Summer Camp Music Festival 2023 - Friday Recap
Friday began in earnest at Summer Camp Festival with the arrival of the bulk of its attendees as the morning went on. Over the course of nearly 15 hours, I saw a wide variety of different music – some for the first time, some for the 35th – all of it performed with great joy and energy.
I began the day with Goose’s soundcheck around noon – not advertised on the schedule, but due to the open nature of the festival grounds, one could just wander up to the stage while they practiced. The quintet treated the small group of attendees to nearly 40 minutes of jamming, the first part in a gorgeous major-key motif and the second taking on a funkier tone with excellent dual-guitar work. A quick run through “Atlas” closed out the intimate hour of music as the band bid everyone farewell.
Walking across the grounds to the Moonshine stage just in time to catch Umphrey’s McGee, the sextet’s first performance of the weekend contained some excellent improvisation in “Pure Saturation,” “Draconian,” and “Puppet String.” The band also welcomed up vocalist Kanika Moore for an excellent rendition of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” in tribute to the late singer. With lots more UM on the horizon for today and tomorrow, I hold out hope for a big Attachments…
Next up was Organ Fairchild in the Illumination Woods. Having seen the trio already on Thursday, I was super excited for another dose of their groovy improvisation. Unlike in the Soulshine tent on Thursday, the keyboards were loud in the mix, allowing me to truly appreciate the keyboardist’s insane skill at covering the bass with his left hand while ripping organ and piano solos with his right.
Aqueous played at Starshine after that, treating the audience to a single-song set – one hour of improvisation. While I have heard lots of amazing things about this band in the past, this was my first opportunity to see them – and they did not disappoint. The Buffalo natives passed through a variety of modes and moods throughout the 60-minute song, keeping the crowd engaged in the hot sun.
After a rest at our campsite, I caught the second half of Doom Flamingo at the Sunshine stage. I had gotten an inkling of what Kanika Moore’s voice was like during her Umphrey’s sit in, but I was absolutely blown away by her passionate and fiery performance with Doom. While it’s not generally my first choice of genre, I really enjoyed their cover of “Mad World” and the impressive display of musicianship from all members.
Getting situated on the soundboard rail in anticipation of Goose’s two-set performance next, I was AMPED to see one of my favourite bands for the 17th time this year. Coming on stage just after 7:30, the quintet launched right into an upbeat “Turbulence & The Night Rays,” setting the tone for what would be a fiery evening of music. “California Magic” continued the energy with some atypical jazzy builds from guitarist Rick Mitarotonda during his solo.
The first extended improv of the night came during the “Echo of a Rose,” and saw the band drive forcefully through a minor-key zone to a series of excellent peaks. While this has become fairly common for a 15-minute first set “Echo,” Goose had me leaping in the air with each successive build. “Silver Rising” offered the crowd a glimpse into the more emotive side of Mitarotonda’s songwriting before the set closed with a romp through “Animal.”
After the mandatory one-hour setbreak while moe. played their first set over on the Moonshine stage, Goose returned and ripped directly into an incendiary “Thatch.” Not that this song is capable of being anything other than incendiary, but this one, much like the versions from spring tour, continued to build on the paths laid previously in “Thatch” to further expand its jamming capabilities. A laser-focused groove from the rhythm section developed as multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach layered in piano and clav to counterpoint Mitarotonda’s sharp chord work.
Drummer Ben Atkind laid into his punchy popcorn snare to give the jam even more bite as the intensity grew around a grimy riff introduced by Anspach. Peak after peak after peak flowed over the crowd as lighting director Andrew Goedde utilized his new spinning towers behind the band to great effect. A quick guitar malfunction right as the band was about to drop into the ending of the song resulted in an extra bit of jamming – Anspach quickly hopped in the driver’s seat and steered the band into a brief major-key foray as Mitarotonda sorted out his gear. I immediately #HastyRanked this as the new GOAT “Thatch,” but we’ll have to see if that holds up on tape…
Tapping radio favourite “Hungersite” next, the festival crowd went wild for the song and ensuing jam, following the path of recent renditions into a straight-ahead rock and roll FIRE jam. Anspach’s piano and bassist Trevor Weekz’ runs were the stars of this segment as they once again hit peak after peak. Fading into “Seekers on the Ridge,” Anspach introduced a new layered piano sound to the song that had a subtle layer of synth underneath. Percussionist Jeff Arevalo seemed to hit his stride here, absolutely going NUTS on his drum kit as Mitarotonda lit up the crowd with more fretboard fireworks.
Arevalo was busier than normal during the ensuing “Creatures” as well, offering strong fills and counterpoints to Atkind’s steady beat. Eye on the clock, the band kept the Vintage Vibe jam short, opting instead to rip a quick and filthy “Madhuvan” to close. Anspach stuck to guitar for the duration of this song for the first time since 2022, opening up his arsenal of effects to dazzle the crowd with lots of weird noises before the screaming peak took us out.
While many in the crowd were familiar with Goose, I met numerous people yesterday who were seeing their first show – one guy next to us was absolutely losing his mind with excitement during “Thatch” – a natural response to that song.
After Goose, we headed up to Moonshine to catch the second set of moe. I had seen them play once before as the opening act for Dave Matthews Band in 2013, and needless to say this was a very different experience. Recent addition to the band Nate Wilson on keyboards wowed me with soaring Moog synthesizer work through their set.
Late-night Eggy in the VIP lounge was next on the schedule, and the Connecticut quartet did not disappoint with a jam-heavy 90-minute set highlighted by an incredible “Shadow” > “Chest Fever” > “Shadow.” Bands from CT were my winners of last night for SURE! Eggy returns to the festival tomorrow afternoon where I am hoping to see keyboardist Dani Battat utilize his real organ – the small VIP stage couldn’t fit it.
Before heading off to bed, I hit the Soulshine tent to enjoy the beginning of Organ Fairchild’s Dead set. Augmenting their lineup with special guests including members of Lotus and moe., they delivered a great and upbeat performance that included “Cold Rain and Snow” and “Hey Pocky Way.” While I really wanted to stay for the entire set, I knew I needed to head to bed around 3am in order to be functional for a full day of festival-ing today.
Saturday is jam-packed with more amazing artists like Melt, Dogs in a Pile, Cory Wong, and the mysterious collaborative Umphrey’s/moe. set – check back here tomorrow for my recap of it all!