From the outside looking in, Newport Folk Festival has become increasingly defined by headline-grabbing performances. This year it was Beck’s surprise covers set and Conan O’Brien bringing out Jack White. Last year it was the Lana Del Rey experiment and The Muppets’ multiple cameos. The year before that, it was Joni Mitchell, a headline so big it actually relegated Paul Simon coming out of retirement to a subheadline.
There is, of course, a reason headlines are headlines. Besides, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it for 14 years: Newport Folk is better experienced than described. But the truth is, the story of the festival’s 65th anniversary edition is simply too large to be reduced to a single notable moment or a few blurbs saying “this excellent thing happened.”
That story will be told — in due time. Still, there were three attention-grabbing experiences that, in their ways, can act as a microcosm of Newport Folk Festival 2024: Conan’s star-studded Sunday night closing jam and both Killer Mike and De La Soul’s game-changing hip-hop shows. Put in context, these headline-worthy sets say much about this treasured music institution.
Conan O’Brien Jams with Jack White, Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe, and… Triumph
Conan O’Brien and Dawes, photo by Ben Kaye
There are generally three types of Newport Folk headliners: major star, folk heroes, and celebratory collaborations. This year saw Hozier charmingly fill the former slot, doing his part to recognize Newport’s legacy by bringing out Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Allison Russell, Madison Cunningham, Nathaniel Rateliff, The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz, and others to close with “The Weight” and lead the crowd in “We Shall Overcome.” Gillian Welch & David Rawlings took the heroes role, showcasing material off their forthcoming Woodland.
And then there was “Conan O’Brien & Real Musicians” to cap things off on Sunday. The beauty of the Newport Folk collaborative headline set is that you never really know what’s coming. With the late night host and comedian at the head this time, you really didn’t know what was coming. “I’m here tonight on a mission,” Conan said during his opening monologue, “to prove I can ruin any genre.”
The real joke was that not only did he not ruin a thing, but he demonstrated a sincere understanding of the setting and situation he was walking into. He just did it in a very Conan O’Brien way. That meant introducing his set like a late night show, riffing on Rhode Island town names (“Arraquontock! Ashananapanquonatock! Quonpawntucketchallog! I made up those last three and you didn’t know!”) and looking out at the harbor as he joked about people walking out of his sets “but swimming — that takes dedication.”