by Sean Reiter
For the 10th time, Michael Nash put together a stellar lineup for Sound Summit and Mother Nature brought amazing weather to the Mountain Theater at the top of Marin County’s beloved Mount Tamalpais State Park. Sound Summit 2026 continued the tradition of combining some of the year’s best weather with a meticulously-curated, diverse lineup that created another memorable day for the thousands who made the journey up to the 2,000 foot elevation.
The setting is one of a kind with a view that – depending on air clarity – can stretch all the way to the East Bay mountains, taking in the entirety of the Bay and both downtown San Francisco and Oakland as backgrounds to the stage. I like to describe Sound Summit as the Bay Area’s version of Red Rocks that only opens for one show a year. Many of the attendees are drawn for the shared experience and surroundings and Nash always does a great job of bringing very talented artists with a wide-range of sounds for the special day. As they have for many years, hosting duties were shared by local radio legend Tim Lynch and the Bay Area’s favorite sports duo (despite KNBR breaking them up a few years back) Murph and Mac – both Marin residents.
Bay Area Bass treasure Angeline Saris led off the day with her funk band, Angeline & The Snack Machine and perfectly set the groove of joy and appreciation. Saris – a Marin County resident assembled an all-star band for the festival – including multi-instrumentalist and former Tonight Show Band percussionist Vicki Randle, along with former Prince saxophonist Eddie Minnifield. The Machine rolled through a handful of funky jam numbers that had the early crowd up and dancing.
La Luz (“The Light”) followed with their unique sound that combines a hybrid of surf rock and girl groups. Fronted by lead singer / guitarist Shana Cleveland the all-female group included drummer Audrey Johnson and Bay Area bassist Mayya Feygina. Check out their 2026 EP “Extra! Extra!” to get a nice sampling of the compelling, shimmering music their surf/girl group fusion generates.
As with almost every year past, the crowd at Sound Summit is always a bit late arriving (the show starts at 11:45 in the morning due to sunset mountain restrictions). With general admission seating for nearly the entire amphitheatre, the majority of the concertgoers stay up high in the shade off the sun-baked rock seats at the height of the sun. This can be a challenge for the bands earlier in the day as the majority of their audience is some distance from the stage. But both Angeline Saris & The Snack Machine and La Luz were able to do a great job of coaxing some folks down while also connecting with those high up by the trees.
By the time Jerry Harrison brought his large band on stage for “Jerry Harrison’s 50 Years of Talking Heads” at 2:15, many in the crowd had made their way down lower as the late summer shade expanded further down the amphitheatre. Harrison – a Mill Valley resident for many years – went right for the crowd by opening with a rocking version of “Psycho Killer” that had the crowd on its feet.
Harrison’s set was very reminiscent of the incredibly successful, multi-year “Remain In Light” tour he had just completed with Adrian Belew. With Belew tied up and touring with the BEAT tour of King Crimson’s music, the lineup was slightly different, but the oh so cool energy and on-the-edge vibe of Talking Heads was fully present. I had actually run into Harrison at Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall about a month earlier and had asked him about his upcoming Sound Summit appearance. “I can’t wait to get up there, but with Adrian gone I have to actually rehearse,” he joked.
Late in the set, former Live singer Chris Shinn (who has been produced by Harrison) joined the band onstage to sing a brilliant lead on “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”. Harrison’s daughter Aishlin also provided a terrific lead vocal to “Heaven”. The ensemble finished the set with a rollicking “Take Me To The River”. From Saturday’s performance it was clear that the past few years of constant touring have not taken away any of Harrison’s joy of performance.
Guster provided the most energetic set of the day. Lead singer Ryan Miller admitted to following Harrison – of his favorite band Talking Heads – had given him a bit of a case of the nerves. But he quickly took command of the audience and had them in the palm of his hand. The band before the headliner at Sound Summit is often the most well-attended and sees the most interactive crowd due to a combination of peak weather (before Karl The Fog starts to cool things down) and the full audience in attendance before the fans leave early to get down the mountain before dark.
Guster opened with a rollicking “Long Night” getting all of the crowd up and dancing and packing the area in front of the stage. Miller created one of Sound Summit’s most iconic moments ever when he left the stage during “Doin’ It By Myself” and took his microphone on a long and joyous journey to nearly the very top of the amphitheatre. Along the way, Miller high-fived, posed for selfies and commandeered a bubble machine. Only when he had reached the end of what appeared to be a 100-foot long microphone cord did he stop.
Miller said his dream had come true when Jerry Harrison took to the stage to join him. A memorable and funny moment occurred when Harrison realized that his guitar was very out of tune and began a very meticulous tuning – hampered by the direct sunlight obstructing his view of the tuner. Miller referred to him only by the full name as in “Jerry Harrison – is your guitar in tune yet?” “Jerry Harrison – do you want to use another guitar?” Doing a terrific job of killing awkward time, Miller even made up a Jerry Harrison song on the spot as the band jumped in to accompany him softly – all while Harrison continued tuning.
His guitar finally tuned to his liking, Harrison (or should I say “Jerry Harrison”) jumped in with Guster on a VERY punk cover of “Roadrunner” by The Modern Lovers – Harrison’s lesser known band with Jonathan Richman in the early 1970’s. The cover was triumphant and the joy plastered on Miller’s face was one of the day’s most memorable expressions.
To cap off the day, Father John Misty returned to Sound Summit as the headliner after his initial appearance five years earlier at the 2021 Festival headlined by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. Misty took to a stage that was wide-open for him to prowl with his backing musicians all spread across the very back of the stage. The charismatic and sometimes enigmatic singer appeared in great spirits throughout the show.
Misty focused most of his 16-song set on two albums nearly a decade apart – six of his songs came from his triumphant 2024 release “Mahashmashana” and four came off “I Love You Honeybear”. He opened on acoustic guitar with a haunting “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All” – setting the guitar down midsong to pace the stage back and forth and add visual emphasis to his powerful lyrics.
While the winds of Karl whipped up and began to chill the Mount Tam air nearing dusk, Misty kept his fire and intensity lit throughout the entire set – even as a trickling stream slowly made their way up the steps. Down at the stage, the crowd remained intact, engaged and very enthusiastic and Misty gave it his all to warm applause. He finished his set with an intense version of “Mahashmashana” and then after thanking the audience delivered a lovely and quick “Real Love Baby” as more than 8 hours of music came to a close.
