Swale At Summervale in Burlington’s Intervale July 2, 2015

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music a couple of Thursdays ago. Every summer there is a festival that happens each Thursday in Burlington’s Intervale. It’s an area of farm land on the north side of town, just off Riverside ave, and about 2 feet away from my job at Gardener’s Supply Company. There are lots of food vendors, fun and informative workshops for kids, and they always have a band. You never get bands at their full intensity, since they take it easy on the volume and a large percentage of the people dancing to the music are under 10 years old. Even still, sometimes a bit of musical magic can happen.

This year the festival began on July 2nd with one of my favorite bands, Swale. They were set to go on at 6 and I was a little slow, thinking they might go on closer to 6:30, but as I neared the entrance they began with a sweet version of Old School. I grabbed some dinner from Bluebird BBQ, found a seat on the ground close to the band and was delighted as they moved through their set. They kept things smolderingly mellow with Soul Piggy Bank and Waiting For You, then picked up the pace a bit with I’ve Got A Feeling. They followed with a cover that I did not know, but liked, the went back to their own songs for Dimedrop and Golden Crutch. Some stage announcements about the Intervale Center followed, then they went back to the music with a gorgeous version of Middlesex. They let Joyless rock out a bit and kept up the energy with C’est La Vie. They followed with another cover song I did not know, but loved the way Amanda Gustafson belted it out. They followed with a stunning version of If You Get Lost, then let things really rock with Everyone Likes To. Eric Olsen effortlessly swapped a couple of lyrics, too many jackals trying to get in, and stuff like that, in honor of the young crowd, and rocked the guitar hard at the same time. Tyler Bolles‘ bass kept all the songs super solid and Jeremy Frederick‘s drumming gave the push and articulation to make all the songs wonderful. His harmony backing vocals were quite nice too. They followed with a cool cover of The Velvet Underground’s What Goes On then played another cover I did not know, but liked. A killer version of Maybe I’m Amazed followed and Amanda sang it like a champ. A cover of the Mama’s & The Papas Make Your Own Kind Of Music was great to hear while sitting on the lawn on a sunny day. Another cover followed then they played Beaten Down. At this point, I was checking the time, since I had a radio show to do later. Who would have guessed they would have played such a long show? They played a couple more covers then pulled out a great version of This Is Not The Photograph. At this point it was 10 of 8 and I had to go. I reluctantly walked away as they released a highly appropriate version of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day. As I walked up Intervale road I could still hear them playing the song as I passed the depot. I’m assuming they ended the set at some point, and I was sad to miss some of it, but was elated to catch all that I did. When I made it downtown to WBKM.org to do the local music radio show that starts at 9, I had to open with Soul Piggy Bank. Hmmm, Swale. Is there anything they can’t do?

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.