There’s big festival news from Warren Haynes this week as a few days ago it was revealed that Warren will play the new Interlocken Festival in Arrington, Virginia this September with not only Gov’t Mule, but with his Warren Haynes Band ensemble. Also, news came down minutes ago that Gov’t Mule will return to Gathering Of The Vibes this summer.
“I love playing the Vibes. Aside from the obvious opportunity to hang out with and possibly be on stage with a lot of old friends, we also have a history with this festival that goes back to the beginning,” Haynes said about returning to the Vibes. Gov’t Mule will perform at GOTV home Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Conn. on Saturday, July 27.
As far as Interlocken, Mule and the Warren Haynes Band are set to play the inaugural fest on the same day, marking the first time Haynes has played with both bands on the same day.
Last month the initial lineup for this year’s Gathering Of The Vibes festival came out with Phil Lesh and Friends and The Black Crowes a top the bill. Today, Vibes organizers have announced additions to the lineup that include HT faves Blues Traveler, the Steve Kimock Band and von Grey.
Kimock will perform at the fest with legendary keyboardist Bernie Worrell. Other additions to the lineup are the Jason Crosby Band, Twiddle and local festival favorites The Kind Buds. A “major artist” will be added to the bill on June 10th. Gathering Of The Vibes 2013 will take place at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 25th – 28th.
In other Vibes news, Single-Day Tickets have just gone on sale.
Before there was The Clifford Ball, before there was Bonnaroo and before there was a different major music festival for each weekend of the summer, there was Gathering of the Vibes. Though dubbed Deadhead Heaven in 1996 before changing names to Gathering Of The Vibes the next year, Vibes was a pioneer in the music festival revival we’ve experienced as of late. Today, event promoters have unveiled the initial lineup for the 2013 version of Gathering Of The Vibes which will take place at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 25 – 28.
Phil Lesh and Friends (two nights!) and The Black Crowes are among the headliners. Lesh’s band for Vibes will include John Scofield, John Medeski, Joe Russo and John Kadlecik. Other acts set to play Vibes in ’13 are Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Roots, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, John Butler Trio, the funky METERS, Railroad Earth, John Scofield, FISHBONE, Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real, the Ryan Montbleau Band, Deep Banana Blackout and Cosmic Jibaros. Vibes producers also announced late night DJ sets by James Murphy (DFA/LCD Soundsystem) and Rob Garza (Thievery Corporation).
Phil Lesh and Friends x 2, The Black Crowes, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Roots, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, John Butler Trio, the funky METERS, Galactic, Dark Star Orchestra, Railroad Earth, John Scofield Uberjam, Original Strangefolk, Fishbone, Assembly of Dust, Max Creek, Lord Huron, The Revivalists, Tribal Seeds, The Nigel Hall Band, Lukas Nelson & The Promise Of The Real, Ryan Montbleau Band, Cosmic Jibaros, David Gans, McLovins, Band Together, Tribute To Santana, Jimkata, Andy The Music Man,
Late Night: James Murphy, Rob Garza, Papadosio, Kung Fu and the Dojo All-stars, Deep Banana Blackout
“Our 2013 lineup is a result of sorting through thousands of comments and surveys responses; we hope to deliver an experience that keeps our core fans happy while remaining diverse and current,” festival founder Ken Hays said in a statement. “It’s a model and approach that works for us.” More artists will be revealed in the coming months.
“Way Advance” passes and many VIP options are available through the Vibes website.
The 23rd annual Tibet House Benefit Concert will take place at Carnegie Hall on Feb. 21st featuring HT faves Jim James and tUnE-yArDs along with Rahzel, Patti Smith with Jessie Smith and Philip Glass. More acts are expected to be added soon. Tickets just went on sale via Carnegie Hall’s website, so grab ‘em while you can. [via JamBase]
Finally, we’re happy to report that organizers of Gathering of the Vibes have struck a deal with the city of Bridgeport, Conn. to keep the festival there through 2017. The jam-friendly fest, which began in 1996 and called Seaside Park home from 1999-2000, returned to the scenic park in 2007 and has been there ever since. The 2013 edition of the event will take place on July 25 – 28. Early-bird tickets for the four-day festival are currently on-sale now in a variety of formats.
Over the past few days the Gathering Of The Vibes YouTube channel has been populated with 30 professionally-shot videos from this summer’s festival. Fittingly, there’s a few choice Grateful Dead covers and plenty of gems from lesser-known but extremely talented bands. Here’s our favorites…
[Photo of Kung Fu and Cyrus Madden by Jeremy Gordon]
With familiar sights and sounds filling the air, Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut was yet again a vacation from life for so many music lovers. The grown-up summer camp where attendees stay anxiously awake the night before in anticipation of all the friends, new and old to see. Each year it’s a countdown that starts months in advance waiting for the puzzle to come together. What bands will play? Who will you camp next to? And most importantly, what new friends will you make? Summer festival season is a time to reconnect with the so many friends that many of us have come to call family.
