These buses are rockin’: Buses by the Beach benefit ‘one of the coolest events’ to kick off summer 2015

Invigorating sets by The Accidentals, Fauxgrass and Bigfoot Buffalo – plus all those vintage VW buses – capped Saturday’s timeless entertainment. And check out Roosevelt Diggs’ audio from Friday.

 

As Fauxgrass mandolinist and festival veteran Jason Wheeler puts it, the Bus Benefit presented by Buses by the Beach every Memorial Day weekend along Lake Michigan is all about “friends and family and that sort of thing.”

It’s also about top-notch regional bands playing under a tent in the great outdoors, vintage VW buses and a camp-styled camaraderie enhanced Friday and Saturday by picture-perfect weather.

Marking the 13th year of the annual fundraiser for the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the event held amid a beautiful stretch of woods at Camp Blodgett in West Olive has drawn about 100 hundred unique and stunning VW buses for the four-day festival along the shores of Lake Michigan between Grand Haven and Holland.

With a vibe that made it seem like the VW-based campground was a permanent fixture in this neck of the woods – yet one that could just as easily be packed up and vanish by the end of the day – this year’s benefit boasts the largest attendance in the event’s history.

Saturday’s lineup of Bigfoot Buffalo, Fauxgrass and The Accidentals highlighted the rootsy nature of the event’s camp-styled fun, which kicked off Friday night with Nicholas James & The Bandwagon and Roosevelt Diggs. Tonight (Sunday), OrganGrindrs, Great Notion and Rootstand are scheduled to wrap up the weekend of live music, though rain unfortunately is moving in. (Check out audio of Roosevelt Diggs’ set below.)

Bigfoot Buffalo’s genre-blending set transitioned through folk, Americana, and even dipped into blues-rock material by the end of the band’s set: truly offering something for everyone.

Attendance at the evening-opening set quickly grew to more than 50 gathering around the figurative campfire of the music. The actual campfire came an hour later when the sun began to set.

DOGS, FAMILIES AND HEARTFELT MUSIC

“It’s so cool that this festival allows dogs,” Bigfoot Buffalo bassist Eric Engblade remarked after the band finished “Money to Burn,” an Americana tune off its upcoming album. Much of the group’s original material featured bouncy basslines and powerful harmonies with lead singer and guitarist Kyle Brown’s heartfelt vocal delivery.

Grand Rapids’ Fauxgrass followed that with more than an hour of music that instantly livened the crowd, inspiring them to clap along and some even to dance.

The group’s music rang true to its name with stylings that couldn’t quite be called bluegrass. Each bluesgrass-based song incorporated elements of folk, Americana, and even classic country ballads. Through acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass and fiddle, Fauxgrass created an atmosphere of eclectic and electric energy with the musicians’ passion – quite a feat considering the lack of percussion.

The crowd, which had grown into the hundreds, hooted and hollered before, during and after most songs, partly because there wasn’t much time in between tracks. Fauxgrass never let up in energy or the tempo, speeding along steadily like a train, whose imaginary robbery could be scored by the group’s music.

Performing for the fourth consecutive year at the bus benefit, mandolinist Jason Wheeler said the outdoor summer-kickoff event provides an ideal setting for the band’s music.

“It’s a lot of friends and family, and that sort of thing are here. It’s a great cause,” he said. “We’ve been well-received here in the past and we definitely like playing here. It’s a good place for us.”

Capping off Saturday night was the nationally acclaimed Traverse City folk/gypsy swing/rock trio, The Accidentals. Multi-instrumentalists Katie Larson and Savannah Buist with percussionist Michael Dause took the stage after the sun had set, the air had cooled and kids had put on their pajamas.

But any notion of going to sleep went out the window as soon as The Accidentals launched into their set with the familiar strains of “The Silence,” with its thumping kick drum energizing the entire audience which had begun growing cold during the down-time between sets.

The group offered up a lively performance of folk-infused, indie-rock/pop that appealed to the all-ages crowd. They played tracks new and old, breaking out cuts from their 2013 LP, “Bittersweet,” and as a special treat, a cover of “Everybody Loves My Baby,” by Spencer Williams and Jack Palmer.

“It’s by far, one of the coolest gigs of the entire summer,” Buist gushed. “It’s super laid-back, sense of family and (there’s) a rock(-climbing) wall.”

With the winning combination of beautiful harmonies and commanding melodies, along with a kinetic stage presence, The Accidentals encapsulated the heart of the event.

Their music, along with that of Fauxgrass and Bigfoot Buffalo, bridged generational gaps with contemporary stylings of music reminiscent of the past.

It symbolized what the weekend is all about: a timelessness found in the music, the community and the buses themselves.

BUS BENEFIT BY BUSES BY THE BEACH: Photo Gallery by Taylor Mansen

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View more photos from the Bus Benefit in the Local Spins Weekend Photo Gallery.

AUDIO: ROOSEVELT DIGGS LIVE AT THE BUS BENEFIT (COURTESY OF WILL PAIZ)

Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC