“Hey, would
anyone think I was weird if I stretched right here?”
asked Ed.
The two
of us looked at him funny for a second.
“Nah,
you can do whatever you want,” I said. “I really
don’t think anyone cares.”
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We were standing
in a half-hour line for our free lunch in the VIP tent
at the Gathering of the Vibes. Ed was our newfound friend,
who happened to be doing his afternoon stretches at
lunch. In his young 20’s, vibrant and amiable,
Ed was one of the many to cross our path, especially
as we promoted our band all weekend long by giving out
3000 colorful flyers.The Gathering of the Vibes is,
in many ways, self-explanatory. The crowd is docile
and friendly, the music is laid back, and enjoying a
weekend could never be easier.
This particular festival is doused in liquid love for
the Grateful Dead, and this year was the 10th anniversary
of Jerry’s death. The two headliners were Bob
Weir with Ratdog (who fought hard through the rain)
and the Dark Star Orchestra, a Dead cover band that
can recreate a Dead show like no other.
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We were camping with VIP
passes we’d won, and most of our VIP neighbors were
middle-aged Deadheads, who were genuinely glad to be reminiscing
about their favorite band. They even shared their beer with
us after we had our case of Heineken taken at the gate (don’t
bring glass to a festival!!!).
You don’t need to
be a Deadhead to enjoy the tunes or the Vibes, though it certainly
helps. This is a small, boutique festival of only a few thousand
people (we estimated 5-6000). It took place from August 12-14,
2005 at the Indian Lookout Country Club of Mariaville, NY,
just west of Albany.
There were two stages
spread far enough to draw separate crowds, but certainly
within earshot of one another. The music was virtually
constant - so as to please the field wanderers - and
it was never disappointing.
While people know and love artists like Keller Williams,
Deep Banana Blackout, Jazz Mandolin Project, John Brown’s
Body, and the New Deal, the Vibes also featured up-and-coming
acts like the violin-centric rock band Zox (whose cover
of Helter Skelter was a crowd favorite), and Burlington’s
most recent popular jam act, RAQ. The Zen Tricksters
opened the festival with high-energy rock. Medeski,
Martin and Wood closed it with a little help from guitar
aficionado John Scofield.
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Some of the other young
acts worth noting: The Depth Quartet, Jonah Smith, Railroad
Earth, and Assembly of Dust. It’s always difficult to
see all the acts a festival has to offer, but these artists
were invited because of their musicality and enthusiasm as
well as their genuine effort in adding to the Vibes.
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The
crowd was diverse. Middle-aged and old-aged Deadheads
mixed with throngs of young music lovers and nomadic
hippies. You can strike up a conversation with anyone,
and people who attend the Vibes always feel a sense
of privileged connection with one another, though many
of the festival-goers are characters likely to never
be seen again.
We met one fellow
who told us of his never-ending journey across the nation,
getting into shows any way he could. He said he’d
recently won a bare-knuckle boxing match. He then went
on to try and sell us his $40 wallet rope chain. It
took him 3 hours to make that rope chain, and it was
his livelihood.
Another crazy hippie
took a bunch of flyers and started darting in and out
of the crowd screaming, “Take a fucking flyer!
You want a fucking flyer?!?” We got out of his
way as fast as we could. While the Vibes is surfeit
with genuine, music-loving souls, it’s impossible
to have a hippie festival without a few wild characters.
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The role of Vibes security
has traditionally been filled by the staff of Indian Lookout
Country Club, and as intimidating as they are, they can also
be very friendly. They even invited our band to come play
a gig at their local biker bar. It is actually somewhat comforting
to know that a tattooed biker is watching your back.
One thing is for
certain: there’s never a shortage of interesting
folk, and handing out flyers just becomes an excuse
to meet and converse with different people. By the end
of the festival, it became humorous and fun. Nearly
half the people we offered a flyer to had already gotten
one. The question was still in our minds: did this promotion
even do anything for our band?
Three weeks later we had a show in Syracuse. We were
pleasantly surprised to see our dear friend Ed from
the VIP tent at the bar. He showed up to support the
music. This is why the Gathering of the Vibes is such
an amazing experience. It’s small enough to become
very personal and intimate, but big enough to make musical
history. On the 10th Anniversary of Jerry’s death,
there’s no better way to describe it. |
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