One Day, 10 Hours, 17 Bands at the Borderland Festival

Hey Louie, how's the weather up in Buffalo?

Whatcha gonna do tonight?

Hey Louie, well you know it's gonna be alright

- Louie by Arcy Drive

Midway through Arcy Drive's energetic set on the Homespun Stage, lead singer Nick Mateyunas stopped to video-call his grandpa. The Borderland Festival was a homecoming affair for this unfiltered surf-rock band, and so not only were the matriarchs of the family there cheering on and passing up cold tall cans, but Nick's grandpa — the titular figure of their hit song — took center stage in a unique way.

No longer able to attend such a lively festival in his advanced age, the band aligned the phone atop the bass amp so that Louie could see all four members performing their tribute, and the thousands of festival goers singing along.

Arcy Drive marked the second of Borderland's three days transitioning from the up-and-coming local acts to the veteran Main Stage face-melters, namely The Pixies and Jack White. By that point in the evening, thousands of people had filled the pasture of East Aurora's Knox Farm State Park, just outside of Buffalo, NY.

In its eighth year, the festival pulled out all the stops: big-name headliners, a barn full of indie vendors, hipster art exhibits, food trucks, tents, and bars around the perimeter, and even a freestanding, New Orleans-esque brass band to keep the transitions between stages nice and bouncy.

Many attendees stayed the entire weekend, camping out in tents and RVs in the state park's designated areas. Others, like my better half, Irina, and I, drove from out-of-state actually, out-of-country early for a jam-packed single-day session. At $125 USD per ticket plus $25 for parking, we were certainly motivated to get our money's worth.

Given the consistent flow of high-quality acts, many of which were new discoveries for me, I'd say we did just that.

Having rolled into Upstate New York in the early afternoon, Irina and I caught auditory glimpses of the first warm up acts as we retrieved our wristbands and got our bearings. Given the rural setting, it was rather fitting that a bit of honky-tonk country kicked off the day.

Following a Down on the Farm Q&A discussion about sustainable agriculture with local farmers, we settled in for our first full set from The Rollin' Rust. Formed just this decade by a bunch of New York chums, this Americana act was hungry, and eager to please what they called "the biggest crowd we've ever played for."

The music was authentic and the fact that the lead-singer's acoustic guitar didn't work, and was later mic'd, Dylan-style, only added to the charm. A perfect appetizer for the festival.

The schedule was laid out so that each big stage had a 15-minute overlap (meaning that as The Rollin' Rust was playing their last few songs on the Main Stage, Olmsted Dub System kicked into the first few songs of their Homespun Stage set). However, since the historic barn, now converted into a hippie-dippie flea market of sorts, stood in between, the music wasn't in competition.

This layout meant that you could easily plan to see your top picks, while also enjoying partial performances from unknown (to me, at least) bands. This I did with Olmsted Dub System, a high-energy political reggae band, while Irina shopped for rings and tie-dye crop tops.

Back on the Main Stage, Mon Rovîa injected the most unique flavors of the day. This Liberia-born, Montana-raised, Afro-Appalachian singer-songwriter disguised his troubled personal story and frustrated modern politics behind a gentle voice and uplifting folk chords.

Taken at surface level, this was the happy hippie set of the festival, as validated by the ubiq-weed-ous plumes floating above the crowd. Yet, for those paying attention to the lyrics and the between-song story-telling, there were certainly some deeper takeaways.

On top of all the well-deserved musical accolades, what I liked about Mon Rovîa's set was how he delivered his politics. A lot of artists these days just repeat the in vogue slogans like a coerced activist or wannabe analyst. I think we're all getting pretty sick of that approach. Mon Rovîa did what a true artist should do: delivered his insights and opinions in an artistic way.

Having hovered around the Main Stage for an early dinner of a delicious, if somewhat overpriced, plate of pulled BBQ chicken, beans and collard greens, we just so happened to catch a chunk of Flipturn's set.

I hope I'm not dating myself too badly here, but I had never heard of them. What a happy accident it was that they turned out to be my favorite act of the festival. Blood sugar elevated, infectious early evening crowd, badass female bassist, and belting lead vocalist — what more could the heart of a man desire?

On four different occasions throughout these sets, Irina and I bumped into Arcy Drive's band members. My familiarity with their music was mostly based on what I'd heard Irina singing in the shower on a daily basis.

In fact, Irina's love for their music was the impetus for us coming to this festival. So it goes without saying that her fandom only grew after we met the lead guitarist and bass player chilling in the afternoon crowd, and then the lead singer post-show.

Their down-to-earth nature carried through into their set. Watching Arcy Drive felt like watching the cool guys at your high school closing out the talent show. No pretension, rehearsed but loose, and still in love with their own setlist.

As we approach the headliners, I feel like less need be said compared to the up-and-comers. The Pixies showed that age is just a number despite the band itself being 40 years old. Jack White, of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, came out guns a-blazin' and never let off the gas until the end of Seven Nation Army — the crowd-chanting closer of his six-song encore.

Ten hours after arriving at Knox Farm and 17 hours after rising for this border-crossing road-trip, I was thoroughly exhausted. All that remained was the shoulder-to-shoulder then bumper-to-bumper exit to our Buffalo motel, followed, finally, by a tinnitus-sprinkled sleep.

I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Judging by this year's sell-out, and the upward trend of big-name acts like Alabama Shakes and Lord Huron headlining the other nights, I'd say to keep an eye out for Borderland's 2027 schedule announcement and ticket sales.