Mountain Jam 2011

Mule with Luther Dickinson (guitar), Cody Dickinson (electric washboard), Hook Herrera (harp)
Mountain Jam Festival VII
Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge
Catskills, NY
Google map
Festival schedule

This year was stellar. The bands rocked, the company rolled, and even the weather cooperated. The only thing missing was our pal Mic who was locked into a training gig with his new job. This year joining Glenn and I was Twiggy and Sue thanks to a small donation to the cause in the form of a wedding gift. ;)

New this year was an extra day of music allowing us to make it down a day earlier than about 90% of the gen pop crowd. It was a chilly evening so we opted to stick with the gigs inside Colonel's Hall - The London Souls, Soulive, and Big Gigantic. The London Souls rocked it hard followed by Eric Krasno who more than impressed with Soulive as they rolled through a jazz funk tribute to the Beatles.


Friday's line-up was impressive. Tim Reynolds threw down and definitely impressed. For those of you not in the loop, Tim is the lead guitarist with the Dave Matthews Band. Eric Krasno sat in with Toubab Krewe and then later rejoined Soulive for an afternoon set. We also squeezed in a few songs by Chris Barron (The Spin Doctors) on the Awareness Stage.


The evening headliner this year was not Gov't Mule but Warren Haynes with his solo project. Not bad at all though my preference is definitely with the heavier side he brings to MULE.




Now for me, Friday's highlight was the Late Night Set with Lotus. Running non-stop from midnight to about 3:15am these guys know how to kick it. This was my third time seeing Lotus but this 3 hour face melt was definitely the first time that I was catching them in their element. Again, for those of you interested in what they're all about, cause instrumental electronic jam band just doesn't begin to describe, check them out here.




Saturday was again something to get excited about. The Avett Brothers, Charlie Hunter, Zach Deputy, North Mississippi Allstars Duo, and of course Gov't Mule's one and only tour date of the year.



Mule. What a night. Warren said things would get crazy and they did. The first set came out strong with Railroad Boy and ending with War Pigs. The second set was a mix of covers starting off with Floyd's Money and Have a Cigar starring Ron Holloway on sax and Matt Abts on vocals for Cigar. Then the Dickinson brothers stepped up on stage with Hook Herrara on harp for a couple of bluesy tracks. Sweet. Warren then calmed the crowd down a bit with a cover of the Stones' Angie before ending the evening with a few more Mule tracks. A great set for what will likely be their only gig for 2011.




Top the night off with a Late Night Set with Umphrey's McGee and it just doesn't get a whole lot better than this. Joining Umph on their 3 hour tour was John Oates for a few tracks, Zach Deputy, and they even pulled off a switch between Ryan Stasik (bass) and the bass player from The New Deal who were also playing a Late Night Set over in Colonel's Hall. Well done.



Sunday. Day 4 and still more on the menu. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals pulled off another high energy stage show which the crowd (and especially the males) absolutely loved. Finally headlining the night was Jim James' My Morning Jacket. This is one band that you have to see live. Jim was all over the stage, a rolling ball of energy creating a huge stage presence. Loved it.




Finally, I leave you with the people of Mountain Jam. Equally as entertaining as the bands themselves. Enjoy.

MTN Jam boots

GOV'T MULE: Warren Haynes, MULE with John Medeski, Mule with Karl Denson
It doesn't take long before the tapers throw up their shows for the world to download. Here are the GOV'T MULE shows from Friday and Saturday nights - a total of 6 hours of music. Enjoy.

Gov't Mule May 29, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 29, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Kind Of Bird 02. Game Face 03. I Believe To My Soul 04. Banks Of The Deep End 05. I Think You Know What I Mean> 06. When The Levee Breaks> 07. I Think You Know What I Mean 08. Slackjaw Jezebel 09. Thorazine Shuffle disc 2 (set 2): 01. Lucky 02. Trane>3rd Stone Jam>Eternity's Breath Jam> 03. St. Stephen Jam> 04. Larger Than Life> 05. If 6 Were 9> 06. Larger Than Life> 07. Empty Pages> 08. Drums> 09. Drums/Bass >3rd Stone Jam * disc 3 (set 2 cont>): 01. Brighter Days> 02. Like Flies 03. Mule>Who Do You Love>Superstitious>Mule 04. crowd/tuning 05. Cortez The Killer # * w/George Porter Jr. # w/Josh and Clark from Tea Leaf Green

