Gambler's Run music festival opens Friday at Tahoe

Crystal Bay Casino is adding to its catalog of entertainment with the inaugural Gambler’s Run Music Festival this weekend. The three-day festival takes place from Friday to Sunday, July 14-July 16, and features 25 bands on two stages.

“We’re always striving to do something bigger and better with more experience for our fans,” said Eric Roe, CBC general manager. “We have a lot of loyal guests, so we wanted to do something special for them and this was kind of our idea of how to do that.”

THE MUSIC

Roe said they have some heavy hitters on the lineup including a big national touring act with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, who is headlining the event all three nights. PPPP first played at the CBC in 2017 and the four-piece band from Baltimore is known for its funky jamband party music.

“There is really something for everybody in this lineup,” he said. “We’re hitting a lot of targets with the genres that we’re throwing out there.”

There’s a mix of jambands, funk, bluegrass, Americana and even a bit of a reggae vibe in there, he said. Other bands include Shovels & Rope; Sunsquabi; Moon Hooch; Dustbowl Revival; Big Sam’s Funky Nation; Con Brio; Hot Buttered Rum; The Magic Beans; The Lil Smokies; Kanekoa; Dogs In A Pile; Moontricks; The Way Down Wanderers; Goodnight, Texas; The Higgs; Pipe Down; Jesse & Jenni Dunn; Paper Idol; and Six Mile Station. After Party bands include Tauk with the Magic Beans; Yonder Mountain String Band with The Lil Smokies; and Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown with Maggie Rose (Tickets to After Party shows are sold separately)

“Our talent buyer, Brent Harding of Devil Dog Productions, really did an amazing job pulling together a lineup for a first-year event,” Roe said.

Gambler’s Run will have a mix of nationally touring acts and it also included local musicians on the lineup such as Jenni and Jesse Dunn (of Dead Winter Carpenters). Roe said they started out playing in the Casino’s Red Room years ago, and now they sell out the Crown Room when they come.

Other local musicians include Pipedown and Six Mile Station from Reno.

“We’ve got kind of a good mix of talented musicians from the local market here,” Roe said.

THE SETUP

The CBC is setting up a stage outdoors (sponsored by 72 Mile Spirits), and they will be using the Crown Room Stage indoors. The bands will alternate throughout the day, so there will be live music from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. between the two stages. Some of the set times will overlap with each other, but otherwise someone could catch most of the music throughout the day.

Roe said it will be a short distance to walk between both stages and patrons can bounce from venue to venue very easily.

Doors open at noon for patrons. There will be local food and craft vendors and the casino’s steakhouse restaurant will be serving food. There will be bars set up outside.

Roe said they are capping the event at around 800 tickets. He said they could do more, but they wanted to limit the ticket sales to make it special.

“I don’t want everybody elbow to elbow,” he said. “We want room for people to get up and dance and not be packed in there.”

The outdoor stage will be a large, professional stage with a sound system and lights by Crux Events, which the CBC hired to handle the outdoor stage, sound and lights. The CBC will be using its in-house crew for the indoor music.

Roe said the CBC also just completed a major lighting upgrade in the Crown Room.

The festival ticket is good through the headliner each day until 8 p.m., and then there is a separate ticket for the “After Party” which moves into the Crown Room from 9 p.m. until midnight. The After Party tickets are sold separately and features two more bands.

‘GO BIG’

Roe is hoping to see Gambler’s Run Music Festival become an annual event for North Lake. He said the event is a natural progression from what they’ve been doing for years, and they’ve been wanting to offer music outdoors.

“This is kind of a goal of ours; we’d like to start doing some outdoor shows,” he said. “With our 20th anniversary around the corner, we thought now was the time to go big and offer something that hasn’t been offered to North Tahoe, ever, to my knowledge.”

He said while they want to do more outdoor shows, it is also a matter of respecting the neighbors, that is why they’ll pull the plug on the music outside at 8 p.m.

“We’re in a community where there are residents nearby, so we don’t want to infringe on that relationship,” he said.

TICKETS

There are three-day passes available, and single day tickets. There is a VIP upgrade for each day that includes a private room backstage with the shows being streamed on TV if you need to relax.

Roe said there are lots of Airbnb’s and smaller hotels and motels available within the area just a short distance away.

Roe said he’s looking forward and he said there’s a lot of talk among the bands of different sit-ins and collaborations happening. He looks forward to a weekend filled with music with a good forecast on the way.

“It will be fun,” he said. “It will be a good, fun experience and the weather looks amazing.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Gambler’s Run Music Festival hosted by Crystal Bay Casino and Devil Dog Productions

WHERE: Crystal Bay Casino, 14 State Highway 28, Crystal Bay

WHEN: Friday, July 14 to Sunday, July 16. Doors open at noon; Music is from 1-8 p.m. There are After Party tickets sold separately for music in the Crown Room from 9 p.m.-midnight.

TICKETS, MORE INFO: https://shorturl.at/qwxK0