From the outside, the Newport Folk Festival has increasingly been defined by its headline-grabbing acts. This year, it was the surprise performance by Beck and Conan O'Brien that brought out Jack White. Last year, it was the Lana Del Rey experiment and multiple Muppets cameos. The year before, it was Joni Mitchell, a headliner so big it relegated Paul Simon's coming out of retirement to a subheadline.
Of course, there's a reason the headlines are headlines. Plus, if I've said it once, I've said it for 14 years: Newport Folk is easier to experience than to describe. But the truth is that the story of the festival's 65th anniversary edition is simply too long to boil down to a single notable moment or a few notes that say “something great happened.”
That story will be told in due time. Still, there were three experiences that stood out, and which in their own way can act as a microcosm of the 2024 Newport Folk Festival: Conan’s star-studded Sunday night closing set and the groundbreaking hip-hop shows from Killer Mike and De La Soul. Put into context, these headline-worthy sets say a lot about this cherished musical institution.
Conan O'Brien plays with Jack White, Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and… Triumph
Conan O'Brien and Dawes, photo by Ben Kaye
Generally speaking, there are three types of Newport Folk headliners: big stars, folk heroes and festive collaborations. This year, Hozier charmingly took the top spot, doing his part to acknowledge 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 and David Rawlings took on the role of heroes, showcasing material from their upcoming album. Forest.
And then to close out Sunday was “Conan O'Brien & Real Musicians.” The great thing about Newport Folk's headline act is that you never know what's going to happen. With late-night host and comedian leading the way this time, In fact Little did he know what was coming. “I’m here tonight on a mission,” Conan said during his opening monologue, “to prove that I can ruin any genre.”
The real joke was that not only did he not screw anything up, he demonstrated a sincere understanding of the environment and situation he was in. He just did it in a Conan O'Brien way. That meant introducing his set like a late-night show, referencing the names of Rhode Island towns (“Arraquontock! Ashananapanquonatock! Quonpawntucketchallog! I made up those last three and you didn't know it!”) and looking out over the harbor while joking about people leaving his sets, “but swimming… that takes dedication.”
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