Day Two of the Gathering of the Vibes began with sunny skies ominous signs lay ahead. King for a Day kicked off the main stage, a local CT band that has played Vibes for four years now, their set included a lovely Jack-a-Roe. It’s great to see so many area bands taking to the stage here at Vibes – showing and promoting the area’s live music scene.

[All Photos by Jeremy Gordon]

Strangefolk hit the stage next and guitarist Jon Trafton’s wife Jennifer came to the stage and sat in on backing vocals for a song. The shout out of the day, however went to Chuck Garvey of moe. who saved Jon’s broken amp and possibly the show.

JJ Grey and Mofro haven’t been to a GOTV in many years since the festival moved from its upstate NY location, but that wasn’t lost on the audience when he started on the classic blues standard I Got My Mojo Workin’. Like they say Vibes is about re-connecting with old friends and turning to your neighbor to make new friends so it’s only fitting that his southern hospitality fits right on in.

Wavy Gravy, a gentleman that has been on the scene for longer than most attendees yet still finds ways to let his clown spirit shine, took to the stage and guided fans through a fun journey as the official MC for the event.

READ ON for more on the Vibes from Carla and Jeremy…

Keller and the WMDs took the stage with Keller dressed all in white linen to go through though a set of his own quirky originals such as Kidney In A Cooler and Freeker by the Speaker but also played homage to the current Phish crazed scene with Birds of a Feather.

Chris Barron, another local, came out to give a taste of his new sounds on the Solar Stage but couldn’t resist throwing in a few treats with ’90s hits Little Miss and Two Princes from his former band, the Spin Doctors

George Clinton, the granddaddy of Funk took the stage to start off the evening of dancing, singing and all out partying however a technical issue with the backup singer’s mics unfortunately marred the set. The full crew went all out in all their crazy finery keeping the show hot with angels, pimps, diapers and everything in between. The set closed with the entire field helping out during their show stopper, We Want the Funk.

But what is a Vibes without Jen Durkin and the whole Deep Banana Blackout crew? Even Jen was rocking out to George Clinton proclaiming from the stage “Make MY funk the P-Funk” as she took the stage. Jen and DBB are true vibes veterans, having played at just about every Vibes since its inception.

The main stage was unfortunately cut short with rockers moe. only getting in about half of their set before a electrifying thunderstorm ran through the venue and campers were asked to leave the field while it passed. The band was smoking in the first set with everyone on their feet for St. Augustine into Mexico leaving some fans standing on the field calling for moe. to return.

Set list via PT moe (unconfirmed)

I: Not Coming Down > Wormwood > Stranger than Fiction > St. Augustine, Mexico, Hi & Lo

The storm put down a fast but hard shower but luckily the heavy wind and sleet that was rumored never appeared and late night with Lettuce was able to go on as scheduled thanks to the covered stage which kept equipment dry. The anticipated throw down brought out fans and artists alike with DBB side stage getting funky. Lettuce started things off with a Jackson 5 warm-up I Want You Back and showed that nothing can keep down the funk. With a band full of all-stars featuring Eric Krasno and Sam Kininger, the extended Move on Up had everyone getting down.

With a sunny day finally on today’s schedule it will be interesting to see if Bob Weir and “rain”dog as fans have aptly dubbed RatDog will defy the predictions.