Three incredible days of peace, love, community and music

(Above: Borderland 2025. (Photo by Skyler Greene)

By Jeff Miers

I’ve been to an awful lot of music festivals over the years.

From Lollapalooza to the SARS Relief Fest in Toronto, the Peach Festival to Woodstock 99, the Kool Jazz Festival (Yeah, I’ve been around a minute) to more EDGEfests than I can count, I’ve taken in experiences that range from the sublime to the frankly terrifying, and noted mass human behavior that ran from the relatively peaceful to the deeply disturbing.

In this multiple decade-spanning landscape, the Borderland Festival stands apart.

Why?

Well, you don’t so much ‘attend’ Borderland as you enter a temporary world that feels like an oasis in the desert off cash-grab “toss in every possible pop star you can” pop-fests and poorly curated weekend-length slogs.

Borderland is everything a music festival should be – a lovingly curated, expertly run, earth- and environment-aware, fan-friendly love-fest created and crafted by people who love music, for people who love music.

If these worlds sound hyperbolic to you, you’ve probably never been to Borderland.

Last weekend, Borderland celebrated its 7th year with three days of peace, love, music and community at Knox Farm State Park in East Aurora, NY, before the largest crowd in the festival’s history.

That a population of well more than 15,000 attendees (the exact numbers have not been made available yet, but I’d guess 20,000 people were there during Vampire Weekend’s Saturday evening set) could gather in this bucolic setting in the midst of a cultural and physical war being waged in our country from within, and by all appearances, get along like the closest of family members, is a minor miracle.

But Borderland has been peppered with minor miracles from the beginning. Something beautiful always happens.

Clearly, Festival President and co-founder Jennifer Brazill and her team knocked it out of the park this year, lineup-wise.

Borderland 2025: Khruangbin. (Photos by Kim Miers)

Headliners included Mt. Joy on Friday, Vampire Weekend on Saturday, and Khruangbin on Sunday. All three offered sets that thrilled the massive crowd, and displayed in real time the beautiful, envelope-stretching conception of roots and jam-based music that has been Borderland’s imprimatur from day one. Inclusiveness is a key element of the festival’s vibe, and so it was exciting witnessing what might loosely be described as ‘indie-rock’ appealing to seasoned jam-band aficianados and 20-something Vampire Weekend-heads alike. Similarly, when soul-rocker Nathaniel Ratliff joined Mt. Joy during their headlining sets, we witnessed worlds colliding in a meaningful way.

Borderland 2025: The Teskey Brothers (Photo by Skyler Greene); Band of Horses (Photo by Dave DeCrescente); Mt. Joy (Photos by Skyler Greene).

This year’s headliners offered outstanding sets – particularly Khruangbin, whose Sunday evening festival concluding performance was timed perfectly with a transcendent sunset over the park, capping a weekend of perfect weather with a brilliant and languid set of psychedelic Thai Funk.

Borderland is about so much more than the headliners, though, as brilliant as they were. Some of my own favorite memories from Borderlands past involve random discoveries of bands and artists that were new to me at the time – from Margo Price to Dogs in A Pile, and many more. This year was no exception, with the Teskey Brothers taking the honor. The Australian-born, deeply soulful and bluesy sibling-led outfit blew my mind with their Saturday afternoon set on the Main Stage, blending the influence of Al Green and Otis Redding with driving blues-rock tropes, all delivered via the simply sublime singing of frontman Josh Teskey. Just… wow.

Sets from Band of Horses , the Heavy Heavy, the Wailers, and Robert Randolph were also highlights of the weekend.

Borderland 2025: The Heavy Heavy, Robert Randolph. (Photos by Michael Lee Jackson).

A consistent element of the Borderland Festival is the manner in which Brazill stocks the lineup with the finest in regional talent, at once celebrating Buffalo’s deep and rich music community and offering these artists a much-deserved opportunity to play stages worthy of their talent. Folkfaces, the Scales, the Strictly Hip, Eric Carlion’s Half Dead (from Rochester, NY), the Borderland Dead All Stars (featuring members of Organ Fairchild, Sonic Garden, and Little Mountain Band), the Brass Machine, Leroy Townes Band, Organ Fairchild, Ulithian Vibes (a band from Micronesia, backed by an all-star contingent of Buffalo musicians), Past Masters, Dirty Work – all celebrated the high level of musicianship and broad diversity that are hallmarks of the Buffalo music scene.

Its been three days since Borderland 2025 wrapped up. I still have my Weekend GA wristband on. And I still haven’t come crashing back down to earth.

What the hell – maybe I’ll just stay up here until next year…

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