Caamp lights up The Amp: Folk-rock heroes curate the party vibe in Vail
John-Ryan Lockman/ShowLove Media
The folk-rock band Caamp played to a sold-out crowd at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater on Monday, July 17. The band, whose performance was eagerly awaited, kept its promise of “curating the vibe for a party.” Audience members were on their feet, dancing and singing, for the duration of the concert.
The bluegrass rock ‘n’ roll band Fruition, from Portland, Oregon, opened for Caamp, and lead guitar player Jay Cobb Anderson joined Caamp onstage for a song. Fruition will be playing a full performance at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater on Aug. 29.
Caamp’s music is known to evoke feelings of nostalgia and elation. The band’s performance opened with high-energy songs, and alternated between fast-paced and wistful, slower songs. The band played most of the songs off its older albums, skewing away from the 2022 album “Lavender Days.” The band walked off stage after an hour and a half without playing any songs from “Lavender Days,” but returned for a surprise encore, playing one song from the album, the crowd-pleaser “Believe.” For fans less familiar with Caamp’s older music, this choice of setlist may have been disappointing, but the crowd bought into the performance throughout the show.
The Ford Amphitheater was the perfect venue for Caamp’s performance. The lawn seating area, filled with fans, was frequently bathed in lavender light during the show, likely in an ode to “Lavender Days.” Especially avid Caamp fans sang or shouted lyrics to their favorite songs. “Vagabond,” arguably the band’s most well-known song, from its 2016 self-titled album “Caamp,” inspired a crowd-wide sing-along.
Caamp relied upon the power of its music to send a message to fans, speaking little to the crowd, but providing a few surprise elements that made the performance shine. At one point, lead singer Taylor Meier and drummer Nicholas Falk traded places, surprising and delighting fans with the musicians’ breadth of talent. The stunning light show that accompanied the musical performance also impressed, utilizing stage lighting to emphasize the energy of each song. The band members also smoked periodically onstage, although it was unclear whether this was meant to enhance their performance.
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Many concert attendees were visitors to the valley drawn to Vail by the allure of seeing Caamp in concert. One duo, who gave their names as Gabriella and Maxwell, said they were originally from Ohio, have been following the band for six years, and have seen them in concert 10 times. Gabriella, who now lives in Denver, bought tickets to the show for Maxwell’s birthday, and he flew out from Ohio to visit her and see the concert.
Gabriella said a setlist that didn’t include a lot of songs from the band’s latest album is actually typical.
“A lot of times we’ve seen them, they’ve had some interesting, weirder setlists, so it’s not that surprising, but still a little surprising,” she said. “Taylor (Meier, the lead singer) just doesn’t give it his all, as much, anymore, which is interesting. We love their new drummer — their new drummer is fantastic.”
Maxwell tempered her review, complimenting the improvement he has seen in Meier’s guitar and drum playing, and the show overall. “Still a great show, still really fun to see,” he said.
“We had a great time. It was awesome,” Gabriella said.
