Solstice Music Festival
featuring Deltron 3030, Presidents of the United States, Ayron Jones and the Way, Ra Scion
Redhook Main Stage, Fremont, WA
06.19.15 – 06.20.15
Summer solstice in Seattle is one of the greatest weekends of the year. The entire city lives quietly in hibernation, through the many months filled with grey, and turns into an explosion of life on the longest day of the year. What better way to celebrate the return of the sun than a day of hip-hop and a day of rock ‘n roll?
The Fremont Solstice festival provided just that, with the equally Legendary Deltron 3030 and the Presidents of the United States, as well as supporting acts Ra Scion and Ayron Jones and The Way.
After walking through Fremont to experience the parade, and then to Gasworks to take in some of Honkfest, our group headed over to catch Ra Scion opening for Deltron on day 1 with DJ Indica Jones. Ra Scion brought it hard. This was my first opportunity to hear any tracks from Sharper Tool; Bigger Weapon, and it was fantastic. There’s a lot of heart when this man throws words down.
I was more than a little excited to see Deltron 3030’s Dan the Automator and Del the Funky Homosapien, surprise guest DJ Quest, Juan Alderete de la Pena (Mars Volta, Racer X) on bass, Alexander Swain (Mahgeetah) on drums, and Takahiro Tozawa on guitar. They did not disappoint in delivering a sci-fi heavy set. Del stepped on stage with his skateboard and got right down to business. His set was as disconnected from reality as one would hope, while diving into the never ending hyper-literate rapper’s vocabulary. They launched themselves into outer-space, and closed on an ever-classic rendition of Clint Eastwood giving us a glimpse into Russell Hobbs.
Arriving at the fest on day two, Ayron Jones and the Way were taking the stage as the sun was appropriately setting behind them, launching into a fiery set of blues-grunge rock. Jones’ stage presence hearkened back to the rarest of rock legends: swagger for days. This was the first time that I’d had the pleasure of seeing Jones play, and while his love may remain, mine’s just beginning. I found myself dropping my camera to hip height just to take in some Boys from The Puget Sound.
Finally, Presidents of the United States closed it out. I wasn’t surprised when a band formed 20 years ago hit the stage and had more energy than all of the previous bands combined. It wasn’t that the previous acts weren’t explosive, it’s just that PUSA did not stop – not once – in the entire set. Chris Ballew jumped in every direction, from speakers and from stage scaffolding, never missing a beat on the unique 2 string basitar…or was it a guitbass? He was rocking.
The night went on, and the dancing was combined with singing along to tracks like “Lump,” “Peaches,” and “Kitty.” It was an incredible close to the beginning of the Summer.
Review and photos by David Endicott
Deltron 3030
Presidents of the United States
Ayron Jones and the Way
Ra Scion
