moe. kick off Summer Camp 2012

The 12th annual Summer Camp Music Festival took place this weekend at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL. Featuring performances by headliners moe., Umphrey’s McGee and Janes Addiction along with Pretty Lights, Primus and the Weir, Greene Robinson Acoustic Trio and more, the festival hosted a number of collaborations and special sets throughout the weekend.

As with previous years, the festival’s musical proceedings kicked off on Thursday with performances by Cornmeal, Digital Tape Machine, Family Groove Company, Elephant Revival Van Ghost and more. Late night slots were filled out by the Infamous Stringdusters and the moe. side-project Floodwood, who welcomed moe. bassist Rob Derhak to the stage the festival’s first guest appearance.

Friday’s festival news surrounded Bob Weir’s sit-in with Primus on “The Other One,” which took place during the band’s headlining set on the Moonshine stage. The connection between Weir and Primus comes from longtime RatDog drummer Jay Lane, who performed in an early incarnation of the band before meeting Weir. The drummer was also an original member of Furthur and continues to play with Weir in his Scaring the Children trio. Weir and Primus’ Les Claypool have also shared the stage a number of times in a variety of settings since collaborating at Gathering of the Vibes in 2000, though this was the first time Weir has performed with Primus proper. Weir also performed earlier in the day as part of his acoustic trio with Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene. Elsewhere on Friday, moe. guitarist Al Schnier sat-in with Keller Williams during his daytime performance on the Moonshine stage.

Summer Camp continued on Saturday with two headlining sets from both moe. and Umphrey’s McGee as well as the return of Gov’t Mule. Warren Haynes took little time settling back into his usual groove, appearing on stage with G. Love on Slim Harpo’s “I’ve Got Love If You Want It,” and with moe. on “Happy Hour Hero.”

Saturday also hosted Umphrey’s McGee’s special set in the Three Sisters Church, which included the first version of “Mamu” in at least four years (however the last version was not full version so it was more like eight years). The group also performed “A Go Go,” which, besides the All Night Wrong cover show, had not been played in two or three years. Earlier in the day, Umphrey’s also debuted a new tune called “Depth Charge.”

In addition, the day featured pair of sets from the Conspirator/Big Gigantic collaboration, Gigantic Underground Conspiracy, consisting of Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits, Conspirator), Chris Michetti (Conspirator, RAQ) Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken (Big Gigantic) and Ben Baruch (Underground Orchestra). The group performed a number of Conspirator originals along with their first Big Gigantic tunes, “Sky High” in the evening set and “Fantastic” in the late night set.

The Brain Damaged Eggman—featuring Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss, Jake Cinninger, and Kris Myers alongside Disco Biscuits’ Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner—also returned to the stage for a late night set in the Redbarn on Saturday. The Beatles/Pink Floyd cover group performed renditions of “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “Brain Damage Eclipse,” I Am the Walrus,” “Fearless,” “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Comfortably Numb, and a first ever version of “Sgt. Peppers” to open the show.

Sunday continued with another pair of sets from moe., along with single sets by Umphrey’s McGee, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Janes Addiction, Yonder Mountain String Band, Victor Wooten, Galactic, and more. During their evening set, moe. debuted a new tune penned by guitarist Al Schnier called “ATL.” The group later emerged in the campground in the wee hours for a surprise acoustic set with members of Greensky Bluegrass. The festival closed out with a late night set by Pretty Lights in the Redbarn.