From the minute that the 2025 High Water Festival lineup was announced, it was a clear can’t miss festival. Last year, the festival had some logistical issues with traffic, cell services, and a rideshare nightmare that did cause some concern about whether I would return in 2025. Ultimately, the lineup was the selling point. It felt directly taken from a Road Trip Playlists favorites lineup, and we knew we had to make the trip back to Charleston.
With the lineup, there were still questions on if we were going to encounter the same hiccups as last year which left myself stranded with no service at the Uber pickup zone and a never-ending searching for driver symbol circling my phone screen. After about an hour I was lucky enough to be offered a ride by festival goers stuck in traffic saving me hours. What would this year be like?
This year, popular Charleston band Shovels & Rope, who curated and founded the festival, decided to step away and leave the operations to LiveNation. On the way in, there were again difficulties getting to the park via Uber and Apple Maps with a closed road and my antenna went up. However, festival entry was extremely quick, and it felt bigger than last year with brand activations and more food vendor options than you can imagine.
The lineup for Day One was excellent, from the first performance of Easy Honey to the final headliner Lord Huron. We made sure to be up close right at the start for Charleston’s own Easy Honey taking the Edisto stage. The indie rock outfit started the festival immediately with impressive energy and sound with their song ‘Orbiter,’ which felt like many in the local crowd already knew. Traveling from the cold, the surf rock sound was fitting, and it felt like the start of the summer. It was an incredible way to kick off this highly anticipated weekend.
Medium Build became the group that I find myself listening to more than others from the festival weekend. He’s toured with some of the giants already with Lewis Capaldi, Tyler Childers, and more, so I was aware of the music, but seeing them live and the performance from High Water’s Stono stage has brought this band to my daily life. Medium Build has earned praise from acts like John Mayer, Zach Bryan, and Noah Kahan who I can compare seeing him live to. Nick Carpenter on stage mirrors those acts with his almost comedic, self-deprecating, and honest delivery in between songs and backs it up with an incredible sound both vocally and instrumentally.
Carpenter honestly expressed his normal disdain for the inconvenience of playing festivals, but reaffirmed High Water Festival being special enough to make the trip. He also noted his dad, who many of his songs are about, was from South Carolina.
‘Rage’ was a notably strong performance where Carpenter’s vocals echoed all across the festival grounds. The emotional lyrics were felt with the passion that it was sung with. There was a really strong guitar solo section that you don’t hear in the studio version. Before playing ‘White Male Privilege,’ the Alaska-based artist exclaimed that he’d take his sunglasses off for this one because it’s “sincere as hell.” And it was. His entire set was sincere as hell, and it swept the festival crowd over near the beginning of the day.
Following that was a favorite singer-songwriter of mine, Joy Oladokun, who I orginally found via Newport Folk Festival. It was so great to see Joy again on a festival stage. The sound was a bit low from the stage, but Oladokun’s voice still shined. A wonderful performance all the way around.
Amos Lee is a group whose music is a can’t-miss live performance with an incredible sound. Multiple covers and medleys were performed including The Carpenters’ ‘Zombie,’ A medley with Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide,’ and more. Most notably was the Philly connection on Day one of High Water Festival with Mt. Joy and Amos Lee surprised the crowd with a collaboration with Mt. Joy’s Matt Quinn and Sam Cooper. A highlight of the set.
One of the more anticipated sets of the evening was the latest Julien Baker supergroup, Julien Baker and Torres, fresh off the release of their new album ‘Send A Prayer My Way.’ Fans gathered to see some of the duo’s early performances. The group proved to be in synch not just in full denim fits but also in harmonies. The two rotated lead vocals depending on the song, and both vocals were incredibly moving. Fans already had a good grasp of the lyrics of the new music.
I left Julien Baker & Torres to get a good spot for Mt. Joy, one of my favorite live acts. The only qualm to seeing Mt. Joy at a festival is a much smaller setlist, and as always they made the most of it. They played 13 songs, admittedly doing all they could to ensure an extra song. That song, sourced from the crowd with a homemade stick with a ‘Cardinal’ on it as the suggestion. What was missed in festival timing, was made up by mother nature as the festival crowd was blessed with a maginificent golden hour of music culminating in one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen all year. While the visual beauty was happening, the audible beauty was there as always as they played. Jackie Miclau is always a wonder on keys, Sam Cooper’s riffs always elevate the performance live. There’s nothing like singing Astrovan with thousands of strangers. Couples danced to Highway Queen as the sun went down. It was a truly special evening with Mt. Joy.
While every performance had a good amount of crowd engagement, walking to and settling at the Edisto stage it became very apparent that The Backseat Lovers may have been the most anticipated performance of the night. The festival grounds were buzzing as they took the stage. The most screams and cheers of the day happened there. An impressive gathering of fans from groups of high school friends to sixty year old patrons all were singing the bands praises. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen The Backseat Lovers steal the show at a festival; they also did it impressively at Newport Folk Festival in 2021 with a crowd much less familiar with their work. I also saw this band coming up in small venues before I moved from Utah, including the iconic venue Kilby Court, where their beloved song ‘Kilby Girl’ gets its name, and was met with applause by the High Water Fest crowd.
After these performances, I had seen enough and had an incredible day one experience, and worried about what happened last year, headed to the exit. The process was much clearer this year with volunteers pointing those exiting to parking or a rideshare pickup that was easy to find. Rideshare had its own parking lot and system for pickup that made it so much easier in comparison to last year despite a crowd already assembling early on. It was a much better experience and props to the organizers for this improvement.