Review by Bernie Birnbaum, with additional reporting by The Pier
A drive through Colorado’s Poudre Canyon can make the journey feel like part of the concert. On Saturday, August 1, that journey included a roadside bear, a rushing river and, eventually, The Infamous Stringdusters performing beneath the canyon walls at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Belvue, CO.
The Grammy-winning quintet brought its 20/20 Tour to the historic Bellvue venue for an evening built around instrumental conversation, extended improvisation and the kind of collective musicianship that has defined the group for two decades. The Mishawaka listed the performance from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.
The concert arrived during a milestone year for the Stringdusters. Their current tour takes its name from 20/20, the band’s 20-song anniversary album, released February 13 through Americana Vibes. The project commemorates 20 years of the group while emphasizing that its identity remains rooted in forward movement rather than nostalgia.
Located nearly 14 miles up the Poudre Canyon Highway outside Fort Collins, the Mishawaka is a 1,000-capacity outdoor venue positioned directly beside the Cache la Poudre River. The amphitheater’s open viewing area and surrounding mountain landscape give performances there an atmosphere that cannot be separated from the environment around them.
The venue’s roots reach back to 1916, when musician and motorcycle traveler Walter S. Thompson encountered the property and began building the Mishawaka Dance Hall by hand. The destination opened several years later and has remained a center for music and gatherings in the canyon through changes in ownership, development and generations of performers.
For reviewer Bernie Birnbaum, even an unexpected wildlife encounter on the way to the venue could not compete with what happened once the Stringdusters reached the stage. His account is reproduced exactly as submitted:
The fact that I saw a bear chowing on berries by the side of the river on the way to the show wasn’t the highlight of the evening says that the string dusters brought their a game to the Mishawaka on a warm Saturday night in August! After a little trippy tuning, the band Dov in to a barn, burner of improvisation. Great mix of covers like cold rain and snow to finish the first set and Stringdusters classics made the night a treat.
This five piece is led by all five of them! Every artist took turns at leading songs, extended, improvisations, and jams, and with each song the band layered complex fills behind, whoever was leading. Each time I thought that one of them was dominant, the next duster would rip a solo that blew my head off.
All in all, the night was a treat. Never miss a dusters show with the Mishawaka.
The current lineup features Travis Book on bass, Andy Falco on guitar, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, Andy Hall on Dobro and Chris Pandolfi on banjo. The band’s official biography describes a creative structure in which all five members contribute as writers, instrumentalists and producers, with each new recording designed to preserve the energy they generate together onstage.
At the Mishawaka, that structure translated into a performance where leadership appeared to move constantly around the stage. Each solo became part of a larger exchange rather than an isolated display of technique. When one member stepped forward, the others supplied intricate fills, rhythmic shifts and countermelodies behind him.
Birnbaum also reported a balance between the band’s original catalog and familiar material, including “Cold Rain and Snow” at the end of the first set. That mixture is central to the Stringdusters’ live identity. Covers provide recognizable frameworks, but the musicians use those frameworks as starting points for improvisation, reshaping songs through their own progressive bluegrass vocabulary.
The group’s technical ability has long been matched by industry recognition. The Stringdusters won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for Laws of Gravity and have received four Grammy nominations overall, including later recognition for A Tribute to Bill Monroe and Toward the Fray.
Still, awards and studio recordings only explain part of the band’s endurance. The Mishawaka performance demonstrated why the Stringdusters have remained a powerful live act after 20 years. Their concerts depend on risk, attention and trust. Arrangements can stretch, tempos can turn and the spotlight can shift without warning, but the five musicians continue listening closely enough to move as one unit.
On a warm August night beside the Poudre River, the surrounding canyon supplied the scenery. The Stringdusters supplied the fire. By the end, even a bear eating berries had become merely the opening detail in a much better story.
Photos by Backstage Flash
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