Newport Folk Festival 1 - Nightwatchman

For a festival with plenty of legends and indie faves, it seems that each time Tom Morello, the former guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, plays here, he simply kills. The man can control a crowd as well as anyone I've ever seen. And this is coming from someone who never liked Rage even one bit. I guess I understood why people did dig them, but I think it was the singing style that turned me off.

But I was introduced to Morello's Nightwatchman project for the first time back in 2007, at this very festival. He was great then, but he was better today; his set ended about 10 minutes ago. No song embodies this fest more than Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and, of course, Morello knows this. He ended his set with the full version of the iconic tune, getting the crowd to sing along at a very loud clip. Simply put, it was a great set.

As for other things so far today, The Avett Brothers impressed me quite a bit. For some reason, I've never gotten into that band that much, but I'm going to revisit them when I get home. Folks I trust really like them, so I'm sure they deserve a second chance from me. They especially deserve another chance from me live. Yep. It's true.

What else? Not that much for now. I think I'm going to head out of this here press tent to see Gillian Welch and enjoy the weather. Talk to you soon. You can expect a couple more updates today, and then check out www.nhregister.com for a full review of the day tonight. OK, hope you're enjoying your Saturday.