Sacred Rose Festival Day One Recap and Photos: Philco, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Punch Brothers & More

Sacred Rose embarked on its maiden voyage this weekend, opening its grounds to a crowd that seemed to care more about being together than the music, which was an added bonus. Within minutes, the festival grounds took on a culture all their own. Where hula hooping is a form of sign language. Bucket hats weren't a stylistic choice, but one of utility. Where even the fresh open air can’t dissipate the smell of incense.

Despite the earlier cancellation from Friday night headliners, Black Pumas, and a last minute axing from Animal Collective due to Avey Tare’s voice loss, the shows went on and on and on (jam band jokes, amiright). All the while having microdoses of Margo Price throughout the day's performances, or as we at BAND call it, Margodosing. 

One of the biggest draws of the festival was the newly minted super-duper group, Philco. Consisting of Phil Lesh, Jeff Tweedy, Niles Cline, Elliott Peck, Karl Denson, Jeff Chimenti, Grahame Lesh, and Stu Allen (list pulled from memory and not the Sacred Rose website). The chemical effect that Grateful Dead songs have on white people still remains a mystery, but properly harnessed it could be a permanent cure for depression. The careless, off tempo sways spread through the crowd faster than the newest variant of COVID. 

One aspect of Sacred Rose that remains a mystery is the Laser Dome. A stage where many enter, but none emerge. It resembles a post nuclear fallout bounce house, the entrance to which has a never ending line of inebriated lambs being led to possible slaughter…but they all seem pretty hype about it.

Check out our photographer Josh Druding’s photo gallery for more of the days highlights featuring White Denim, Yves Tumor, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, City and Colour, Punch Brothers and more.