“Major” music news outlets over the past few days have illustrated that they are more interested in click-bait articles based on controversial ideas, “artists” (and I used that term loosely), and their questionable actions than telling you what is actually going on, new, and worthy of your ears in music.
My health forced me to slow my work with my blog and I genuinely had not realized how much I needed it…and apparently so did everyone else. What in the world are these journalists writing about? They are not concerned with promoting good music, getting people out for live music, or helping grow the scenes we have loved to be a part of and given so much of ourselves to. They want clicks. That has NEVER been what I was all about in my work, and I just remembered why.
This has reinvigorated the hell out of me. A Perfect Mess is back in full swing starting today with an album review of what is new fromLotus, tour announcements fromMagic Beans, and some local NYC area show announcements.
Festivals are a wonderful experience that really needs to be lived to be appreciated. This blog has spent many years coming and going to all sorts of fests in the Northeast and enjoying the energy that takes over the site each time one sets down its roots for one. It’s always been a favorite activity for us that we would look forward to every year the moment the first mention of “festival season” was uttered. Unfortunately, being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis put a wrench right in that plan for me and changed my summers as a music journalist forever. It took a few years to get my footing as a disabled festival goer, but I was given the opportunity this year to take that plunge at the first Catbird Music Festival in Bethel, NY. I cannot say enough how much I loved this gorgeous fest.
As someone who has grown up watching the Woodstock film and obsessing over its history and folklore, getting the opportunity to visit a festival like Catbird was an absolute privilege. There was magic in the air that weekend, and it was palpable the moment you drove into the long driveway that leads to Bethel Woods. If you have not attended a show here, I highly recommend it. The grounds are not only beautiful with their rolling hills and expertly designed facility, but it is truly meticulously maintained. The historic home to the original Woodstock festival in 1969, history and preservation are of major importance to this facility and it’s evident in every inch of the property. The entire facility was designed to be a part of the landscape rather than change the landscape to suit its needs. It’s all built into the land and rolls with it.
While I was absolutely confused as to where I was supposed to be parking with my handicapped permit, the staff on hand helping with the parking aspect of the festival were kind and friendly. I didn’t encounter a single staff member while I was there who was anything outside of helpful and smiling. That’s not easy in a crowd of people. I was herded to the right spot and took my place among the other cars with their dangling placards. There was even a shuttle service on hand in the parking lot for handicapped patrons which I did not make use of, but was happy to see regardless. It was conveniently located very near where I was sent to park.
Entering the fest was a breeze. I was issued a wristband with a chip inside so that I could scan in and out of the festival. Being that this is a weekend event, it was made easy for folks to be able to come and go as they needed to with this kind of technology. Bags were checked quickly and thoroughly without issue, and we were in!
There were two stages set up, one at the top field which you see upon entering the concert facility, and the other in the arena itself. I like the main stage/side stage set up as it allows some separation between acts and gives you the opportunity to move through the festival instead of having to keep to one space for the entire weekend in order to enjoy the music. The field around the second stage had hammocks and plenty of space for folks to spread out with blankets if they so desired.
As I walked down towards the main stage, I was loving the fact that this location allows you to really spread out and just BE. There were people sitting on rocks and in the grass and on hills all around the center. Under shady trees there was always a few people gathered. I also loved how many kids there were at Catbird! SO MANY KIDS! Babies all the way up to teens were with their families across the main lawn, playing corn hole or dancing. Some were just sitting together on blankets and enjoying the music. It was a truly lovely vibe across the entire festival that families could come and enjoy this music together and that made for an even more gorgeous weekend. Kids 10 and under were free to enter the festival as long as they were with a ticketed adult – what a wonderful thing for families! There is nothing better than being able to bring your kids to enjoy a festival of wonderful live music, and Catbird made that possible.
Having watch the Woodstock film more times than I have probably watched the backs of my eyelids, it was really cool to see all the camping set up around the festival as well. The rolling hills around the center have not changed too much and it made it easy to spot the different camping set ups around Bethel Woods. The property itself is enormous and they did a wonderful job spreading everything out so that nothing felt cramped. We have covered some festivals with very jumbled camping in the past, so this was a nice thing to see. And really, it was just so pretty!
