Ugh! The dreaded Bourbon & Beyond day-after feeling. You know the feeling; waking up Monday morning, head still cloudy from too much bourbon, body aching from too much standing/dancing/walking around, and that bummed out, sad feeling that it’s all over but simultaneously happy because you gotten to experience it. To me, when I’m there it seems like it will never end, (in a good way). Then when it’s all over, it seems like it went by way too fast.
Festival time - when Louisville becomes the center of the music universe for two straight weeks as we host two of the largest annual music festivals in the world: Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life! 8 days of absolute musical bliss, all thanks to Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP), who have made Louisville their second home. Not only are Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life two of the three top income-generating events for Louisville according to Louisville Tourism, (following only the Kentucky Derby), but over the past 10 years DWP has made more than $1M in charitable donations across Kentucky. Seriously, it’s a shame they aren’t eligible for a Hometown Heroes banner, as they deserve one.
Just when you thought Bourbon & Beyond couldn’t get any bigger, it did! The 2024 edition of the festival saw the expansion to five stages featuring more than 100 bands and artists, plus scores of renowned culinary and bourbon experts hosting more than 25 talks, tastings, demonstrations and workshops. Oppressive heat three of the four days did little to keep the crowds away. Attendance numbers aren’t in yet as I write this, but DWP expects them to be record-breaking. This was quite possibly the largest DWP festival yet! So to say this year’s Bourbon & Beyond was incredible is an understatement. So much to see and do, it was almost overwhelming. But damn, what a great time!
So let’s start with the bourbon before we get to the beyond. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seemed like there were less distilleries there than usual. But it didn’t matter because as far as bourbon, you were covered. The Kroger Big Bourbon Bar was back with bourbon expert Chris Blandford’s curated lineup of Kentucky’s finest bourbons. The Hunter’s Club offered up rare, vintage and experimental bourbons for the aficionados. Chris’ Picks Minibar featured exclusive one of a kind barrel bourbons. My favorite every year: the Bulleit Bourbon arcade was back with free vintage video games to play while sipping on some fine bourbon. Metallica-sponsored Blackened Whiskey was there with their whiskey bar. Chicken Cock Whiskey, (yes, that’s the actual name, stop laughing), was on hand. Fan favorite Jim Beam Tiki Barrel Bar returned with their bourbon and rum-infused cocktails. Jack Daniel’s once again sponsored two massive tents; the Sports Bar and the Char House - the latter of which proved to be a great place to escape the sun while watching the main stages.
But it wasn’t all about the bourbon. 1 Million Strong, whose mission is to unite “fans, artists, and the music industry to destigmatize addiction recovery through the power of community” was back with their family -friendly tent serving non-alcoholic beverages. The Highland Ground Wine Garden was on hand for the wine drinkers. The Music Experience was there with top-notch musical gear to peruse. And of course AB InBev was all over the beer sales, and their Bud Light Backyard offered shade and great views of the main stages.
Oh yeah, and a few bands and artists also played here and there during the festival. Not many, just a little over 100 of them! Yeah, as much as I love bourbon, I couldn’t do four straight days of drinking it without a little entertainment. And we got more than a little! When you have major bands and artists that have sold millions of records playing early evening sets because even bigger bands/artists play after them, you know you have one hell of a great lineup! There were so many amazing bands and artists, I’m not sure where to start. I definitely can’t cover them all, so here are some of my personal highlights.
Thursday: Not being able to take off work from my day job, (not LEO Weekly), due to a co-worker already having scheduled time off, as well as the person I was going with having to work late, caused me to get a late start to the festival and miss A LOT of great bands/artists; (Note to self, schedule 2025’s Bourbon & Beyond days off asap!) But walking in those gates for the first time in a year, damn, what a great feeling! Matchbox Twenty was already on stage and near the end of their set. My initial plan was to catch at least a little of Sam Bush’s set on the Bluegrass Stage, who was playing at the same time as Matchbox Twenty. But by the time I got in the gate and checked in to the media area, it was already too late. So we opted to find a good spot to watch Beck. I did get to catch Matchbox Twenty closing their set with a cover of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, (if this song doesn’t immediately conjure up images of The Breakfast Club in your mind, we can’t be friends). I did notice that Rob Thomas not only still sounded great, but apparently has not aged either.
