Philadelphia's David Hause performs at this weekend's XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, NJ.

Wigging Out at Wiggins Park and XPoNential Fest

The three day festival in Camden runs from the 26th through the 28th of July.

For nearly 30 years, the XPoNential Music Festival has done its thing in the name of celebrating the eclecticism of WXPN 88.5 FM and the artists, local and national, who play there. That it has done so along the Camden Waterfront, at Ulysses Wiggins Waterfront Park and its kiddie attractions, and the BB&T Pavilion means that the ‘play’ aspect of XPoNential and its’ family-friendly jam is greatly heightened. The fest is July 26 to 28, and you can check out tickets here http://xpnfest.org.

This year, the three day festival in Camden hosts a slew of foreign-borns (Hozier, Elvis Costello), smartly empowered female authors who have been at it for a minute (Blondie’s Deborah Harry, Betteye Lavette, Indigo Girls Amy Ray), and fresh-faced (Lucy Dacus, Japanese Breakfast), and locally-based rock and rollers with something to say about Democracy (Dave Hause and the Mermaid) and sex (Low Cut Connie).

One thing I have noticed, different than any other XPoNential fest is that there is a small wealth of Philadelphia underground live R&B acts – Killiam Shakespeare, Kingfish Ingram – that is part of the mix. Is this the making of a new scene? An update on an old scene? And isn’t it refreshing to find the funk amidst a bunch of XPoNential’s usual indie rockers, a weird reverse take on what the Roots Picnic and Made in America once did with adding in indie rockers?

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