I do have to say that there is a LOT of walking required to navigate Bethel Woods. As a disabled person who walks with a cane, this was a challenge, but nothing that could not be handled with some patience. Thankfully things were never really crowded anywhere thanks to the expansive facility that it is so for me, it was simply a matter of taking frequent breaks. There are a lot of benches and places to sit around the center which was immensely helpful. There is also a lot of staff around to assist if you had any questions or ran into an unexpected issue. That was a relief!
One thing I saw that I really loved was that people were carrying plastic bags and collecting cans from around the center. At first I was not sure what this was all about, but it was nice to see! On my next walk, I came across the tent for Rock and Recycle. This bunch of fantastic folks encourages attendees to fill a bag with cans for recycling and trades the full bag for a festival shirt! What a great idea! It keeps the discarded cans off the ground and out of the landfills which serves a global purpose while keeping the beautiful grounds impeccable. I hope to see more and more of this!
It goes without saying that the music this whole weekend was amazing with sets by artists like Trey Anstasio Band, Dispatch, Charley Crockett, Amos Lee, Margo Price, Tyler Childers, and so many more. A huge highlight for me was Trampled By Turtles who I had never seen but absolutely LOVED. Their energy was simply infectious and bounced right off the crowd with so much enthusiasm! Clearly I was not alone in that as I saw fans running to see them as their set began! I also loved finally getting to see Band of Horses who I have enjoyed for over a decade. I count “Laredo” as one of my favorite songs and getting to see it done live in such a gorgeous setting was pure magic. I hiked to the top of the lawn and watched them with a crowd of dancing families and it was such a treat.
I also was surprised by how much I enjoyed 49 Winchester over on the Gala Music Stage, for no other reason than that I had never heard them before and was treated to their music upon entering the festival right away! Their live set was a real treat with a lot of emotion and energy – I was truly transported. I have heard them called country, but I feel like their sound is a fresh feel of soulful Americana with classic mountain vibe. I definitely walked away wanting to hear more. Much love to them for a great set!
From the standpoint of accessibility, I have to give Catbird huge props for making sure that ALL fans had an enjoyable and safe experience at their festival all weekend. Entry was easy and moved smoothly, restrooms were clean and very easy to access for everyone regardless of ability, and the grounds were set in such a way that despite the excessive walking required, there was ample space to stop and take a breath if you needed to. At no point in time did I ever feel slighted or not welcome here and that was truly a wonderful feeling. This is a festival that really, genuinely understands what it means to have accessibility and inclusivity for ALL fans. While I did encounter some struggles this weekend with my ability to enjoy things as much as I wanted to (multiple sclerosis is a jerk), that had nothing to do with Catbird or Bethel Woods and they made every possible arrangement for fans like me to be able to enjoy as much as we could. They truly rank highly for me as a welcoming place for any fan.
This was the first Catbird festival and I really hope they will be back at Bethel Woods again next year because I have every intention of being there again. This is a festival for ALL fans, young and old, and I would love to see it be an annual event.
The Catbird Festival will be coming for their first go on the original concert grounds of the historic Woodstock Music and Arts Festival on August 19th and 20th. Now part of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the original grounds have been lovingly kept and maintained for visitors to come and visit for many years. The center itself has it’s own separate concert pavilion, keeping the original concert field as a memorial to the festival that brought hundreds of thousands of music lovers to the fields once owned by Max Yasgur back in 1969. Catbird will be the first festival to bring music and camping back to the grounds.
SCHEDULE: With two stages of music, Catbird is bringing a list of jam and indie artists for all kinds of tastes in a truly special environment. Attendees can check out The Lumineers, Band of Horses, Trampled By Turtles, Dispatch, The Trey Anastasio Band, and Tyler Childers, just to name a few. The fest has released their schedules for both days on their website, and you can check them out right here:
MUSEUM: In addition to music, the festival will allow (for a fee) attendees to stop by the Museum At Bethel Woods to check out the wonderful preservation work on the music and times of the original Woodstock festival. A favorite place of mine, the museum showcases not just the unique weekend at Bethel, NY in 1969, but also the historic significance of that time in history and what was happening all over the country to inspire so many to travel for such an important event. There are interactive exhibits and immersive experiences throughout. It’s a truly lovely place to visit to really feel the spirit of Woodstock.
FOOD AND LODGING: The Catbird Festival offers a variety of food vendors to fit all sorts of tastes with items like tacos, calzones, and seafood. The camping offered this year has several options for festival goers from car camping, tent camping, RV options with and without hookups, and even a “glamping” option for those who need a little extra pampering. The camping passes start at just $99 and are still available at this time. There are some lodging options in the area, but it looks like most of those have been snatched up by attendees as of today. There are a handful of options still taking reservations in nearby Liberty and Monticello last I checked.
