The Peach Music Festival returned to Montage Mountain for its tenth edition over Independence Day Weekend 2022 with performances by Billy Strings, The Black Crowes, Trouble No More, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Andy Frasco & The U.N., Trey Anastasio Band, The Revivalists, Goose, The Word, The Wailers, Steel Pulse, G. Love & The Juice, Rayland Baxter, The Bogie Band ft. Joe Russo, and many more.

Related: Peach Picking Time In Scranton: Billy Strings Headlines Thursday At The Peach [Videos/Audio]

Even beyond that prestigious list, the 2022 edition of The Peach Music Festival produced a number of notable highlights and storylines throughout its four days in Scranton. Dive into the many narratives that defined The Peach 2022 below and scroll down to the bottom of this page to flip through a gallery of photos from the weekend.

Saturday Night Sit-Ins

From the moment the 2022 set times were released, fans seemed to circle Saturday evening on the Peach Stage—featuring Celisse, The Revivalists, Trey Anastasio Band, and Goose—as a segment primed for collaboration. Those fans would be right, though perhaps not in the ways they expected.

After Trey’s recent guest appearances with fellow Peach headliners Goose and Billy Strings, many placed their bets on where Anastasio might sit in at The Peach. While Trey did not wind up making any guest appearances of his own in Scranton, he did welcome “dear friend and family member” Celisse to the stage with her guitar in hand to trade licks and share vocals on “The Moma Dance”, “A Life Beyond The Dream”, and “Rise/Come Together”. While Celisse has shared the stage with the Phish guitarist on numerous occasions—from her vocal work with Ghosts of the Forest to her stints on The Beacon Jams to her Trey-assisted set at Peach’s Grove Stage in 2021—this marked her first time joining in on guitar with an Anastasio project.

Trey Anastasio Band ft. Celisse – “The Moma Dance” – The Peach Music Festival – 7/2/22

[Video: Gregory Marcus]

While Goose did not welcome any guests during its emphatic late-night set—the group’s first time headlining The Peach following a pivotal appearance on the side stage in 2019—fellow Saturday night performers The Revivalists called up guitarist Brandon “Taz” Niederauer to lend some lightning-quick riffs to their 2016 hit, “Wish I Knew You”. Meanwhile, Melt brought up Karina Rykman to complement a well-attended Grove Stage performance with a deep-space bass duel. Later in the evening, Niederauer jetted up the mountain to the Mushroom Stage where he welcomed Junior Mack, Lamar Williams Jr., Dylan Niederauer, and members of The Shady Recruits at his Taz & Friends late-night set.

The Revivalists ft. Brandon “Taz” Niederauer – “Wish I Knew You” – The Peach Music Festival – 7/2/22

[Video: Edward Rogers]

So Nice, They Booked Them Twice

While headlining acts often perform two sets at The Peach and other major festivals, this year’s schedule notably slotted select rising acts for multiple performances throughout the weekend. That approach helped cultivate new relationships between these acts and the festival’s loyal fanbase: learn about a new band via a short set early in the day, then gather your friends to show off your new find when they hit again later that night.

Bands like ever-rising New Haven, CT jam quartet Eggy (Friday afternoon, Peach Stage; Friday night, Mushroom Stage), NYC indie-soul outfit Melt (Saturday afternoon, Peach Stage; Saturday night, Grove Stage), and eclectic bluegrass-folk ruckus brigade Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Friday afternoon, Grove Stage; Saturday afternoon, Grove Stage) all saw their crowds grow for their respective second sets.

Eggy – Full Set (Mushroom Stage) – The Peach Music Festival – 7/1/22

Other artists got a chance to showcase different sides of their work in multiple slots. Karina Rykman, for example, performed with Marco Benevento on the main stage on Friday, then returned in the same slot on Saturday to deliver a powerful and polished set with her own eponymous trio. She also played a VIP DJ set and jumped in with her longtime friends and collaborators in Melt during their Grove set, a full-circle moment following her celebrated Peach debut on the Grove Stage in 2021.

Young New Jersey jam quintet Dogs In A Pile, who had attended the festival together as fans last year, made the most of their official debut at The Peach on Sunday with a high-energy VIP set and a packed afternoon set at the Mushroom Stage. In addition to his various sit-ins, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, a longtime Peach staple, took part in a thrilling headlining set with Trouble No More on Thursday night at the Peach Stage before running his own Taz & Friends late-night at the Mushroom Stage on Saturday. Trouble No More’s Nikki Glaspie also gathered her band, The Nth Power, and a slew of guests including Jennifer Hartswick, Shira Elias, Eric Krasno, and Rob Marscher for a spiritual Friday evening summit on the Mushroom Stage.

 

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Introducing Daniel Donato

If there was an award for “busiest person at the Peach,” this year’s honors would surely go to Daniel Donato. The young Nashville singer/songwriter/guitarist popped up all over Montage Mountain at his first-ever Peach Festival.

Related: Living For A Vision: The Cosmic Philosophy Of Daniel Donato [Interview]

On Thursday, he wailed on Allman Brothers Band tunes with Trouble No More on the main stage. On Friday, amid live podcast tapings, a fan meet-and-greet at the Live For Live Music booth, and a cake-cutting ceremony for The Peach’s 10th anniversary alongside Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and the team behind the festival, Danny found time to sit in with Kitchen Dwellers (on ABB’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed“), Eggy (on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”), and Pigeons (on “Poseidon”).

