By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Despite the abrupt temperature drop, music enthusiasts packed the Rocky Woods pavilion to enjoy a performance by singer/songwriter Peter Mulvey on the evening of Friday, September 15th. This event was sponsored by the Trustees and is a recurring part of his annual bike tour.
Amidst the busy life of a traveling musician, Peter had a strong desire to reconnect with nature. Contemplating how to combine his love for nature with his music, he made the decision in 2017 to embark on bike tours in various regions of the country.
The Trustees website further mentioned, “Since 2017, singer songwriter Peter Mulvey has had at least one tour exclusively via bicycle each year. The goal? He wanted to change the nature of what it meant to be a touring musician for himself. The decades of gas guzzling human-transport measures he had to interact with annually became a dilemma for Peter in sharing his art. In turn, he decided to make it his mission to have at least one tour a year to be traveled by human-power and found solace in doing so as he was already an avid cyclist.”
For six years now, Peter has pedaled to hundreds of shows scattering across thousands of miles. His bicycle tour has taken place along the west coast, southwest states, mountain states, the Midwest, and New England. For this specific tour, Peter was exclusively with the Trustees and had five shows set in place. Unfortunately, the tour dwindled down to only two and half performances due to bad weather.
In terms of the tour as a whole, Peter went on to state, “So the Trustees reached out, and their mission is to get human beings into the outdoors, and this whole bike tour has been about getting myself outdoors now as well. Most of a touring musician's life is an airplane and a rental car and a hotel, which is great, I’m not knocking it, I love what I get to do, but I’m stubborn and I like to pee outside. The bike tour is just the best. If it rains, you get rained on, if it’s cold, you’re cold, if it’s hot, you’re hot, and then you show up at the show kinda rehumanized in this alienating century.”
Peter also made sure to point out that some of the shows he does on his bike tours require some other means of transportation. For example, for this Rocky Woods show, Peter had to take the train into Natick and from there he used his folding bike to pedal to this show. The whole point is to reconnect with nature and get outdoors as much as you can. This is why everyone who attended the performance was encouraged to ride their own bike there.
Whether you brought some dinner with you, some snacks, or just hung around, everyone who attended this Peter Mulvey performance had an excellent time. Despite having a finger injury, Peter put on a fantastic set for his final performance of his 2023 bike tour.
