Show Review

Traditionally, there have been long lines of music lovers waiting to get into the Gathering of the Vibes on Friday. In an effort to diminish the hours of waiting, Terrapin Presents and the host venue, Indian Lookout Country Club, allowed festival attendees to set up camp on the Thursday preceding the music at this year’s Gathering of the Vibes. Attendees took advantage of the early opening, and it turned out to be a wise move. Despite this change, there were still reports of long waits on Friday. This, along with other logistical problems and the steady growth of the event, led to the announcement by Terrapin Presents founder, Ken Hayes, that the festival will seek new digs in 2007.

Friday

Scarecrow Collection hit the Terrapin (main) Stage of the 11th Annual Gathering of the Vibes and the eclectic up and coming rock ensemble put on a great set that began a memorable Vibes experience. The Connecticut based band, The Rafter Bats, had the honors of launching the music on the Inspiration (second) Stage and the festival was in full swing with both stages alternating with no overlapping sets. Next on the main stage, was the return of Strangefolk to the Vibes, who played last year as “Windfalls” while band-mate Jon Trafton recovered from a serious illness. The reunited and, thankfully healthy, Strangefolk performed a blistering set. The Juggling Suns call New Jersey home, but the veteran jam band also seemed to feel right at home at The Vibes performing an explosive set on the Inspiration Stage and they had no problem fueling the gyrating crowd. The North Mississippi All-Stars brought their lightning rod brand of explosive blues to the Main Stage and their set was a definite highlight. With a wonderful voice delivering crafty lyrics, Ryan Montbleau led his band through a tasty set filled with fantastic instrumentation. Another band that contains great vocals and songwriting, Assembly of Dust met the growing crowds in front of the Main Stage with their homespun brand of music. Martin Sexton joined AOD before continuing with his own set and the solo performer captivated the audience with his stylish music. If driving funk with a big sound is your cup of tea, Deep Banana Blackout certainly fit the bill. The funksters, led by the soulful vocals of Jen Durkin, closed out the Main Stage Friday with a bang. Late night Friday belonged to San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green, and they brought the goods and kept a nice size crowd riveted and in the groove well into the night.

Saturday

The Grateful Dead are a heavy influence for The Zen Tricksters, and having Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay with the band was a beautiful fit and great start to the music on Saturday. Vermont based Chuch is a great band with a zest for fun that easily spreads to the audience with their unique style of blues driven rock and roll and their friends were spreading the cheer with signs, antics, and props. G. Love and Special Sauce also have a distinctive spin on the blues and rock with G. Love leading the way on vocals, harmonica, guitar and enthusiasm. Grateful Dead Hour Radio host and accomplished musician, David Gans, returned to the Vibes this year with members of the Zen Tricksters and Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay on the Inspiration Stage and gave the audience a good taste of why the Inspiration Stage is a perfect name for the smaller but beautifully equipped performance space. Keller Williams performed his one-man wizard act on the Main Stage before a multitude of classic rock artists would dominate the rest of Saturday night. New Riders of the Purple Sage graced the Inspiration stage led by long time Sage member David Nelson. Rounding out the group was Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar, Hot Tuna alum Michael Falzarano and Stir Fried members Johnny Markowski and Ronnie Penque. The legendary Hot Tuna performed an acoustic set that included many Tuna favorites and a sit-in with Bob Weir. Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann brought the triumphant return of The Rhythm Devils to Vibes in a much anticipated set that featured Steve Kimock on guitar and Mike Gordon on bass. The set was a high point for me because of the incorporated soaring rhythms with awesome vocals and instrumentals. Bob Weir also made an appearance with the Rhythm Devils before returning with his band, Ratdog, for the closing headlining act on Saturday night. Saturday saw the first of some inclement weather that started out light and manageable but became severe enough to cut short the late night set by The Everyone Orchestra. The storm sent many music fans scrambling for cover.

Sunday

After a bumpy night, Sunday’s weather was looking much better. Many campers experienced flooding and wind damage to their campsites. The concert field fared quite well and with a little mud, the festival chugged along with a slight schedule change up because The Rebirth Brass Band was unable to make it to the event. Therefore, with just a small delay, King for a Day, another solid blues flavored rock outfit got things started on the Inspiration Stage. Burning Spear is the real deal. There are plenty of reggae “flavored” bands in the music scene today, but very few that sprang from the original era and location the genre was born. Burning Spear is authentic reggae music and they had fans dancing up a storm and waving the Jamaican flag. The Burning Spear set was preceded by a peace prayer calling for all the countries of the world to live in harmony. Walter “Wolfman” Washington performed a great set of New Orleans influenced blues, flavored with tasty jazz instrumentals. Several young bands have embraced bluegrass music and the Colorado quartet, Yonder Mountain String Band have a firm grasp on the genre, and with their own personal stamp, had the Vibe crowd stomping along to their up-beat set that also had an appearance by Martin Fierro on sax. Closing out the Inspiration Stage for the weekend with a vibrant set was Papa Mali. A big highlight for me came in the form of the last band to hit the Main Stage-Zero. Making a rare east coast appearance, Zero, led by original members Steve Kimock on guitar and Greg Anton on drums, performed a brilliant set which also had John Morgan Kimock on drums, Melvin Seals on keys, Martin Fierro on sax, Liam Hanrahan on bass, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay on vocals and Jerry Joseph on guitar and vocals. The set was an excellent mix of instrumentals and vocal compositions.

Once again the folks at Terrapin Presents have upped the ante on keeping the spirit of the Grateful Dead alive by providing genre bending music that keeps the adventure of improvisation and collaboration alive.