Long live the mountain show

May 15, 2025 at 8:00 am by Stella Mullin

Courtesy of Jack Corliss

To set the scene…

My freshman year at UC Santa Barbara, I went to a Dead Set band show on Fortuna Lane. Not to sound cliche, but it felt … magical. A doorway into a different world at UCSB had opened. I started following the band on Instagram and, later that year, they posted on their story that they would be playing a “mountain show.” While unclear on the location but clear on the concept, my roommates and I were sold just from looking at the previous photos of live music in the mountains. But with only four hours notice and no car, all hope was lost. We tuned in through videos on Instagram stories.

Fast forward one year later to Winter Quarter 2024. Big Hungry, Eternal Wave and Orangepit posted that they would be playing a mountain show. At this point, I had a year and a half at UCSB under my belt and friends who were playing, so I had the privilege of knowing about the show beforehand. My friend and I loaded a car with beach chairs and blankets and drove up into the mountains.

The five hours that followed has become one of my favorite memories at UCSB, and one of the most meaningful experiences I have ever had.

“It’s just so much more magical. The people who come out to the mountain shows actually want to be there,” fourth-year philosophy major Jack Corliss said. “If you’re going to take the time to go up and take the effort, it probably means you really want to be there.”

Corliss has played the keyboard in multiple mountain shows with Isla Vista bands Dead Set and Eternal Wave.

“I can really feel that as someone who is playing. I can feel the vibes from the people that everyone’s really stoked about it,” Corliss continued.

“You see both the backside of the Santa Barbara mountains — the backcountry — and then you also see the city down below. When you do that at sunset it’s pretty unreal,” fourth-year environmental studies major Toby Still said.

Still played bass with his band Orangepit in the winter 2025 band show alongside Corliss, playing in Eternal Wave.

“Oh my God, it’s my actual favorite place. The best shows we’ve ever had are up on the mountain” third-year psychological & brain sciences major Molly O’Connell said.

O’Connell has played two mountain shows with her band, Birchwood.

“It was so cool … I feel like everyone is collectively in awe of the experience up there. It’s just so pretty. Everyone who comes up there is in a good mood” UCSB alum Miles Carter, who played guitar in the most recent mountain show with I.V. band DMLW, said.

“Great vibes. It’s just a very special scene that’s pretty rare,” he added.

Courtesy of BennyB

Finding bands to play the mountain show is the easy part, according to Corliss.

“Usually people who are in bands are down for it … It’s just a really good time to go and play music in a really beautiful setting and doing something different than the norm,” he said.

The hardest and most crucial part: finding a generator. Because there isn’t any power on the mountain, bands have to bring everything, including electricity. The most recent mountain show borrowed one from Santa Barbara Snow Club, according to Carter.

Once the bands are in and the generator is secured, the slightly-under-one-hour drive to set up is made. Band members cram into cars with all of their equipment and make their way up the mountain. They also post coordinates on their Instagram stories, usually around 1 or 2 p.m. With the coordinates being posted so last minute, the crowd is kept to a minimum.

“[Bands] wouldn’t post about it or say anything about it until the day of. And they’d just drop coordinates at noon and the show would be in four hours,” Corliss said. “There wouldn’t be enough time for people to be like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s go actually do this.’ It’ll only be the people who knew about it beforehand, or if you were following the band on Instagram and saw it was going to happen the day of.”

There is also the issue of park rangers. Even though a permit is technically required to play these mountain shows, park rangers have given bands the go-ahead in the past, according to Corliss and Carter.

“A ranger will come by and say ‘Hey, technically this isn’t allowed, but as long as it’s under control it’s not going to get shut down,’” Corliss said.

“There’s rangers that will come by that are super friendly. They’ll say things like, ‘Pick up all the trash,’” Carter said.

The bands start playing around 4 or 5 p.m., and go until after sunset. The road leading to the graffiti-covered water tower starts to line up with cars, sometimes with people hanging out of the sunroof. People are laughing and having a good time — who wouldn’t be?

“Everyone’s just happy … It’s just the most wholesome scene you can have. They’re actually listening,” O’Connell said.

“It’s nice to be in a band and know people drove 30 minutes to see you. It’s nice that the community makes an effort,” she continued.

“I liked playing up there because everyone that comes is experiencing the same special experience of being on top of the mountain,” Still said.

Courtesy of Molly O’Connell

Once the show is over and people return to the long row of cars, the cleanup begins. For Corliss and Still especially, they camp in their cars and pick up trash the next morning.

“I pretty much always spent the night anytime there’s a mountain show and picked up trash the day after … It’s super important to pick up trash and leave the place just as good, if not better, than we found it,” Corliss said.

“Having the cleanup be the most important part is what I want to highlight. Every time I’ve done a mountain show … we’ve camped up there and cleaned up the morning after,” Still said.

“Everyone respects [the mountain]” O’Connell said. “We say it on the mic a lot too.”

The last mountain show happened on April 5, the Friday evening before Deltopia. UCSB bands Birchwood and DMLW were set to play, and people spent that Friday afternoon driving up into the lookout point off East Camino Cielo Road. Like usual, the park rangers drove by and gave the go-ahead but, a couple hours later, the entire thing was shut down.

“I knew almost nobody there. It seemed to be a lot of people from out of town that were already coming for Deltopia and heard about the mountain show in advance. It was by far the most people I’ve ever seen at a mountain show. It was probably three or four times bigger [than normal],” Corliss said.

O’Connell, who played this show, remembers there being around 400 people in the crowd. Carter claims there were 500 at its height. 500 people means a dangerous roadblock if there is a fire or medical emergency, more trash and threats to the surrounding environment. The United States Forest Service Law Enforcement was quick to respond.

“I think the reason ours was so packed was because it was the night before Deltopia, so everyone’s friends were in town and they wanted to give them a fun experience. So everyone came,” O’Connell said.

Birchwood played their set for the massive crowd, which then started to thin as DMLW was concluding. As soon as DMLW finished, the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement issued a $530 fine and threatened to take away all equipment if another mountain show was thrown.

“It was funny timing because they just caught us,” Carter said. “We told him the rangers have come by every time we have done this and basically given us the okay, and we were very confused as to what they mean by ‘not allowed.’ There’s some bureaucratic disconnection going on there.”

The bands were able to raise funds to pay for the ticket through a GoFundMe account, but the future of mountain shows is not bright.

“All things considered, the outcome was okay. The biggest issue is that we can’t do them anymore,” Carter said.

Courtesy of Eloise Lubsen

Perhaps they’ll find another spot in the mountains for people to flock to to listen to live music with their friends but, for now, the mountain show lives on in memory. Photos still circulate band Instagram accounts, videos of it go viral on TikTok — like Eternal Wave’s cover of “Breathe” as the sun was setting — and these shows are told as favorite experiences, like mine and like theirs.

“That was one of my favorite moments because it was mostly some of my good friends and we were playing a lot of Khruangbin,” Still said about playing with one of his bands, Kimchi Halfpipe.

“It’s just very special every time. The best part about it is when it’s sunset. It looks crazy up there. Looking out over the other side into that little valley over there is so cool,” Carter said.

“I think I’ve teared up every single time. I remember I did ‘Landslide’ at this last one … and it was right as the sun was setting and everyone was singing along. I remember I forgot a line or something and everyone sang it and I thought it was the cutest thing in the world,” O’Connell said.

“Those are my favorite memories of going to UCSB, the mountain shows. They’re so special,” Corliss said.

Rest in peace, mountain shows. Gone for now, never forgotten.