Treefort 2024 Wrap-Up: The Best of the Fest

As I sit on a plane back home from Boise, I’m reflecting on everything I experienced this week at Treefort. What a difference a year makes, huh? I didn’t think I was that different of a person from this time last year, but I’ve realized that a lot has changed. Treefort is to thank for helping me make that realization. 

That might seem a bit cliche, but it’s honestly incredible just how much I learned about myself and my life just by going to see live music for five straight amazing days. I’ll save all that for some other time, though. I feel like I could write a bunch of things about this new experience, but I don’t want to take away from what we’re all here for: rating the best of the fest!

Much like last year, I need to change my wrap-up format because of how long the festival is and just how many performances I saw spread across those five days. To keep it simple and a bit shorter than usual, I’m just going to do a solid Top 5 from across the weekend as well as three Honorable Mentions. Treefort brought out the big guns this year, so it took a long time to settle on places two through five. You’ll see why that is down below. But let’s just get started!

Honorable Mentions

My first honorable mention has to be The Fjord People. From the moment their set started, the crowd that had gathered at Payette Brewing was completely locked in. For 40 minutes, Simeon Titmus, Jack Gardner, Steven White, and Leo Woods controlled the audience. The local jam-based funk band would weave in and out of different tempos and styles, bringing the audience wherever they felt like. We can’t wait to see more from them as they grow and bring Boise with them everywhere they go.

The next honorable mention is CMAT. At the end of the day, an Irish country queen who can crack jokes with the best of them while also dancing around and jumping into crowds is one of one. The world needs more of CMAT as time goes on, and I’m certain there will be many copies. There will, however, only be one original CMAT, and she put on a show for Treefort. 

My final honorable mention is honestly going to be a tie between Kaelin Ellis and Field Guide. That might be cheating my own system, and they’re very different styles of musicians, but I can’t help it. Kaelin Ellis gave Treefort Music Hall one of the best hybrid DJ sets ever, and Field Guide brought the Canadian pub culture to Mother Earth Brew Co., so it ended up being a draw. Insanely different artists, both giving incredible Treefort performances. 

And that brings us to the main event. Let’s count ‘em up!

5. Olivia Barton

Not just anyone can bring a festival crowd to tears with just their voice and an acoustic guitar. Not just anyone can make a festival crowd drop into complete silence when they start performing. Not just anyone can achieve both of those things in their first festival performance. Olivia Barton did, though. Right from the start, her Treefort set reminded me of those acoustic Nashville house shows I used to go to in college, and the crowd knew exactly what to do: you stay focused on the artist in front of you. Nothing else mattered for those 50 minutes but the artist and their songs. The Treefort crowd in Boise inherently understood that, and Olivia Barton delivered in the biggest way she could.

4. Karina Rykman

It’s a special moment when you stumble upon excellence. I mainly got to Treefort Music Hall as early as I did to try to secure a spot for Franc Moody’s late-night set, and I was greeted by a practically at-capacity crowd losing their mind for Karina Rykman. As she bounced around the stage while maintaining intricate bass grooves, the crowd got more vocal in their support, letting out cheers whenever the spirit moved them (which was pretty frequent). In that crowd was half of the next act to take the stage, so I’ll be holding out hope for a Karina Rykman-Franc Moody collaboration until it inevitably gets released. For the time being, though, I’ll just have her 2023 album, Joyride, on repeat. 

3. Franc Moody

This should be a surprise to no one. Andrew covered a festival where Franc Moody played a set. Franc Moody is going to be in the “Best of the Fest” wrap-up. While the energy was a bit different from what I’ve grown accustomed to – they had a 4-piece band instead of a 6-piece – it didn’t change the core of a Franc Moody show: get people up and get people moving (and also make sure John Moody brings his oboe). They came out swinging with “Big Cheese,” and they continued throwing out heavy hitters for the rest of the show, even going into the vault to bring back “Yuri” off their debut EP. A special performance from a special group at a special festival. 

2. Nabihah Iqbal

In the course of my preparation for Treefort 2024, I added Nabihah Iqbal’s 2023 album, DREAMER, to my list. When I first put it on, I was drawn in by opening track “In Light” and expected an album of ambient guitar work. When the titular second track kicked in, though, I knew I couldn’t miss her performance no matter what. The album just got better and better from there, so I highly recommend you check that out, but her Treefort Main Stage performance is the focal point here. Iqbal and Al Al Robinson took the stage as a duo, playing a set of mostly DREAMER tracks with some earlier songs sprinkled in (as well as a cover of The Cure’s “A Forest”), and as she explained the history of the songs and how they came to be written, I found myself even more invested than I thought possible. If you haven’t checked out any of Nabihah Iqbal’s work, I’m strongly recommending you do so now. I’ve linked DREAMER to make it even easier. I hope she’s able to bring a full band next time she comes stateside, but I will also be planning a trip across the pond next time she plays a hometown show in London. 

1. Channel Tres

There was never any doubt on this one. From the moment Channel Tres took the stage Friday night, his was the best performance of the weekend. I don’t know how much more I can add from what I said in my Day 3 recap, but I’ll just reiterate: in my concert-going lifetime, I’ve had the honor and privilege of seeing some incredible performances from artists at their peaks. Channel Tres on Treefort’s Main Stage was the first time I can say, in the moment it was happening, I saw “it.” Whatever “it” means, I know that Channel Tres has “it.” I recognized it by the first chorus of “Jet Black.” His command of the stage and of the crowd is second to none, and I’ve been going through my concert history to try and find something that I can consider even close to comparable, but nothing has materialized so far. Channel Tres put on the best show of the fest, and Treefort made what could potentially be the booking of the year by having him.

And that’s that! There are still a few special pieces I have planned around this past week at Treefort, but in terms of full festival performance write-ups, this brings us to the end of Treefort 2024. Thank you to Treefort for having us back! Thank you to all of the performers we saw in Boise throughout the weekend! Thank you, reader, for reading these! If you’re curious about experiencing Treefort for yourself, check out their website and save the dates for next year. We hope to see you there!