XPoNential Music Festival
Wiggins Waterfront Park
2 Riverside Dr.
Camden, New Jersey
Sept. 22, 2024
University of Pennsylvania’s radio station WXPN celebrated the 30th year of their fall music showcase — the Xponential Music Festival — last weekend. I went to one of the festival’s three jam-packed days and realized why the show is so long-lived: Who wouldn’t want to lay on a blanket all day long listening to string-heavy folk rock in perfect fall weather?
One highlight was watching Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge perform. They were pure energy.
At only 18 years old, Grace Bowers is a powerhouse guitar player and songwriter. Her band’s name, “The Hodge Podge,” recalls how she used to rely on a revolving door of random musicians to fill out her stage presence and sing her songs (she doesn’t do vocals). Today, she has the same band name — as well as a permanent band of dedicated players that tour with her across the country.
Esther Okai-Tetteh, at left in above photo, is the lead singer of The Hodge Podge, bringing Grace’s words to life on stage and on their debut album “Wine on Venus.” The song is inspired by Grace’s grandmother, who told her family not to be sad when she passed on because she’d be busy drinking wine on Venus. Sounds like a great afterlife plan to me.
I also got to catch the six-piece string band Trampled by Turtles. I hadn’t seen them play live since my college days, but the promise of their presence stood out to me when I was checking the festival’s musical lineup. Their combination of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and cello alongside acoustic guitar and bass makes it impossible not to dance, bounce and bop around to every one of their songs.
As a photographer, I find it a challenge to create visually interesting images when a band has six members static on a stage with their backs to the bright beautiful sun, and it was a challenge I leaned into. With my handheld kaleidoscope glass, some fun in-camera double exposure experiments, and with the sun flares themselves, I played around with the light, color, and form to bring out the energy the musicians were exuding from the stage to still images.
I don’t know what it is about string music, but I could listen to a band strumming and picking all day long. While I shot photos, I vicariously enjoyed others’ festival experiences; some danced with the standing crowd, more chatted in beach chairs with friends, others spread out on blankets, closed their eyes and vibed out to the harmony of it all.
This year’s crowd and musical lineup were both smaller than in years past, but the festival’s central focus on community is what counts. There was a warm, welcoming vibe felt across the crowd gathered by the Camden waterfront. People wandered away from the patchwork of coolers, beach chairs, and blankets in order to get closer to the stage, seemingly operating without paranoia that someone would steal their stuff.
This is not a rhetorical question. Why are 90% of the beach chairs here blue? These were all brought in by festival goers. Does anyone know why?
One of the more unique aspects I noticed about this festival was how family-friendly the whole production was. Not only were there giveaways like beach balls passed out for youngins to play with, but since the whole festival is broadcasted on the radio, everyone with a mic had to follow FCC rules around cussing and foul language, allowing for even the youngest of ears to only be covered for volume protection.
Just a ferry, train, or car ride across the river from our beloved Philadelphia, the Camden Waterfront provided the perfect breeze-filled, tree-covered park space any small-scale festival could dream of.
