Initial Peach Music Festival lineup announced with Phil Lesh, Trey Anastasio, String Cheese Incident, and more
Last month, Live Nation made it official that the Peach Music Festival will be back for its eighth straight year at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain and Montage Mountain Waterpark in Scranton on Thursday, July 25 through Sunday, July 28, and today the initial lineup was released.
The bands with top billing will be working hard this year – legendary Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh & Friends (featuring Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, John Scofield and John Molo) are playing two sets, the Trey Anastasio Band has two sets, and The String Cheese Incident has scheduled three sets, along with one performance by Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.
Also on tap for 2019 is moe., Greensky Bluegrass, Lotus, Blues Traveler, Lettuce, Stephen Marley, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong (two sets), The Marcus King Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain String Band, Billy Strings, the Allman Betts Band, and Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band. JP Biondo and Pappy Biondo of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jamgrass band Cabinet will return for a set as well – no word yet if the full band will reunite again for the Peach.
Aqueous, Ghost Light, Larkin Poe, Magic City Hippies, Fruition, Big Something, Andy Frasco & The UN, Southern Avenue, Maggie Rose, Organ Freeman, Kitchen Dwellers, Mungion, Bumpin’ Uglies, Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers, Upstate, Hayley Jane and the Primates, Thumpasaurus, Kat Wright, Cycles, Goose, Bishop Gunn, Bobby Lee Rodgers, and Michigan Rattlers round out the list, with more to be announced next year.
Early Bird Passes, which start at $139 for four-day festival passes and $179 for four-day camping passes, plus fees, are on sale now at thepeachmusicfestival.com and frontgatetickets.com.
For locals who can’t wait for Peach Fest, Cabinet is set to headline a “New Year’s Eve Extravaganza” near Harrisburg on Dec. 31, and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead is coming to Penn’s Peak on March 13.
Founded by The Allman Brothers Band and soldiering on after the band parted ways in 2014, the Peach was headlined by the Allmans in its initial three years and continues to feature its members every year in different bands and tributes.
Held on Thursday, July 19 through Sunday, July 22, about a month earlier than in previous years, the impressive, crowd-pleasing lineup of the 2018 Peach Fest included Dickey Betts in his first performance of 2018 since coming out of retirement; Phil Lesh; Gov’t Mule with two sets, including a special “Dark Side of the Mule” performance; moe. and Little Feat performing “Waiting for Columbus” featuring Turkuaz Horns; Oteil & Friends (Oteil Burbridge, Melvin Seals, John Kadlecik, Jay Lane, Weedie Braimah, Alfreda Gerald, and Scott Metzger); The Devon Allman Project featuring Duane Betts; The Revivalists; Joe Russo’s Almost Dead; Chris Robinson Brotherhood; Twiddle; Blackberry Smoke; Pigeons Playing Ping Pong; Turkuaz; Spafford; Warren Haynes; and many more, along with roaming “artists at large” like the Funky Dawgz Brass Band, Turkuaz Horns, and Brandon “Taz” Niederaurer.
Popular local band Cabinet even returned from “indefinite hiatus” to play one of only two scheduled concerts in 2018 on Thursday, once again taking the main stage they headlined at the Susquehanna Breakdown in years prior. Cabinet members played in different configurations throughout the weekend as well – JP Biondo played a solo set (with Christopher Kearney and Ellen Siberian Tiger) as well as with Pappy Biondo, and Pappy joined Dylan Skursky on their latest project, Gatos Blancos, with Shavertown guitarist Justin Mazer.
See NEPA Scene’s photos from the 2018 Peach Music Festival here, along with a full review of Cabinet’s set with photos and video here. See Beautiful People of NEPA portraits of Peach attendees and artists here.
