At Stateside Festival, Noah Kahan and Changing Skies

The Stateside Festival returned this month on the banks of the Hudson, with scout-stage views of the river and a main-stage headline set from Noah Kahan that anchored two days of folk-rock, Americana, and the occasional sharp turn into R&B-inflected songwriting. Boston singer-songwriter Bebe Stockwell opened the main stage, and by late afternoon, the Scout Stage felt the full heat as Michaela Anne played through it, joking about sticky clothes while her band kept things moving.

Later, Calder Allen brought Texas twang as the light turned gold—moments before the rain arrived. Kahan’s set moved forward despite the downpour, the crowd shouting back every word. After the skies cleared, Gigi Perez delivered amped-up versions of songs from her debut album At The Beach, In Every Life, her voice sharper and backed by an all-female band. She covered Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness,” then brought out her sister for “Sugar Water.” Devon Gilfillian closed the Scout Stage that night by throwing the weather a wink: “Now we’ve cooled off. Now we can shake.”

Day two started with Hudson Ingram on the Scout Stage, his reflective songwriting thickened by a full band, and Sydney Rose joining him for their duet “Don’t Get Me Started” in a bit of fitting timing. On the main stage, Bo Staloch opened with his new single “From a Different Age,” his folk-rock leaning anthemic without losing its delicate croon. Derby’s genre-blurring set—Americana bent through Frank Ocean-style production—was a quiet curveball, while Arcy Drive drew a growing crowd for their Long Island rock. The festival’s rhythm never quite separated from the weather, but each shift in temperature seemed to push the sound, and the audience, a little further.