When the setting is working, the music already has an advantage. While a few times it might have been needed because if you throw us all together in a small casino, shenanigans might be prioritized over sleep [2], there still were some incredible peak moments. Some of these were just perfectly positioned songs. The Infamous Stringdusters suddenly busted into a well-played version of the “Stash” introduction out on the pool stage, doing enough of it that Nugs felt compelled to labeled it as “Stash Tease” on the official recording. Greensky Bluegrass brought out an Elvis impersonator and two showgirls to sing “Viva Las Vegas” (and later lead us through the “woah” section of “Leap Year”); the following night’s setlist would spell out Viva Las Bender. Dustbowl Revival performed an amazing cover of The Knack’s “My Sharona” on the casino floor complete with musician in feline masks for the Caturday Night Fever theme. Even the hardened gamblers were dancing in place at the tables. The Jon Stickley Trio’s instrumental mashup of songs centering on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had a similar effect. However, the most magical song happened on the pool stage on Saturday.

Fruition was wrapping up their set with “The Meaning.” The song is set on a perfect day for the couple, the sky was bright blue, the sun was about to set, and the wind swung by to check out the happenings. This performance was already going to have extra – sorry can’t resist – meaning as the cloudless desert day was winding down with the sun disappearing behind the Spring Mountains. What made this so extraordinary was the mysterious desert wind. There had been high winds on Friday that forced the moving of the pool sets down below, but it had completely died down overnight. As though it had a copy of the Fruition songbook, as soon as Kellen strummed the opening chords, it went from completely calm to a steady, strong gust. The breeze listened to them tell their tales, picked up in intensity during the jam at the end, and then stopped on a dime as they left the stage. Sorry desert wind, I wanted another song too, but schedules don’t make exceptions even for unforgettable natural phenomena.

While those performances were incredible, there were two whole sets that really stood out: Saturday night Billy Strings and Sunday’s The Lil Smokies. What they have in common is that they showed a new side of the artists. Billy Strings has incredible talent. It would be enough for a performer in his mid 20s to have the gravitas that he has to put on his traditional bluegrass shows. He even can legitimately channel the spirit of Jerry and credibly sing Garcia/Hunter ballads. That would be enough to have a strong career. However, three or four times during the night set, Señor Strings changed the game. He’d strum a little holding pattern for a few bars that meant, “Let’s take this one for a ride.” It was like watching an anime transformation sequence, but one where the transformed character already started out with superpowers. Watching him take his band from a great bluegrass band to one that could jam with an intensity and rapport that usually takes years to develop and then immediately bring it back to the song as though nothing had happened – Superman? I missed him again? – was fascinating to watch. I know it’s a tad clichéd right now to gush over Billy Strings’ talent, but he’s likely to be a force for a while now.

When I first started seeing The Lil Smokies, there were a few songs that really stood out: “Decades,” “California,” “Mending the Fences,” and “Fell Asleep” told these stories that used the power of ridiculously infection choruses and hooks to make them sound like epic adventures. I might not know what I was ordered to don’t dare forget, or know what song they were trying to sing when they didn’t know the words, but I cared immensely about these characters. I felt for the Californian heartbreak and wondered just why the singer felt that multiple decades were just lost. They’ve written other songs since then and I have other favorites, but these formed a core of material that I could hear every night. What made the Sunday show so special was that I walked out wondering if it was the best Smokies concert I had seen, and that was despite none of these songs coming out. The power that normally got channeled into making the choruses feel like the most important message in the world instead moved into expanded jamming. When there was a mid-set spontaneous (or seeming spontaneous at least) drop into “Paint it Black,” I knew that this band had reached a new level of performance. This is the advantage of the festival circuit. Bands can inspire each other to discover new ways of expression that they might have never thought of if they just played in a vacuum.

As much fun as the Bender Jamboree was – and I prebooked for 2019 on the pool deck, so it was a blast – I do have a suggestion and a warning for next year. The suggestion is a minor one but might make a huge difference. Since this is an event that caters to improvisational music, it would be nice if some of the times could be extended a little bit. A few of the sets felt a tad rushed as the musicians had to pack a ton of material into not quite enough time. Festival sets will never be full blown shows, but extending some of the 75 minute time slots to 90 and the 90 minute headliners to 2 hours would give a much greater opportunity for the once in a lifetime sit ins between musicians that make festivals so fascinate to attend.

And now to play Cassandra. Part of what made this so perfect was the size of the event. There were enough people around to make it feel like a real spectacle, but it was small enough to feel like a community. The musicians and fans formed a much tighter bond than even on Jam Cruise. That was partially due to the casino being a logical place to focus our downtime between music, but the size of the event helped a lot. Musicians could hang out without having to worry about being overwhelmed. OK, maybe Vince Herman wore a dinosaur suit on “Beer and Loathing Night” but that was more getting in character with the theme than hiding. So many perfect events have made a big attendance leap and never were quite the same afterward. What growth happens needs to be slow and organic to preserve the soul.

Ultimately, if the big feedback from a first year festival is, “Wow, that was so much fun that I’m scared too many people will try to attend next year,” you know it was a success. Hopefully one of my sports futures bets that I placed will pay off to help fund next year’s trip. Either way I did learn one very important rule. If you’re at a hippie festival that has a cat themed night and the venue has a slot machine called Kitty Glitter, don’t play it. The machine was on to us!

[1] The biggest downside to the event was most definitely the rooms. While the actual room was nicely sized, the bathrooms were poorly arranged (closing the door was a challenging task), there were no refrigerators – the clear backpacks they gave out quickly got repurposed to be portable coolers – and there were a lot of small problems. Some rooms had a loud whistling noise from the high winds of the first night, others clogged sinks, or – in our case – a very loud toilet. For the most part, it was the sort of thing that you could laugh off and there was so much music that little time was really spent in the room, but it’s hard to imagine wanting to stay at the Plaza outside of a festival.

[2] I may or may not have some funny stories, but any ones I did have would not be posted here. This definitely is an event where reporting would prevent repetition. I’m afraid that you really do have to attend first hand to fully experience this event.

David Steinberg got his Masters Degree in mathematics from New Mexico State University in 1994. He first discovered the power of live music at the Capital Centre in 1988 and never has been the same. His Phish stats website is at http://www.ihoz.com/PhishStats.html and he’s on the board of directors for The Mockingbird Foundation. He now tweets and has a daily update on the Phish Stats Facebook page

His book This Has All Been Wonderful is available on Amazon, the Kindle Store, and “his Create Space store.”: https://www.createspace.com/4667209

Pages:« Previous Page