Photos by Mitch Kline
While Telluride Bluegrass Festival is the granddaddy of music festivals in Telluride, The Ride Festival, now in its seventh year, has quickly become recognized for a diverse lineup and past heavy hitters such as Pearl Jam, Beck, and Widespread Panic. This year’s edition leaned a bit more on the jam band end of the spectrum, featuring headlining sets from The String Cheese Incident both nights of the festival.
The festival started for me Friday night, with Tyler Childers’ sold out solo set at Sheridan Opera House, part of the stellar Night Ride lineup spread across four downtown Telluride venues, and my first show at this famed room. It only takes a few songs to understand why the singer songwriter from Kentucky is on the rise, as he had the room’s full attention throughout his set. I wasn’t able to make it to Tyler’s main stage opening set Saturday morning, but hope to catch him one of his two nights at Ogden Theatre in Denver this fall.
From there, I headed a couple blocks down the street for the most anticipated set of the weekend for me. I’ve had each of Southern psychedelic folksters Futurebirds’ studio albums in heavy rotation since a friend introduced them to me a couple of years ago, but I’ve missed them on their multiple visits to Denver. The tiny basement Moon at O’Bannon’s was packed, but I managed to squeeze my way up to the stage to capture some images. The boys didn’t disappoint, running through many of my favorites and setting a great mood for my festival weekend.
Saturday afternoon’s main stage was highlighted by female artists, including Larkin Poe, ZZ Ward, and the venerable Sheryl Crow, whose set included mega hits “If It Makes You Happy,” “All I Wanna Do,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”
It wouldn’t be an outdoor Colorado music festival without the weather, and we certainly had our share of it at this year’s Ride Festival. While we were lucky enough to avoid any lightning delays or evacuations, rain showers came and went throughout both days, including nearly all of SCI’s headlining Saturday set. Telluride is small enough that we were able to pedal across town in a few minutes, change into dry clothes, grab lunch, or just take a break. We did have a brand new ENO Islander Blanket that served perfectly as a basic home base, but I’ll be bringing a shade tent and a few other conveniences to our next Telluride festival!
The String Cheese Incident traces their roots back to Telluride, and they treated the hometown crowd to some old school Cheese on night one, including “Little Hands,” “Indian Creek,” and one of my personal favorites, “Cottonmouth.” Sheryl Crow emerged to join the band for a mid-set take on the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,” and the band closed out the evening with Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.”
With a limited tolerance for late night shows, I had to pick and choose my Night Ride sets, and my choice for Saturday night was Montana space grass up-and-comers Kitchen Dwellers, who once again reminded me why they’re one of my favorite jam bands on the scene right now thanks to their tight picking and ability to get way out there AND bring it back home. They could have filled a much bigger room than the tiny Wood Ear (formerly the Roma), like, ahem, Sheridan Opera House, but that’ll be for another time, I hope.
For me, Sunday’s main stage late afternoon and evening lineup was the highlight of the weekend. Chris Robinson Brotherhood filled the mountain air with their acid-Americana and Grace Potter delivered a rocking set as she jumped between guitar and keyboards, using every square inch of the stage. The absolute pinnacle of the weekend for me was Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. I’ve been hearing rave reviews about this band since its inception, but this was my first time seeing them. And they delivered a gem of a set from top to bottom, including a downright nasty “Throwing Stones,” and “Help > Slip > Sampson” before closing out their set joined by Chris Robinson for a spirited take on “Bertha.”
SCI emerged during a classic Colorado sunset and brought out more old school songs on night two, highlighted by jammed out versions of “Born On The Wrong Planet” and “It Is What It Is.” Chris Robinson joined the boys on vocals for a mid-set rendition of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River.” “Black Clouds” and an extended segue into “Beautiful” closed out the evening and the festival.
Ride Festival strayed a bit from their more rock and roll lineup this year, and that was just fine with me. We would have had a great time regardless of who was on the stage. We had no problem finding a great spot to enjoy our days, it was easy to get around, beer lines were manageable, and the crowd was a great mix of Telluride locals and dedicated fans. It seems fitting that my first Telluride music experiences included The String Cheese Incident, and there were plenty of other highlights that made for a memorable weekend in one of the most beautiful festival settings in the country.
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