By Lily Berger

Slicing through the air, a round-edged white triangle soared over my head, and I quickly scavenged through the dirt to find the grail I had been hoping for all night, Sam Cooper’s guitar pick. I rapidly clawed for the guitarist’s pick and successfully claimed it as my own. I began to jump up and down as the typical post-concert depression was negated by the guitar pick and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” blaring across Brown’s Island. How could I be somber when I’m still dancing around, feeling euphoric with my best friends at the ripe age of 17? 

I have loved the band Mt. Joy, whom I and many other Cougars saw perform on Brown’s Island on Friday, September 15, ever since I was introduced to them in the fall of 2022, a sentiment shared among their fan base. Although I am not a Deadhead, there is definitely an overlap between Grateful Dead and Mt. Joy fans, as they share commonalities, due to Mt. Joy evolving into a jam band. The Dead would often jam throughout their sets, and Mt. Joy has picked up and grown into this characteristic over the years. Last year, when they came to Brown’s Island on October 21, they did not do much jamming; maybe once or twice. But Katherine Martin (‘24), who has been to three shows now, “liked how he [guitarist and vocalist Matt Quinn] seemingly extended the end of each song” in comparison to previous shows. This time around, they jammed several times, with almost each band member getting a solo type of performance at some point, leaving the crowd in awe at times. With direct inspiration from the Dead, Quinn even references Jerry Garcia in one of their hit songs, “Astrovan.” Similarly, in Bruce Warren’s article for NPR, he noted the “Garcia-esque guitar lines” showered throughout Mt. Joy’s growing discography. The band often includes “Fire on the Mountain” in one of their two sets as a tribute of sorts to the Dead. Mt. Joy’s style and vibes are certainly influenced by the Dead but seemingly for a younger generation.

Mt. Joy, left to right: Sam Cooper, Matt Quinn, Michael Byrnes, Jackie Miclau, Sotiris Eliopoulos. Photo credit: Mt. Joy via Instagram.

Mt. Joy first got their start when Quinn and Cooper were writing part-time together after reuniting in Los Angeles, having met in the Philadelphia area in high school. “Astrovan” gave them their start in 2016, which coincidentally is about dream chasing, among other things. Shortly after, they quit their day jobs and allowed themselves to be the full-time musicians they always wanted to be. Later on, they found Michael Byrnes (bass) on Craigslist, Jackie Miclau (keyboards), and Sotiris Eliopoulos (drums) to form the group that is still going strong today. Their name, Mt. Joy, pays homage to a mountain in Valley Forge National Park near where Quinn and Cooper grew up. They even have a self-titled song and album (2018) as an ode to their hometown. 

Image credit: Out of the Blue Festival via Instagram.

Early on, the band played massive festivals as supporting acts, and this helped them expand and grow their fan base. Some of the festivals included Boston Calling, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and more. They are headlining their first prominent festival, Out of the Blue Festival, in Riviera Cancún, Mexico, in January 2024, alongside some of the exponentially growing artists of the past several months, like Noah Kahan, Caamp, and Lizzy McAlpine. They’ve also appeared on Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show, and more. Mt. Joy also opened for The Lumineers for just under a year before the tour got shut down due to COVID-19, another great round of exposure for the band that helped them grow their fan base.

One of my favorite aspects of the show in Richmond was when they played a snippet of “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley during their song “Julia.” It caught me completely off guard but left me picking my jaw up off the ground with the seamless transition into a song that seemingly the entirety of the crowd knew. They do this often, mixing other songs with their own, using a range of different songs, from Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” to “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers. Mt. Joy adopts these songs, showing off their talents and skill, as well as proving that they can fit into additional genres. They also mashed up a song with “Bang,” off their “psychedelic-folk record,” Orange Blood (2022)—described as “perfect for summer” by Rolling Stone—leaving me quite reminiscent of the season that was beginning to end. Just a song after that, they did the same thing with “Bug Eyes” (Rearrange Us – 2020), offering a whirlwind of emotions. 

Grace on stage. Photo credit: Grace Cummings via Instagram.

Many of my friends had a great time and really enjoyed the experience together. Anna Grace Shaia (‘24) even shared how “cool it was to see them grow as a band,” in comparison to when she saw them last spring at the Ting Pavilion in Charlottesville. She also thinks “the fan base has grown significantly since then.” Mt. Joy constantly demonstrates their love for their fans by always upgrading their sets and stage lighting. On Brown’s Island they pushed that feeling even further when they brought up a girl named Grace, who had a sign asking to sing with them, to harmonize with them on stage during “Silver Lining.” The audience loved Grace and even chanted her name while she was wrapping up the song. Claire Curtis (‘24) “loved the energy,” especially in that moment, and expanded that they did a “great job engaging with the crowd” in a multitude of ways. Shaia also loved seeing her fellow classmates outside of school enjoying each others’ company, hearing some of their favorite songs. I think the common consensus is that everyone had a great time dancing around with their friends and listening to one of their top bands.