Borderland Festival Brings Together Dawes, moe., Goose, Trey Anastasio With Classic TAB & More For Unforgettable Weekend

East Aurora, New York’s Borderland Festival returned this past weekend for its fifth year at the idyllic Knox Farm State Park, just a short drive from Buffalo. The event expanded to three days in 2023 as nationally-touring acts and local bands infused the perfect late summer weather with sounds from a variety of genres.

Borderland features two stages – the Main Stage, primarily for the bigger acts, which is located in a big tree-lined field, and the Homespun Stage, a smaller affair centered around Buffalo-area acts.

Scheduled well with minimal overlap, patrons were able to make the short walk between the two stages and catch some of each set – the absolutely ideal format for the weekend.

I began the weekend with some Leroy Townes and his band at the Main Stage. The Buffalo natives offered an energetic afternoon set with their acoustic guitar-forward sound, starting off on a high note. While The 502s may seem to be a bluegrassy act at first glance due to the acoustic guitar and banjo, their eclectic blend of genres has great elements of folk and pop, and their saxophonist lent an amazing extra dimension to the band’s sound.

As the sun shone down on the increasingly-sized audience spanning all age groups, the Not Fade Away Band took the Homespun Stage for a “Dead Zeppelin” set – 75 minutes of some excellent and familiar music that marked the first of many Grateful Dead tribute acts throughout the festival. At the end of their set, Dawes performed a sunset set on the Main Stage – one band I had been very much looking forward to based on glowing reviews I had been hearing for a very long time.

Guitarist and vocalist Taylor Goldsmith’s passionate performance really sold me on the band, while keyboardist Lee Pardini and drummer Griffin Goldsmith dazzled with their virtuosic instrumentation. “Someone Else’s Café/Doomscroller Tries to Relax” was my personal highlight of the set, though the awesome sit-in by Goose guitarist Rick Mitarotonda on “From A Window Seat” was a great moment that foreshadowed what was to come next during the headlining set.

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Goose delivered a set just over two hours in length packed with strong playing and pockets of improvisation in “Pancakes” and “Creatures,” but the real star of the show was the “Rosewood Heart” featuring the Goldsmith brothers from Dawes. Goose percussionist Jeff Arevalo picked up multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach‘s guitar as Griffin took over his kit for the 27-minute outing.

The improv began with an exemplary back-and-forth guitar peak between Mitarotonda and Taylor Goldsmith, the two musicians building upon each other’s riffs with comfortable ease to a soaring peak. I figured this would be the end of the song and that it would be followed by a cover, given that Dawes isn’t really a jam band – but the Goldsmiths joined Goose on what is likely the finest jam of their fall tour so far. Anspach’s clavinet locked in with the rhythm section of drummer Ben Atkind and bassist Trevor Weekz with some textural work while the guitarists worked to develop a major-key motif. Bursting forth together with a joyful vibe, the augmented Goose blazed into the finish with an energetic peak that was incredibly different from the Type I first half of the “Rosewood Heart.” Anspach shouted out the Dawes musicians for their contributions to the extended improv before Goose closed the night with a fiery “Slow Ready” into “Arcadia” encore.

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Saturday afternoon began with more perfect weather as Miller and The Other Sinners performed “Southern Soul, but from Buffalo.” A highlight of this set was watching the keyboardist, who also doubled as the bass player – covering the low-end parts on synth while simultaneously unleashing flurries of organ solos. Guitarist and frontman David Michael Miller’s gritty vocals and singular-sounding wah-slide guitar acted as a perfect way to begin the afternoon.

Bluegrass band Mighty Poplar huddled around one microphone in the center of the stage next, the supergroup featuring renowned banjo player Noam Pikelny and Billy Strings band member Alex Hargreaves brought some serious energy to the Main Stage for their mid-afternoon slot.

