Review | A Night of Caamping at the Santa Barbara Bowl

Caamp, an indie-flavored folk band, received no fanfare as they walked onto the Bowl’s stage last Friday night. There were no screams, or showy flourishes of instruments.

It was fitting for the shaggy, Ohio-hailing group, performing under a clear sky dotted with stars.

Their whimsical and nostalgic style conjured memories of watching glittering ash floating off a campfire. It’s almost tangibly warm, and punctuated by plucky banjo notes reminiscent of stones skipping across a lake. They reminded me of the more laid-back cousin of a group like Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, or Kings of Leon.

Lead singer Taylor Meier’s first acknowledgment of the audience came after a couple of songs: “Happy to be with you on this beautiful night.”

Then it got a little rowdy. The band played “Vagabond,”a song off their first, titular album. It begins with a relatively slow introduction, but with the trigger of Meier’s “Yip!” explodes into spirited strumming and drumming that takes the listener on a ride at “a hundred miles an hour in the fast lane,” to borrow their lyrics.

The nearly sold-out show was a mix between this kind of dynamic country-style jamming, alt-rock, and softer melodies. The band’s five members created a revolving door, taking turns at the front, with some even trading off instruments. Drummer Nicholas Falk and Meier switched stations for a cover of Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream,” which had the unmistakable feeling of a Disneyland commercial, but, like, cool and folky.

For the melancholic slow songs, the band reclined in the center of the stage, set up like a staircase and bathed in warm light. 

Interludes between songs featured the twinkling of string instruments mimicking the cosmos (like the banjo-forward introduction of their song, “26,” off their 2018 EP Boys (Side A)). Underneath ran the deep, smooth river of Joseph Kavalec’s organ-playing.

And for their more upbeat tunes, the group mirrored the crowd’s swaying, toe-tapping enthusiasm.

“I know this is a sleepy little beach town but we got some head bangers up here,” Meier noted midway, referring to the front row of the GA pit. Cries of agreement rose up from the crowd.

And then, all of a sudden, everyone was looking toward the sky. Meier pointed past the stadium’s seats, bringing attention to the rocket rippling through the heavens, haloed in blue and red streaks. It was, most likely, a SpaceX rocket transporting its payload from Vandenberg Space Force Base, a sight that’s becoming as synonymous with Santa Barbara County as the grapes grown in Santa Ynez.

“I don’t know if we should be inspired or worried,” Meier chuckled nervously, taking a moment to watch the rocket finish its journey across his field of vision.

Any worry didn’t last long, though.

Stage lights morphed with muted red, orange, purple, and yellow tones — like a faded old t-shirt you’d wear at summer camp. I can’t resist the comparison. Meier and co-founding member Evan Westfall met at a summer camp in middle school, after all. Appropriately, their discography tells its listener that the sun is out and the grass is green, and once the moon is in the sky you’re going to eat a burnt marshmallow and everything is okay.

That feeling seemed especially present in songs like “Let Things Go” — permitting listeners to do just that — from their 2025 EP Somewhere, and  “Hey Joe” from Boys (Side A) — “It’s okay, Joe, it’s been a long day,” Meier sings — and their most popular song, “By and By,” in which the lyrics “It’s just me and the stars tonight,” flow over soft banjo chords.

As the show neared its end, Meier went solo under a lone spotlight undulating with fog, to perform “Strawberries” from Boys (Side B). The endearing slow song is written from the perspective of a pining lover, entreating his Juliet to be a multitude of metaphors, like his lake, summer sand, and a strawberry milkshake.

My companion’s remarks on Meier’s voice sums up his talent pretty well, I think: “God, that’s his real voice?” he asked me. “It sounds better live than in the recordings.”

Somehow, that was true. The lead singer’s vocals were rough and buttery in a way that sounded better coming straight from the source than it could from any music player.

The rest of the band rejoined him for a few more songs before the obligatory stage-exit to set up for the encore. This was my favorite part of the night. Opening band Whitneyacted as the backup chorus for their cover of “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas & the Papas.

The band rocked out, while the Bowl stood, swayed, and sang along to close out a night of caamping. (Sorry. I needed to get that out of my system.)