On July 4th, the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America, Rolling Stone held its very first Stateside Music Festival at the Hutton Brickyards in Kingston. The heat index may have reached up to 105°F and there may have been a severe thunderstorm, but neither stopped 4,000 people from attending the festival.
The festival, headlined by Noah Kahan, also featured Gigi Perez, Sydney Rose, Arcy Drive, Bo Staloch, Bebe Stockwell, Devon Gilfillian, Derby, Calder Allen, Michaela Anne, and Hudson Ingram between two stages. The schedule was staggered in a way that allowed festival goers to see each artist perform – in other words, no two artists overlapped. The Main Stage and Scout Stage were located on either side of an old building from the time when the venue was a functioning brickyard.
Festival goers came from near and far to attend with some people taking 12 hour road trips. Some attendees were there celebrating July 4th with their families. Some reuniting with a group of college friends. Others came to see artists they really loved like a family who traveled all the way from Vermont to see Calder Allen perform.
The Hutton Brickyards has a unique history which lended itself to be an interesting venue to host the first festival. It was originally built in 1865 and was the longest-running brickyard in the Hudson Valley area until it closed in 1980. The brickyard was coined the name “the brickyard that built New York City,” as the bricks made here were used to build iconic NYC landmarks like the Empire State Building, Yankee Stadium, and the Brooklyn Bridge. After it shut down, the brickyard fell into disrepair until it was purchased in 2014. Since then, the site has been turned into a hotel, wedding venue, restaurant, and spa. The bones of the brickyard are scattered around the site for guests to see. The juxtaposition between the new brick buildings and remnants of existing buildings creates a unique space for guests.
The venue sits right along the Hudson River, where some people even parked their boats, kayaks, and paddle boards along the venue to enjoy the music from the water. A lot of attendees found themselves a nice spot to sit between the Main Stage Pavilion and the water where they could enjoy the music as well as a break from the sun and catch a breeze along the water. The festival did a great job at keeping water available to attendees via free bottles and water bottle filling stations given the extreme heat.
If you’re a dog lover, you might be bummed to know that the Hertz Gold Squad made a special appearance at the festival. If you’re not familiar, they are an elite team of Golden Retrievers spreading fluff and love wherever they go. They were a big highlight for a lot of attendees. Now to the music.
Bebe Stockwell and Hudson Ingram started off the festival on a high note. Both Bebe and Hudson are fantastic young artists and songwriters. Bebe has a unique tone and grit to her voice and her music is a blend of folk, indie, and pop. The mix of the two along with her story-telling songs resonate with and relate to a lot of people. Bebe performed her well-known song, “Minor Inconveniences,” which is a song about the “ups and downs of life,” according to Bebe herself. Hudson Ingram was born into a musical family as his father is country artist, Jack Ingram. Hudson may only be 20, but he’s proven to be a talented singer and song-writer and hold his own. The way he writes songs is meant to help him understand and make sense of life. For example, Hudson’s song “Real Life,” in particular talks about his experience trying to make meaningful connections and how important it is to be present in life no matter where you are.
I am convinced that Bo is much older than 21 because his songs are beyond his years. His song, “From a Different Age,” he talks about being an old soul for valuing a slower paced and meaningful life while living in a fast tracked, contemporary world. When listening to his music, you really have to listen to the deeper meaning of the lyrics to fully appreciate his story telling.
DERBY, also known as Craig Caldwell, was a completely different performer than others at the festival. His set featured a lot of voice manipulations, however it was done in a way that enhanced his music and his set, which is a big reason why he stood out among other artists. He played some of his well known songs as well as some unreleased songs.
Arcy Drive was up next to the Main Stage. They are a local New York rock band from the Northfork of Long Island. The 4-piece band of friends coined their sound as “Attic-Rock.” They actually renovated Toyota van from 1989 and traveled across the country sharing their sound. You could tell from the audience that they were close friends by the way they interacted with each other on and off stage. Their set was energy and dressed for the holiday in capes, masks, and bare feet. Despite the excessive heat, Arcy Drive had the audience on their feet and dancing along.