Beck’s 70-minute, 17 song set covering his 30-year career was everything I’d hoped for. Here’s the thing though, Beck looks a lot different now. He has curly hair and was wearing shades. This is not the Beck that I expected to see. Here’s the other thing, from a distance his guitarist looks exactly like how Beck used to look. So I, along with most of the crowd, (I suspect), and certainly the people running the feed for the main monitors were understandably confused as to why Beck was only playing guitar and not singing his own songs. He literally got about three songs in before a closeup of the guitarist’s face brought me to the realization that Beck was indeed singing his own songs. This was also about the point that the camera people also figured this out.
I would have loved to have seen Neil Young next, who was supposed to headline Thursday night but had to cancel his tour due to illness. But I certainly wasn’t disappointed when Sting was announced as the replacement. And Sting…was…phenomenal! I was shocked to see he was only performing as a three-piece. No massive backing band, just him on bass and vocals, guitarist Dominic Miller, and drummer Chris Maas. The 72-year old Sting sounded and played flawlessly through his 17-song set that not only included his solo hits, but a number of classics by The Police, including my favorites “Message in a Bottle,” (which was his opening song), and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” The encore of The Police’s “Roxanne” had the crowd singing along and was a perfect closer for the day.
Friday: Again, not being able to get off work because a co-worker had already taken off caused me to miss a bunch of bands/artist that I had really wanted to see. But I did get there in time to catch some of the Black Pumas. And man, why did they have to schedule the Black Pumas and The Red Clay Strays sets as overlapping? Black Pumas OWNED the stage! Apparently they did a cover of the Crazy Horse song “Dirty Dirty” in which Derek Trucks of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, (and whom I got the honor of interviewing at Bourbon & Beyond - coming soon to LEO Weekly), joined them on stage. I didn’t get to see this because I went back to the Beyonder Stage to catch a little of The Red Clay Strays, who were also great. But I couldn’t stay for The Red Clay Strays’ entire set because I wanted to catch Tedeschi Trucks Band, whose set overlapped the end of The Red Clay Strays’ set.
The great thing about Tedeschi Trucks Band is you never know what you’re going to get from night to night as far as song selections. Not only do they know all of their own songs, but apparently they also know every song ever written! Seriously, they throw out numerous covers every night, rarely if ever repeating them. And this night we were blessed with covers of songs by John Prine, Jerry Garcia, Santana, and more. Susan Tedeschi's voice was simply amazing, as was guitar legend Derek Trucks’ guitar playing. And since I had earlier interviewed Trucks for LEO Weekly, I took great delight in telling the people I was with “You see that guy? I know him!” jokingly numerous times when they showed him on the monitors.
Do I really even need to tell you that Dave Matthews Band had arguably the best set of the entire festival? I’ll probably get a lot of hate for this, but I’m only a casual DMB fan and have never seen him live before. Well, I now get why all of you all are always going on and on about his live shows. I understand why you travel long distances to see him. Dave and his band just exude fun while playing. They honestly look like they’re all having a great time, especially drummer Carter Beauford, who’s constant smile every time they showed him on the monitors was contagious. Although Dave and his band apparently switch up the setlist greatly from night to night, we were treated to hits like “Crash Into Me,” “What Would You Say,” and “Ants Marching.” Derek Trucks also came out to join the band on “Lie in Our Graves,” (and yes, the “I know that guy” continued during that song). The unexpectedly great cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” was a wonderful addition, as was the closing cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.”
Saturday: The day brought a full day of amazing performances by the likes of Smith & Myers, (who mostly played acoustic versions of songs by their main band Shinedown), Louisville Bluegrass Band (whom I did not get to say hi to, sorry about that), Robert Finley, Amigo The Devil, Soul Asylum, Whiskey Myers, (whose set I cut out early on to catch Tony Trischka’s Earljam - who also had an amazing set).
Not being much into modern country music, I’m not overly familiar with either of Saturday night’s headliners. However, Cody Jinks’ countrified cover of AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” was a nice treat, and he certainly put on a great show.
