With summer festivals back into full spring post-pandemic. it can be hard to figure out which ones to go to. Stick with the traditional festivals that you have been going to for years – naturally – but you may also want to try a few new ones. This year The Country Note hit Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond that had a mix of music genres and copious amounts of, well, bourbon.
Guest Contributor Dawn Lemay recapped each of the day’s activities – check them out below:
Bourbon & Beyond was a stark contrast to some of the recent highly publicized festival failures. Bourbon & Beyond is a true gem among the festivals and is a high class whiskey and bourbon drinking connoisseurs dream festival – laid-back, lazy night in in Louisville “LOEYville” Kentucky!
Day One: Opening up the stage was Vivi Rincon, newly graduated from Berkeley and new to the festival circuit. She commanded the stage like a mini Pat Benatar packed with charisma in a youthful package. I was honored to speak with her, one on one backstage and she is just as genuine in person. The rest of the day was very mellow yet sprinkled with of peaks of bluegrass and country and rock songs that we’ve all grown up with and that we all love, and even if you didn’t know the name of the band on stage, you knew the songs.
Train, Buddy Guy, Billy strings, Vivi Rincon, Midland along with so many more rang out their hits to a very receptive all ages mellow crowd.
Day Two: Bastille, Hozier, Inhaler, Duran Duran, The Killers and honestly I until I went into the field I didn’t believe it, mid-day was WAYNE NEWTON.,” Mr. Las Vegas”, a living legend.
Along with a day filled with music, living legends, and trips down memory lane. I personally met with several bands backstage “Goodbye June”, “Boy named Banjo” and the “Cleverlys” even luring two of the bands @thecleverysofficial and @goodbyejune into a lil white van (photo booth inside a VW bus) @dollythebus for a chat and pictures. And my favorite part of the day – DURAN DURAN! I actually hugged the rail for this one.
The songs made you reminisce, whether it was a song by The Killers or Wayne Newton or Duran Duran, your mind teleported you there and everything was ok, the moments washed over you and you were safe, the music enveloped you and took you somewhere. That’s what we came for, that feeling of completeness, and family in a sea of strangers… and that is exactly what Bourbon & Beyond delivered.
Photo Galley courtesy of Dawn Lemay & Katie Schnorrbusch:
Day Three: It’s not what happens to you it’s how you react and that is the best description of Bourbon And Beyond. After 2 perfect days of weather, it started raining and when I am say raining, I mean raining raining right before the headliner “The Black Keys” took the stage but people didn’t move… they persevered, they danced, they sang in the rain and it was a great culmination to an amazing day, filled with songs about moonshine, tributes to Pee-wee Herman, Jimmy Buffett, and country heroes played on banjos, standup basses, fiddles and electric guitars.
One of my highlights of the day was a beautiful Swedish sister duo called First Aid Kit, their set was beautiful, filled with grace reminiscent to old country stars like Johnny Cash and June Carter.
To sum up the night, a very happy older gentleman said it best, broadcasting so all could hear in his overly exuberant slurred vernacular:
“I don’t mind no rain… because rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey.”
Day 3 Bourbon And Beyond complete.
Note: There was no lightning, no high winds, no safety issues just rain.
And the bands played on.
Day Four: The confetti has fallen, the bubbles have dissipated into thin air, the crowds are gone, the roads are clear and the once bustling Bourbon And Beyond is now quiet.
Bourbon And Beyond was a virtual melting pot of all ages and races, and the epitome of what humans should achieve to be.
I played video games, had a margarita made with bourbon, heard tons of new music and new artists, learned about bourbon, relived parts of my childhood with Blondie, heard instruments sing, and then Bruno Mars brought it home with a phenomenal show with perfectly timed choreography, pyrotechnics and more. I truly believe everyone had a foot stomping, body swaying, memory invoking good old time.
Year after year, this is one of my favorite festivals filled with amazing music, clean all ages fun, and class lots of class and of course bourbon, bourbon and beyond.
The class and elegance of this festival is unrivaled, mix bourbon tasting with laid-back music, great tasting cuisine, and you have BOURBON AND BEYOND!