This preview will serve as a history lesson and an invitation to the Gathering of the Vibes Festival July 30-Aug 2 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport CT. First off, you know these wonderfully curated weekends of rock music in the park that you love? Well it may seem new to you, but for the people that put together and attend the Gathering of the Vibes each year it’s a long-standing tradition to pitch a tent, dress up like that picture of your mom in her 20’s, and spend a weekend getting your boogie on and letting your freak flag fly (those are like old-school idioms, look ’em up). This year is the Vibes 19th year doing this shindig in at historic Seaside Park and they got it down to a science. Yes, this is a jamband festival, (woah a festival with a thematic strand, can you handle that?) and it dances along the edge with all the EDMers out there, but all in all, after 19 years of putting this party together, Vibes, as they call it, is a great time. Here’s a list of ten reasons why:
10. Four Days of Music
Thursday>Friday>Saturday>Sunday>goodluckrememberingyourATMpin
See some bands you like? Pick a day and go see them. Yes, it’s Bridgeport, Connecticut, but when the festival is going on you’d hardly know that. Parking and taking a shuttle is one of those things you have to deal with anywhere these days, but once your in the park you’ll take a time machine to hippy heaven. If you gotta wander the streets a bit there may be some points when you just gotta zip your mouth and walk fast, but generally the Vibe Tribe takes over and you can just follow someone that looks like they’re going to the fest and knows where they’re going. So if you can’t make the whole trip, or just want to see a few of your favorite bands that you know will be great, pick and day and go.
9. Go See:
White Denim>Thursday> 3:30> Green Vibes State>newclassicrockjammers
This band is so good, but every festival I see them booked at this summer low balls them and puts them on a side stage. If you got your act together then you already know how great they are and you’ll get there for this. Either that or you’re a dedicated on-the-road-hippy who got here early Thursday morning, waited for the gates to open, grabbed some prime camping real estate and are now looking for some goddamn music. If that’s the case the first act worth checking out on a whim is White Denim. This is probably the only new act that I’m going to hype because they fucking shred. I saw them two nights in Cambridge and they are redefining jam rock. It’ classic sounding, the guitars are just perfect, there’s tasty licks and garage rock appeal topped off with an uncanny ability to aggressively jam out everything in their catalog. If you’re a vinyl geek you’ll want to buy their latest, Corsica Lemonade, after you see them, then take the walk to your car to lock it up. It’s easily one of the best new albums of 2014. They’re at Boston Calling too, but this will be a better setting.
8. Thursday’s Main Stage,
Ryan Montbleau>Strangefolk>Dark Star Orchestra.
The main stage has some great homegrown talent, topped off with some serious Dead.
5:30 Ryan Montbleau Catch New England staple and favorite singer/songwriter Ryan Montbleau. He’s sporting a new all-star band assembled just for this summer run and they could be a sweet treat. You may want to rest out on your stealie’ blanket at the beginning of this set, just for pacing purposes, but by the end Ryan will probably make you want to lace up your dancing shoes.
7:30 Strangefolk After Ryan you might want to head back to your site and gear up for a great double header on the main stage. Get some cold beer, put some baby powder on your balls (pro-tip), put something in your belly and take a look at the sky. If it’s gonna rain you’re gonna want to stand in it and soak up the jams that Vermont’s second favorite jammers, Strangefolk, are gonna serve up. These guys are veteran Vibes artists (they’ve played pretty much every year and used to headline it). Check out their recording from Vibes 1999, if you can find it. They’re a more twangy, folksy version of a jamband, and the original four are back, (they have been sporadically for a few years now). But this is what bringing familial vibes to a festival is all about. Strangefolk defines what Gathering of the Vibes is: good people, good songs (playin’ on the radio), and great jams. Expect someone to sit in at some point. There’s no doubt these guys are mainstay festival legends for a reason and will bring a smile from ear to ear.
9:30 Main Stage: Dark Star Orchestra: Not much needs to be said about this quintessential Grateful Dead cover band. They’re more than a cover band, especially now that they’ve actually played more shows than the Dead themselves. If you never got to see the real thing this is as close as you’re gonna get. Close your eyes, use your imagination. Open your eyes every once in a while, though, its only Thursday (you don’t wanna go down that hole yet do ya?).
7. Late Night Shows.
Dopapod>Deep Banana Blackout>EOTO>Digital Tape Machine>Karl Denson
You need some funk? You need some untz? Every night the Vibes has some sick late night shows. These are bands that you don’t need to listen to the words for, you don’t need to worry about what time it is, heck, you don’t even really need to see them. Just listen and they’ll deliver phat beats, horns, and guitar solos that will melt your late night face. Consider carrying a water around with you at this point in the night and beef jerkey for protein. The beer is probably not really doing anything at this point anyway. The two I wouldn’t miss are Deep Banana Blackout(Friday) and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (Saturday).
6. Peanut Butter and JAM sandwich,
Umphree’s McGee>Widespread Panic>Disco Biscuits*
*with the real Grateful Dead drummers, yaaay!
This is a monster three-fer comin’ at’cha on Saturday night. It’s pretty much an “untz” sandwich with Widespread Panic as the meat, but this just seems like it’s gonna be loaded with collaboration and the main draw for the weekend. Widespread is still secretly destroying every night in the middle of a national tour. Their show in Boston last month was stellar. Their lighting rig is top notch and definitely trumps Kuroda’s set up this summer. The worst thing that could happen here is downtime between the sets. It’d be cool if they could do one of those jamband things where the bands rotate the equipment off and on stage as they jammed.
