Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and Tyler Childers / Donna the Buffalo / SETH FREEMAN / Devon Allman

Acey68 May 06, 2018

There's always hidden gems to find, you just got to know where to look for them. I found such a gem this weekend hiding in plain sight in the beautiful city of Punta Gorda,Florida. Laisley Park is right on the water,where the Peace river meets Charlotte harbor right by highway 41. This is a small but wonderful area, that happens to also have live music festivals, and this weekend was the Peace River Revival w/ Devon Allman headlining. We took the hour long trek down south and were able to find parking fairly quickly right by the park, there wasn't a big crowd at the gate, they checked out our chairs for any contraband,and we got our wristbands($35 a piece) and we strolled on in. The festival was quaint,about a fifth the size of the festivals in Vinoy park in St. Petersburg, but they had plenty of food trucks,vendors, and a beer truck that had minimal wait times. We ran into a friend as we walked in and set up our chairs in an optimal space to see both stages close to the sound board. The stages were close to each other,with only a turn of the chair needed to face each one, they used both stages brilliantly to avoid any time between bands, as soon as one band finished, the next band started on the other stage. The crowd was definitely older,not many young people, but there were a few, mostly an Allman Brothers crowd mixed with a bunch of Donna the Buffalo's herd, and people interested in seeing Willie Nelson's son. There was a local bluegrass band playing when we got there, singing songs about Florida and a nice song about Punta Gorda, my friend thought the mandoline player was good, he also is a mandoline player, so he is biased, it also turned out they all new a friend of mine who is a musician in Sarasota, small world. It was a bright sunny day, the water was crashing the sea wall, and the palm trees were swaying in the wind, there was plenty of room to move around and enjoy the beauty of this wonderful park. Eric Lindell was supposed to be next, but because of an illness, he was replaced by Seth Freeman, who flew in from Seattle on 2 days notice, what a trooper, I assume he didn't mind the change in weather from 40 to the 75 degrees that we have here in Florida. He didn't have time to put together a band, but he did a great job alone(with no techs or roadies) to show off not only his acoustic skills,but also played some slide guitar wonderfully. Next was something completely different, a bluegrass band that plays 80's hits. Love Canon was a true bluegrass band with this unique niche of playing only 80's hits like Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and John Fogerty's "Centerfield" amongst others, it was fun to guess the songs as they started them up in the bluegrass fashion. The main stage was starting to become electric as the crowd was anticipating Lukas Nelson's set about to start, and as Love Cannon finished their set with a Howard Jones song, all attention was now on Willie's kid. I had seen Lukas play with his father years ago, but I was really looking forward to seeing this set, and the crowd was also psyched. The set was full of energy, with Lukas jumping around a lot a looking like he was having a great time, he added some tasty leads into the songs and gave the people what they were waiting for. In the middle of the set, he did a couple of acoustic songs including "Georgia on my Mind" and the beautiful ode to his hometown "Just outside of Austin" returning to electric, he began with a song that he said he wrote because he had to do "Georgia on my Mind" every night playing with his father, so he wrote "Forget about Georgia" tongue and cheek of course, because he still plays Georgie , even without his old man. Lukas finished his set with a tribute to the late Tom Petty, doing "American Girl" to thedelight of all in attendance. He came out and did a rocking encore and after almost an hour and a half set, his time had come to an end, a very good first impression of Promise of the Real, cant wait to see them do there own show. The crowd had swelled in front of the 2nd stage in the last ten minutes of Lukas set in anticipation of the Donna the Buffalo set that was about to begin. They brought a good number of their fans to the festival and now they were all massed in front of the side stage with there "Herd of 'em" shirts worn proudly. I too am a big fan of Donna but it has been 6 and a half years since I've seen them, so I was looking forward to seeing if they were still as good, they of course were. The only problem with their set was the sound, couldn't hear the vocals for the first song, and the sound was distorted for about a half hour before it finally kicked in and sounded right. I went down to the front of the stage for the 2nd half of the set and it was amazing to see these great musicians still as good as ever and looked like they were having a great time as well as everyone up in front of the stage. Everyone was dancing and being kind to all around, the best thing about a Donna show is you feel like everyone is family, a real sense of community. After the Donna set, the wind had picked up and it began to look ominous, the weather was supposed to hold up until later in the night, who thinks about rain when you're having such a good time!!! As we waited in the beer line to get a tasty beverage for the Devon Allman w/Duane Betts set, I felt a couple of drops, then everyone in line began to notice, and suddenly the skies opened and pandemonium ensued. Everyone ran back to get there chairs,all the while the band had begun their set, I got back to my seat, and Holly was soaked, as I tried to cover her, the music had suddenly stopped, I turned to see the band scamper off the stage and I knew that was my cue to hit the bricks. We gathered our belongings and headed, along with everyone else, to the exits and to the car. Luckily we parked close, and we were on our way home sopping wet in less then 10 minutes. The uncomfortable hour ride home went quickly, and it was good to get out of those wet clothes, unfortunately missing the Devon Allman set, I don't know if they even came back on stage. Even the rain couldn't put a damper on this wonderful event in this wonderful place on the water in Punta Gorda,Florida. I'm glad I finally discovered this gem, and I look forward to the next event, all that live in southwest florida,or on the gulf coast should check it out. Cheers!!!