Alela Diane and. . .

Wow! That upstairs block just reminded me a lot of the identical scheduling chunk from the first year, which featured Per Se, Modernstate, and a career-making set by Talkdemonic. They were three very different, and relatively unkown (at least to me) acts, each of which totally mesmerized a pliant afternoon crowd.

First up was Alela Diane, the most accomplished folk-y I think we've ever had at the festival. I've never heard such a big voice come out of such a slight person, especially one with feathers woven in her hair. That voice, with its amazing vocabulary of controlled cracks and quavers, floats perfectly atop Diane's intricate fingerstyle guitar work.

Oops! I totally want to write about the rest of those upstairs bands, but Nice Nice is starting right now, and I'm not going to miss that! Back in a sec.