The final slot of AthFest is often reserved for an old friend, and such was the case Sunday evening.
David Lowery
Cracker, a band of musicians who’ve spent a great deal of time in the Classic City, ended this year’s edition of AthFest in a flourish. “Athens always feels like home to us,” lead singer David Lowery said at the outset of the show. “We get the same bad service at Taco Stand like everyone else.”
The band opened up with Friends, a duet Lowery sang with Drive-by Truckers’ Patterson Hood. Hood introduced the band while holding his daughter in his hand, but didn’t join Lowery onstage for the song. “I’m not sure why we didn’t ask him to sing with us on that song,” Lowery said. “It’s hard to sing that song with a child in your hands.”
For the next 70 minutes, Lowery, Johnny Hickman, Sal Maida and Frank Funaro powered through a dozen songs for a hot but happy crowd. Cracker played new songs (Yalla Yalla (Let’s Go) and Hand Me My Inhaler), old favorites (Low, Teen Angst, Get Off This) and lesser-known classics (Movie Star, This Is Cracker Soul).
It proved a fine end to another fabulous festival.
