Tumble Down Festival returned to Burlington, Vermont’s Waterfront Park, for day two of the annual festival hosted by Vermont locals, Twiddle. Started in 2016, Tumble Down has quickly become one of Burlington’s favorite weekends of the summer, as Twiddle invites some of their favorite bands to make music along the banks of picturesque Lake Champlain.

On Friday, a very special friend joined in the fun, as 2016 presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, took a moment to address the crowd before introducing Twiddle to the stage. Sanders is no stranger to Tumble Down, showing his love for the event and Twiddle last year, in a thoughtful letter addressed to the band. Saturday’s jam-packed musical marathon saw three sets of Twiddle, as well as Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Ripe, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, GEM, and more.

Tumble Down Night 2 Recap

[Video: Twiddle]

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s set was cut short due to weather, but that didn’t stop them from throwing down a funk-filled set for the Green Mountain State. “Penguins” got the show started off, with Greg Ormont taking the lead on vocals, giving Tumble Down Festival a taste of his hysterical stage theatrics. “Somethin For Ya” led way to a fast-paced and groovy “Funk E.”, with bassist Ben Carrey putting on quite the show, laying down some massively sticky bombs. Carrey and drummer Alex “Gator” Petropulos seem to get tighter and tighter in the pocket together every show they play, and Saturday’s performance was highlighted by the pair’s mean rhythm section.

Continuing with the funk, Pigeons dove into “Doc”, with guitarist Jeremy Schon laying down an impressive solo, firing off on all cylinders on his gorgeous PRS guitar. Ormont brought it back into the main theme of “Doc”, before transitioning into the breezy opening of “Horizon”. With Carrey thumping away on bass, Ormont set up the perfect rhythm riff for Schon to take the jam into deep improvisational space. As the jam came building higher, the weather also worsened, an issue that was at hand Friday night as well. As Pigeons Playing Ping Pong were playing “Fortress”, the band was unfortunately not able to play their complete set, and were abruptly cut short. Even a force as strong as PPPP aren’t able to control the weather, and fans were delighted with the tunes they did get to hear, despite a little disappointment.


Setlist: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong | Tumble Down Festival | Burlington, VT | 7/28/2018

Set: Penguins, Somethin’ For Ya, Funk E., Doc, Horizon, Fortress (cut short due to rain)


Saturday night concluded with three sets of Twiddle. The Vermont quartet took full advantage of their final opportunity to jam with the various guests on site for the festival. The first set was marked by an energetically-charged “Polluted Beauty”, which saw 15-year-old and frequent collaborator Brandon “Taz” Niederauer flexing his chops with one of his favorite bands. The first set closed with a beautiful “Hallelujah”, featuring vocalist Kat Wright.

Soaring through back-to-back jams during their second set, Twiddle also welcomed out guitarist Grahame Lesh for their signature “Lost In The Cold”. Later on, Lesh and vocalist Elliot Peck returned to the stage for a “Hatti’s Jam” into “When It Rains It Pours” during the final set of Tumble Down. Thanks to taper edmund.edwards, you can re-listen to the majority of Twiddle’s three sets below.

[Audio: edmund.edwards]


Setlist: Twiddle | Tumble Down Festival | Burlington, VT | 7/29/2018

Set One: Second Wind, Dr. Remidi’s Melodium, Polluted Beauty w/ Taz (guitar), Hallelujah w/ Kat Wright (vocals)

Set Two: Orlando’s> Jamflowman> Hattibagen McRat> Orlando’s> Frankenfoote> Tiberius> Orlando’s> Carter Candlestick> Cabbage Face> Orlando’s

Set Three: Lost In The Cold w/ Grahame Lesh, Apples, Hatti’s Jam w/ Graham Lesh (guitar) and Elliot Peck (vocals) > When It Rains It Pours w/ Graham (guitar) and Elliot Peck (vocals)


You can view a gallery of photos from Tumble Down Festival in Burlington, VT  below via photographer Bahram Foroughi.