ABQ Live covered the Taos Solar Music Festival in Taos, NM. Whether it’s eating at a new restaurant, going out with friends, or checking out the latest movie, we all look for different ways to escape our daily routine in ABQ.
One of my favorite ways to escape the grind is attending live shows. Couple that with a trip out of the Duke city and you’ve got me in a state of nirvana. Luckily for me, my wish came true when the Taos Solar Music Festival asked ABQ-LIVE to cover their annual event.
Like true riders on the storm, we all piled into the car and started the short journey up North. We flew past our state’s capital on a cloud and watched as the sky started to drop and rain to started to pour. We thought, ‘could this be the end?’
“Never!” we protested.
Mumford and Sons was on the horizon and the cool mountain air was upon us now. As the line of the festival attendees began to form, the clouds lifted and the sun started to shine, igniting the streets and leaving the grassy festival grounds glowing. This created the perfect setting for a night of live music, camaraderie, and dance.
After finding the beer tent and grabbing a round, we wiped our feet on the rhythm rug and prepared ourselves for an amazing evening of music. An opening prayer from local Taos Pueblo musician and long time festival veteran Robert Mirabal began the festivities with a truly positive vibe.
The opening indie band, Mystery Jets started out the tunes, playing into the setting sun and replacing the Taos ‘hum’ with a more distinctive sound. The next act was the remarkable British singer/songwriter Michael Kiwanukas, who played an amazing soulful set and projected his awesome voice into the valley. However it was the 2013 Grammy winning English folk rock band, Mumford and Sons that truly stole the show. They not only played many of the crowd favorites like ‘I Will Wait,’ and ‘Little Lion Man,’ but also paid tribute with an acoustic version of ‘I’m on Fire’ by great American songwriter Bruce Springstein. Mirabal also took the stage with the band jamming and creating something fresh and unique to Taos and the annual festival now in its 15th year. All of which made for an unforgettable and truly special evening in Taos, NM.
Story and Photos provided by Kori Kobayashi
