Golden Road Gathering
El Dorado County Fairgrounds, Placerville
May 16-18, 2025
Photos by Paul Piazza
The Golden Road Gathering has, over the course of its first three years, become a May classic. The startup music festival, set in the gold country just outside Placerville at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds, had perfect weather, a wide variety of musical excellence and a jam family vibe in the air.
The three-day festival was headlined by Dirtwire, Thievery Corporation, and Leftover Salmon on successive nights and all three delivered the goods exceptionally. Also aboard for the weekend were sax/flute titan Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, led the San Diego native who sidelights with a little band called The Rolling Stones. He also just finished a rip-roaring run with the Greyjoy All-Stars and he and his band brought the KD fire to the big stage.
There was ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), who were celebrating keyboardst/vocalist Zach Gill’s 50th birthday, and played an incredible set that included some nice cuts off of their recent record Frames, along with two surprising and fun covers of New Order and Steve Miller Band classics. There was also the welcome return of Tahoe’s legendary Blue Turtle Seduction, who lit it up once again following last years reunion performance.
One of the most unique aspects of the festival was the bands’ representation of a variety of regions of Northern California and the Tahoe areas burgeoning music scene.
From the far north, there were Diggin’ Dirt and Object Heavy, both killer funk acts from Arcata. There was also Tahoe’s amazing ensemble Boot Juice and the always rocking Mescalito. Balkan Bump, Boca da Rio, and New Monsoon represented different strains of unique sound and bustling the Bay. Grass Valley’s Broken Compass Bluegrass crushed it on their main stage debut. There was even more, but that whole segment of the festival was a testament to the strength of these multiple regions bursting and bustling with talent.
Roaming the stages and joining a variety of bands throughout the weekend were guitarist Bella Rayne, vocalist Hattie Craven, and tenor saxophonist Chris Hoog, who all seemed to pop up everywhere. The festival is a camping festival and all manner of RVs, trailers, and tents were strewn around the sprawling and clean fairgrounds.
Artists of every variety were in abundance, and after Thievery Corporation’s mesmerizing Saturday night set, there was a vivid fire dancing performance before the late night music began. The late night shows started shortly after the conclusion of the main stage sets and lasted into the wee hours. There were also some exceptional jams around the camps, including a couple that were led by Ten Foot Tiger, another great regional act (Sacramento/Tahoe) who performed at the festival on Friday.
The event was kid friendly and many families brought along second and third generation festival lovers to frolic and dance and appreciate this great event and what it has become. After another smash hit year, its time to start looking forward to year four!
