The Peach Music Festival 2021 continued on Friday at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA with three stages running nonstop from noon through 2:00 a.m.
Unlike Thursday night, when the two-stage schedule made it relatively easy to pop in on every set, the opening of the Mushroom Stage up the hill at the water park brought with some tough schedule decisions for Peach fans. Fortunately, thanks to a Friday lineup loaded with talent, none of the choices were bad—even if they were tricky to make.
After the day kicked off with psychedelic songstress Nicole Atkins (Peach Stage), party-starting, genre–blending dance band Thumpasaurus (Mushroom Stage), and Indiana jamtronica outfit Dizgo (Grove Stage), Friday’s first big highlight came in the form of a tribute to At Fillmore East, the legendary Allman Brothers Band live album, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year.
The highly anticipated set served as an important touchstone for The Peach in 2021. The festival was initially launched years ago as an annual destination for the Allman Brothers in the Northeast. With Jaimoe, the last of band’s original members, unable to make his set on Thursday, 2021 marks the first time ever that The Peach will not feature any original ABB members.
Still, the legacy of the Allmans remains imbued in the spirit of 2021’s ninth running of The Peach, and the Fillmore East set was a prime example of that spirit living on at Montage Mountain. The band lineup boasted a mix of extended Brothers family members, from blood descendants to collaborators to proteges. Young guitarist Brandon “Taz” Niederauer led the charge on guitar, with his solo bandmates (Matt Fox, Kendall Lentz, and Mat Godfrey) filling out bass, drum, and guitar roles alongside Shady Recruits drummer Jack Ryan, vocalist/harmonica player Gabriel Kelley, singer Lamar Williams Jr., guitarist Duane Betts, and more.
While this run through the iconic live record was both excitingly unique and reverent to the original, the main takeaway from the set wound up being the force of nature known as Taz. Only just entering adulthood, Niederauer displayed his commanding presence as a bandleader during the set, throwing off some legitimately awe-inspiring guitar runs when it was his turn and encouraging the other players to let loose for theirs.
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The set’s high point came via a hair-raising “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” that took on such a life of its own that its jam consumed the remainder of the set time, leaving the live album’s closing “Whipping Post” on the table. Instead, Williams led the band through a quick off-Fillmore selection, “Don’t Keep Me Wondering”, to close the show. Is it truly Fillmore East without “Whipping Post”? Some may say no, but with all of these guys still around on Saturday and a number of Allman-adjacent sets on the docket (Oteil & Friends, The Allman Betts Band, etc.), you can bet we’ll get that “Whipping Post” by the time all is said and done.
As Los Colognes kept things going on the Mushroom Stage, the ray of musical sunshine known as Keller Williams brought his one-man band to the Peach Stage. During a drum breakdown in one song, he took a moment to affably welcome the daytime audience and express his sincere gratitude. “So grateful to be a part of this thing going on today,” he cooed before moving back into the tune. “Thank you, I love you, that is all.”
Meanwhile, Magnolia Boulevard earned some new fans over at the Grove as frontwoman/guitarist Maggie Noelle unleashed her unabashed energy over airtight drum and bass breaks.
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With the sun now beating down on the mountain, the venue’s full-scale water park was in full effect surrounding the Mushroom Stage as Ghost Light emerged at 3:30. The band came out swinging early, diving into a massive improvisational expedition on Best Kept Secrets staple “Keep You Hands to Yourself”. Midway through the jam, guitarist/vocalist Tom Hamilton stepped up to inform the crowd that it was drummer Scott Zwang‘s birthday and lead the audience through a short and sweet “happy birthday, Scott!” As Hamilton quipped, “We’re not gonna make you sing the whole thing. Then we’re ripping you guys off … and just like that, we go right back into the jam, 2, 3, 4..”
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Blackberry Smoke also made its mark on the Peach Stage, delivering a rocking set featuring a selection of high-octane tracks from the band’s latest LP, You Hear Georgia, as well a well-placed cover of Tom Petty‘s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and some advice learned from 20 years in the biz. As frontman Charlie Starr joked before moving into “Don’t Wait”, “In the music business, you learn what’s gonna get you arrested, and you learn how to wait.”
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Karina Rykman offered up one of the most memorable performances of the day at the Grove Stage, gathering a big crowd of fans both new and old for a rain-washed set featuring many of her recorded songs like “Plants”, “City Kids”, “No Occasion”, “Elevator”, and more as well as covers like LCD Soundsystem‘s “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” and Talking Heads‘ “Psycho Killer”.
