May 24 2025 Camp Keewanee Greenfield, MA
This has been a whirlwind spring and summer of live music, and it all started with Strangecreek! This festival always represents the opening of festival season it feels. All of your friends come out of hiding, the sun shines and warms us all if you’re lucky, and that giddy feeling of festival season descends on all of us!
My family and I woke up Friday May 23 in Baltimore MD to celebrate a graduation. It was nearly 4 PM before we were headed north and we put the pedal down and made it all the way to our north central Massachusetts home before midnight. Showers, a fast snack, and a quick pack and we fired up the bus and headed to Greenfield. We somehow managed to walk onto property around 2AM Friday night, or Saturday morning truly, and we walked into the Wormtown Cabin right on time.
All star Phish tribute Reprise were set up and started within moments of our arrival. I understand it had been a rainy start to the festival and that folks arriving on THU and FRI were somewhat soaked and had been through it! You couldn’t tell that to us, we had just arrived! Reprise played all of May 10 1990 when Phish played the Pearl Street in Northampton. Starting after 2AM didn’t lend itself to a set break, so they did a little “This is the set break, This is the set break” vocal jam for about 1 minute and fired directly from set one to set two. These boys were ready to go!
Photo by Davis Thurston.
Reprise is comprised of Adrian Tramontano on drums and vocals (The Breakfast, Kung Fu, Mihali, Twiddle), Chris DeAngelis on bass and vocals (The Breakfast, Kung Fu, The Machine), Scott Chasolen (ulu, the Machine, AM Gold and more) on keyboards and vocals, and Cal Kehoe (Pink Talking Fish, Prince Bowie) on guitar and vocals. For those who are curious their upcoming tour dates have them all over New England this Fall. Follow them here: Facebook Instagram Tickets for the Turners Falls MA show at the Shea Theater on October 2 2025 are available here.
We passed out after 4A and got up and were back in festival mode before 11AM. We luckily have deluxe accommodations by way of our 1988 Detroit Diesel military vehicle turned school bus turned camper. Having a bed that is raised off of the ground, and a door to close, and pillows and blankets at a festival? Amazing. I don’t think we can ever go back.
We were present for an important memorial to our good friend Mike Podlenski who was an integral part of the Wormtown family who passed on earlier this year. His family is our family, and Wormtown family so we were glad to be there to support each other and to remember our good friend.
Improvement Movement hit the main stage, up from Atlanta GA and I believe this was their first Worm appearance. They self identify “Improvement Movement might be described as a loose amalgamation of Atlanta songsmiths, a hostile corporate takeover of your dad’s favorite band, or a generous waste of time.” The sound reminded me at times of the band Guest from Ohio, but this band has their own thing going on totally. Their pursuit of interesting song arrangements and non traditional vocal harmonies was a courageous choice for a band playing before a new audience who likely was not familiar with them.
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Check out the full show audio, and you can use the arrows to toggle from song to song:
Up next was She Sings Dylan. That project is exactly as the band name would suggest, a female fronted tribute to Bob Dylan. I noticed Max Creek veterans Bill Carbone on drums and Mark Mercier on keyboards. Other band members include Marty Maroney and Jeff Martinson, with vocals supplied by Kate Hubbard and Sophia Coppola. The setlist was packed with expected favorites including Like a Rolling Stone, Raindy Day Women, Maggies Farm, and a Simple Twist of Fate but also Grateful Dead Dylan classics like Tom Thumb’s Blues and Ballad of a Thin Main and also less well known Dylan songs like Girl From the North Country and the set closer I Pity the Poor Immigrant.
Check out the full show audio, and you can use the arrows to toggle from song to song:
Video by GerryJD Video
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The Ain’t Sisters were up next and brought a great indie rock vibe. They also hail from Atlanta and have been touring throughout the East. The band is fronted by Arrie Bozeman and Barb Carbon and maintained a high energy level throughout their set.
Follow the Ain’t Sisters: Website Facebook Instagram Tik Tok
Boston’s Bearly Dead came with their rollicking tribute to the Good Ol Grateful Dead. This is a younger generation Dead band, performing more to the quicker paced versions of songs. The band has developed a devoted following in New England and fans were hungry for their take on the songbook.
Setlist:
Greatest Story Ever Told
Alligator
He’s Gone
Hell in a Bucket
The Music Never Stopped
St Stephen
So Many Roads
One More Saturday Night
Silvio
New England’s favorite musical marauders, Bella’s Bartok took the stage next. They had the mid afternoon crowd whipped into a frenzy with their frenetic mix of compositional folk punk and Balkan Klezmer rock. The audience loves them, and they love the audience back. Bella’s Bartok is a great mirror for the spirit of their fans and when there is joy, they band and audience alike feel it. When there is angst, and there is plenty to be angsty about, the band and their fans feel that, too.
The mixture of older and newer material, the mixture of song and theater, the mixture of vaudeville, street performance and rebellious instincts are a potent brew to the Worms. It has become it’s own pirate invasion at every Worm event, and the love is palpable. Those who know, are up for the adventure.
Southern Avenue played the first of two shows at Strangecreek. They were given prime main stage times on both days, and took advantage with a hot set that reflected the day’s elevated temperature and sunshine. The band is tight, the singing is top notch, and the spirit of performance is with this band. They threw down like they intended to recruit every single person there to become devotees of the band, and you could hear people throughout the weekend raving about their set(s).
And finally the mighty Max Creek closed out the main stage with a three hour marathon show. They are the Saturday night headliner every year at Strangecreek, and the Creek in Strangecreek and the fans showed their love for the band by packing the field and hanging on every note.
setlist
Big Boat (Peter, Paul and Mary cover) I Want You to Know Cruel World Stagger Lee (Traditional) I Will Always See Your Face Mercury Blues (K.C. Douglas cover) Mozambique (Bob Dylan cover) Peaceful Warrior Drums Emerald Eyes See It My Way (Toots Hibbert cover) You’re the Only One Baby, Please Don’t Go (Joe Williams’ Washboard Blues Singers cover) Just a RoseEncore: She Belongs to Me (Bob Dylan cover) Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon cover) Take Me to the River (Al Green cover) Back Porch Boogie Blues
The recording below covers nearly the whole show, but cuts out toward the end of the set, sorry!
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