My plan was originally to go catch a little of Young The Giant’s set following Cody Jinks, then wander my way back over at some point for Zach Bryan. That, however, didn’t happen. On what is expected to be the most attended day in Bourbon & Beyond history, everyone was packed in so tightly by the end of Cody Jinks’ set that you couldn’t move.
When Zach Bryan, who’s fresh off a Twitter beef with Taylor Swift, took the stage, that place erupted! I may not be overly familiar with his material, but everyone else sure seemed to be. There were many, many times where the singing from the crowd was louder than the music. Bryant seems to add the perfect amount of pop sensibilities into his country songs to draw you into his music, and enough hooks to keep you there. I was actually surprised by the number of his songs I’ve heard and had no idea it was him singing them. It wasn’t hard to see why he was the headliner Saturday night as he commanded the stage in excellent form.
Sunday brought cooler temperatures and even a short rain shower later in the day. It also turned out to be my favorite day of the festival. It started with a far-too-early set in front of a far-too-small crowd by 17 year old Jake Kohn. And Kohn, who has a voice 1,000 times more powerful than his baby face would have you believe, played his heart out! It was a momentous occasion for Kohn, as it was his first time playing with a full band. And if you were lucky enough to catch his set, this is something you will be able to brag about in the not-so-distant future when he’s headlining Bourbon & Beyond - because mark my words, he will be one day! There’s video on YouTube of his performance, I highly encourage you to check it out.
After Kohn, some of the highlights for me were watching movie star Kevin Bacon enjoying the hell out of his set with The Bacon Brothers. The War and Treaty took us to church. Mt. Joy’s all-too-short set. The Beach Boys played hit after incredible hit and sounded amazing, even though Uncle Jesse (actor John Stamos) wasn’t there to sit in on guitar. The War on Drugs were great, but they could have played two additional songs in the time they drug out set closer “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”.
Our neighbors to the North, Cincinnati’s The National, (my wife’s favorite band of the festival), put on a great set that covered their entire career. It was one that also saw singer Matt Berninger testing the limits of his microphone cord by going over past the monitors on the side of the Oak Stage, then going all the way over to the monitors of the adjoining Barrel Stage at least a couple times, and at one point venturing out into the crowd quite a ways. Hats off to the poor guy having to wind and unwind his mic cord on stage, you earned your paycheck!
My Morning Jacket put on one hell of a show for their hometown with a setlist drawing heavily from their It Still Moves, Z, and Evil Urges albums. Opening with “One Big Holiday” was especially cool, even though the Squallis Puppeteers weren’t on stage during it. Their brand new single “Aren’t We One?” made an appearance during the set as well. Their cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”, (on which they were joined on stage by members of Lucius and Tyler Childers’ band), was especially touching. My problems were that an hour and 15 minute, 11- song set is basically just a warm up for My Morning Jacket, who are known for loooong sets, (I’ve seen do three and a half hour shows before). And I really thought we’d get at least one song from either The Tennessee Fire or At Dawn, or perhaps even a deep cut from one of their Early Recordings compilations or one of their EPs, but no. I personally would have liked to have seen My Morning Jacket in the headlining spot Sunday night to close out Bourbon & Beyond. They were the hometown band and I would have loved for them to have had the opportunity to play a longer set. But I’m not complaining (too much), as their set was the highlight of my night. By the way, look for an interview with drummer Patrick Hallahan coming soon to LEO Weekly!
The pride of Lawrence County, Tyler Childers and band, were up next and gave a riveting two-hour, 22 song performance to the packed crowd that included songs pulled from almost his entire career, (absent was anything from his 2020 album Long Violent History). Hits “All Your’n”, “Whitehouse Road”, “House Fire”, “Lady May” (which was done solo acoustic by Childers), and “In Your Love” all present in the set, but Childers closed out with the rather deep cut “Heart You’ve Been Tendin’”. All in all, a great and memorable set by Childers and band to close out the festival.
There’s nothing like get back home Sunday night, peeling the socks off my feet, (almost literally), and letting it all sink in. What a wonderful time at the biggest and best Bourbon & Beyond yet! If DWP is planning on topping this next year, then they have some major work on their hands! And I, for one, cannot wait to find out how they’re going to do it!
