On Sunday, The Peach Music Festival wrapped up with performances from Gov’t MuleDickey BettsDumpstaphunkOrgan FreemanBishop GunnJP Biondo, and more. In addition, decorated bassist Oteil Burbridge (Dead & Company, Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Vida Blue, etc.) made a big showing on the festival’s final day, performing two memorable sets—one with his Oteil & Friends crew, and one on the VIP stage as a Grateful duo with guitarist Scott Metzger (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, WOLF!).

Metzger and Burbridge worked through a number of Grateful Dead favorites to kick off the day’s music lineup, including “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower”, “High Time”, “Black-Throated Wind”, “Mr. Charlie”, “Crazy Fingers”, and more. You can watch full crowd-shot footage and taper audio of the Oteil and Scott VIP duo set below:

Oteil Burbridge & Scott Metzger – Full Set Video [Crowd-Shot]

[Video: Steven J. Ziegler]

[Audio: Keith Litzenberger]

Setlist: Oteil Burbridge & Scott Metzger | The Peach Music Festival | Montage Mountain | Scranton, PA | 7/22/18

Set: Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower, High Time, Black-Throated Wind, Mr. Charlie, Crazy Fingers, Me & My Uncle


After their noon duo performance, Burbridge and Metzger linked up with guitarist John Kadlecik, vocalist Alfreda Gerald, drummer Jay Lane, percussionist Weedie Braimah, and keyboardist/organist Melvin Seals for their Oteil & Friends performance on the Peach Stage.

The set began with a soulful run through “Water In The Desert”, the Gerald-sung title track from Oteil’s 2017 solo album. Motown classic/Jerry Garcia Band live staple “How Sweet It Is” followed with Alfreda serving as “hype woman” on lead vocals, enticing the crowd to sing along whole-heartedly.

Next, Oteil welcomed saxophonist Ron Holloway to the stage, noting that they share a birthday (August 24th) and introducing “one I used to do with Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit,” “Time Is Free”, explaining, “you guys have probably never heard this, this is the original version.”

After the Col. Bruce-inspired madness of “Time Is Free”, Jerry Garcia Band’s “Run For The Roses” was up next, Kadlecik taking his turn on lead vocals. The ball remained in John K’s court for a take on his own “What’s Become of Mary”. A tender take on Garcia/Hunter ballad “To Lay Me Down came next.

From there, Burbridge welcomed out “young blood” Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, one of the festival’s “artists-at-large,” to assist on a Melvin Seals-led run through JGB favorite “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” (00:59:00 in the video below). After some fireworks from the young guitarist (and from Holloway and Metzger to boot), the band welcomed Lamar Williams Jr. (son of early Allman Brothers bassist, Lamar Williams) to sing Bob Marley & The Wailers‘ “Stop That Train”. Finally, Alfreda Gerald stepped to the mic once more to lead the band on a set-closing sing-along of Janis Joplin classic, “Piece of My Heart”.

You can watch a full crowd-shot video of the Peach Fest Oteil & Friends performance below:

Oteil & Friends – Full Set Video [Crowd-Shot]

[Video: Steven J. Ziegler]

You can see a full list of Oteil Burbridge’s upcoming dates with a variety of projects on his website.

Setlist: Oteil Burbridge & Scott Metzger | The Peach Music Festival | Montage Mountain | Scranton, PA | 7/22/18

Water In The Desert, How Sweet It Is, Time Is Free, Run For The Roses, What’s Become of Mary, To Lay Me Down, That’s What Love Will Make You Do**, Stop That Train^, Piece of My Heart

Notes:

with Ron Holloway (sax) starting with “Time Is Free”

**with Brandon “Taz” Niederauer (guitar)

^with Lamar Williams Jr. (vocals)