She moved all around the stage and seemed to interact with every part of the crowd.
It only went up from there, she performed several other songs, my favorite being “Point and Kill”.
The most fun song to be in the crowd during was her final track, “Woman”. She specifically called out all the women in the crowd and said it was for us, which of course made that half of the crowd go wild for the rest of the set.
LCD Soundsystem
Something I love about going to concerts or festivals by myself is meeting new people from all over the place in between shows. Between LCD Soundsystem and Little Simz, I met a guy a few years older than my dad whose kids had introduced him to LCD. He’s since become a fan of theirs, while his kids sort of grew out of it. My dad introduced me to LCD, so we talked about that too. The girl behind me had travelled all the way from California for FORMAT Festival. She asked what the purple wristband was for (it was my media pass) so I got to tell her all about KXUA. Then she asked if the school I go to does football or any other sports, so we got to talking about the SEC.
That’s when they brought out the Disco Ball Cart. It was a cart with what was probably a twelve- or thirteen-foot-tall disco ball that was then lifted by a crane attached to the top of the stage.
By the time they brought everything out on stage, I don’t think I’d ever seen that many instruments and computers on a stage at one time.
The members of the band come out one by one playing their part in the intro of “Get Innocuous!”. If you know the song, you know it’s a long build up, with each instrument coming in at its own time, so it was perfect to start the show with. Finally, James Murphy comes out for the first vocals of the set, and everyone loses their minds.
Personal highlights for me include “I Can Change”, “Losing My Edge”, and “Dance Yrself Clean”.
This live performance of “Losing My Edge” had some samples from the bands/songs that are referenced within the song, which were executed so smoothly that you wouldn’t notice the change if you didn’t know the studio version by heart.
The crowd took the song “Dance Yrself Clean” as a command. The song was perfectly timed after the slower tone of “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down”. My favorite part of the studio version is the drop, just after the three-minute mark. I was excited to see that live, and it didn’t disappoint. It was the kind of bass that you just can’t get in a home listening setup. It made my teeth feel weird. I loved it.
The absolute only thing I wished they’d done differently was play “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House”, but they killed it, so I can live without that one track.
Ending the Night
I wanted to catch Poolside’s DJ set at Drag Me to The Disco, but it began right when LCD ended, so by the time I got there, the barn and the whole area around it was so packed that I knew I didn’t stand a chance of getting in. It was okay though, because I knew the Poolside set I really wanted to see was the Saturday one.
I decided it was about time to head home, so I went to the shuttle area, and there was absolutely no line for the Fayetteville bus.
Day one was a success. Even with the rocky start due to the weather, it was a great start to the weekend.
Day Two
Getting There
The parking was easy even with Saturday being sold out. It was about here that I realized most everyone was utilizing some other option for getting there. The bus ride was very chill, but I was really entertained by the bus driver that was probably in her late 60’s and was softly playing EDM.
The weather played a role in Saturday’s schedule too. This time they moved the set times up in an attempt to avoid shutting down before all the artists got to perform. The issue was with the way they disseminated this information. The service was generally good enough to receive emails, texts, and phone calls, but Instagram alerts were inconsistent. They posted about it on Instagram and didn’t send a SMS notification until 5:21 pm, well after many of the performances took place. Luckily this didn’t stop me, my mom sent me a screenshot of their Instagram post with the new schedule.
However, the decision to move the set times proved to be a good one.
The Pharcyde
This set was shortened by 15 minutes from the original hour long set in the new schedule. This was the first big performance at the South Stage, so people were still finding out about the changes when they started. There were about 20 people at the beginning of the set due to this issue, but all was right by their second song, when people followed the sound in droves.
Once everyone arrived, the crowd was ready for the high energy performance the group put on. The two tracks I enjoyed the most were “Runnin’” and “Passin’ Me By”.
“Passin’ Me By” had a different introduction than the studio version. They pay tribute to their former manager, the late Reggie Andrews, by playing the original loop from an old jazz record he had in his garage, Quincy Jones’ “Summer in the City”. This song’s organ loop was the basis for the song, but they went from the original song into “Passin’ Me By” was cool.
Poolside
Next in my afternoon at the South Stage, was Poolside. Opening with “I Feel High”, you realize just how talented they are. In my opinion, the saxophonist was the stand-out member of the band, but not to diminish the talent of the rest of the band, which were fantastic.
They did several covers. First was a Grateful Dead cover, “Shakedown Street”, which they’ve only played twice live from what I’ve been able to find. Next, they covered Miami Horror’s “Leila”, in the same style as their remix.
“Feel Your Weight” was another song they’ve remixed and now cover on tour. Originally by Rhye, that was the first Poolside song I’d ever heard.