5. John Fogerty
PTSD>Put Me In Coach>Born on the Bayou>Fortunate Son>Yes Please
If Fogerty plays “Born on the Bayou” I’ll cream my cargo shorts. The first time I saw Fogerty, (two summers ago) it was a real treat. He’s a living legend. He’s a man with serious guitar chops and an iconic voice, and oh yeah, he wrote some of the greatest American rock songs ever written. I like to close my eyes and let Fogerty take me back to my days in Nam’ when me and the guys traded our extra gasoline for some time with these Playboy Playmates that were stranded in a helicopter. They signed our magazines, showed us their boobs, and gave us some free tickets to the Creedence Clearwater Revival USO show being put on at the Ia Drang Valley base just south the DMZ.
4. Kids Day.
Tour Kids>Rainbow Family>Weekend Warriors>No Excuses
Last week at Phish an 11 year old told me it was his 34th show. An interesting reality of this scene is that some of the people are permanently on the road. Modern day traveling gypsies, you could call them. And some of them now have kids that are growing up on tour. Whether you call it the dark side of the scene or a charming alternative way of living, the Vibes welcomes families to come hang out. They even designated Sunday as family day. So if you’re a recently retired touring machine, or an old weekend warrior that doesn’t want to use your stupid kids as an excuse not to go, you could come along Sunday and participate in the forced family fun activities the Vibe Tribe has provided for you. Let’s see, there’s face painting, juggling, corn-hole, a bouncy pit, that wacky mac n’ cheese your uncle makes that makes you feel all giggly, you get the point.
3. Lotus: Talking Heads Deconstructed
Thisaintnoparty>takemetotheriver>stillwaiting
I never got to see the Talking Heads but they are one of my favorite bands, so this must be the place for me to be on Friday night. Lotus should do a great job with this, but honestly I’d watch any band play Talking Heads. Look for a giant “Life During Wartime” with Jon Trafton of Strangefolk sitting in. If you dream it, it might happen.
2. moe. & Ziggy Marley
WemadeittoSunday>Ouch>Kids Day>moeperiod>lookwhosedancing>It’saMarley!
This is a perfect placement for kid’s day. Ziggy is not as rugged as Stephen, he’s more like adult contemporary reggae. Nonetheless, his voice is like his fathers and will be soothing to listen to sprawled on your old stealie’ blanket. Moe. is playing earlier and it could interesting to hear them do a matinee set, but if this is your fourth day here your probably way too tired to hear moe.’s expansive jams. They should do an acoustic set, and have all their old buddies sit in. My idea!
1.Musicians Instruments>gear>guitars>chords>melodies>songs>lyrics>jams>Improvisation>sitins>vibes
The overall best reason to go to Vibes is for the goddamn music. Duh. No, but seriously, this is not about who’s hot, or fashion, or pretending to be someone you’re not. Jared Leto is not going to show up and party with you, and nobody here has heard Ultraviolence. It’s about the music first and foremost and everything else is gravy.
This leads me to pick a few bones with the youngsters. First off, music, and going to see live music is supposed to be fun, so cut it out with the folded arms, resting bitch face, and mind fuck that you are to your friends about “whether or not you’re having a good time.” This is what summertime is all about so the most important thing you can bring to a festival like Vibes is a good attitude. Shut your phone off (save that juice for emergencies only), no seriously, shut your phone off! Stop taking pictures! Wear a watch! We got along just fine without cell phones for 5000 years.Relax, its not going to kill you. Just enjoy the weather (hopefully) and great classic jam bands Gathering of the Vibes is bringing to Seaside Park.
Most importantly though, stop being so critical. These bands are not releasing a new record, they don’t care if you buy it anyway. Don’t waste your time updating your social status, and if you want to interview or get a picture of a band your best bet is to try to bump into them somewhere on the camp grounds. These bands (spread out across over four days!) have the most valuable attribute in live music today: experience. This is something missing in many of the start-up festivals that try to book the trendy bands. Yeah, they may have made a stellar record in their living room, cool story bro, but they have no idea how to put on a live show. The Vibes is your Coke Classic, your guaranteed buzz, your guilty pleasure, because these are the bands you know are going to deliver the goods. They are nationally touring acts that have been doing it and doing it well for years.
And let me tell you something else, At Vibes, nobody cares about your VIP pass or photo pass. Now, even Vibes has them, but at what point does the V in VIP become irrelevant? If you share your falafel with me you’re a VIP to me and that’s all that matters. Vibes is truly an ego free festival, so if you’re one of those “elbows to the front” people, or going there to analyze and compare and contrast all the bands and their jam qualities to Jerry and Phish then you might as well just stay home. For those of you who can let your hair down, love the feeling of getting warped up in an endless scarlet>fire featuring so and so, know how to handle your intake (I’m looking at you, Avicii rookies) and just enjoy the psychedelic sounds and community, The Vibes is calling your name
And what a cool and appropriate name for a festival that started out from a burning desire to pay homage to Jerry Garcia and the void that the Grateful Dead left behind in the wake of his death in 1995. Bringing people together in the spirit of the Grateful Dead made Vibes the go to summer destination after Jerry was gone, and also during those easily forgettable Phish hiatuses as well. Now that the boys from Vermont are firing on all cylinders – a well-oiled machine, the cats pajamas again – it’s easy to forget about all the other bands that adopted those lost dead-heads, many of whom never made a lyrical or spiritual connection with the silly Phish guys. Vibes brings them all together and this year they truly have the crème of the crop; the whose who of the jam world. So pack your bags and head down for the weekend, or maybe a day and check out the stellar line up of Vibes 2014. See ya there? Oh, whats that? You’re in Virginia? Maryland? Well, have fun there too, man.