Shortly after Arcy Drive took the Main Stage, Michaela Anne took the Scout Stage. Just a short walk away past the remnants of the old brickyard away. Arguably, this was the hottest part of the day, but it didn’t deter guests from enjoying Michaela’s set. She performed some songs from her newly released album, “These Are the Days.” She mentioned how this album is deeply personal as she talks about her life as a traveling musician with a new child. It’s also her first self-released album that she created among family and friends.
You may have seen videos of Sydney Rose back during Covid where she used popular platforms like TikTok and YouTube to share music, some of which went viral with millions of streams. Her Georgia-born artist is known for a unique voice, one that is softer and sounds like she is singing in your ear and only you can hear it. Her set offered a needed reprieve in between high energy sets; she also joined Hudson Ingram during his set earlier in the day.
Calder Allen was next to take the Scout Stage. Before his set, I spoke with some fans along the barricade who had driven all the way from Vermont to see Calder perform. When Calder took the stage, he immediately recognized the group and thanked them for coming. The Texas is the grandson of famous songwriter, Terry Allen, needless to say songwriting was in his blood. Just like Sydney, Calder began writing songs during the Covid 19 pandemic. His song “Carry On” was a crowd favorite.
Dark clouds slowly approached the Hutton Brickyards in the afternoon. Shortly after Calder’s set, the wind picked up and the skies opened up. A severe thunderstorm blew through and led to a shelter in place. Thankfully, the Main Stage was fully covered for guests to get out of the weather. After a 90-minute pause, the sun came out along with a double rainbow, a perfect sign to keep the evening going, by which point Gigi Perez took the Main Stage and Devon Gilfillian at the Scout Stage.
Gigi Perez was a huge highlight of the festival. The crowd was ready for some high energy music after the shelter in place. Originally from New Jersey, Gigi began writing music at the young age of 15. Her talent along with the power of social media, her hit song “Sailor Song,” made a big splash on international charts in 2024 and since then, her career has taken off. A highlight of her set was a cover of Lana del Rey’s popular song “Summertime Sadness.” The entire pavilion was singing along with her iconic rendition of the song. Perez also brought out her little sister to sing a duet, which was fun to see how well they sang together.
Shortly after Gigi started her set at the Main Stage, Devon Gilfillian was also drawing a big crowd at the adjacent Scout Stage for its final artist of the day. Devon was the perfect way to end the evening at the Scout Stage with a mixture of R&B, hip-hop, rock, blues, and soul. The tone of his voice along with his energy was fun to watch. Even if you didn’t know the words to his songs, you were moving along with him. Devon even encouraged the crowd to dance now that it had cooled off.
By this point, the Main Stage pavilion was completely packed. Fans had been camping out in the pavilion all day in order to claim a good spot to see Noah. Just under 4,000 people standing under the pavilion. What some fans might not know that a portion of each ticket sold was donated to Noah’s nonprofit organization, the BusyHead Project.
The energy and anticipation was high. Despite the delay, Noah Kahan took the stage on time and I’ve never heard a crowd sing so loudly, even in an open pavilion. It was obvious that the weather didn’t deter fans from squeezing close together to get the best view of Kahan. He opened the evening saying “We’re gonna play some music that makes you feel just miserable tonight.” Let’s just say the night was anything but miserable. Noah’s set featured his popular hits like “She Calls Me Back” and “Dial Drunk.” The crowd knew every word of every song as they often sang louder than Noah. Kahan closed out the first ever Stateside Music Festival with his 2022 hit song, “Stick Season,” which was the perfect song to end the night on.
For saying it was the first Stateside Festival that Rolling Stone has ever done, Noah Kahan was a huge artist to have. When Noah is usually selling out venues with capacities of 40,00+ people, the Hutton Brickyards offered fans a more intimate experience with the chart-topping artist. The evening concluded with a large firework display along the Hudson River. Overall, the festival was really well done, there was a wide variety of local vendors and restaurants and despite the extreme heat, staff were making sure attendees were hydrated having a good time.
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