They played “Ride With You” for the first time live, which came out last month. That song’s been in my personal rotation since it was on my Spotify new releases mix. Just as good live.
The final song they played was, of course, their cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”. It’s their staple song. For a song that has a million covers, this is by far my favorite version outside of the original. The crowd seemed to feel the same way.
Big Wild
The real MVP of this performance was the high velocity fan. With the flowy purple shirt and long hair, he looked like he was singing to an actual sea, not a sea of sweaty people standing in the mud. He’s a performer.
His bunny is having health problems, so he had the entire crowd shout out a sort of song dedication to put out good vibes for the bunny, which was actually really cute.
The two songs I enjoyed the most were definitely “Purple Sands” and “Red Sun”. The graphics during “Red Sun” were cool and set a tone I really liked. This was another song that I think really utilized the bass capabilities at the North Stage.
Check out my interview with the performer here.
Modest Mouse
I got to catch the first half hour of Modest Mouse before my interview with Big Wild.
Honestly the performance was alright, and it sounded similar to the studio version. The only thing I really feel like was missing was the band. They just didn’t seem very into it. Talent can only bring you so far, and they didn’t seem to have the passion I was hoping for. Maybe it was just an off day, or the heat got to them, but the performance just wasn’t all there.
The one exception was “Gravity Rides Everything”. They seemed to snap out of it for that song.
I was impressed with the lighting design considering it was daytime. It seemed like they prepared for the sunlight, which doesn’t seem to be something a lot of festival performers do.
Hopefully the second half felt more alive than the first, but I can’t really speak on it. I want to catch them again sometime and see if maybe they do better on normal concert performances.
The end of the night
I thought about going to Alanis Morissette’s headlining show, but I had a couple of things I’d been wanting to do all day that had been too busy, so I decided to skip out on the Saturday headliner and go check out Ragnar Kjartansson x The National: A Lot of Sorrow, which I’ve wanting to see for a few years now.
It’s a surround sound recording of six-hour performance by The National, performing their song “Sorrow” from High Violet somewhere around 105 times in front of a live audience.
Highlights of the performance for me include “Sorrow”, “Sorrow”, and I also really enjoyed “Sorrow” (but that time, they were eating grapes). In all seriousness, I enjoyed the changes in the song when various members took restroom breaks and subsequently silenced their part of the track. They also experimented a little and switched up which guitars and bass guitars they used, which I really enjoyed.
I walked in somewhere in the second half, and it showed. The audience was trying to be fun and cheer, but you could tell they were tired. Matt Berninger was exhausted, the only member who doesn’t really take a break during the performance, drank red wine out of a clear solo cup like it was water. At some point, a crew member walks around the stage with a tray of grapes and cheese for the band between takes.
After around 45 minutes of this, right as I was starting to feel like I’d lose my mind if I heard Berninger’s voice one more time that night, a Momentary Staff member came into the room to tell us that the festival was being evacuated due to weather. All shows following Alanis Morissette were cancelled. I got outside and they were directing everyone to the shuttles with airport light sticks, while lightning lit up the horizon.
I rode the bus home; this was the only time all weekend I rode a bus with more than ten people on it. The driver turns the radio to the football game. We’re tied with LSU 31-31 in the fourth, their ball. Everyone on the bus watched the game on strangers’ phones and yelled at our d-line as we squandered a chance at an overtime.
I think the way they evacuated all of the secondary areas before the main stage, so everyone wasn’t leaving at once was a smart move. On the drive home, the storm picked up quickly, so I think ending the night early was the right decision.
Day Three
Before the shows
I decided to get to the festival early on the final day. I arrived by shuttle around gate opening.
Before any shows, I went to Onyx, got an oatmilk latte, and went to the empty landing above the main exhibit at the museum and hung out there for a while. After a while, I went to the Guerilla Girls’ Complaints Department wall. It had been covered in layers and layers complaints chalked on by festival goers the night before, but everything was washed away in the storm. I wrote “rain :(” in big text on the newly empty wall.
I went back to the museum before the first set time and wondered around the gift shop. I saw a guy with a Khruangbin shirt I’d never seen before, so I asked him where he got it, and we talked for a minute, so I asked if he saw them here last year. He said he hadn’t, but he was here as an artist. I realized I was talking to Luke Bowman from Franc Moody. He was super nice and let me tell him all about NWA.
King Cabbage Brass Band
I decided to go catch King Cabbage opening the North Stage, and they were really the big surprise of the weekend for me. They were surprisingly good, and I especially enjoyed their originals.
Knowing nothing about them going into it, they surprised me with their originals. The focus was most definitely the brass band, but the vocals added something unexpected. They’d drawn a little crowd, who matched their energy. The captain’s hats customized with the band name were fantastic, and I think they should sell those going forward. I’d buy one.
