Pilgrimage Festival’s 10th Anniversary Weathered the Storm by Balancing Top-Tier Booking with Local Charm: Review + Photos

The post Pilgrimage Festival’s 10th Anniversary Weathered the Storm by Balancing Top-Tier Booking with Local Charm: Review + Photos appeared first on Consequence .

This year’s Pilgrimage Festival almost didn’t happen. Over the last week week, the remnants of Hurricane Helene dumped buckets and buckets of steady rainfall on Tennessee, and while the eastern part of the state saw more significant damage, the central third of the state remains…soggy.

Pilgrimage is hosted on a farm in the notoriously picturesque town of Franklin, all rolling hills and green pastures just south of Nashville. No one is eager to see the Park at Harlinsdale Farm torn up by foot traffic or trapped cars, making the days leading up to the festival all feel a little Bonnaroo 2021 , which was canceled in the wake of Hurricane Ida. As rain still fell on Saturday morning, the first day of the two-day event, the organizers confirmed things were, in fact, proceeding. After some quick set list shuffling to accommodate a few more hours of setup, gates opened.

This year, Pilgrimage Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary, and one of the defining traits of the gathering remains that massive headliner names can be seen at a small town event. This was further reflected in the demographics streaming onto the farm on the first day (the only slightly rainier of the two), which offered a mix of poncho-clad teens, families tossing frisbees, dudes in t-shirts there to see Dave Matthews, and committed Hozier fans who wore their flowing festival skirts to tromp through the muck and mud. Many festivals say they have something for everyone, but Pilgrimage lives up to that promise.

Nashville’s The Brook & The Bluff describe themselves as a “vibes band,” and they successfully captured a sizable Saturday afternoon crowd ready to groove through the dreary atmosphere on the Midnight Sun stage, which would soon welcome New Orleans’ Trombone Shorty and, later, the Dave Matthews Band. For the two largest stages at Pilgrimage, Midnight Sun and Gold Record Road, Pilgrimage designates sections of the lawn for blankets and folding chairs, underscoring the easygoing, picnic-type atmosphere.

Pilgrimage veterans know that some of the best gems of the festival are often found in the Americana Music Triangle, which also boasts a covered pavilion, essential for stormy iterations and blazing hot days like those of the 2023 festival alike. On Saturday, Rob Robinson used this stage to deliver an energetic heaping of blues with his nine-piece band, HeavyDrunk. Sunday, though, rising vocalist Cassandra Lewis had the crowd in the tent in the palm of her hand; with every appearance, including a recent standing ovation during her Ryman debut, Lewis continues to solidify herself as one of the most exciting emerging talents in Music City.

On Saturday, as the sun went down and the weather picked up, Hozier started his set a bit earlier than scheduled, confirming that the moody gloom made him, at least, feel entirely energized. “I feel like I’m at home,” the Irishman shared, stepping to the edge of the stage to lean out from the covered proscenium and and embrace the rainfall. To his point, there is no better environment for songs like “Cherry Wine,” “Like Real People Do,” or “Movement” than what Pilgrimage was offering on Saturday. While he’s made a point to distance himself from internet memes painting him as a mythic figure spending time in fabled glens and dramatic cliff sides, his music does often conjure that otherworldly feeling.

Hozier also used the intro to “Nina Cried Power” to take a moment to shout out the track’s original featured artist, Mavis Staples, before tracing the ways the American Civil Rights Movement inspired quests for equality in his native Ireland. He then shared a plea for world leaders who prioritize peace in a way that echoed his hope for a ceasefire voiced at Lollapalooza in August. “Peace is always better,” he shared, his gentle voice rumbling over cheers from the crowd. “Thanks for letting me speak from the heart for a moment.”

Then, after closing with “Take Me To Church,” he wordlessly unfurled a Pride flag to hang from the mic stand while he called up the band for a photo. This move didn’t need an explanation – despite the “blue bubbles” seen in most of the Nashville metro area, Memphis, and Chattanooga, Tennessee has continued to roll out severely anti-LGBTQ legislation as recently as April 2024. A huge chunk of Hozier’s band is made up of Nashville musicians; his manager and members of touring crew also call Music City home. As an artist, he clearly has a heart for this place, and the choice to display this flag echoed an observation he made in conversation with Consequence in 2023 when he described this part of the country as a place of “kindness and grace” with “a difficult history that can hold, in the same hands, the stunning hospitality and reality of the present.” Take us to church indeed, Hozier.

Sunday began dotted with sun, particularly during Stephen Sanchez’s set, where he remained committed to his 1950s crooner bit, but the rain returned with a vengeance by the time COIN arrived to up the energy with their endlessly danceable pop music.

Backstage, the members of NEEDTOBREATHE looked entirely at ease ahead of their time on the Gold Record Road stage. “People who come to festivals just love music,” said lead singer Bear Rinehart, who lives down the road from the event site. “We have so many records as a band that when we play a headliner set there’s some pressure to play everything, but I feel like at a festival we can just come out and play some rock and roll.”

The largest crowds of the fest packed in to see the closing night’s headliner, Noah Kahan, who played through the last intermittent waves of rain for two full hours. Our May 2024 cover star performs with a sense of wild abandon not unlike fellow Pilgrimage Sunday night headliner Zach Bryan . The swaths of fans knew every word of the set, from the opener of “Dial Drunk” to the acoustic rendition of “Maine” and the encore performance of “Stick Season,” all belted with equal enthusiasm. Kahan’s quirky, unpolished, zillennial sense of humor permeated every break between songs, which he made a point of describing in the most absurd ways possible. (“This is a song about milk and worms,” he said of “Everywhere, Everything.”)

“You guys seem far too happy,” he accused the crowd at one point. “I want us to all leave here covered in mud and stuck in traffic.” Despite the truly admirable efforts of the festival organizers and Franklin traffic operators, he just about got his wish.

Hozier, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Hozier, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Hozier, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Hozier, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Noah Kahan, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Noah Kahan, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Noah Kahan, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage NEEDTOBREATHE, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage NEEDTOBREATHE, photo courtesy of Alive Coverage Dave Matthews Band, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Dave Matthews Band, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival COIN, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival The Brook & The Bluff, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Allison Russell, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Myles Smith, , photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Stephen Sanchez, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Trombone Shorty, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Trombone Shorty, photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival

Pilgrimage Festival’s 10th Anniversary Weathered the Storm by Balancing Top-Tier Booking with Local Charm: Review + Photos
Mary Siroky