All Good Now Day 1 Recap: JRAD, Bisco, String Cheese With Molly Tuttle & More

After a decade away, the iconic All Good Music Festival returned yesterday under the new name All Good Now, kicking off two days of music at Merriweather Post Pavilion for this Father’s Day Weekend. Over the course of 11 hours, the well-run event toggled between the main amphitheater stage and the smaller Chrysalis just behind the lawn as every musical act gave their all in the sweltering June weather.

Kicking things off was Baltimore-based The Bridge, fronted by guitarist Cris Jacobs. An appropriate way to start things off, as the band’s last performance had been at the 2012 iteration of All Good. The sextet brought some serious energy to the first slot of the day, the keyboardist and saxophonist in particular really standing out on several amazing solos.

Dogs In A Pile came next, hot off their Thursday slot at Bonnaroo, and absolutely packed the hill for a power hour. “G Song” got things going with some fretboard fireworks courtesy of Brian Murray, the extra-loud P.A. blasting the heavy sonic weight of the lengthy jam. Later in the set, the band worked in their reliable sandwich of “Dancing in the Streets” within “Go-Set,” navigating the tight composition with ease ahead of a crowd-favorite cover of “Bennie and the Jets” led by keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan.

Sticking to Chrysalis, Neal Francis upped the energy even more when he and his band dove into Deep Purple’s “Hush.” Bassist Mike Starr and drummer Collin O’Brien locked in tightly on the fiery groove before things opened up with an improvisational “Prometheus.” Francis washed waves of Moog synth over the crowd while guitarist Austin Koenigstein peppered in melodic riffs of his own, the band stretching out longer than normal in the jam given the demographic at this festival.

A fantastic tribute to the recently-passed Sly Stone arrived via “I Want To Take You Higher,” the audience really getting into that cover and keeping up the wild level of energy through “Need You Again” and “Broken Glass” off Francis’ most recent album Return to Zero.

The main pavilion got its first performance next with a rare daylight set from The Disco Biscuits – being the final band to perform at this year’s Bonnaroo before the cancellation on Friday, it felt like they were primed and ready to rock yesterday.

After an opening “Mulberry’s Dream,” the band worked through a nonstop segment of “Scars Of The Brave” into “Country Royale” into “Tricycle” into “Svenghali” for the remainder of the set with guitarist Jon “Barber” Gutwillig really shining in a more lead role as opposed to the full-band improv space he often hits.

Molly Tuttle was up next back at Chrysalis, the Grammy-winning bluegrass guitarist firing things up in stark contrast to the heavy electronic vibe of tDB, but delivering just the same. A highlight of her set was an emotional cover of “Standing on the Moon,” Tuttle delivering an amazing vocal performance on the Grateful Dead ballad among the faster-paced originals.

The String Cheese Incident delivered the first multi-hour set of the day, the absolutely packed pavilion and lawn of MPP getting rolling with an energetic “One Step Closer” to kick things off. A dose of Bob Dylan came in with “Like A Rolling Stone” ahead of SCI welcoming Tuttle to the main stage on a blistering “White Freight Liner Blues,” Tuttle going toe-to-toe with mandolinist Michael Kang and guitarist Bill Nershi at the front and center of the stage.

An expansive “Jellyfish” kicked off with hypnotic organ work by Kyle Hollingsworth, while the song itself featured Nershi running laps around the stage much to the delight of the crowd. “Sirens” brought the two-hour Cheese set to a close as everyone was primed and ready for the headlining Joe Russo’s Almost Dead set.

Not being a band to shy away from subtle (or less-than-subtle) political jabs, JRAD loaded their set with topical references to the nationwide protests happening yesterday – beginning with the “New Speedway Boogie” opener. Patiently building in a spacey motif, the band worked their way through “Estimated Prophet” before bursting into a high-energy duo of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s anti-war anthem “Fortunate Son” and The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” the latter getting a huge roar out of the crowd.

The energy only grew higher when the band blasted through a segue into “Jack Straw,” both keyboardist Marco Benevento and guitarist Tom Hamilton taking ripping solos before the band found their way into “Throwing Stones” by way of a cool utilization of a later part of the song’s composition as a bridge to the intro.

Scott Metzger fronted “Throwing Stones,” which came complete with a smooth “Foolish Heart” tease from Hamilton in the first jam, before the second took off into outer space thanks to Benevento’s sparkling piano work as the rest of the band latched onto that motif ahead of a rare dip into Pink Floyd territory with “Pigs (Three Different Ones).”

“Terrapin Station” got things more into the introspective side as that song tends to do, featuring some spellbinding interplay between Benevento, Hamilton, and Metzger before the crowd locked in with the band to bring a tidal wave of joy and positivity through the iconic chorus.

A triple-shot of energy with “The Other One,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and “I Know You Rider” blazed their way through the finish of the set and night, closing out the first day of All Good Now on an extremely high note and – as if by magic – the rain that had threatened to fall throughout the whole day began in a light mist just as the band finished playing.

With smooth logistics, an amazing site, and fantastic music, Saturday at All Good Now was a resounding success and has all attendees eager to get back today for another round, including Eggy, Daniel Donato, moe., Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and two sets of Goose to cap everything off.