While this marked Rykman’s first time playing The Peach, she took visible pleasure in telling the crowd how she’s been attending the festival as a fan for years. The perpetually smiling young bassist/bandleader even regaled the crowd with an anecdote about that one time a friend got her an all-access pass for The Peach last-minute and she took and Uber from NYC top Scranton to make it—then, took that same Uber all the way back. Karina clearly has a close relationship with The Peach, and we can’t wait to see that relationship grow from the other side of the rail in years to come.
Karina Rykman – “Plants” – The Peach – 7/2/21
[Video: Michael Broerman]
As Friday evening progressed, ever more tough decisions emerged on the schedule. As moe. performed to a rowdy crowd at the Peach Stage–featuring an excellent “Gone” with Al Schnier working his magic on mandolin, a roaring shred fest on “32 Things”, and a happily received cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”—Magic Beans were throwing down a standout set of their own over at the Grove.
moe. – “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” (Rolling Stones) – The Peach – 7/2/21
[Video: Michael Broerman]
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By the time Aqueous kicked off a sunset performance at the Mushroom Stage—easily one of the day’s most memorable sets—Joe Russo’s Almost Dead was already hitting the stage for its first of two sets on the evening with “The Music Never Stopped” (and, for the record, it seems it never will. Even after a pandemic).
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JRAD has perhaps had more experience playing this year than anyone on the lineup, having completed six shows at Westville Music Bowl in pod-style fashion. However, even they seemed taken with the experience of being back in front of a huge, non-distanced, amphitheater/festival crowd. It seemed that the music played the band throughout the (more-than-a) Grateful Dead cover band’s two-set performance, as incredible improv seemed to make its way into Dead favorites—and not the other way around.
For Russo, the wait to return to The Peach in 2021 had been even longer than for most. When he missed JRAD’s headlining performance in 2019 due to the birth of his new daughter, two drummers—frequent collaborator Ben Perowsky and Russo’s young drum tech/nephew Evan Roque—jumped in to take his place. In 2021, Roque got some knowing cheers from the crowd as he emerged during the show to fix Russo’s kit.
After a set-closing “Dancing In The Street” was somewhat interrupted by the nightly fireworks display, Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Scott Metzger, and Tom Hamilton picked back up where they had started, reprising the song before working through “Shakedown Street”. From there, Hamilton took the lead on a spiritual “Mission In The Rain” that could have brought a tear to a glass eye. Thundering jams on “The Other One” and “Truckin” helped bring the performance to a close.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – The Peach – Set One Preview – Friday, 7/2/21
[Video: Relix]
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead – The Peach – Set Two Preview – Friday, 7/2/21
[Video: Relix]
Meanwhile, The Nth Power brought loving vibes to the Mushroom Stage, seamlessly moving between R&B, Soul, and harder rock sounds throughout the band’s first live show since March 7th, 2020. After working through a few tunes as a trio, guitarist Nick Cassarino, drummer Nikki Glaspie, and bassist Nate Edgar welcomed up keyboardist Rob Marscher and Brandon “Taz” Niederauer to sit in.
The Nth Power ft. Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, Rob Marscher – “Take My Soul” – The Peach – 7/2/21
[Video: The Hammer]
Over at the Grove Stage, Funk You served up some Allman vibes of their own with a “Liz Reed” cover, while The Shady Recruits kept things soulful and funky with the final Mushroom Stage set of the night, which featured a sit-in from Celisse.
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Umphrey’s McGee had the honor of closing out the night with a late set on the Peach Stage and took the prime slot in stride with a high-energy set packed with fan-favorites including “Plunger”, “Hurt Bird Bath” (with a John Coltrane “A Love Supreme” tease), “The Floor”, “Wappy Sprayberry”, “1348”, “Hajimemashite”, “Glory”, and “40’s Theme”.
The biggest highlight of the set, however, came midway through when Doom Flamingo vocalist Kanika Moore emerged to sing an enthralling rendition of Led Zeppelin‘s “Dazed and Confused”, and Umphrey’s debut. As Brendan Bayliss joked following the song, “I’ve been wanting to play that song since high school.” You sure picked a great time to do it.
Umphrey’s McGee — The Peach – Set Preview – Friday, 7/2/21
[Video: Relix]
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Check out a gallery of photos from the day below via Peach 2021 photographers Jesse Faatz and Andrew Hutchinson. We’ll see you out there today!
The post The Peach 2021 Friday Recap: JRAD, Umphrey’s, ‘Fillmore East’, moe., Ghost Light, Aqueous, & More [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
