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Apr 29, 2024 By Mark Moody Photography by Christa Joyner Moody & Emma Moody Web Exclusive

This was our fifth trip to Charleston’s High Water Festival, and second covering for Under the Radar. The festival’s dedication to providing a diverse array of artists across multiple genres always makes it an easy yes to attend. For a two day outdoor weekend festival, they have had a history of somehow avoiding inclement weather even if there was some in the area. Not so this year as the sweltering low nineties temps of Saturday gave way to a deluge of nearly all day rain on Sunday. And temps were in the fifties by the time Hozier was wrapping his closing headliner slot. Nonetheless, the fans and artists soldiered on with no delays and only one minor modification to one of our must see act’s performance (more on that later).

We made it to North Charleston’s Riverfront Park in time to catch Nashville’s Olivia Jean on the main (Stono) stage. With a 2pm start, Jean even attempted a bit of yellow smoke and lights in full daylight. The group’s drummer was sporting a Hawaiian shirt, but Jean and the rest of the crew were full on 80s goth. A jungle/surf beat as well as a later song sung in Hindi made for a broad palette for the energetic Jean to play around in. A burst of energy to start our day.

In spite of the rapidly rising temperature, Leyla McCalla’s set was a cool and breezy one. The New Orleans based artist impressed by playing guitar, banjo and cello over the course of her set. Though with folk underpinnings, McCalla’s set was delightfully jammy as well. Opening song “Open the Road” was earmarked by a trippy tremeloed guitar effect that carried through the song. McCalla played banjo on “Take Me Away” from her just released Sun Without The Heat album and plucked away on the cello for the album’s title song. Backed by a crack band, the martial drumming of the closing song could be heard as we marched back to the main stage.

Indiana’s Houndmouth has been at the music game for more than a little while and those veteran chops showed through loud and clear. Big chords, massed vocals led by Matt Myers, and gritty guitar solos carried their set. Of course, the band’s big hit “Sedona” was played late in the set, but they also surprised with a cover of Texas underground legend Terry Allen’s “Amarillo Highway.” Never a bad choice!

Continuing a tradition of blistering R&B sets in the festival’s history from the likes of Charles Bradley, Leon Bridges and Durand Jones and the Indications, Seattle’s The Dip (unknown to us before) put on a great late day set. With a four piece band and a three piece horn section, leader Tom Eddy cruised effortlessly through the band’s set. A hair raising “Slow Sipper” showcased the combo at their soulful peak. The thought that kept running through our minds was “How in the world does someone suddenly discover they can sing like this?” A marvellous set.

When the High Water lineup first came out, seeing the names Courtney Barnett and The Walkmen on the same poster made the whole festival a must see event. That they ended up playing back to back sets on Saturday was a real treat. Barnett is one of my favorite live acts going back years and as she has only added to her catalog of great songs with her last few albums makes every set of hers a greatest hits showcase unlike any other artist out there. Jumping from “Avant Gardener,” to “Depreston,” to “Pedestrian at Best,” is just ridiculously surefire. Newer songs like “Turning Green” and “Nameless, Faceless,” blend seamlessly into the mix. With Stella Mozgawa on drums (sadly too far back on the stage to get a photo from the pit), Barnett’s power trio format has never sounded finer. And if Barnett’s deep catalog isn’t enough to get you, her quip that she had eaten at a Waffle House for the first time ever was utterly charming.

It was a sad day some ten years back when The Walkmen went on hiatus, but they regrouped for live shows in 2023 and fortunately have kept that going to end up at this festival. Leader Hamilton Leithauser had appeared solo a few years back in one of our all time favorite High Water sets. And of course the reformed band did not disappoint here either. Leithauser’s vocals and energetic theatrics as well as Peter Bauer’s perfectly punctuated mastery of the Farfisa organ dominated the set. Leithauser served as leader as well as band historian, letting the crowd know that “We’ve Been Had” was the first song the group ever wrote, which is a bit mind boggling. That song closed the set but other moody masterpieces like “In the New Year,” “Angela Surf City,” and “The Rat,” were equally fine. Well into his forties, Leithauser’s voice continues to be like no other and how he’s not shredding his vocal cords each time out remains a marvel.

The last two sets before the closer were Fleet Foxes and festival hosts Shovels & Rope. Robin Pecknold’s band always puts on an impeccable set and here it was no different. Presumably joined by Uwade Akhere (if she was introduced we missed it) for Shore’s opening track, “Wading in Waist-High Water,” the set eased into some of the group’s best songs. Of course “White Winter Hymnal” was a crowd favorite, but other songs like “Can I Believe You” and “Mykonos” were equally fine. As hosts, Shovels & Rope have appeared at every edition of High Water and after skipping crowd favorite “Birmingham” the song was brought back this year. But most entertaining of all is the duo of Carry Ann Hearst and Michael Trent’s ability to swap out instruments throughout the set and get the crowd fired up.

The night’s closer, Noah Kahan, would be safe to say brought out the largest High Water crowd for a single set. Over the years the festival has slowly shifted the main stage further and further to the right to where it’s now nestled up alongside the Cooper River. It made for a very tight general admission viewing area between the river and the sound booth. The other side of the booth is dominated by an ever growing VIP section and a, new this year, bleacher section. But the masses along with ourselves were packed in and back in the general admission section. The Vermont based Kahan has been a fast riser and didn’t disappoint his fans. A very likable and self-deprecating artist who suggested a slot that would be a good time to get a beer or go to the bathroom. Not being familiar with him previously, straightforward and heartfelt songs like “Dial Drunk,” “Stick Season,” and the solo acoustic “Growing Sideways,” resonated best. Kahan’s willingness to share openly about childhood and ongoing traumas no doubt is a primary captivator for his massive fanbase. He is definitely making the most of his moment and that energy translates well through his set.