Along with family, one of the things that Vibes has also come to stand for is the Grateful Dead. The event started 17 years ago to honor the passing of Jerry Garcia and to help keep the “family” alive. This year family was more at the center stage than ever with the four core members each playing.
Traditional first day headliners, Dark Star Orchestra closed the main stage Thursday with a great set from 7/18/89. Friday saw Bill, Bobby and Phil, each with their own bands, keeping the “Raindog” tradition alive by playing to a soaked audience. Mickey took the stage on Saturday. While many were disappointed by the lack of any sit ins, each member showed his own interpretation of the Grateful Dead sound.
It was Phil Lesh and Friends however that took things “furthur.” Phil’s two sons, Grahame and Brian, joined him on stage along with Jackie Greene, Joe Russo, and husband and wife, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams. While there was some initial disappointment that Phil’s lineup did not include any long term “Friends,” the night had more than a few gems. Beautiful harmonies rang out clear over the packed field as the legions of fans sang along. It was at this point where you could see and feel the power of Grateful Dead’s music bridging generations together.
We’ve been psyched to see many incredible videos from last weekend’s Gathering Of The Vibes have already popped up on the festival’s YouTube channel. While Vibes wasn’t webcast this year, event organizers had multiple professional cameras on hand and have turned around a handful of performances for our viewing/listening pleasure. We picked our five favorite to share.
Dweezil Zappa and Co. tackle this centerpiece of many a Frank Zappa live show. The guitarist has his father’s tone down, especially during a scorching Muffin Man solo.
The original Strangefolk lineup kept their reunion going on Saturday at Gathering Of The Vibes, a festival the band has been a regular at since the first installment (then dubbed Deadhead Heaven) in 1996. Following four well-received performances in March, Vibes was a fitting place for the original lineup’s first festival gig since 2000.
The 14-song set featured tunes from throughout the original members time together and even included a cover of the Grateful Dead’s Touch of Grey. Both audio and video of Strangefolk’s performance at GOTV have surfaced that we wanted to clue you in on. As far as audio, taper Ted Gadkidis not only recorded the show but he made a sound crispy soundboard matrix that you can download via the Live Music Archive. For a sample, stream Touch of Grey below…
While we wait for the Vibes organization to release pro-shot footage, “Video Mike” filmed the entire set and uploaded it to YouTube. It’s a bit shaky, but we’ll take what we can get…
Early this morning the initial lineup for this year’s Gathering of the Vibes festival has been announced. Set for July 19 – 22 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the 2012 Gathering of the Vibes lineup features Primus, STS9, The Avett Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band and four different bands featuring the four surviving original members of the Grateful Dead – Phil Lesh and Friends, Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby with Branford Marsalis, 7 Walkers and The Mickey Hart Band.
Among the other acts set to appear at this year’s fest are HT faves The Avett Brothers, the Ryan Montbleau Band, Zappa Plays Zappa, Greyboy Allstars, ALO, Zach Deputy and Kung Fu. The late night action will include a special Royal Family Ball featuring Lettuce and Soulive as well as performances by Conspirator, Gigantic Underground Conspiracy and The Machine.
Here’s a look at the full lineup…
Primus, Phil Lesh & Friends, Bob Weir & Bruce Hornsby with special guest Branford Marsalis, STS9, The Avett Brothers, Strangefolk (original), Mickey Hart Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Steel Pulse, Zappa Plays Zappa, 7 Walkers, Assembly of Dust, The Greyboy Allstars, George Porter Jr. and Runnin’ Pardners, Keller Williams, Dark Star Orchestra, Mates of State, Deep Banana Blackout, ALO, Ryan Montbleau Band, Max Creek, Zach Deputy, Kung Fu, Joe Pug, Outernational, David Gans, McLovins, Dangermuffin, Yarn, Toubab Krewe, Dopapod, Cosmic Jibaros, Twiddle, Band Together, Andy The Music Man, Lucid,
Late Night – Royal Family Ball featuring Soulive and Lettuce, Conspirator, Gigantic Underground Conspiracy, The Machine
It wouldn’t be a festival announcement in 2012 without a video…
Two of the best guitar players to come from Connecticut traded licks at Gathering of the Vibes last month, when Kung Fu/Breakfast axe-slinger Tim Palmieri sat in with six-stringer Fuzz and Deep Banana Blackout for an insane version of Tug. We came across a pro-shot clip of this ridiculous guitar duel on the New York Rangers’ official YouTube page of all places. Take a look…
Gathering of the Vibes at Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT – July 21-24
Words: Carla Danca Photos: Jeremy Gordon
Outside of a few questions that aren’t suitable for print, “So how many have you been to?” is probably the most asked question around Gathering of the Vibes. Sixteen years after its humble beginnings as Deadhead Heaven – A Gathering of the Tribe on the campus of SUNY Purchase, Vibes has become one of the Northeast’s largest annual festivals and one of the oldest as well. In a year when many “newer” festivals celebrate their tenth anniversary, GOTV is well into is second decade. Each summer, friends – many of whom only see each other for four days each July – meet up at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT to spend a weekend together. With the heat at record highs over the weekend (103°F on Friday) more than ever it was the people, both Vibes veterans and newcomers, who made this year’s event memorable.
