Newport Folk Festival 2018 - Sunday
photo by P Squared

Newport Folk Festival Sunday pics (Mavis Staples, Jon Batiste, Glen Hansard, more)

Jon Batiste has spent the last four months honing his vintage-mining set with the Dap-Kings, as the groovemakers are still melding their Brooklyn-bred soul with his proud New Orleanian jazz since their first major production together at the Indian Wells Music Festival back in April. But it sounds like they’ve been headlining Carnegie Hall together for years, they’re that tight. Their shared soulful backbone provided substantial support for “A Change is Gonna Come,” the set tailor-made for the Newport finale that honors the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement and those fighting for its legacy.

Batiste and the Dap-Kings laid the bedrock for several guests to come out and re-tune tried-and-true classics and protest anthems embracing the spirit of ’68. There are no adequate adjectives available for Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive singing the Sam Cooke standard the set was named for: “angelic” is too cheesy, “earth-shattering” too easy and “so moving it’ll make even the swarthiest roadie who totally yelled at you for walking through that open part of the chain link fence cry” only sort of begins to cut it. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Valerie June breathed new life (via sousaphone, in Ben Jaffe’s case) into Joan Baez’s “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” The Bermuda Triangle gals were living their best lives and singing with the gusto to prove it when they traded bars with Mavis Staples for “Jesus on the Mainline.” By the time the set drew to a close, most of the Newport Folk lineup had convened on the stage, and they were just as eager to get in on the melody as Batiste was to lead it. [Billboard]

The 2018 edition of Newport Folk Festival wrapped up on Sunday (7/29) with sets from Glen Hansard, The Lone Bellow, Langhorne Slim, Becca Mancari (who also performed as 1/3 of Bermuda Triangle), Brandi Carlile, Khruangbin, Nels Cline, Passenger, Toots and the Maytals, The Weather Station, and more. Jon Batiste led the day’s finale, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which featured appearances from some of the weekend’s performers and more, including Mavis Staples, Leon Bridges, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Chris Thile, Maggie Rogers, and Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive. Check out pictures from Sunday in the gallery above.

The Lone Bellow paid tribute to Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison during their set, playing “There Is Love All Around You,” co-written by The National for Scott, live for the first time. Watch video of the song below.

Leon Bridges and Chris Thile joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for “I’ll Fly Away” during Sunday’s finale – watch video of that below, as well.

Catch up on the rest of our Newport coverage with pictures from Friday and Saturday.

photos by P Squared