Modeling
Modeling brought in an impressive crowd for such an early set time. The crowd had a few exceptions, but it seemed to be mostly new to Modeling.
The lighting and sound design took full advantage of the Røde House’s dark tones and surround audio. I’ve never really thought about how weird it is that almost every venue has all of the speakers in the front and throws the sound from the stage until Sunday in the Røde House. The best comparison I could make is when you go to the movies, and it does that thing where a disembodied voice echoes “all around you” from every direction. Taking the movie comparison further, because it was so dark inside, when you left, it just as disorientating as when you leave a matinee and see light for the first time in a while.
A highlight for me was definitely “In Creases”. I was honestly really impressed with their ability to keep a crowd’s full attention during a song that’s long like “In Creases” is, but they had the crowd engrossed. Even as Franc Moody’s set was beginning, no one in that room could bring themselves to do anything but listen.
Check out my interviews with the performer here.
Franc Moody
After Modeling, I walked to the nearby North Stage for Franc Moody’s set. Unfortunately, I’d already missed “Dream in Colour”, one of my favorites by them, but that’s okay. They killed what I saw of the set.
They had the crowd dancing in the swamp that was left after the storm the night before. Swamp might be an exaggeration, but my Docs were like an inch deep in mud and I could not possibly have cared less because I was having so much fun.
Tash Sultana
Tash Sultana was a wildcard set for me. I didn’t know any of her stuff and I had no other plans during her show, so after hearing many people say they came just for her, I decided to check it out.
She had some technical ability that I feel like I’ve never really seen. She played several instruments in quick succession, layering and looping them together. I was really impressed. Even though I don’t know if I’d listen to her music too much in my day-to-day, it was one of those sets that was fun even if you don’t know a single word.
It seemed like she had a really dedicated following, the fans had in-jokes and knew every word to every song. At some point during the set, someone clipped an orange worm-on-a-string to my backpack strap, and I saw someone else clipping fake plant seedlings to people’s hats.
Leon Bridges
The mother and daughter group to my right traveled from Nebraska to see Leon Bridges for the 11th time. If that doesn’t summarize his performances, I don’t know what does.
He started with my favorite song from the Texas Sun / Texas Moon collaboration (with Khruangbin), “Father Father”, which surprised me because I didn’t know he’d do stuff from the collaboration without Khruangbin present. His backing band had a different sound, but I really enjoyed hearing that song in a different way.
Of course, there was more to follow for the Bridges fan and Khruang fan alike. Of his solo music, my favorite was “Coming Home”, his first single. He really seemed to enjoy performing it, and so did his backing band.
Speaking of, his touring band deserves a mention, especially the two backing vocalists. They killed it.
Everything about this performance seemed so intentional. The way he moved around the stage and interacted with the crowd was very thought-out, well timed, but not in that over-rehearsed, robotic, sort of way. It was more a display of the effort and intentionality him and the backing band put into this performance because of how much they cared about putting on the best possible performance.
It was a great way to wrap up the main stages. It also wasn’t lost on me that Leon Bridges filled the Sunday-night headliner set just as collaborators Khruangbin had the year before. I’m not at all sure if that was intentional, either way, I liked it.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed the festival. I do agree with the general consensus that the festival did seem a little scaled down as far as size and artist caliber, but I think it’s important to remember that the tickets were much cheaper this year, so it’s only reasonable to expect that. I hope they continue to host it at the momentary, because even though it was a little smaller, I could spend more time at stages and less time walking through a field between the venues.
The use of the museum was a good call. The concept of FORMAT is For Music, Art, Technology. I think for such a unique festival, it’s only reasonable to use an abandoned cheese factory turned modern art museum. There were also conveniences with it being hosted with an actual building. I could go get some air conditioning here and there, plus the full-sized onyx was better than the booth they had last year (even though it was executed very well). There were also clean restrooms instead of only porta-potties, as well as an indoor venue in Røde House.
As far as art goes, I really appreciated them bringing in A Lot of Sorrow, as I’ve been wanting to see that since hearing of its filming. I also really enjoyed seeing Istanbul ‘74’s Flags for Future, as well as Evanescent by Atelier Sisu. There are only two things I wish would be improved on next year, a schedule for the video art in the fermentation hall, and more local art. I don’t want festivalgoers to come to NWA for the first time and leave without experiencing much local art, as it’s something we really excel in.
I really liked the lineup. It seemed like mostly indie/alternative/electronic and hip-hop/rap, which showed a little more focus than last year’s lineup. I got to see several artists I knew and loved, but because I like those genres, I caught on quickly that I could go to almost any venue for any artist and hear something I liked. I hope to see more of that next year.
I hope to see this festival continue in years to come. Its unique focus on unconventionality is the draw, and the more the organizers lean into that, the better it’ll do.
