ggrtrhhrtgg Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 F-U-N! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark tonin Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 F-U-N! Ditto! Left at 4 p.m. on Thursday from St. Catherines ... or at least that was the plan ... ended up leaving the Buffalo area at around 9:30 p.m. after all of the stops for food, beer, etc. We travelled to the festival with a great group of people, but trying to coordinate 4 vehicles definitely slows things down. But what a great group of people to travel with ... Chris was with me, and the other vehicles had Marc & Andy, Willy & Leanne, and Julie & Lorrraine & Tanya. We arrived at the venue at about 2:30 a.m., expecting/hoping to get in relatively quickly. Ha ha ha. I don't remember what time we actually got in, but the sun was definitely up by the time we made it through the gate. Very intense searches at the gate, with not nearly enough people doing them. I've never been so close to losing it ... I felt like I was a road rage case waiting to happen. We managed to get very little sleep on Friday morning before getting up and heading to the stage area. Things got better in a hurry. I really liked the size of this festival (I'm guessing 15,000 people) and our campsite was only 5 minutes from the stage area. Both stages were in the same area, which made for minimal travel between them. My personal highlight on Friday night was Deep Banana Blackout ... man oh man can Jen Durkin sing, and can Fuzz play the guitar! A super-fun dance party! Saturday was full of great music. Saw G-Love for the first time and totally dug it, and really enjoyed Hot Tuna acoustic, the Rhythm Devils, and Ratdog. I enjoyed all of the music I heard but those three stood out for me on Saturday. More Kimock guitar in the mix during the Devils would have been nice, but Mike Gordon was on fire. It's been a while since I've seen Ratdog and I was impressed ... not quite as tasty musically as Phil & Friends, but the Bobby energy made up for it. The Standing on the Moon and Mississippi Half Step both made me shiver, and the One More Sat Night and US Blues had me grooving in a big way. Fortunately the major thunderstorm held off until just after Ratdog finished, but it got so intense that they had to stop the Everyone Orchestra shortly after it started. But the rain made for some fun late night singing back at the campsite, led by numerodos and his medley of the best version of 99 bottles of beer on the wall that I've ever heard. Couldn't stick around on Sunday for any music, but felt satisfied after two full days, even after the horrible lineup to start the festival. A huge plus at this fest was the showers and flush toilets with attendants ... it sure beats overflowing portapotties! Will seriously consider this festival again next year ... it was loads of fun. Peace, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afro poppa Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 What a festival. Definatley one of the better venues I have been 2. Mark pretty much summed it up, especially about 99 bottles of beer on the wall (which I had forgotten about until just now). It was truly a bummer when they had to cancel Everyone Orchestra as I was REALLY looking forward to it and I made sure to be extra looped out for it. Ah well, I still had a blast hanging out.good times, im gonna need a few days to recover from that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark tonin Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 It was great to see you at the festival afro poppa!Peace, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edger Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 If I had not had a family commitment, I would have loved to have hit this festival with all of you fine folks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afro poppa Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 the pleasure was all mine mark!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggaemuffin Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 thanks for the review Mark! I was wondering how this festival was. Hope to make it a VW caravan next year Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggrtrhhrtgg Posted August 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 yes, I apologize for the lack of details, but, I need to sit down and think about all of hte fun we had, and Mark pretty much summed it up. It was nice to have met you Afro Pop!!! I would highly, highly recommend that any lover of the dead, should consider attending this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afro poppa Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 nice meetin you as well numerodos, thanks for all the singing back at the site, really helped me...uhh...keep on rollin i guess you could say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 Ditto on not really being able to add anything to Mark's post above. We had a blast, and not only did our girls get a chance to meet some of the fine skanks here, but also to tap into the Dead scene that our eldest especially has been so anxious to see firsthand for so long. She pulled me up front-centre for a chunk of the Rhythm Devils, and it was nice to see everybody grinning so wide to see a 9-year old soaking it all in and having such a good time digging the music. It was a treat to have been able to camp out in Quiet Camping with Big Wooly Mammoth et famille, despite the pair of sketchbags in the tent next to us who kept going on about how much ketamine they had at 5 in the morning . Kudos to BWM for letting 'em have it come sunrise . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark tonin Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 If I had not had a family commitment, I would have loved to have hit this festival with all of you fine folks!!Hopefully we can organize a festival road trip again next summer Sara which includes you and Todd.Hope to make it a VW caravan next year WillyIt would be great to have you along Heather.Dave, it sounds like you had a magical moment with your daughter Cassia, that's for sure. Sweet.I agree with #2 that this festival captures the spirit of the Dead experience in many ways. The audience is part of the show in a big way. We actually had a bluegrass band camping right beside us that played all kinds of tasty acoustic music ... I'm talking a full band with stand up bass, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and sweet voices. They are called The Mo' Folkies.I've been wanting to hit up this festival for a number of years, and am glad that I finally made it happen.Peace, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wooly Mammoth Posted August 24, 2006 Report Share Posted August 24, 2006 I also had a great time this year. Got to see most of:Assembly of Dust (These guys are so good)Kettle Joe's Psychedelic Swamp revueDavid Gans (with members of Kettle Joe, including Donna)RatdogBurning Spear (wow - first time hearing him - loved the vibe)Yonder Mountain (great bluegrass on a sunday afternoon)And got to hear most of the rest. We drove out around 7PM on Sunday - Zero had yet to hit the stage. Would have loved to see them but it just wasn't possible with the kids. Nice to meet and camp with Calamity Jane and DEM. The kids just had a blast. (saw James Taylor at Tanglewood on Monday night - the contrast between venues was funny.)I've listened to the kettle joe set a few of times since and just love it. what a great band. Here are links for some bittorrents (I downloaded these in under an hour each today)Rhythm Devilshttp://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=29134Ratdoghttp://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=29128still looking for the Assembly of Dust set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wooly Mammoth Posted August 24, 2006 Report Share Posted August 24, 2006 four strong winds - Gans with Donna and others from kettle joe. http://www.dgans.com/audio/FourStrong_060819.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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