Mountain Jam @ Bethel Woods
I’ve said it before – I don’t really know how to review music. It’s so personal and subjective and based on an infinite set of karmic circumstances all intersecting in the very best way. Although our energy is shared, our experiences are unique. In that spirit, this is my story…
2019/6/14 Friday
Got to the Jam at about 3pm Friday…easy access, better than average parking situation, friendly staff, and, oh yeah, on the original site of Woodstock, 50 years later, nestled into the foothills of the Catskills Mountains. I was already feeling heady vibes and nothing even happened yet, apart from the security guard who offered up which Honey Bucket had toilet paper (4th from the right) when asked for the nearest bathroom.
My goal was to get there for Sister Sparrow and the DIrty Birds who played the main stage at 3:30. So after stopping by the Balkun Bros and a quick cover of Guerilla Radio, I walked to the main stage and the front row at 3:30 on the button for what I would soon learn is one of the most punctual festivals of all time. Really superb 60 minute set to get my weekend going. Arleigh is the band, I mean, she is Sister Sparrow, but her brother Jackson is the dirtiest bird. These birds seem to fly the highest when his harmonica was going, which, thankfully, was often. They really funked it up and got me moving – a quick 3500 steps to get my festival off the ground.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a festival proper, so at the end of the set I took a walk to explore. One of the best parts of a festival with stages so close together, it’s so easy to catch a little of this and some of that and run into high quality bands like the National Reserve almost by accident. So I caught an awesome cover of Big Boss Man on the Valley Stage, literally the only song I saw them play, and got back to the main stage for Toots & the Maytals. Damn. Another musician in his 70s still bringing it every night. A set of reggae with Toots was just what the doctor ordered – 54-46 will always be my number.
After Toots, they did a full sweep of the lower third of the pavilion which left it, well, almost completely empty. It was the most bizarre sight. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead literally took the stage to a 95% empty first thirty rows. A few fellow Freaks and I settled into the front row of the second section – a great slightly elevated view, just slightly left of center, almost perfect, forgiving of course the vast emptiness in front of us. So I was chatting up a security guard before the set who, about 4 minutes into the Big River opener, got my attention and said, grab your friends and come up front and then practically walked us to the front row where we rocked the rest of the night. So cool and weird all at once but you don’t have to ask me twice to come to the front row. Just sayin’. Standard 8000 step set, ya know. Point of note…JRAD Mr. Charlie > Phil & Friends Mr. Charlie (using that symbol in the mathematical sense here). Like not even close. Again, just sayin’. Cool mid-set moment when Tommy complimented my scarf, given to me during a JRAD set at Peach Fest a year earlier. He politely declined when offered to keep it, both then and when I bumped into him after the show, which was good because I really like it and it comes with a good story.
Golden Road > Viola to start the second set…and away we go! Another cool scarf moment during the Viola – dancing like crazy during what seemed like a never-ending peak, waving said scarf, and when the climax finally hit, just launched it as high as I could and it landed perfectly in Mike Murphy’s hands 3 rows behind me. Synchronized scarf throwing, I mean, you can’t make this shit up. Fun stuff! For the second time now, I was given a “You’re fucking awesome, keep that shit up! Kindest Regards, A Passing Stranger” card. Talk about spreading positive energy, I’m happy mine was well received. More songs, more dancing, yada yada, 10,000 steps and a kickass Cats Down Under the Stars later, another super fun JRAD show was in the books.
Took a victory lap around the venue where I randomly settled next to friends I had been looking for and texting with all day. Love those cool coincidences. Caught the first half of the Government Mule set, highlighted by the Mountain Jam at Mountain Jam, and got on the road as I had a long, windy drive to the camp where I work for the summer and was spending the night. Between the Mountain, the Jam, and a 5k I ran that morning, I logged a personal record 45,821 steps on the day. Time to sleep.
2019/6/15 Saturday
Woke up to gorgeous PA lake views at Camp Westmont, set up my room for the summer, and headed towards Bethel where I detoured to hang with some friends at a house they rented. After a meat lover’s brunch, we got to the venue in perfect time for Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real. I may seem like Captain Obvious here, but he is so clearly his dad’s son, in his playing, his stage presence, and, especially, his singing. I can literally hear the genetics in his voice. Among their set of originals, only a few of which I knew (thank you Bradley Cooper), they played an awesome cover of Carry On by CSNY and encored with American Girl by Tom Petty. Sick start to our Saturday! Just as Friday was a pavilion and up-front kind of day, this was an open air lawn kind of day, under a blue and, eventually, starry sky.
Hit the VIP tent (thanks Matt Levine for the upgrade!) for a 20 minute set of Amy Helm, highlighted by a great version of I Can’t Stand the Rain and a story (told by Brendan McDonough) about Levon paying cash to a local farmer for his station wagon and a tractor tow through the mud to get out of the original Woodstock. Had a yummy and free BBQ dinner and got moving to see Brandon “Taz” Neiderauer. Was kind of tossed up between his show on the Valley Stage and Scott Sharrard on the Terrace Stage, so figured I’d see half of each. Taz drew me in with his high energy shredding and at the perfect halfway point in his set, after a smoking hot Jingo, he uttered the last thing I wanted to hear at that point, “We’re gonna slow it down for you guys a little now.” Bad setlisting™, IMO, so I took the 2.5 minute walk to the Terrace Stage and the first song I caught from Sharrard was a jazzy Sugaree. The next song was too slow for my mood so I went back to Taz, where I only missed one song, and caught the rest of his raging set. This kid can play, flat out. He can sing pretty well, too, and the only time his age shows is when he talks to his audience through an apparent bundle of nerves, none of which are the least bit evident when he sings and plays. Finished up with a blazing encore of Jimi’s Fire at 6:32, and four minutes later I was seeing …
The Revivalists at 6:36 on the main stage from about 10th row just left of center. I’ve heard so many great things about this band for so long, was really disappointed in their set the first time I saw them a few summers back at the Stone Pony, but knew they deserved a second chance and – no surprise here – they crushed it, and me! I enjoyed their hits (Wish I Knew You), their covers (Tom Petty’s Refugee), and everything in between, including the last song with Lukas Nelson and Andy Frasco. 6000 steps makes for a good hour, and I got back to the lawn and my crew for …
Phil & Friends and a lot of fun over the course of a very average 80 minute set. Loved being outside, hanging with friends, and dancing 6500 steps under the darkening twilight sky. St. Stephen was good but didn’t come close to its own potential, Chest Fever was amazing and I love when Phil plays songs not from the GD catalog, Mr. Charlie was below average (especailly compared to the previous night), and Mountains of the Moon was so slow I took a seat for a few. Don’t want to be negative because it was all good. I just found this band to be very average and still had an awesome time. Chest Fever aside, I just loved being outside and dancing up a huge space with awesome people. And the dancing costumes, oh man the dancing costumes, a Mountain Jam tradition, who of course had an up close and personal dance with Phyllis. Big smiles all around.
After another 30,000+ step day, I knew I had a two-plus hour drive home and got going after Phil’s set, wanting to be safe and wake up surrounded by family on Father’s Day. I really had a perfect weekend…top notch music, shared with great friends old and new, in a beautiful and historic venue. Thanks to all you awesome Freaks that shared in my journey. It fills me with great joy to relish in and reflect upon the awesome friendships I’ve made in this community over the last year. A+
Till next time…
Marc