Father John Misty "Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings"

There were lots of great sets and lots of great songs at Newport Folk 2013, but the most talked about performance was by Father John Misty.

"Why was he so angry?" I heard one woman say to another.  "It made me very, very uncomfortable."

"I loved it," said the woman next to her.  "I grew up with artists who weren't afraid to protest."

I'm not sure what FJM was protesting.  But I did enjoy how provocative he was, even when it was uncomfortable.

I spent a bunch of time on Youtube, looking to see if anyone had uploaded some of his stage banter, but I couldn't find any.  So I'm going to have to paraphrase.

First he came out by himself and dropped this hilarious line:

(Looking at his drink)  I guess this is strawberry moonshine.  It's what gay bootleggers drink.

But after a few songs, some of his commentary turned pointed.

The only reason I was invited to the Folk Festival is that I'm white.  And I have a beard.  And there's some acoustic guitar on my record.

And he had things to say about other, unnamed bands.

If you're going to put on your porkpie hat and your vintage clothes and pretend that you play Folk music, after you've made your millions of dollars I think you have a responsibility.  So say something for once in your fucking life.

(note:  these are all paraphrases, as best I can remember them)

I've already written about FJM's stage manner and moves.  He didn't disappoint.

I heard a lot of talk about these things at the show.  I even heard lots of folks say his set was amazing.

But oddly, I didn't hear people talk about the songs.  Which is too bad, because his voice, his songs and his band sounded really really good.

When when you get a performance like this, maybe that's what you have to talk about.


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the original version on Youtube.