Magic Beans hosted a second round of their reimagined annual Beanstalk gathering at Fort Collins, CO’s Holiday Twin Drive-In Theatre this past weekend. After selling out the first drive-in edition of their festival three weeks ago, the Colorado-based quartet decided to keep the music going with Beanstalk: At The Drive-In Part Deux for their last show of the summer, regulating safety measures and social distancing throughout the weekend.

Friday kicked off with a Dynohunter DJ set by trio member Clark Smith at 6:30 p.m., who set off the night with an hour-long set of infectious, trance house grooves. SunSquabi took to the stage for their first of two sets of the weekend at 8 p.m., welcoming friends Colby Buckler (Emancipator Ensemble) on drums and Ian Gilley (Recess) on keys billed as a “SunSquabi & Friends” set. The group kicked off their with “Just A Little”, laying down electro-funk jams for 90 minutes as the sun continued its path down over the horizon.

As the stars peeked out over the glow of the stage projection screens and old-school concession advertisements, the Magic Beans strode onstage at 10 p.m. for a two-hour set, setting things off with their 2018 “What In The World”. Keyboardist Casey Russell sang the all-too-familiar lyrics “feels like we’re living in a world gone wrong” as the crowd got shook off the world’s stress and problems and grooved to some much-needed jams. After an “Alibi” run-through, the band welcomed Dynohunter’s Clark Smith for a saxophone sit-in on Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island” for a high-energy jazz break.

Some sweetness was had in an intro of Gene Wilder’s “Pure Imagination” that led into the band’s “Handshake Or Hug”, even though neither were exchanged on-site. Guitarist Scott Hachey led the group to take the song into an extended trance jam, before tour manager Austin Koontz took over lead vocals for a cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” as fans cheered and danced at their cars for the surprise vocal sit-in. The rest of the set ended with “Luck” and “Wanna Be Your Lover” before the band closed with their “Inventor”, adding in a Star Wars’ “Force Theme” jam to the song as Comet NEOWISE flew over the sky.

After a relatively-less hot Saturday afternoon to re-energize, Saturday night kicked off with an hour-long set by Denver-based producer Homemade Spaceship at 6:30 p.m. Multi-instrumentalist Rob Levere held down the stage with his genre-mashing bass drops, including CloZee and Queen remixes. SunSquabi & Friends played their second and final set of the weekend at 8 p.m., sending out electro-grooves in-sync with the shooting lasers and fireworks off in the distance.

Magic Beans “got freaky one more time” for their last performance of the summer at 10 p.m., setting off the night with “Lost & Found”. The group was well warmed up from last night’s show, and transitioned into their “Feed The Beast”, which featured a “Beverly Hills Cop” jam for some 80s, old-school techno jams. “Sucka Blues” came up next in the setlist rotation, followed by The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” and Magic Beans original “Who’s Crazy”. The Magic Beans took the song into space territory with sequencing jam themes of  Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and Top Gun melody snippets, throwing in a quick tease of Andrea Bocelli‘s “Con Te Partirò” to finish it off.

The band continued the second half of the set with their slowed-down sultry “Dr. Bubbleman” featuring a sit-in by SunSquabi’s Kevin Donohue, and kept up the fun covers with an appearance of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” that lovingly led the band into “Do Your Thing”. Hachey closed out the night with a celebratory banter, and how the time in quarantine has been used to take a step back and learn more about yourself and those around you to better the world, as a feel-good “Off Leash” sequence rounded out the band’s set. A reappearance of the ending bit of “Lost & Found” was squeezed in the middle of the light-weight dance jam to have fans leave the weekend with a positive spirit and energy to carry until live music is able to safely return again.

Scroll down to check out the setlists of the weekend, and a photo gallery courtesy of photographer Conrad Meyer.

Setlist: Magic Beans | Beanstalk At The Drive-In: Park Deux | Holiday Twin Drive-In Theatre| 07/17/19

Set: What in the World > Alibi, Cantaloupe Island*, Pure Imagination Intro > Handshake or Hug > Cars% > Luck, Wanna Be Ur Lover > Inventor^

*Clark Smith on Sax
% Austin Koontz on Vocals
^Force Theme (Star Wars)

Setlist: Magic Beans | Beanstalk At The Drive-In: Park Deux | Holiday Twin Drive-In Theatre| 07/18/19

Set: Lost & Found > Feed The Beast* > Sucka Blues, Dead Flowers, Who’s Crazy$ > Dr. Bubbleman^ > My Heart Will Go On > Do Your Thing, Off Leash > Lost & Found > Off Leash

*Beverly Hills Cop Jam
$ Top Gun Theme, Jurassic Park Theme, Star Wars Theme, Con Te Partiro Tease
^ w/ Kevin Donohue (SunSquabi)