Jam on the River @ Penn's Landing Day 2

Last week before I got sick and before I celebrated my birthday I headed down to Philadelphia for the Jam on the River Festival . I was mostly interested in seeing Ween but the whole day was fun. I arrived at Penn’s Landing at the very end of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s set. Penn’s Landing is a great venue. It faces out towards the Delaware river and is made up of a series of steps providing a great view from anywhere. Next up was the Secret Machines who I have found myself listening to more and more since their concert at the Hiro ballroom a few weeks ago. The Secret Machines seem to have really turned up the energy levels when performing live. Their set at JoTR may have been the best set all day.

After the Secret Machines played I wondered around for a while killing time before Ween came on. On stage during this time was Railroad Earth. This was my first experience with Railroad Earth and I wasn’t very impressed. Their sound had too much of generic jamband sound to it and not enough bluegrass.

I had been really excited for Ween’s set but it left me a little disappointed. The major problem was that it seemed as though the sound was turned down for Ween’s set. Also the set was very short lasting only about an hour and a half. Normally Ween plays for close to three hours. Although I may not have thought it was their best set the crowd was certainly having a great time. I often wish New York City could import crowds from other cities.