TICKETS: Tickets for the Catbird festival are still available with one ($145) and two day ($205) options for General Admission. There are also some Plus, VIP, and Platinum options available as well with extras like access to special lounges, lockers, and a dedicated concierge services. Parking is included in all ticket prices, regardless of tier, though there is a Premier Parking option available starting at $70 which gives access to the lot immediately opposite the entrance.
ACCESSIBILITY: Accessibility features at this festival so far are outstanding. In addition to reserved handicapped parking (as long as you have the necessary state issued placard/plates) and accessible entrances to the festival, there will be an on site Accessibility Services Hub for patrons who might need to stop in for additional assistance or information. There are also accessible camping options and if needed, patrons can reach out to access@catbirdmusicfestival.com after their tickets and passes are secured. In addition, those patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing will see that the schedule specifies which artists will have ASL translation ready to go. Just look for the hands in the bottom right corner of the artist listing.
That’s the preview, folks! A Perfect Mess is BEYOND excited for this festival. We will be on hand at the grounds to provide up to the minute coverage and updates on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Threads, and we cannot wait to bring you all the excitement of the first Catbird Festival!
In the summer of 1969, thousands upon thousands of people descended on the gorgeous area of Bethel, NY and found themselves on the farm of Max and Mirium Yasgur. They were meeting up with like minded souls for four days of music and peace. What they found in those rolling hills, lakes, and trees was exactly that with a special kind of welcoming that is hard to explain unless you feel it for yourself. There is something in the ground in this area. A divine energy full of vitality, soul, and peace that permeates everything and everyone who stops to feel it. It’s palpable the moment you take off your shoes and walk around. Something becomes a part of you and it never leaves. You find yourself wanting it to be a part of you every year – and I say that from experience! For many years after the original festival took place, attendees returned annually to feel that vitality and meet up with friends they connected with that summer weekend. The feeling and that kinship was something that folks have long wanted to keep alive, and it’s been being kept alive in the best possible way over at Yasgur Road.
Yes, we know that Bethel Woods is here, and I heartily suggest that any visitor to the area head over to the original concert field, stand at the bottom, and take it all in. It’s a truly moving experience. It’s like you can hear the roar of the crowd in the wind that carries across the field. There is often a peace sign lovingly mowed into the grass, and things are so well maintained. But it’s a part of a large venue now and not a place that you can come, camp, and feel kinship with others. Fear not, friends, as that is something being cultivated a few miles up 17B at Yasgur Road. In addition to hosting campers for most major events at Bethel Woods, they also host many of their own events on their gorgeous farmland and amazing wooded camping areas. The best event of the year is their annual celebration of the reason so many people still take a pilgrimage to this area – Yasgur Road Productions annual Yasgur Road Reunion. It takes place the on the anniversary of the original festival every August and is a great way to commemorate the true meaning of Woodstock with peace, love, and music. This year, the Reunion will be taking place Thursday August 10th through Sunday August 13th and celebrating an incredible 54 years of Woodstock.
The bands on the lineup include ShwizZ, PEAK, Forbidden Fruit, Mums the Word, Gypsy Funk Squad, Sistermonk, and so many more. There is a fantastic covered stage area, great woods camping, facilities with plumbing, vendors, art, and a wonderful and truly welcoming festival atmosphere that simply can’t be beat. We have been covering festivals for many years at A Perfect Mess and this has become our favorite, three years running. So many fests seek to bring the spirit of Woodstock to what they create but none do it better than the original. We cannot recommend enough that you gather your favorite souls, head on up the country and dance to the music at Yasgur Road Reunion. You will not regret it!
This is one of the most affordable summer festivals you will find this year so if you are steering clear of some of the usuals because prices are up, this is the destination for you! Tickets for the event are available now and start at $89 for Friday through Sunday GA, including camping. There are also RV options available with and without hookups at the site and an early entry option for those who want to come and get things started on Thursday. For those like myself who are very concerned about accessibility at a festival, there is handicapped camping at no additional charge. This means a lot to us here at APM!
Please keep an eye to the web page at www.yasgurroadfarms.com in addition to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/yasgurroad for updates to lineup and pricing, and make your reservations! A Perfect Mess will also keep you updated with any changes, and we truly hope to see and dance with you all!
