The Ionia Freak Fair will take place today and tomorrow in Ionia, MI. On the eve of the event, Greensky Bluegrass, who will appear at the fest, performed in Grand Rapids, MI. Mark Lavengood, who will host the Bily Strings-curated festival, opened the night with his group, and a number of Ionia Freak Freak participants joined Greensky over the course of the evening, including Strings himself.
The first set opened with a cover of Grateful Dead’s “Feel Like A Stranger,” which Greensky last performed at Red Rocks on 9/14/24. From there the group focused on its own staples from “Demons” to “Blood Sucking F(r)iends” to “Grow Together.” Then Lavengood appeared on dobro for the band’s “I’d Probably Kill You” from 2011’s Handguns. The quintet then closed out the set by moving through three more band originals: “Take Cover,” “Windshield” and “Run Or Die”
Greensky emerged for the second set and kicked things off with If Sorrows Swim track “Worried About the Weather.” Then, following Stress Dreams’ "Monument” Vince Herman appeared for the Dolly Parton tune “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” in tribute to the artist who passed away earlier this week. As Herman stepped off the stage, Strings emerged and joined Greensky Bluegrass for the remainder of the second frame, as the band moved through its own staples “Living Over,” “Solstice,” “Reverend” (which Strings has performed with his own group since 2019) and then “Broke Mountain Breakdown” which led into “Tied Down.” Herman returned for the encore, joining Strings and Greensky for John Hartford’s “Get No Better” and the Shawn Camp/Billy Burnette tune ““My Love Will Not Change.”
All of the artists will reconvene at the Freak Fair, which opens today.
