In July, our experienced road team of Axel, Amy and Lauren said goodbye to our old friends in the Dave Matthews Band, where we worked our final two road shows of the year with the band in beautiful Saratoga Springs, NY. Big thanks again to Reverb for having us in their Eco-Villages at the DMB shows over the past month! From Saratoga Springs, we made a triumphant return to the famed All Good Festival in Summit Hill, WV, where not only did we get to enjoy bands (and RtE friends) such as moe., Keller Williams, John Butler Trio and Railroad Earth, but we also activated folks about fracking and mountain top removal while having an awesome time in the process.
Our road team’s summer got exceptionally interesting as we started to work with two new tours – first, we headed down south to join with our old friends in the Tedeschi Trucks Band as they made their way around North Carolina and Georgia on the Wheels of Soul Tour with Sharon Jones & the Dapkings. From there, we headed back up into the northeastern U.S. to commence work with Primus and Dinosaur Jr., as they made their way through New England.
Meanwhile, out in Colorado, July has continued to be busier than ever as our team leads Jordyn, Jamie, Abby and Lorena helped us to inspire hundreds of fans to take action to protect Colorado’s Central Mountains and sign onto our petition to expand wilderness protection in Colorado. Through their hard work (and the work of many other volunteers), we tabled shows at Red Rocks by the Avett Brothers, Death Cab for Cutie, Umphrey’s McGee, and Blues Traveler. The team also gave us a presence at the Vail Bluegrass series with old friends Hot Buttered Rum, and at the Fillmore with Third Eye Blind and Danzig! This weekend we’ll be celebrating the kick off of our second decade with longtime supporters The String Cheese Incident!
The mid-Atlantic region team has been on the move. The end of June was rocked by a night with Rubblebucket where the team to educated and engaged locals with the postcard campaign Rock the Earth consistently presents in our efforts to protect the Roan Plateau. Our regional intern, Shannon, also reached out to an upcoming band, HoneyHoney, and joined them at their show at The Hamilton Live in DC. The team spent some time at the Inner Harbor reaching out to fans of Dirty Heads and Slightly Stoopid building up their volunteer base with new contacts. This month, our regional team also took a trip to follow our friends Umphrey’s McGee around the northeast where they rocked shows in New Jersey, Philly and Baltimore.
The mid-Atlantic team is also reaching outside the Rock the Earth comfort zone in order to broaden our membership base. We are teaming up with local farmer’s markets in Pigstown, Baltimore, in order to tap those who are passionate about consuming produce from their hometowns.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention our major environmental education and activation work that took place in Santa Clara, CA, and Chicago, at the Grateful Dead’s 50th Anniversary Fare Thee Well shows. You can read more about our work and success at those shows below.
As we look to August, we’re excited to rejoin old friends Railroad Earth and Warren Haynes (touring together in support of Hayne’s new album Ashes and Dust), before making a return trip for the fourth time to Peach Festival in Pennsylvania. After Peach Fest, we join the biggest tour that we’ve worked in about a decade – the Foo Fighters national tour – starting in our hometown of Denver!
There’s lots to be excited about for Rock the Earth! For our latest tour dates, see the Rock the Earth Tour Dates page.