Peach Festival Review
Aug 11-14, 2016, Montage Mountain, Scranton, PA
Written by Kaylee Zielinski
Photos by Shannon Greaver
Peach returned for its 4th year on Montage Mountain and while the weather was a little bit of a wash, the epic tunes played on as much as they could. The weather was extremely temperamental, and many past Peach attendee’s were in disbelief about the how chaotic the storms were. Luckily, weather did not impact the music as much as one would expect and only a few acts were cut short with music raging on!
Cabinet kicked off the festival with a bang, as they usually do, with their first set on Thursday. The weather started picking up following their set and Dark Star Orchestra only played a few songs before an announcement was made to take shelter due to a big storm. The delay lasted around 2 hours and patrons were getting antsy to hear some music. Many were leaving and retiring for the night when all of sudden, you could hear DSO bust out with Shakedown Street, calling in the army of attendee’s to come dance. The set raged on and under the pavilion was packed. Man Smart (Woman Smarter), a killer China Cat into I Know You Rider and a beautiful Stella Blue were the highlights of the set. Unfortunately, Dopapod’s set was canceled leaving many disappointed. DSO breathed life back in Thursday night and Electron kept the energy going by opening up their set with an incredible Fearless.
String Cheese Incident
Daytime sets on Friday began with Zach Deputy, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and The Pimps of Joytime. This was one of the biggest nights of Peach because of the Gregg Allman Brother Incident but due to unforeseen circumstances, Gregg Allman had canceled the rest of his tour which included Peach. Peach did not disappoint and replaced the set with The Allman Brothers Family Incident – a special set with Allman Brothers Band members Butch Trucks, Jaimoe, Oteil Burbridge and Marc Quinones. Members of Gregg’s current band including Bruce Katz and Scott Sharrard were also on stage. That night The Werks graduated from the Grove stage to the Mushroom and had one helluva performance. The Werks rocked a super long, funky jam sesh and the crowd did not stop moving – totally worth missing SCI as they had conflicting set times. moe. concluded the evening with a Pink Floyd tribute set playing songs like Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Breathe, Have a Cigar and their own rendition of Meat. Consider the Source closed out the music on the Grove stage and played an amazing cover of Radiohead.
The Werks
Saturday was a mess with the weather but Peach tried to continue the music as best they could given the tumultuous conditions. The sporadic downpour first affected the Lennon Claypol Delirium which despite rain, was such an amazing treat. Pink Floyd seemed to be a reoccuring theme as LCD opened with Astronomy Domine. A few King Crimson songs were played along with a kickass Heart of the Sunrise by Yes. The quirky chemistry between Lennon and Claypol was undeniable and the two vibed seamlessly together. The show was cut short due to extreme lightening and then a massive downpour ensued for a few hours prolonging the explosion of Trey Anastasio Band. TAB played some Phish songs like Magilla, Gotta Jibboo, and Sand while Jennifer Harstwick belted out an amazing Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz. The true stars of Peach were Umphrey’s who put on a hell of a show despite the rain and lightening. They played for a solid two hours and encored with Kitchen and finished Puppet Strings from earlier in the set.
The traditional Wake Up with Warren Haynes continued this year before the Rich Robinson Band and eventfully there was an all star cast combining forces for the Gov’t Mule encore. Gov’t Mule opened with some classics like “Mule” and “Thorazine Shuffle”. The guest spot action began when Warren welcomed Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson out to throw in on to the Crowes’ classic “Sometimes Salvation.” The main set ended with a “Rocking Horse” into “Blind Man In The Dark. When Mule returned for the encore they were joined by Charlie Starr, Brit Turner and Brandon Still of Blackberry Smoke. Gov’t Mule said farewell and ended the Peach Fest with a pair of Allman Brothers Band covers. Starr, Turner and Oteil Burbridge added to “Dreams,” while Starr and Turner contributed to the first and only other Mule “Whipping Post” since New Year’s Eve.
