Resiliency marked the opening of the Rhythms on the Rio Riverside Fest this past Saturday. After the spring fires, the summer monsoons hit the region hard, coloring the Rio Grande with black runoff from the burn scars higher in the mountains and swelling the waters into a rushing torrent. More of those rains hit the festival late afternoon creating some scrambling between the sound crew and the bands and forcing festivalgoers under any available tarps and canopies.

What more can one ask for than a night of great musicians and a good mix of country, rock and bluegrass? Probably not much except to have those musicians be the members of Grant Farm… and maybe include a special guest.

Dead Phish Orchestra (DPO) kicks off right with ‘My Friend, My Friend’ opener, they showcase exuberant energy for such a dark song and then burst quite alarmingly in to Casey Jones. This is commonplace for the band, a bizarre mash-up of idyllic songs switching back and forth between Phish and the Grateful Dead.