We were drenched from head to toe, despite our thin plastic ponchos. We were cold, as the temperature had dropped into the mid 40’s with a wind that ebbed and flowed with its own prerogative. We carried nothing but my “zoo bag” purse strung across my body and a cold bag full of beer and alcoholic iced tea. We shivered as we walked through the mud, dodging puddles that swallowed whole feet and filled shoes. Under normal circumstances, we were in a situation that would have had us declaring “fuck this” and heading back to our sketchy but warm motel room in Monticello and ordering some takeout while planning an early voyage back home to our own lake in New Jersey.
But that wasn’t tonight. Tonight was special. Our dear friends in Peak had invited us to Yasgur’s Farm to see them play Yasgur Road Productions’ “May Meltdown” festival. It was not a normal festival. We have shown up for lots of festivals, but this was different. This was a legendary place. The entire area has an infectious energy that seems to come up from out of the dirt. Every single day people arrive just to feel it. But there was so much more to this evening.
Before COVID came and closed all the clubs and all the venues, before it took over our schools, our hospitals, our families and our entire lives, the last show we saw out and about in the world was Peak. We saw them play at The Bowery Electric on February 29th, 2020 and it was a wonderful, pure, and energetic evening. I look at the photos from that night and I can feel the sweat I was shedding as I danced, and I can feel the joy that I felt in that moment as I let myself be enveloped by the kind of magic that only music can conjure. For the entirety of the COVID shutdown, I thought often of that feeling and that show. The insecurity that was brought on by over a year in relative isolation, despite occasional cheat days with friends we knew were clear of COVID due to recent testing, created a haze on the joy that live music had always given me. It’s such a strange thing to think about. But anyway, our last show before the world went crazy and then shut down was Peak.
It surprises me none that our first show back would also be Peak.
I just had no idea it would be in a place I had been trying to get to my whole life.
To know me is to know that I have kind of a pervasive fascination with the Woodstock festival. My husband has on more than one occasion called it a weird obsession. He’s not totally wrong. For me, it’s like an itch. It’s an itch that no amount of watching the videos or listening to the record has ever been able to scratch for me. My parents were 19 years old in August of 1969 and in my opinion, the perfect age to understand and appreciate everything that it was, whether or not they actually did. They met in college at what was at that time Glassboro College. They both remember that weekend vividly, even though neither one of them attended the festival. They saw the feature film from Woodstock in the movies on a date. It was a highlighting of so many artists that they knew and loved and it was important to them. As a result, every single time that PBS played the film during a telethon throughout my childhood in the entirety of the 80’s, we watched it. We watched it as a family. I knew all the dialogue from beginning to end.
Much of my teenage years were spent listening to modern music that I loved but split evenly with the music my folkie parents raised me to love. Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Jefferson Airplane, Etc etc etc. I used to pick at their brains about these artists and why they loved them. What their lives were like when they first heard them. What they thought about the songs. I feel like I could just go on forever. No matter what I heard in my life, no matter what band or artists I fell in love with (and there were many), no music ever resonated with me or felt like it understood me like that. It makes perfect sense to me why I would enjoy watching Woodstock. But why is it so deep? It didn’t matter tonight. Tonight, I was here, and I was here with some of my favorite people. We had made it through all of this, and here we were.
I showed up with my husband on this rainy, cold night. We got our wrist bands from the amazing women set up in ponchos under a canopy in front of the barn proclaiming the Yasgur name. Despite how wet and cold the world was in that moment, these gals were truly an embodiment of polite joy in their duties as gatekeepers to this amazing place. It felt a genuine privilege to meet them. We moved on from that station and parked our car in the muddy field, and prepared ourselves with ponchos and umbrellas for our hike down into the woods. We made our way down through the puddles into the forest and found tents of habitation, tents of retail purpose, and it felt like festival season was just alive despite the conditions. I don’t know what food vendor it was that had the booth closest to the entrance to the woods, but their tents smelled divine. We moved on down towards the performance tent, tucked under the trees among the bravest campers I think I ever saw. The conditions were terrible for camping with temperatures well below what they should be for Memorial Day weekend in the Catskills and rain that continued to fall in buckets. But there were campsites! Tents set up with popup canopies and spots for hangouts within those woods. I couldn’t say enough that night how much I admired those folks. The energy within those trees was incredible.
