The String Cheese Incident, Twiddle, Mike Gordon Embrace The Rain At Northlands Festival [Photos/Videos/Audio]

Northlands Music & Arts Festival returned to Swanzey, NH over the weekend for its second-annual installment. With headliners The String Cheese Incident and Twiddle, the two-day fest at the former site of pandemic-era pod concerts kept fans dancing in the rain and laying out in the sunshine.

After a Thursday pre-party featuring performances by JATOBA, Escaper, and Zach Nugent’s Dead Set, as well as a silent disco led by Drunken Doja Monkey (lespecial bassist Luke Bemand), the festival began in earnest on Friday with a stream of up-and-comers, beginning with ebullient bassist Karina Rykman as well as firebrand Nashville guitarist Daniel Donato and his gang of Cosmic Country desperados. Northlands audiences also witnessed a rare performance by Super Sonic Shorties, the all-star supergroup of funky ladies Nikki Glaspie (The Nth Power), Katty Rodriguez (Beyoncé), Tonya Sweets (Lizzo), Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band), Ella Feingold (Silk Sonic), Amy Bellamy (G.Love), Marcie Chapa (Beyoncé), and Kanika Moore (Doom Flamingo).

There was no shortage of stylistic diversity on day one of Northlands, jumping from the funk supergroup to jamgrass powerhouse Kitchen Dwellers, then switching gears once again for charismatic party-starters Andy Frasco & The U.N. Though he wasn’t due to report for duty until the Mihali & Friends set on Saturday, Dopapod guitarist Rob Compa swung by Northlands a day early, joining in for the Frasco to trade throttling rock licks with Shawn Eckels.

Andy Frasco & The U.N., Rob Compa – Northlands Music & Arts Festival – Swanzey, NH – 6/16/23– Partial Video

[Video: Beats & Streams]

Phish bassist Mike Gordon made Northlands the second stop on his nascent summer tour before Twiddle played a climactic two-set finale to polish off day one. Currently in the midst of a farewell tour ahead of an indefinite hiatus, Friday’s show currently stands as Twiddle’s final appearance in New Hampshire before going inactive.

Appropriately, the Vermont natives loaded their setlist with longtime favorites, including a massive sandwich of “Apples” > “Every Soul” > “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” > “Apples” that consumed most of the first set. For set two, the band made sure to nod to its latest disc Every Last Leaf with the opener “Beautiful” before getting back to road-tested classics “Jamflowman” and finally “The Box” to close out the main Mountain Stage.

Inclement weather persisted on the second and final day of Northlands, but a little rain didn’t stop a crowd of supporters from coming to check out the buzzworthy jam quartet out of New Jersey, Dogs In A Pile. It was wall-to-wall music after that, as The Nth Power cleansed souls with help from Jennifer Hartswick, who was just beginning another long day as an unofficial artist-at-large.

Following another band hot on the tongues of jam fans across the country, Neighbor, Twiddle guitarist Mihali staged a special “Mihali & Friends” set. With a lineup like Northlands’, Twiddle’s frontman had no shortage of talent to incorporate—including Compa, Rick Mitarotonda (Goose), Jimmy Law (Dogs In A Pile), and Jeremy Schon (Pigeons Playing Ping Pong)—for a satisfying guitar summit.

Mitarotonda didn’t stray too far from the Mountain Stage, returning later that evening for an intimate set from the Orebolo trio. Together with his Goose bandmates Peter Anspach and Jeff Arevolo, the band delivered stripped-down renderings from the Goose catalog alongside beloved covers from Elvis Presley and John Prine. Putting in his request with plenty of lead time, a young fan with a “Factory Fiction at Levitate, Please” sign on the rail caught Anspach’s attention. Only time will tell if he grants the child’s wish.

[Photo: Rob Zeida via El Goose]

During the penultimate set of the evening, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong had a bit of fun with the water-logged audience with a “Water” opener. The band had more meteorological allusions in store with a well-placed cover of The Who‘s “Love Reign O’er Me” before calling Rob Compa back to the stage for a weighty “Poseidon” duel with Jeremy Schon. Pigeons closed their set with a cathartic “Horizon”, setting the stage for The String Cheese Incident’s two-set finale.

The evening’s headliners indulged in the themes of the weekend by both alluding to the weather and pulling from the influx of backstage talent. A first set “Rain” got the band’s feet wet, with SCI later bringing out Jen Hartswick for a set-closing “Rosie”. The Colorado electron-jam-grassers weren’t through with the trumpeter/vocalist yet, bringing her back once more to kick off the second set with The Jackson 5‘s “Shake Your Body to the Ground” along with Goose percussionist Jeff Arevalo.

With setlist theatrics and special guests out of the way, String Cheese spent the remainder of its set displaying just how the band achieved headlining status. The group provided a broad overview of its vast catalog, touching on originals “Sirens” and “Beautiful” along with the John Perry Barlow-penned “It Is What It Is”. Beloved Talking Heads cover “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” then set up the one-two punch for the band to close out the Mountain Stage with “Bollymunster”.

Check out a photo gallery from day two of Northlands Music & Arts Festival 2023 courtesy of Charlie Jenkins and David DeCrescente along with an array of fan-shot videos and audio.

Karina Rykman – “Joyride” – 6/16/23

[Video: Beats & Streams]

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – Northlands Music & Arts Festival – Swanzey, NH – 6/16/23– Audio

[Audio: Mike D (VT)]