San Jose Mercury News- H.O.R.D.E. festival '94 


  HORDE festival '94
  July 1994
  by Harry Sumrall
  San Jose Mercury News Music Writer

  A HORDE is descending upon us.

  Not a typical horde of raving lunatics.  We're talking about the
H.O.R.D.E. Festival '94, which is made up of a horde of raving
rock 'n' roll lunatics.

  The groups in question in this third edition of the H.O.R.D.E.,
which comes to Shoreline Amphitheatre Sunday, include the Allman
Brothers Band, the Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd and 
the Monsters and a vast supporting cast of storming rockers.

  In addition, H.O.R.D.E. also comes with a "Psychospace" concourse,
featuring crafts, vendors, activities, games and informational
booths that make the eight-hour festival as much a fair as a concert-
and a sort of mainstream rock counterpart to such alternative touring 
festivals as W.O.M.A.D. and Lollapaloza.

  While those festivals have a cutting-edge image, the H.O.R.D.E.
(which stands for "Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere") specializes
in straight-ahead rock, with its more traditional blues, R&B and funk
offshoots.

  The Allman Brothers were one of the leading groups of the Southern
rock scene of the '70s, and their music is as bluesy and brassy today
as it was then.  The Black Crowes' music has much in common with the
rock of the Rolling Stones, Faces and other '70s groups- beefy, brash
and loud.  Blues Traveler has a bar-band roughness and fervor.

  The other acts are newer, for the most part, but their sounds
seem familiar.  Big Head Todd and April's Motel Room display traces 
of R.E.M. and others of the post-folk rock scene of the '80s, whicl
Cycomotogoat has a nervy, edgy sound and a post-punk feel.

  Other H.O.R.D.E. acts reflect older and sturdier musical virtues.
Ugly Americans pump out burning funk, while Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
has a soulful sound and Mother Hips wallows in '60s psychedelia.

  But the H.O.R.D.E. Festival isn't all about the past.  With its
"Psychospace" concourse, it makes an effort t odraw in slackers
as well as rockers.  The concourse, designed by Peter Barsotti of
Bill Graham Presents (who has provided concourses for Lollapalooza
and other festivals) is a splashy affair with a range of distractions
and activities.

  These include an "LSD Flight Simulator," essentially a mask hooked
up to a kaleidoscope that approximates the "psychedelic experience."
there isthe Jimi Hendrix Exhibition, a museum that tours on a 45-foot
tractor-trailer, offering a display of rare photos, prints, videos and 
an "interactive music machine."  A wood carver, Shane Eagleton, serves
up his "primitive interactive" show, in which festivalgoers can create
their own art projects.  The concourse als ocomes with such contraptions
as a "bungee trampoline" and a robo-surfer gizmo that's a cross between
aan electronic bull and a surfboard.

  There are also a wide range of vendors selling everything from arts
and crafts to ethnic foods and "smart" drinks.  And those who have 
tried out the bungee trampoline and the robo-surfer can get low-cost
rubdowns.

  Every touring festival also has to have a cause- or maybe scores
of them.  H.O.R.D.E. comes with the usual suspects, including
Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, Rock The Vote, Zero Population
Growth and others, all of which will have representatives handing out
leaflets and dispensing information.

  What it adds up to is a complete entertainment package, with the
music as the main draw.