Gathering
of
the
Vibes
20
Anniversary
th
July 30 - Aug 2
The String Cheese Incident featuring David Grisman and Peter Rowan
Written by Marc Lovely
Photos by Sean Casini | Isaac Nines Photography
F
or two solid decades the Gathering of the
Vibes has been a hot spot for music enthusiasts, blending love, family, art, and music
all into one remarkable weekend that is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Garcia.
While it is almost hard to believe that this marked
the 20th anniversary of the festival, the music and
memories pile up in endless columns in your mind,
bringing you back through the years.
This monstrous festival was born back in 1996,
a year after the passing of Jerry Garcia, to local
businessman Ken Hays and promoter Bob Kennedy on the campus of SUNY Purchase. Skip ahead
to present day and you can see just how much has
changed. From the venues, to the people, to the music, the Vibes has evolved into a carnival-like waterfront paradise where you can easily lose yourself.
For 10 years straight Seaside Park in Bridgeport,
CT has been the home for Vibes.
Each year the Vibes crew pull together a surefire group of musicians that stop at nothing to melt
the faces of the attendees. Many are first-timers to
the scene, but you have to give credit to the bands
that were there for the festival’s inauguration: Max
Creek and Strangefolk. It would be negligent not
to mention Deep Banana Blackout who has been to
20 • CIDER MAG • cidermag.com
every single Vibes excluding the first.
Besides the history behind it, you can always be
sure that some great collaboration will be thrown
into the mix—some kind of new twist on old, familiar songs. This year there were a few that stand
out—most notably, Warren Haynes & the Seaside
All-Stars.
Haynes, alongside George Porter Jr., Jackie
Greene, Branford Marsalis, Joe Russo, and Marco Benevento merged together to form this super
group and what they did with their time slot could
not get any closer to perfection. The band blasted
through a plethora of unbelievable covers, taking
bits from all corners of the music world. Bob Dylan,
Radiohead, Dr. John, Traffic, and The Meters were
all covered and were just a modicum of examples of
the versatility that this group displayed.
The String Cheese Incident summoned Peter
Rowan and David Grisman to join in their first of
two sets on Friday night, which included a number of classic Old and In the Way tunes that would
have made Jerry himself smile. The pairing of these
greats hit everyone with a warm bucket of nostalgia, dousing the night with a bluegrass set that was
warm and fuzzy. The familiar twang of the banjo,
alongside Rowan’s acoustic guitar and Grisman’s fi-
Winter • 2015