Gov't Mule May 30, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 30, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Bad Little Doggie > 02. Brand New Angel 03. About To Rage > 04. Streamline Woman 05. When Doves Cry >Beautifully Broken >WDC >BB 06. Patchwork Quilt 07. Have Mercy On The Criminal 08. Scomule * 09. Goin' Out West > 10. Bang A Gong > 11. Goin' Out West disc 2 (set 2): 01. Morning Dew 02. When The Music's Over 03. All Along The Watchtower > # 04. Devil Likes It Slow > # disc 3 (set 2 cont.): 01. Drum Solo > 02. I'm A Ram > 03. Blindman In The Dark > # & 04. crowd/Warren Banter 05. Long As I Can See The Light * With John Medeski On Keyboard # With Karl Denson On Saxaphone & contains Ain't No Sunshine, Whole Lotta Love teases

Other Mountain Jam V recordings available for download...
Umphrey's McGee
Gomez
The Derek Trucks Band
Jackie Greene
Tea Leaf Green
...and many more

Cheers to all the bootleggers and tapers out there! Living way up here in Canada these boots are often the closest we can get to "being" there.

Mountain Jam Festival V

Mountain Jam Festival V
Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge
Catskills, NY
Google map
Festival schedule

This year my buddy Steve and I decided to check out a spring time music festival. Our options were, Summer Camp, Bonnaroo, or Mountain Jam, and after looking at locations and line-ups we settled on Mountain Jam hands down. Located only 6 1/2 hours from Ottawa in the heart of the Catskills it was by far the nearest to home and with the addition of a 3rd night of music to help celebrate The Allman Brothers Band 40th anniversary it was a done deal.

Included in this year's 30 band line-up for Mountain Jam was Umphrey's McGee, The Derek Trucks Band, Gomez, Gene Ween Band, Tea Leaf Green, Richie Havens, John Medeski, Marco Benevento Trio, Alberta Cross, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. And of course the hosts of the event, Gov't Mule, would be playing two shows at 3 hours a night.

Our trip started Thursday night as we figured we'd be too pumped to sleep a few hours as originally planned. We wolfed down a couple of slices of Panormous pizza with my family and then packed up and left. By 7:30 we'd crossed the border and were greeted by a slow moving beaver as it made its way across the highway. (And I thought all beavers were Canadian, eh.)

We made it as far as Utica before deciding to jump off the toll road and catch the end of the band opening up the Saranac Thursday concert series. As luck would have it though the gig had just ended so we stretched legs while I had a pint with the local university kids. Back on the road we took a more direct route to our evening's destination - the Cobleskill Wal-Mart Superstore. Yep, you heard right. Tonight we would be sleeping in the glow of a Wal-Mart parking lot.

The next morning we were rested (but still pumped) as we loaded up with food and beverages before driving the last hour to Hunter, NY. The sun was out (it poured on and off our entire trip so far) and the scenery was breathtaking. Welcome to the Catskills.

Zoom zoom zoom we were through the gates to the Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge and parking up in our VIP section. Ahhh, VIP. Our decision to purchase VIP tickets was definitely the right call (cheers to Mic on that one). We had prime parking, an excellent camping area, VIP only showers, loads of free food, cheap beer, our own lounge area on the concert hillside, and best of all our own front row center stage viewing area. Sweet.

Though we'd both packed for rain, the weekend weather proved to be stupendous - sunny and warm during the day and cool at nights. Overall the event itself was extremely well set up. Security was present at all times (including some troopers), people were happy and friendly, plenty of food options, and the location was... well in the Catskills. All that said, I've only ever been to one other weekend music festival, moe.down, and in comparison moe.down was definitely more rustic. Add showers and flush toilets and any camping festival scene starts to feel like a 5-star.

Here are a few of the photos from Mountain Jam.

[Left to Right: Alberta Cross, Porter, Baptiste, Stoltz, Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule), Gomez, The Gene Ween Band, Richie Havens, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Umphrey's McGee, Jake Cinninger and Warren Haynes, The Allman Brothers Band (Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks), Haynes and Trucks, Warren Haynes]



The last photo deserves a short story... Friday night between Gov't Mule sets Steve and I got separated. Not a problem. Later that evening around 3am Steve came back to the tent and woke me with some crazy story about stumbling across Warren Haynes on a golf cart, stopping the cart, and getting a picture of himself with Warren. I nearly burnt my retina out staring at the pic in a foggy stuper. It was true and I missed the whole encounter. Damn.

The next night Steve packed it in early and I wandered the grounds checking out the late shows. Around 2:30am I was making my way back to the tent when I spotted this guy walking alone up the stairs from the lodge. Sure enough it was Warren and there was no way he was getting past me without a photo. As a side note, I was so surprised by the chance meeting that I started rambling like a freakin' school girl. I think I used the word "awesome" about 20 times.


And yes, when I got back to the tent I immediately woke Steve to show off my new pic. Awesome.