Our friend David Steinberg over at JamBands.com wrote an article focusing on String Summit sets from Elephant Revival, the Shook Twins, and yours truly, Fruition! Here is the blurb about us – check it out, and then click over to the rest of the review after the jump!
Fruition
The Shook Twins (l) join Mimi Naja and the rest of Fruition during their daytime set at the 11th annual Northwest String Summit, 8/11/12. Photo by Melissa Steinberg
Before this year I had never heard of Fruition. However, as soon as I arrived at the String Summit, it seemed like they were all anyone wanted to mention. Sure there were three nights of Yonder and Seven Walkers were coming and Karl Denson was headlining but Fruition was playing! Normally I’m a bit jaded about such claims but Horning’s Hideout tends to make me more optimistic.
They had an early afternoon set on the mainstage, usually a time for a few hundred people to chill out and hoop and lie in the sun to some tunes. Instead, an army of Fruition fans paraded in. This definitely made me curious.
Most of us have met that incredibly enthusiastic person, the type that loves everybody and everything, that gets thrilled by pretty mundane events. They’re the kind of person that has mottos like, “Hey, check this out!” and, “This is so cool!” They get mocked by their friends who roll their eyes whenever they’re mentioned, and yet their attitude is quite contagious. You can suddenly find yourself getting thrilled over a caterpillar that’s walking across the street, or some random science fact they just explained. That’s Fruition.
Not many bands can get away with talking about how much they love the crowd without it sounding like complete pandering, but when you say it with complete sincerity it works. They have a song called “(Hallelujah) Portland Bound” that turns a road trip back home into an epic celebration. Even for someone like me who doesn’t always get along with the PDX [3] finds himself going, “Hell yeah! PORTLAND!”