Following the bluegrass, Neal Francis turned up the heat with his trademark energetic blasts of funky, rocking grooves. Anchored by drummer Collin O’Brien and bassist Mike Starr, Francis’ piano-heavy set featured a new arrangement of the live staple “She’s A Winner,” the song’s earworm and fast pace getting a new dimension of funk thanks to guitarist Kellen Boersma’s choppy guitar work.

Keeping the energy high came Sammy Rae & The Friends, yet another group of tight-knit musicians whose off-stage friendship comes through strongly in their music. Their Borderland performance kicked off their international fall tour, boasting a fun “camp” theme. Each member of the band came outfitted for outdoor activities, and the vocalist and band’s namesake belted out powerful leads and got the crowd swept up in the joy and energy of their set.

I headed over to the Homespun Stage for a sunset performance of Organ Fairchild, a Buffalo instrumental trio that has been making waves in the scene lately. Fresh off of the release of their sophomore album Leisure Suit, the group blazed their way through their propulsive instrumental compositions as well as an excellent cover of the Grateful Dead’s “He’s Gone.”

Saturday night’s headliner was the powerful groove machine of Trey Anastasio and the “Classic TAB” lineup of the Trey Anastasio Band. Backed by bassist Dezron Douglas, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, and drummer Russ Lawton, the quartet busted a Phish-heavy setlist wide open with Anastasio’s amazing guitar chops on full display. Douglas’ bass, though, was the centerpiece of the night – propelling the rest of the band through new improvisational ideas, no moment more significant than the deep “Wolfman’s Brother” that came as the penultimate song of the set.

Sunday kicked off with a power hour from bubbly bassist Karina Rykman, who celebrates the beginning of her cross-country Joyride Tour later this week. Her set, as well as Dead tribute The Red Grenadines, acted as a prelude to what many Buffalo natives saw as the headliner of the day – the Buffalo Bills NFL football game.

Congregating near the Homespun Stage in front of a big projector screen, fans decked out in the blue and red colors of their team watched passionately as a victory was won – an afternoon only accentuated by the performance of local band Folkfaces during the game.

For those of us non-sports-inclined folk, the Krasno/Moore Project absolutely tore down the Main Stage during this time. Drummer Stanton Moore and guitarist Eric Krasno’s excellent set was joined by keyboardist Eric Finland for a mix of originals and covers, though no moment was as explosive as the set-closing “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”

The NYS Dead Coalition marked the final Dead tribute of the weekend and was made up of longtime musical collaborators from the area including Organ Fairchild and moe. drummer Vinnie Amico. The musicians could all be seen sporting ear-to-ear grins throughout the set before they sent the crowd on their way to the final performance of the weekend on the Main Stage.

The big two-set homecoming for moe. marked the first hometown shows for the band since guitarist Chuck Garvey rejoined their touring lineup at the end of 2022 following his unfortunate stroke just two years ago.

Midway through the first set, bassist Rob Derhak shouted out the Buffalo area and dedicated a performance of “Blonde Hair and Blue Eyes” to his daughter Emma’s birthday, while the “George” that came later saw the group dive into a series of impassioned jam segments with excellent interplay before returning home after nearly 24 minutes.

During the brief set break, the Dead Coalition gave us one more taste of the hometown Buffalo vibe with special guests Buffalo Brass Machine on a raucous “Hey Pocky Way.”

moe. had one more special moment in store for the upstate New York faithful – and it wasn’t even the nearly 20-minute “Mexico” early on in the set. Working “Rebubula” down to a quiet motif relatively quickly, Garvey fronted the group on the first “Four” since his stroke, marking one of his few lead vocal performances of 2023 as well. Fretboard fireworks ensued as the band took their time in the contemplative song before bursting back into “Rebubula” to close the set – a full 20 minutes after their scheduled ending time.

With five years under their belts and an ever-growing audience, Borderland will no doubt return next year with another incredible lineup and beautiful energy to close out the summer festival season. There are few better places to host a festival than within the beautiful trees of a state park near a small town, and few better festival experiences than Borderland!

See you next year!

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Source: JamBase.com