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<p>As thousands inhabited the Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton with thousands more on their heels, the annual Peach Music Festival, now in its seventh year, got a running start Thursday.</p><p>Moving performances included sets by the South Carolina-rooted Marcus King Band, Northeastern Pennsylvania sons Cabinet and Baltimore-based Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.</p><p>The King Band is an impressive ensemble, complete with horns, organ and a frontman who delivers both soulful vocals and jaw-dropping guitar chops. The band covers a lot of ground, from rhythm and blues with a Southern twang to jazz-tinged psychedelic rock.</p><p>Highlights of the King set included the somber roots rock of &#8220;Goodbye Carolina,&#8221; a hard-charging R&amp;B/Southern rock blend titled &#8220;Virginia,&#8221; and a masterful cover of the Allman Brothers Band&#8217;s &#8220;Dream.&#8221;</p><p>But the set&#8217;s pinnacle was a medley that proved the ensemble could play anything they chose. It began with the MKB original &#8220;Sharry Barry,&#8221; a hard-rocking instrumental, and segued into Jeff Sipe&#8217;s &#8220;Sliced Milk&#8221; before giving Chicago&#8217;s &#8220;25 or 6 to 4&#8221; an aggressive edge that seemed to fit just right. The jam then tipped its cap to Funkadelic with a cover of &#8220;I&#8217;ll Stay&#8221; and Billie Holiday, by touching on &#8220;Gloomy Sunday.&#8221;</p><p>After King primed the crowd, who gathered at the main stage under the Pavilion &#8212; the only active stage on Thursday &#8212; hometown heroes Cabinet took the spotlight for what&#8217;s billed as their only show of 2018, following their announcement of hiatus in December.</p><p>The bluegrass fusion group opened with the mandolin-punctuated instrumental &#8220;Treesap&#8221; before delivering a melancholy &#8220;The Dove&#8221; and a jazz-kissed &#8220;Mysterio.&#8221;</p><p>About halfway through the set, the band found their stride when the bass-driven singalong &#8220;Pine Billy&#8221; incited a crowd refrain and cousins Patrick &#8220;Pappy&#8221; Biondo and J.P. Biondo came together onstage for some banjo/mandolin exchanges.</p><p>From there, the energy rose as &#8220;Caroline&#8221; provoked another audience-chorus and led the way for a passionate performance of &#8220;Dirt,&#8221; which Pappy pointed out was the first song Cabinet wrote as a band.</p><p>What followed was crowd favorite, &#8220;Heavy Rain,&#8221; a true bluegrass jam that features Todd Kopec&#8217;s trippy, deft fiddle work and never disappoints the Cabinet faithful.</p><p>After two fine examples of American roots music, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong got funky on the mountainside.</p><p>A rambunctious &#8220;Porcupine&#8221; showed the band&#8217;s ability to flow between skilled funk and trancy dance rock as the rich, driving bass playing of Ben Carrey, who got the crowd moving with his deep groove.</p><p>Sitting in, trumpet/trombone ace Justin Johnson and saxophonist Dean Mitchell of the Marcus King Band, brought biting brass to &#8220;F.U.,&#8221; &#8212; the song title represents the first two letters in the tune&#8217;s refrain, &#8220;F.U.N.K.&#8221; &#8212; and paired brilliantly with lead guitarist Jeremy Schon&#8217;s skillful fret work.</p><p>Other high-energy moments included a bouncing, island music-infused &#8220;Julia,&#8221; which had the Peach Festival audience gyrating, and a guest appearance by Marcus King, who offered screaming lead guitar to the tune and later combined efforts with Schon in a moment that made the two young guitarists sound as if they&#8217;d been playing together for decades.</p><p>The Peach Music Festival continued today with performances by Phil Lesh &amp; The Terrapin Family Band, The Revivalists, moe., Twiddle &amp; Friends, Michael Franti &amp; Spearhead, Jaimoe&#8217;s Jasssz Band and more.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Patrick &#8216;Pappy Biondo&#8217; of Cabinet performs to a lively and grateful hometown crowd at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain Thursday.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_caB-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Patrick &#8216;Pappy Biondo&#8217; of Cabinet performs to a lively and grateful hometown crowd at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain Thursday.  </caption0><photoCredit0>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_CAB-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Cabinet bassist Dylan Skursky feels the music Thursday as he leans into his playing during the Peach Music Festival in Scranton.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_CAB-8.jpg</photo1><caption1>Cabinet bassist Dylan Skursky feels the music Thursday as he leans into his playing during the Peach Music Festival in Scranton.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_markus-king-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Marcus King, frontman for the Marcus King Band, plays lead guitar Thursday at the Peach Music Festival in Scranton while drummer Jack Ryan mans the kit in the background.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_markus-king-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Marcus King, frontman for the Marcus King Band, plays lead guitar Thursday at the Peach Music Festival in Scranton while drummer Jack Ryan mans the kit in the background.  </caption2><photoCredit2>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_cab-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">J.P. Biondo, foreground, and Todd Kopec, perform with Cabinet during the Peach Music Festival in Scranton. The show was billed as Cabinet&#8217;s only gig of 2018.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_cab-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>J.P. Biondo, foreground, and Todd Kopec, perform with Cabinet during the Peach Music Festival in Scranton. The show was billed as Cabinet&#8217;s only gig of 2018.  </caption3><photoCredit3>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or on Twitter @RMatthewMattei.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

American roots music, funk highlight opening day of Peach Music Festival