[Photo: Jay Blakesberg – Cake-cutting for 10th anniversary of The Peach Music Festival – (from left) Jeremy Schon, Greg Ormont, and Ben Carrey (Pigeons Playing Ping Pong); Bert Holman (Manager, Allman Brothers Band); Jon Hampton (Sr. Vice President, Live Nation Northeast); CJ Strock (Mint Talent Group); Daniel Donato (singer-songwriter); and Alex Petropulos (Pigeons Playing Ping Pong)]

On Saturday, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country kicked off the day with a set at the Mushroom Stage. On Sunday, in addition to playing a VIP set, they returned to the water park for a guest-filled Daniel Donato & Friends performance. Throughout that memorable set, his guests, song selections, and engaging performances showed off all the various facets of his particular musical purview that made him such a hit with the Peach faithful. With Maggie Rose, Donato gave fans chills on a hot, sunny day via a powerful reading of “Angel From Montgomery” by late songwriting great John Prine. With new friend and collaborator Jake Brownstein of Eggy—another artist known to explore the folk ripples of rock and roll—he entwined the worlds of jam bands and country singers with a winding segment that took Phish’s “Back On The Train” through Waylon Jennings‘s “Waymore’s Blues” and back again. After some more Waylon with fellow Nashvillian J.B. Strauss and a Sicard Hollow-assisted romp, Donato activated his Trouble No More-honed ABB brain for a “Southbound” strut with help from Duane Betts.

 

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Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – “Double Exposure” – 7/2/22

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – The Peach Music Festival – 7/3/22

Home Sweet Grove

Live For Live Music set up shop at the Grove Stage throughout the festival for a series of “Artist Hangs” and giveaways at our mobile phone-charging station. Consider The Source, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer and Dylan Niederauer, Karina Rykman, Daniel Donato, Dogs In A Pile, Eggy, Maggie Rose, and The Great Beyond Podcast all stopped by to cool off, charge up, sign autographs, and get to know their fans, lending a welcoming, homey atmosphere to the scenic side stage all weekend long. Thank you to everyone who came by to say hi and hang out!

 

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Parking ourselves at the Grove also afforded us the opportunity to take in all the rising talent the side stage had to offer—in addition to arguably the best sound quality of any stage on the mountain. Sultry New Orleans eight-piece Miss Mojo, Chicago rocker J.D. Simo, young singer-songwriter Carly Moffa, Florida favorites Tand Band, prog-rock virtuosos Consider The Source, and Harrisburg, PA jammers YAM YAM (with help from PPPP’s Jeremy Schon) all turned in memorable performances on Thursday.

The hits kept coming on Friday with Philly favorites like brass/hip-hop collective Snacktime and rocker Nick Perri, in-your-face indie hip-hop duo Little Stranger, and late-night sets by Evanoff and Funk You. The Grove continued to play host to buzzed-about sets on Saturday with Philly’s Dry Reef, Nashville rocker J.B. Strauss, Pittsburgh quartet Chalk Dinosaur, a festival-highlight show by Melt, and well-received late-nights by CT upstarts One Time Weekend and Colorado power trio Cycles. On Sunday, Great Time, GA-20, Sicard Hollow, Bobby Lee Rodgers, and The Wild Feathers all hit the stage for their own Grove shows.

Of course, a festival like The Peach creates some tough but necessary decisions and putting down roots at the Grove meant missing out on plenty of great performances at the Mushroom Stage. While we could only be in one place at a time, the steady stream of fans coming back down from the water park glowing from sets by Andy Frasco & The U.N., Eric Krasno & The Assembly, Doom Flamingo, Ripe, Cordovas, The Shady Recruits, Neighbor, SPAGA, Star Kitchen, TAUK, and more seemed to confirm that there were no bad choices on the Peach schedule this year.

10 Years of Community

The active and enthusiastic fan community that surrounds The Peach has grown deep roots over the course of the last decade. That devotion was on full display at the 2022 festival as fans and musicians alike went above and beyond to mark the occasion.

Whether it was Peach attendees Josh Sed and Carolann Shobe tying the knot at the festival on Saturday, Sicard Hollow playing an impromptu Sunday set at the Lazy River featuring a new song (“Mighty Fine Day”), or fan Doug Bowen engaging the festival fanbase to collect 262 pounds of can tabs to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Scranton with his “Peach Pulls For People” campaign, the Peach family seemed to relish the community’s ten-year milestone with appropriate fanfare.

10 Years of Allman Brothers Band Legacy

The Peach, which started as a vehicle for the Allman Brothers Band in the Northeast, has blossomed into a tentpole event for the national jam band scene and beyond. Even ten years on, however, the spirit of the ABB remained alive and well at the festival in 2022. Jaimoe, one of two remaining original members of the band alongside Dickey Betts, returned to Montage Mountain for a Jaimoe & Friends set on Saturday. Direct descendants like Duane Betts, Lamar Williams Jr. (Trouble No More), and Melody and Vaylor Trucks (Brother and Sister) dotted the lineup while new-generation ABB homage Trouble No More delivered a show-stealing Thursday late-night that showcased, with a palpable new fervor, the music upon which The Peach was built. The rest of the bill seemed to understand the assignment, too, as everyone from Kitchen Dwellers to Dogs In A Pile to Carly Moffa to J.B. Strauss to Daniel Donato & Friends and more worked Allman Brothers covers into their performances.

Dogs In A Pile – “Jessica” (Allman Brothers Band) – The Peach Music Festival – 7/3/22

[Video: themeboudin]

Click below for full photo galleries from all four days of The Peach Music Festival via David Gray, Andrew Blackstein, Sam Silkworth, and Andrew Hutchins. Cheers to 10 years! See you back at The Peach in 2023!

For more coverage and in-depth discussion of The Peach 2022, watch the post-festival recap episode of The Great Beyond Podcast featuring Live For Live Music’s Andrew O’Brien and Eggy’s Jake Brownstein here.