Marco Benevento Lights Up First Night of Mountain Jam 2015

In the 11th installment of Mountain Jam – the now-iconic music festival originally created by Warren Haynes that takes place each year in gorgeous Hunter, N.Y. – the bar was set exceptionally high before the gates were even opened yesterday, June 4.

Robert Plant, the Black Keys and Alabama Shakes are slated to headline the three main nights of Mountain Jam, and more than 40 other bands are set to take one of three stages over the course of the weekend. But, before any bands struck their first chords on Friday, fans packed Hunter Mountain to see the likes of Railroad Earth, Sons of Bill, the Dharma Bums, Planet of the Abts and of course, the great moe. One act, though, caught our attention from the second he walked out on the West Stage at 9:30PM last night – Mr. Marco Benevento.

With a knack for creating insanely infectious – and often, purely instrumental – earworms at the drop of a hat, Benevento blew us away during his two sets Thursday night. His unique approach to his seemingly improvisational rock and roll was better than we could have ever hoped for.

It's not that we're strangers of Benevento's; in fact, we were proud to premiere his official music video for "If I Get to See You at All" a short while ago and we even had the chance to catch up with him ahead of his Mountain Jam appearance – we just weren't prepared for the non-stop spectacle that is his live show.

With an impossibly tight band surrounding him – comprised of drummer Andrew Borger and Ween bassist Dave Dreiwitz – Benevento is able to manufacture sounds out of thin air and then maneuver around them at lightning speed, taking the audience on an unforgettable aural (and thanks to a beautiful light show, visual) journey.

Take a look at a few photos from Benevento's Mountain Jam performance in the gallery above – and make sure to catch him live if you're lucky enough to get the chance; grab his full tour itinerary here.