By the end of August it begins to sink in that festival season is coming to a close. It seems the Summer comes and goes in the blink of an eye, and with it goes the music, camping and late nights. Luckily, the season can come to a close with a festival like the Catskill Chill.
Over the past few years Catskill Chill has created quite the hype on the East coast festival scene. Not only are the artists, the vibe and the crowd incomparable but they offer real cabins for rent. This is a rare commodity for a festival site. After a long summer of porto-potties and tent showers it is refreshing to be able to return indoors for a quick shower, a quick nap in a real bed and feel refreshed and ready for the next day of music. The festival is set in gorgeous Hancock, New York at Camp Minglewood (also the set for the films Jason and Dirty Dancing.) Although the size of the festival has grown exponentially, doubling each year since 2010, the feeling still remained exclusive and organic. 2012’s Chill reached maximum capacity bringing the energy levels flooding from stage to stage all weekend long. From acts ranging from Yonder Mountain String Band, to Kung Fu, to Lotus it is evident that Catskill Chill covers a wide variety of genres appealing to all musical pallets.
This years lineup includes, The Meter Men featuring Zigaboo Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr, wsg Page McConell, Lotus, Conspirator, Galactic, Lettuce, Papadosio, Tea Leaf Green, Motet, Funk is Dead, Particle, Dopapod, Kung Fu, Raq, Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds, Brother’s Past, Orchard Lounge, Eric Krasno Band, Alan Evans Trio, Yarn, Headtronics, Cabinet & Cabinet Dead Set, Biodiesel, Consider The Source (acoustic), Ghost Owl, Jimkata, McLovins, American Babies, Twiddle, Turkuaz, Damn Right w/ DJ Logic, Shmeeans and the Expanded Consciousness, Leroy Justice, Z3, Brock Butler acoustic, Tom Hamilton & Friends, The Mantras, Fikus, Higher Organix, Viral Sound, Spiritual Rez, Lucid, The Primate Fiasco, Wobblesauce, Aqueous, Cosmic Dust Bunnies, Greenhouse Lounge, Cosmic Jibaros, Shwizz, Horizon Wireless, The Big Takeover, Capital Zen, Blueboy Productions (DJ set), Outlet, Speakerbot, Dan Collins, Greg D, Solaris, Cosmal, Fundimensionals and The Brummy Brothers.
Catskill Chill will be held September 608 at Camp Minglewood in Hancock, New York
For more information and news check out http://www.catskillchill.com/
or follow them on twitter https://twitter.com/catskillchill/
The night started out with The Assortment of Crayons, hometown favorites from New Paltz and the crowd really showed up in force for their hour long set. Their funk came out immediately in full force and elicited a feel for Shakedown-era Dead. 
The night continued and soon the night seemed like one long jam. Around 1:50 A.M., Joe mentioned Phish had announced their tour dates and maybe a little celebration should go down. With that, the band started up Phish’s “Ghost”. Formula 5’s take on the Phish classic was fantastic, funky, dirty and a little bit of rock thrown in. They did the song justice and followed it up with moe.’s “Happy Hour Hero”. These covers back to back showed who they are influenced by, but also how great their musicianship is to give both songs their due. They ended with a bluegrass tune “Catch Me” and followed it up with the space funk of “Houdini” to end the night. Both of these songs showed how diverse this band can be at any given moment. If you have a chance, make sure you see these guys when they come to your town.
