Welcome to day two y’all.
After the harrowing trek home last night, we decided to sleep in a little bit today. So we arrived on site a little before 4pm, just in time for Jenny Lewis. I have seen Jenny Lewis a handful of times now, including once earlier this summer. Man, she never disappoints. Especially on this tour with her whole Elton John aesthetic going on. And I have never heard a woman sound more adorable singing about her mother’s heroin addiction. “Wasted Youth” and “Just One of the Guys” are two of my favorite songs she pulls out this tour. Even the people in the audience who clearly weren’t familiar with the songs, were still dancing and bopping around like they did.
Grace Potter is a powerhouse, and I was so happy to finally see her live. Growing up, my band even covered some of her songs every once in a while. Honestly, it’s been a minute since I’ve thought about Grace Potter, so thak you Bourbon & Beyond for getting her back into my rotation. I forgot how much I love her.
Next up was Alison Krauss, whose voice is so pure she must be an angel from heaven itself. Such a pure tone, it’s almost hypnotizing. Hearing “Down to the River to Pray” performed live was a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
I’m not gonna lie, I was not the most excited for Trey Anastasio. Phish just really isn’t my jam, pun intended. I appreciate the musicianship, I truly do, it’s just not my style. However, I had way more fun than I thought I would. I mean, I’ve said it before, I’m a sucker for a horn section. And as a musician, I love seeing musicians having fun, and boy his band was having FUN up there.
Hall & Oates rocked waaayyy harder than I thought they would. Like, china symbols and shredding guitar solos, hard. Their set may be the most fun I’ve had this entire weekend so far. They opened their set with “Maneater” and closed with “Rich Girl”, exactly like I hoped they would. And just like that, we were transported back in time to 1976.
Robert Plant was maybe the biggest disappointment so far this weekend. He sounded good, but just not the SAME. John Fogerty sounded good and the same, John Oats sounded good and the same, Robert Plant sounded good…but not the same. He played odd harmonic minor versions of Led Zeppelin songs, but they fell flat. His band sounded like a watered down Led Zeppelin. Of course we can’t expect Led Zeppelin, but maybe something relatively close? People started filing out of the festival about three songs in if that tells you anything.
We ended the night with a pour of bourbon, which seemed appropriate enough. Only one day left to finalize all my opinions and judgments of Bourbon & Beyond. Day three, show me what you got.
