Photo by Ian Rawn via @playindeadphoto
Sweetwater 420 made its return this weekend marking the first time the Atlanta gathering has taken place since 2019. After a weekend of collaborations and bust-outs from the most revered names in the jamband scene, day and the night, Oysterhead performed – closing out the festival in spectacular fashion.
Performances by the supergroup – comprised of Trey Anastasio, Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland – long been considered a delicacy and a rarity, have slowly been returning to the limelight: Their last tour was in 2001, they had an appearance at Bonnaroo in 2006, and performed only three sets since; a two night stand in Colorado in 2020 and Peach Festival in 2021.
Oysterhead kicked their set off with the eponymous “Mr. Oysterhead” and moved through their shortlist of original songs. They played “Oz Is Ever Floating,” “Rubberneck Lions” before moving through the vivid lyrics found on “Little Faces.” Next came the title track of their 2001 album The Grand Pecking Order which was followed by “Polka Dot Rose” and “Army’s on Ecstasy” with its high octane bass funk riffs. After “Shadow of a Man” the trio performed their only cover of the night, “First Tube” which gave fans a unique understanding of the song as the previous evening Anastasio performed the song with his other project the Trey Anastasio Band.
It’s also notable that the Trey Anastasio Band closed their set–which was lush with Phish covers and Anastasio originals–with “Carini,” bookending Phish’s recent New York City run which launched their four-night stint at Madison Square Garden. The show also featured the new lineup for the group which welcomed bassist Dezron Douglas and include James Casey despite his ongoing cancer treatment, he wrote on Twitter “Yesterday was fun,” the next morning.
Other special collaborations fans enjoyed from the weekend included Jon Shaw playing bass with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and Doom Flamingo’s Kanika Moore sitting in with bandmate Ryan Stasik with Umphrey’s McGee. Headliners Umphrey’s McGee and The String Cheese Incident played afternoon and evening sets and welcomed many guests on stage during their performances. Furthermore, during the festivities, Doom Flamingo performed a set completely dedicated to Queen and indie-jamband Goose performed in one of their largest crowds to date.
Oysterhead’s set concluded with another song off of 2001’s The Grand Pecking Order, “Owner of the World.” After much applause and jubilation surrounded by the Atlanta skyline, the band returned to the stage and Anastasio admitted to the crowd that he believed Copeland was the greatest drummer in the world back in high school and he feels he still is before encoring with “Pseudo Suicide.”
See some highlights from artist’s instagrams below:
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Oysterhead
SweetWater 420 Festival – Atlanta
May 1, 2022
Mr. Oysterhead, Oz Is Ever Floating, Rubberneck Lions, Little Faces, The Grand Pecking Order, Polka Dot Rose, Army’s on Ecstasy, Shadow of a Man, First Tube, Owner of the World
Enc.: Pseudo Suicide
Trey Anastasio Band
SweetWater 420 Festival – Atlanta
April 30, 2022
Set I: Money, Love and Change (Trey Anastasio song), Olivia (Trey Anastasio song), The Moma Dance (Phish cover) (>) Mozambique (Trey Anastasio song) (>) Valentine (Trey Anastasio song) Blaze On (Phish cover), Alive Again (Trey Anastasio song) (>), I Never Needed You Like This Before (Trey Anastasio song), Dark and Down(Trey Anastasio song), Night Speaks to a Woman (Trey Anastasio song), Sand (Phish cover)
Set II: Set Your Soul Free, Simple Twist Up Dave (Trey Anastasio song), No Men in No Man’s Land (Phish cover) (>) Cayman Review (Trey Anastasio song) (>), A Life Beyond the Dream (Phish cover), 46 Days (Phish cover), Everything’s Right (Phish cover), Ghost (Phish cover) (>) First Tube (Phish cover), Push On ‘Til the Day (Trey Anastasio song)
Enc.: Carini (Phish cover)
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