Newport Folk Festival
photo by Ben Stas

Newport Folk Festival Sunday pics (John Prine, Roger Waters, Pinegrove, more)

The 2017 edition of Newport Folk Festival wrapped up on Sunday (7/30) with a full stage, as headliner John Prine invited Roger Waters, Jim James, Lucius, Margo Price, Justin Vernon, and a bunch of other guests out for a group singalong of “Paradise.” Prine’s whole set was full of guest appearances; he even joked, “I think Santa Claus is coming out next,” between individual songs with Waters, James, Price, Vernon, and others. Watch videos from Prine’s set, including Roger Waters’ second time covering “Hello in There” at Newport Folk. (The first time was when he headlined in 2015)

Another highlight from Sunday at Newport Folk was ensemble performance Speak Out, which Rolling Stone describes:

“The great thing about Newport is you can come here to get inspired by music, and then go home and do something about it,” announced the Decemberists’ Chris Funk toward the end of Speak Out, a Sunday afternoon ensemble performance of protest music, new and old. With members of the Decemberists, My Morning Jacket and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band serving as the backing band, guests like Billy Bragg and Nathaniel Rateliff offered songs of hope, compassion, anger and action. The songs ranged from the feel-good anthemic (Kyle Craft singing Bowie’s “Heroes”) to the directly partisan (Billy Bragg’s haunting rendition of Anais Mitchell’s “Why We Build The Wall”). The source material for this covers-heavy set alternated between the reassuringly reliable, with Jim James and Nick Offerman singing Dylan’s “Masters of War” and Margo Price belting John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero,” to the wonderfully unexpected, such as Sharon Van Etten’s sparse take on Sinead O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds” and Lucius’ soulful harmonizing on the Five Stairsteps’ “O-o-h Child.”

Watch Sharon Van Etten’s Sinead O’Connor cover below.

Sunday also included a tribute to the late Chuck Berry, with Jim James, Shakey Graves, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Deer Tick’s Dennis Ryan, among others, backed by house band The Texas Gentlemen, offering covers of Berry’s work. Watch Jim James’ take on “Promised Land” below.

Sets from Pinegrove (who also played Panorama this weekend), Margaret Glaspy, Michael Kiwanuka, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Whitney, Rhiannon Giddens, John Paul White, Dr. Dog, Suzanne Vega, and more rounded out the day. Check out pictures in the gallery above.

Catch up on the rest of the weekend at Newport Folk Festival with our pictures from Friday HERE, more about Fleet Foxes’ set HERE, Saturday HERE, and more about Justin Vernon’s collaborative Grandma’s Hands Band tribute to Bill Withers HERE.

photos by Ben Stas