Sticking to its roots as a celebration of the Grateful Dead, five different members of the band played at some point during the weekend. Dark Star Orchestra brought Donna Jean Godchaux to the stage on Thursday, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s Furthur headlined on Friday, while Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann’s Rhythm Devils held court on Sunday. While many other festivals have recently been adding more electronic and popular acts – sometimes to the dismay of their core audience – Gathering of the Vibes has always stayed true to its roots. If the crowd on the field for Furthur was any indication, it seems that GOTV knows their audience as trying to snake your way out of the concert field was all but impossible with a patchwork of singing, swaying fans.
We’re psyched to see a number of HT faves added to the Gathering of the Vibes lineup today including Perpetual Groove, Lo Faber & Aaron Maxwell of God Street Wine, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, The Mother Hips and The Bridge. Gathering of the Vibes 2011 is set to take place at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT from July 21 – 24 with Furthur, Jane’s Addiction, Elvis Costello, Levon Helm and The Rhythm Devils among the headliners.
PGroove is part of the event’s “Late Night Throwdowns” series which also features Big Gigantic and The New Mastersounds. You need a weekend camping pass or a VIP ticket to attend these late night shows.
Here’s a look at the lineup as it currently stands…
The initial lineup announcement for Gathering of the Vibes 2011 has been released and features a number of Dead-related acts as well as a few surprises. Both Furthur and the Rhythm Devils return in 2011 with Bobby and Phil’s latest band set to headline on Friday, July 22, and Mickey and Billy’s group set to appear on Sunday, July 24. HT faves the Levon Helm Band, moe., McLovins and The New Mastersounds are also signed on for Vibes 2011 along with Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Jane’s Addiction, the Dark Star Orchestra, Assembly of Dust and many other acts.
Gathering of the Vibes 2011 takes place at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Conn. from July 21 to July 24. Tickets are currently available through the event’s website. Festival organizers expect to release another artist announcement within the next two weeks.
Here’s the full list of artists announced today…
Furthur featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, Jane’s Addiction, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, moe., The Levon Helm Band, John Butler Trio, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Dr. John and the Lower 911, Taj Mahal Trio, The Rhythm Devils with Keller Williams, Steve Kimock and Reed Mathis, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Toots & The Maytals, Dark Star Orchestra, Ryan Montbleau Band, David Gans, Assembly of Dust, The McLovins, King for a Day, Deep Banana Blackout, The New Mastersounds and Big Gigantic
It feels like summer has just departed and we haven’t even reached the final month of 2010, but we’re already looking forward to next year’s summer festival season as we’ve got two announcements to tell you about.
First off, Summer Camp returns to Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL on May 27-29, 2011 – aka Memorial Day Weekend. Once again, jam titans moe. and Umphrey’s McGee will headline the event. Advanced Early Bird Tickets are going on sale at Noon (CT) on Friday, November 19th through the festival’s website. At $100 per ticket – including camping – it’s worth laying out the money if you’re definitely heading to Chillicothe that weekend.
Another longtime fan favorite festival, the Gathering of the Vibes, heads back to Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT on July 21-24. Early bird tickets for the four-day event will be available through the GOTV website starting on Friday, November 26th at 10AM (ET) for $150 each. No word yet on which artists will perform at next year’s event.
After a few years of miserable weather, the sun shined down on the 15th annual Gathering of the Vibes which went off without a visible hitch this past weekend in Bridgeport, CT. The event drew more than 20,000 fans to Seaside Park for four days of fun and music. Tons of folks are raving about Furthur’s performance as the band – especially Bob Weir – seemed to put Wednesday’s debacle behind them.
[Photo by Chad Anderson]
Furthur encored with the Terrapin Suite, a clear tip of the hat to festival founder Ken Hays who called RatDog’s version of Terrapin in 2001 his top Vibes moment of the first 14 GOTVs in a recent interview with us. We can only imagine how much Ken appreciated this version. While we weren’t in attendance this year, we wanted to point you in the direction of audio, videos and other Gathering of the Vibes coverage you might enjoy…