I first discovered Peak in 2016 when i asked the Facebook masses for some new material to dig into. A friend and colleague, Cat Sisco, referred me to this new release from a band called Peak – a song called Barometric Pressure. I had been driving for Lyft at the time and was constantly adding to a playlist that I played while out spending hours driving. I added this song to my list and after many hours on the road became addicted to it. A couple years later, I was writing occasionally for the Jamwich magazine and I received an email from my editor. She knew I was working in midtown for a publisher and could easily check out a band having an album release show. She asked if I could go and review Peak. Of course I took the assignment and off I went. That was how I met Jeremy Hilliard and Johnny Young.
Jeremy Hilliard, the guitar and voice behind Peak, used to be in a band called Turbine. When I told my husband that evening that I was headed over to cover his show, he was excited his old colleague was off on another adventure. That night I showed up to their venue in the village and met up with Jeremy in the bar. We walked to the pizza spot across the street where Johnny and his wife, audio tech, and superhero Michelle Young were. The four of us sat down and rapped about influences, music venues, and the vibe of it all and in that moment, I knew I had met lifelong friends and amazing musicians. Their energy was infectious and sincere. These were folks who genuinely loved what they were doing. I was bummed that night that I didn’t hear ‘Barometric Pressure’, but I heard so many other songs that were exciting. I left a genuine Peak fan.
Later, Kito Bovenschulte of Particle and Josh Carter of Haley Jane and the Primates were added to the mix and the entire sound started to morph into an entirely new, amazing trip. They were the dance-funk vibe that the songs that Jeremy and Johnny had drafted were missing. Now the band was complete. And along the way, we were following. Fast forward to this past weekend…
Peak was in rare form on this particularly wet night. Not only were they back in front of an audience for the first time in well over a year, they were in truly ceremoniously Woodstock 1969 wet conditions in front of people who were feeding off their contagious energy like a festival game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Every single member of the band played with the fire of one thousand suns behind their instruments. They played a few tunes, including “Choppy Water” from their upcoming new album by the same name. Then, all of a sudden, there was “Barometric Pressure”! Yay! I might have hurt myself dancing in that moment.
Speaking of dancing, we were all in a tent in the woods with the stage. When we arrived, there were a handful of people under the tent leftover from the previous band’s set. As Peak began to move, these people started to come in from the rain. It was like beings moving towards a light in that moment and all of a sudden, our dancing numbers had doubled. Then they tripled. I am not sure what the numbers were when the set ended, but I know that with the conclusion of every song, there was more applause, whistles, and deliciously positive energy. At one point, the guys busted into the unmistakable intro to Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains The Same”. Lots of bands tease an intro like that, and that’s pretty much what I expected it to be, but it didn’t stop. They played the whole song and they KILLED it. I remember turning to Josh’s wife in the crowd just to remark that he was absolutely knocking the bass parts right out the water. I have been listening to this song my whole life and I never heard someone cover it so flawlessly, but here were these guys destroying the song in the best possible way.
Our favorite song, “Path Paved With Roses”, was the second to last tune the guys did and it was so wonderfully amped up and dancy, I am sure egged on by the energy of the crowd that just darted around that makeshift, muddy dance floor. It was amazing and dream-like the way people circled around amongst one another. The encore was their song “When The Night Comes Calling You”, which after this weekend might very well take the top spot for me. I was dancing like I can’t remember ever doing. It was energy that flowed through bodies on the floor like electricity that had left its channels and was running wild. It didn’t feel possible to be in this magical place, feeling this incredible, despite everything that had happened to us all – everything that had happened to us as a species and a nation. We felt incredibly lucky. Peak brought us back to the wonderful world of live music. They were the bookends for us, to the pandemic, and normality.
And it was here, in Bethel, where positive energy emerges from the dirt.
I don’t know what will come of the world in the wake of COVID. I can say though that bands like Peak are there to help us navigate whatever it is. They are here to bring us slowly out of despair and isolation and back into the magic that is the energy of live music. To have been in such a magical place with a band that understands how to not only capture that vibe but encapsulate and hand it to their audience felt like a delicious privilege that I don’t really yet know how to file in my heart the right way. All I know is that I feel so lucky to have been there, dancing my ass off, and feeling it all in that moment in that wonderful place. That night my body more or less gave out from it all, and I didn’t even care. I was somewhere magical with some of the most wonderful people.
I look forward to dancing with you all as soon as possible. See you out there, friends…
