You may have heard this before, but we had a great time at the Green River Festival last year and were psyched to do it again! They announced that the show would be June 24-26 in 2022, and they gradually announced an acceptable lineup. The earlier date was fine with us, hoping to avoid mid- or late-Summer heat, and the lineup was what we've come to expect, spotty. Lake Street Dive was going to be there, along with Molly Tuttle, and then Asleep At the Wheel. And they had a solid second tier, including Galactic, Sarah Borges, and Brennan Leigh. They're not back up to the quality of the lineups of several years ago, but we were looking forward to a few discoveries.
In January we decided on the Red Rose again for our home base, and made reservations. I called a few days before the Festival to remind them that we wanted to check in early, and it's a good thing I called because there'd been a mix-up and our reservation wasn't in the books! But they were great about it and said they'd give us a free upgrade to their "upstairs" which they were in the process of converting to a apartment rental. Sounded ok to us, we were up for an adventure.
Dave came over the night before and then on Friday June 24 we headed out West. The weather forecast was for intense sun the whole weekend, and unfortunately our hope to avoid mid-Summer heat was dashed. They were forecasting temperatures in the 90s for Saturday and Sunday in Greenfield! Oh well, we'd done this before.
Beautiful drive out route 2 to Greenfield and then to Shelburne Falls, arriving at the Rose at about 12:30 so we could be back at the Fairgrounds for gates opening at 2:00. Aldo ushered us up the back stairs and into the upstairs apartment, which was as homey and funky as we'd hoped! You enter into a big room with two couch areas (one with flat-screen TV), a bar area, and a kitchen/dining area. A hall opened up from this towards the street, with a bedroom off of it and a sink area, then down the hall was a bathroom and around the corner another bedroom. Both the bedrooms had double beds. We were psyched and texted the crew that they all had to come up for a party after the Friday show, or at least stop by to see it. And when they did, everyone had the same reaction, wow!
Dumped our stuff (they were still vacuuming and making the beds) except for what we needed for Friday night, and headed on out at about 1:30. No problem getting to the Fairgrounds and parked a few rows from the gate, not bad at all. I'd forgotten the paper tickets (duh!) but when we'd realized this on our way through Concord that morning I'd stopped and checked my phone, and all the PDFs were available there, so we had no problem getting weekend parking passes and wristbands. We were about 20th in line and some of the same old folks were there. Got in at 2:00 and set up about 16.5 feet in front of the soundboard. OK, time to tour the grounds!
Entered a kayak raffle (Lundgren Auto tent), inspected all the craft vendors, got a beer (Berkshire Brewing), and found the new Green House stage they'd added this year. A pot dispensary (Resinate) had been added as one of their sponsors, and also my favorite food vendor, La Veracruzana, had become a sponsor. Got a CBD/seltzer sample from Resinate, bought a tapestry for our bathroom in Maine, and then settled down at the Main (Greenfield Savings Bank) Stage a little before 4:00 for...
Funky Dawgz Brass Band - another great opener! The energy just went through the roof with their first note and continued for the whole set. From left to right they lined up with two trumpets, a tenor sax, and an alto sax, with a guy on trap drums and a guy on Sousaphone in the back. They supposedly also have a trombonist and another trumpeter but they weren't there and weren't really needed. I moved up front and was back in my happy spot, being blasted by the two trumpets right in front of me and dancing to the great beat the drummer was laying down. Almost all of them took turns singing and rapping, but the standouts were the alto sax player, who was a great technical player, and the Sousaphone, which was loud and funky and rattling the stage and OMG, just perfect!
Stopped by the Dean's Beans Stage right after that and saw a couple of songs by Mtali Banda, who was laying down some soulful jazz (he'd been at the 2019 GRF). He had a large band himself, and he was strictly in control, pointing at them to indicate who was going to solo next, and urging them to keep it mellow. He wielded a big sax and once in a while took time out from his band leader role to rap gently or to play a spacey lead. Great stuff, and his band included an even spacier guitar player who I loved. I walked away to go get some food while he was introducing the band and then wheeled back around in a cloud of dust (the Fairgrounds were dry and dusty all weekend) when he got to the guitar player. It was Anand Nayak, whom we've seen many times with Rani Arbo and most recently with Heather Maloney ... I hadn't recognized him.
Then got some food, took a break out at the car, and headed back to the GSB Stage and up front for Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, the act of the Festival! Why they didn't have her on last I don't know. They were at least as good as when we'd recently seen them in Shirley, and I have to say I enjoyed them even more (Scott and Michelle arrived as she was starting and rushed to join us up front). The women in the band wore sparkly sheer tights (the guys probably did too, under their pants), and they put on a show like the big-league bluegrass band they are. They stuck mainly to their new record, opening with She'll Change and closing with Crooked Tree and Big Backyard (for which they gathered around a ribbon mike). Highlights were a long, jam-heavy Castilleja, a rocking Dooley's Farm, a transcendent cover of She's a Rainbow that had me on my tiptoes, and Molly's beautiful Grass Valley, about being a young girl at a music festival! They also did some superior bluegrass featuring Molly's incredible fingering and style, like Take the Journey and the song she'd written with Steve Poltz, Over the Line. Molly told us he would be playing on Saturday and we should ask him if he could play it that fast.
Wow, that was good! Took another tour around to get some food and beer and then back to the seats for a band I was really looking forward to, Galactic. They feature a great lead singer (Angelika "Jelly" Joseph, whom we had seen at GRF with Tank and the Bangas), a brass section that will blow your hat to smithereens, and a take-no-prisoners NOLA attitude. I stayed back at the seats for them, but we weren't too far away and I was up and dancing of course.
Toured around again and caught snatches of Las Cafeteras at the Dean's Beans Stage and then Rose & the Bros over at the Artifact Cider stage, then back to the seats for the last act of the night, Guster. They've been around for over 30 years and started as Tufts students (probably playing the same dorm lounges that my friends had played back in the late 70s and that Tracy Chapman played at in between). They're a little too prog-rock for me, but had a great sound on the main stage and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. We took off a little early to beat the traffic, but that was a fine afternoon and night of music.
Woohoo! Back to the car and the lovely drive through the Western Mass night to our funky apartment at the Red Rose. We were texting with our friends all along and encouraging them to join us upstairs. The bad news was that Diane had ended up in the hospital with an electrolytes issue. Paul split his time between her bedside at the hospital in Greenfield and the Rose/Fairgrounds. So she missed the fun weekend, but she recovered fine and is determined to make up for lost time next year.
Washed the thick dust and the sunscreen off our legs, and soon the rest of the crew (except Michelle, who was ready for bed) joined us upstairs and we had plenty of room to gather around the dining room table, munch on chips and a cheese board, catch up on the past year, and drink a few beers. They all loved the apartment and there was some talk about getting supplies for a big group breakfast, but this didn't work out. Hopefully we'll be more prepared next year!
Suddenly it was time for bed for everyone else, and we slept well with the window open to the refreshingly cool night.
Forgot to mention that on Friday, in the blistering heat pre-concert, I was talking with a security guy and we wandered around the stage front, talking and trying to keep our feet from burning. We concluded with, "Talk to you later," and then he looked down and we were standing right over the jewel he'd lost from his necklace and had been looking for for hours! He was jumping up and down with delight and wanting to give me credit. Whatever man.
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