MOG

So, as you can tell, I stopped posting my "Countdown to Rothbury" at Day 4, due to a combination of being incredibly busy and somewhat lazy.  If this was something you were looking forward to, I am very sorry.  But since that is unlikely, then I say deal with it.  I can only do so much.

Anyway, it's taken me a few days to recover and gather my thoughts about this festival.  While I have not completely finished putting everything together in my head, and am at the point now when I can sum up my experience properly.  To put it into as few words as possible, my general feeling towards the festival are basically "holy shit.....that was amazing".  I will get into the finer details in subsequent posts, but I will use this one to give a general feel for how it went and what I got out of it.

Since this was my first festival, I had no idea what to expect other than what a few people told me reagrding their festival experiences.  I was a little nervous, seeing as there were 40,000 or so people going and camping out, and crowds like that tend to put me off a little bit.  But I was also very excited since I had never done something like this, and the music lineup was very much in my crosshairs.  In no particular order, here are some of my takeaways from the experience:

1)  Midwest Airlines - I flew from Boston to Milwaukee ( it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."), then from Milwaukee to Grand Rapids, all on Midwest Airlines.  Seeing as I had never heard of this airline until I booked my trip, I was expecting a tiny plane with bucket seats and various livestock nesting in the main fuselage.  Man, was I wrong.  Both planes were on the newer side, the seats were large and comfortable, the staff was excellent and they served warm chocolate chip cookies.  Can you beat that?  If you get the chance, fly this airline.  You will not be disappointed.

2)  Michigan - It's flat, but beautiful.  The drive to Rothbury from Grand Rapids is about 75 miles of farmland, but it was enjoyable. 

3)  Camping - I am a seasoned vet when it comes to camping.  I grew up camping with my family and I know my way around a tent.  Pulling into Rothbury was like pulling into a refugee camp: miles upon miles of tents and people.  I don't know the exact dimensions of the camping area, but I would guess that it was a mile long and about a half mile wide.  That's a lot of people.  Luckily, we knew people who had gotten there early to set up shop, and they saved us a spot that wasn't all that far from the venue.  It was set up in a grid system, making little roads here and there for people to drive/walk to where they had to go.  It was well done as there was never any congestion getting from point A to point B.  The sleeping was comfortable (well, as comfortable as sleeping on the ground can be) and there was plenty of space for everyone.

4) Amenities - I heard some horror stories about the amenities at other festivals (poor toilet facilities, no showers, expensive food and drink, long lines for everything, etc.).  But Rothbury, logistically, was superb when it came to the amenities.  The port-o-potties were plentiful and cleaned daily (although toilet paper was at a premium at times).    While the showers were $10 per wash, and basically converted storage lockers, there were alternatives.  Close to our campsite there was a private lake, and we were able to pay $20 for weekend access to the lake which enabled us to clean ourselves daily.  They supplied us with organic soap that was safe to use in the lake, which was a plus, but it was also nice to be able to take a break and enjoy a swim during the day.  Being clean never felt so right for those 4 days.  As for the food, it was beyond all expectations.  There were various food vendors at each venue (6 in all), and the variety was amazing.  While I subsisted on mainly soba noodles and falafel, there were other options such as barbecue, salads, wraps, pizza, etc.  The food was healthy, fairly priced and there were hardly ever any lines.  And as far as beverages are concerned, the variety and price blew me away the most.  There were "bars" everywhere (think very large tiki bars).  For beer, you had Bud and Bud Light for $5 as well as Magic Hat #9 and Shock Top (highly recommended) for $6.  You can't get beer for that price at most city bars nowadays.  There were also full-on bars there with just about every hard liquor you could think of, also priced at $6.  Finally, they had separate bars serving Sangria, Mojitos and Margarita's, all of them $7.  And like the food, there were rarely any lines to get a drink.  It was fantastic.

5)  Music - I won't go into the full line-up here, you can go to the Rothbury website to get that, but for a 4 day festival they came with the heat in terms of headliners.  But, to me, it wasn't the headliners that made it for me (although DMB and John Mayer were fantastic in their own right) but rather the lesser known, smaller acts that I was able to see.  On night 1, the first and only band we say were The Disco Biscuits, and man did they bring it.  I had heard of them, and heard some of their stuff before, but to experience their show first hand was just awesome.  It really set the mood (for me) for the entire weekend.  I was completely sober while watching them, and I am not sure what that means, but I was grooving the whole time and so was everyone else.  I'll get into the individual artists a little later, in a different post, but I was not disappointed at all in anyone that I saw (maybe a little bit with State Radio, but I think that is because I am not all that high on their new album). 

6)  People - To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of the "hippie" population.  I don't know why, they just irked me for some reason.  And at this festival, I think it is safe to say that 85% of the population could be considered a "hippie".  Suffice it to say, I was wrong and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I met some very, very cool people, and those that I didn't meet one on one but just passed by were just friendly people who were there to have a good time and listen to some good music.  Luckily, I realized this early on and it allowed me to come to accept other people more openly, as that only allows me to be accepted easier by others.  Call it philosophical or whatever, but I learned a lot about myself and other people while at this festival and I am thankful for that.  I think I am, and will be, a much more open and tolerant person after that experience.  Something that I never thought would come out of it.  Yes, there were some people who were just way, way , way out there, and could have used a shower, but I learned to accept them as well and actually enjoyed being in their company.  Everyone was well behaved (I don;t know the exact numbers, but there were something like 13 arrests the whole weekend.  A pretty small number compared to the amount of people that were there) and genuinely friendly to one another.  Hell, I stumbled into someone (not sober) and knocked there full drink onto the ground.  Expecting a punch to the throat, I immediately begged for forgiveness and braced for impact.  But instead of that, I got a smile, a "no worries....it's cool" and a pat on the back.  Of course I replaced the drink, but still, I was shocked. 

7) Overall - As I sat in the airport on Monday morning waiting to board my flight, I found myself sitting there more relaxed than I think I have ever been.  Rather than being tired, hungover and generally irritable, I was very much at peace with everything.  Yes, I was looking forward to going home and sleeping in my bed.  But I was also very comfortable just sitting there and chilling, not caring that my flight was delayed by 3 hours.  I could have sat there all day just watching people, listening to my ipod and enjoying the company of my friends.  Who, by the way, made my festival experience that much better.  I could not have picked better people to experience this festival with.  We had a blast together, got along famously, and enjoyed each other's company (in my opinion) as much as everything else.  Anyway, all day Monday, and since then actually, I feel like I conquered some mental roadblocks that have been living in me for sometime.  I can't put my finger on exactly what they were, but whatever they were they are gone now.  I feel like I have been very calm and peaceful since I have been back, and I think I will stay this way for a long time to come. 

Now that I have put that out there, and while I prep for the upcoming posts about individual artists and/or experiences, here is a slideshow that I put together with all of the pictures I took.  The slideshow is set to the song "Pretend Yuo're A Robot" by Pnuma Trio, one of the artists that surprised the hell out of me at Rothbury.  Enjoy.