Photos and Review by Jolene Rheault
Some performers put on a traditional concert, while others spend their decades on the road proving they never needed to follow a single rule. Tucked away at ACE Adventure Resort for the annual Mountain Music Festival, the atmosphere on Thursday night was primed for absolute magic.
Surrounded by the wild beauty of West Virginia, a bustling visual artist gallery, and an incredibly passionate community of live music lovers, Andy Frasco & The U.N. kicked off the weekend by bringing a masterclass in harmonic funk, rock and roll theater, and raw, unfiltered energy that transformed the mountain stage into a total wall of emotion and chaos.
Frasco belongs to that rare lineage of magnificent stage madmen—operating somewhere on a spectrum between John Belushi’s “Joliet” Jake Blues and Jimmy Buffett.
He is a human lightning rod, a swirling rock ‘n’ roll Tasmanian Devil onstage leading his U.N. with the kind of larger-than-life presence you’d expect from icons like Eddie Vedder.
He sweats, bleeds, and drinks alongside the audience, carrying a crowd on his back through an absolute hurricane of a set.
Yet beneath the rowdy showmanship, the stage-diving, and the unapologetic party vibes lies something critics so often overlook: Frasco is a brilliant, devastatingly sharp songwriter, a tireless champion of empathy, and a man who pauses his heaviest rock storms to talk incessantly about his profound love for his mom.
His music functions as a massive, interactive sanctuary of positivity—a headspace designed to heal and ground people when they need it most. You simply cannot walk out of an Andy Frasco show without your chest feeling lighter, your energy completely refueled, and your soul feeling validated by a beautiful celebration of inclusivity and tolerance where “you do you” and “let us do us”.
The June 4th set in the Gorge was the ultimate proof of that enduring magic. Backed by the thunderous sonic engine of the U.N.—with fresh recruit Mike Gantzer taking over guitar duties just a few weeks after Shawn Eckels’ departure—the band converted absolute crowd chaos into a communal sanctuary.
Alongside the powerhouse rhythm section, the new lineup didn’t miss a beat. From switching instruments mid-song to Frasco jumping right into the thick of it to kibitz with fans, the performance embraced the wild, free-spirited nature that Mountain Music Festival is known for.
The crowd synchronization was nothing short of legendary. At the absolute peak of the night, the entire audience banded together during a massive, swirling traditional Hora, lifting a 10-year-old boy high into the air above a sea of smiling faces to celebrate his birthday.
Andy Frasco himself was right there in the thick of it, having climbed off the stage and over the barricade to dance directly with the crowd while the band kept ripping through an incredibly tight arrangement onstage. The beautiful, chaotic energy reached even greater heights later on, punctuated by the night’s other bizarre antics—including a performer casually swallowing a sword behind Frasco onstage.
The setlist was a clinic in shifting gears, seamlessly weaving from the rowdy self-awareness of “Mature As Fuck” and “Ugly on You” into the groove-heavy, sing-along energy of “Love You When I’m Sad.” They delivered a phenomenal live rendition of their anthemic centerpiece “Try Not to Die”—a glass-half-full anthem to seizing the day from their landmark 10th studio album Growing Pains (the group’s first full-length effort since 2023’s L’Optimist). The track flawlessly blended a country twang with an easy island breeze, showcasing Andy’s incredible growth as a tunesmith in his own right.
They honored the rock staples with a blistering cover of David Bowie’s “Fame” and a staggering rendition of Heart’s “Crazy on You.” Yet, a true peak of the night came when Allie Kral (fiddle, vocals) took center stage to command lead vocals during the set.
Having only recently had a baby, Kral completely brought the roof down with a performance so fiercely good it left the entire mountain in awe, proving to everyone watching that she is absolutely killing it. The band channeled that electric momentum right into anthem-scale originals like “Keep On Keepin’ On.”
By the time the band closed out the night with a deeply moving “Somedays” and the celebratory defiance of “Dancin’ Around My Grave,” the package delivered exactly what fans hoped for: a sweaty, exhausted mass of pure joy.
Frasco and his crew reminded West Virginia concertgoers once again that the best art is born in the dirt, fueled by love, and built to lift the rest of us up.
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