Sunday’s Day Two of the festival brought a lot of rain (really a lot of rain!), but thankfully no lightning so every set went on as planned. But things started out just on the cloudy side for Cut Worms early set. The solo project of Max Clarke, the group definitely has a throw back sound and look. We first covered them at Raleigh’s Hopscotch Fest last year, but they seemed to hold more appeal here for the generally Americana themed lineup. Clarke’s “Sold My Soul” was a set highlight as was a Tommy James and the Shondells cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now.” In a head to head match with Sunday closer Hozier for furthest traveled, the UK’s The Heavy Heavy brought a blustery brand of psych rock to the festival’s smaller stage. They also joked they brought the heavy weather with them, which started in earnest during their set. Georgie Fuller really belted it out on originals like “Man of the Hills,” but the duo also performed a great cover of Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby.”

Our favorite find of the festival landed squarely on L.A.’s The Linda Lindas. The four piece punk inspired band had the festival’s best energy and video feeds. Not to mention bassist/vocalist’s Eloise Wong’s cat whisker face paint to go along with her own guttural growl on her lead vocal turns (all four members of the group take the lead on various songs). And any band with their own theme song is tops with us, so starting with Wong’s lead on a cover of The Blue Hearts’ “Linda Linda” was a perfect place to start. Drummer Mila de la Garza, one of two sisters in the band, took the lead for “Talking to Myself.” The band flew through their set which included a Go-Go’s cover and concluded with the band’s underground hit “Racist Sexist Boy.”

As the rain kept coming down, the vibe felt perfectly suited for Kevin Morby’s darker edged rock. Things got off to a muted start with the haunting “This is a Photograph,” but instantly revved up for the succeeding “Rock Bottom.” Morby pulled pretty equally from his growing catalog, with a beautiful rendition of “Campfire” doing little to quell the rain. While the extended jam of “City Music” found Morby trading a guitar solo with a mimic of the same from his sax player. The Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan talked of doing the hard work through the heavy downpour , but the heaviest stuff hadn’t hit yet. Dylan’s large scale band certainly can carry the crowd with renditions of “One Headlight” and “6th Avenue Heartache,” but a pair of Tom Petty covers of “Refugee” and “The Waiting” were equally well received.

If Dylan claimed to have played during the heaviest stuff so that others could benefit later, singer/songwriter Briston Maroney took the brunt of the worst weather the day had on offer. No doubt drawing the largest crowd to the festival’s smaller stage, Maroney gamely went through his setlist in spite of the deluge. Nothing if not prolific, “Bottle Rocket” was an early set highlight while he saved his most popular song, “Freakin’ Out On the Interstate,” for the loyalists that stuck it out til the end.

Sadly, the only modification that the days rain caused was the shutting down of The Flaming Lips’ confetti cannons on a full play through of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Nonetheless, Wayne Coyne and company brought the best visuals of the festival with four larger than life blow up pink robots that were periodically inflated throughout the set with the assistance of the pink clad robot wranglers. Coyne stayed snugly in his inflatable hamster ball for the kick off of “Fight Test,” but was otherwise out in the elements. Coyne’s repeated calls to the wet, cold and bedraggled crowd to “keep it up” between songs was endlessly amusing. Three gigantic inflatable balls were launched into the crowd and when the wind caught them right they went ripping across the crowd and likely ended up in the river. No matter, highlights like “Yoshimi” and the later “Do You Realize?,” sounded fantastic. Still going strong after all these years, a Lips’ set never disappoints.

Grace Potter’s butt shaking southern rock was probably most out of place at the festival, but she went on undaunted ripping through her set alongside her showboating lead guitarist. Only a few songs into the set, led off by the signature “Lady Vagabond,” brought multiple changes of jackets, from stagehands that she faux avoided as they ran onto the stage. Potter appeared to be having the time of her life and had a strong following of fans to egg her on well into the start of Sunday headliner Hozier.

Having been to festivals where Hozier was playing pre-headliner status made it easy to see how he could translate to the main stage. While not as many were on hand as the prior night’s Noah Kahan set (maybe in part due to the weather), Hozier’s fans are equally dedicated. The only recently released “Too Sweet” has already been duly memorized by his fans, while the solo acoustic finger-picked rendition of “Cherry Wine,” showed how well his older material has held up. Given Hozier’s Irish heritage, it’s not surprising to see his folk roots run deep and those folkier songs showed best here, like the ancient sounding “Like Real People Do.” But in other spots the group played from the bluesy to the bombastic, with that range all contained within a single song, “Francesca.” Hozier also made a point to call out the atrocities currently being portrayed in Gaza and cheers to him for using his platform in that way.

All in all another great High Water festival in spite of Mother Nature’s efforts to bake and/or wash it away. Being an indie leaning site, not surprisingly our favorite sets of the weekend belonged to Courtney Barnett, The Walkmen, and the up and coming The Linda Lindas. No doubt we’ll be back next year.