Festival Magic

[whosaninja]

Most of us here at this board have been to at least a few festivals. What keeps us going back? It must be the Festival Magic. In this thread I would like to gather some stories about the magic that you've experienced. it could be a jam that came out of nowhere. It could be a special gift someone gave you. It could be watching people step outside of their normal lives. Or the laugh of a pretty girl, or the smile you get from a stranger on the other side of the field. Any thing can cast that spell. Tell us how you found that Festival Magic.

One of my favorite moments of magic happened at GOTV 2003. Derek Trucks Band was on stage in the mid-afternoon and they were into Rastaman Chant. It had been partly cloudy all day and quite hot. As one large cloud rolled overhead it let out a little rain. The crowd, on cue, cheered the rain, thankful for a little bit of relief from the heat. Then, not two minutes later, same song, the sun broke back through. The crowd then cheered the sun.
I'll never forget that magic and the quest for that magic keeps me going back.

[Dexxy]

STS9 opening with Circus at Rothbury last year, absolutely spiritual moment

[liveyoursong]

Magnolia Fest 2002. Col. Bruce & The CodeTalkers w/ Vassar Clements were getting into a pretty heavy jam, while Scramble Campbel was painting stageside. I was really getting into the jam, glancing back and forth from band to artist when it just all came together in that magic moment. Everything was right with the world (mine anyway).

[itrainmonkeys]

My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo 2008. Late night show. The Which stage.



I had left the headliner early that night (Metallica) so that I was able to get a real close spot for MMJ. I knew this show would be special. They came on and it was just pure magic. Amazing songs all the way through the night. 3+ hours of pure bliss. Lots of funk and motown covers....with an awesome take on Sly & The Family Stone's "Hot Fun in the Summertime" which was fantastic.

Anyone who was there that night knows that the band controlled the weather. As the first set was building and growing towards something huge, the rain came pouring down.....but nobody cared. It was all about the music. Jim James yelling out "This feels fu**ing awesome!" got the crowd fully behind him.

The first set ends and the rain dies down.........sure enough when they came back out for the second set (which began with a bunch of awesome covers like "Cold Sweat" by James Brown and "Get Down on It" by Kool & The Gang) the rain picked back up again.

It really was amazing. My only regret is leaving with like one or two more songs left.....since I figured my car was soaked (I left a small back window open). I later found out that Zach Galifianakis (one of my fav Comedians) came out for a bit of a dance. So sad I missed that. But overall......festival magic.

[vincheese]

Itrain, that show looks truly sick. What a shame you missed Zach. I love MMJ. I'm checking them out 2 nights in NYC when they'll be doing a 5 night run, each night a whole album in its entirety. Tickets go on sale in 45 minutes!

I have to say, what a great thread. I often wonder why the hell I keep going back (this will be my 5th year on the festie circuit, and I can't believe it's been that long) then I remember it's always just such an amazing time, with hilarious events, great people, great music, awesome vibes. So many stories, but here are some of mine;

Bonnaroo 06 ; During Tom Petty some cute girls offered me something good. This was right before some kid came barrelling through the crowd of 70,000 kicking over both their beers, and then dissapearing into the crowd never to be seen again. They were momentarily pissed, but it was funny in a WTF kinda way. Just 70,000 people doing whatever the hell they want. I then wandered over to a random tent in the am by myself to listen to MMJ. I had no idea who they were, but it was amazing. From then on I was hooked.

Bonnaroo 07; At Tools headlining show some guy is aggressively head banging, he stops, starts projectile vomiting everywhere. The crowd clears a 20 ft wide circle around him. He stops puking, and immediately begins headbanging again, like nothing happened. Repeat that process one more time. The guy is just having a great time still, but the crowd is completely cleared around him, at which point new people from other areas see a giant open area and everyone fills in.... I look down and they are all in sandals. Ha.

Vibes 07; A bunch of us made Glow Stick art, with the help of random passerbys

Vibes 08; I just screamed "AMERICA!!" and from the mess of cars somewhere in the distance I hear someone yell back "F*@% YEAH!"


Vibes 09; Karma Wash!



Wormtown; Seeing Zach Deputy for the first time
www.archive.org/details/zd2009-09-19.flac16 (Track 9 is sick)

Rothbury 08; Monkey Statue and getting my first Glimpse of the Sherwood Forest


Rothbury 09; CHROM-E-O OOOOO & Umphrey's Comfortably Numb Cover

[itrainmonkeys]

Jun 18, 2010 10:00:47 GMT -5 vincheese said:

Itrain, that looks sick. I love MMJ. I'm checking them out 2 nights in NYC when they'll be doing a 5 night run, each night a whole album in its entirety.

Awesome man.....which nights you doing? I'll be there for It Still Moves and Evil Urges for sure. I'm trying to get the Z tickets today. If you go to any of the thursday, friday, saturday shows i'll see you there.

[vincheese]

Ya, I'm going thursday and Friday, see you there. We gotta meet up at Nateva first.

[scamn]

Wondering around the Great Went lost in my mind.....wtf is that floor waxers running around in that building?..........a twisted castle spewing foam everywhere?.....dancing to a late night set when the back of my neck warms up, turn around and there is some fire breather guy on stilts behind us, and they have it on the big screens...I think..... dude laying on his face during a daytime set, "man you shouldnt be eating the grass" tried to help him up, he fell back down and started mowing again.... 10,000 naked people for a photo?.... hand the artwork to the sculpture.... holy crap they are burning it down.....sweeeet.

[mainiac]

After one of Phish's sets at Festival 8, I wandered back towards my campsite. There was a fully painted bus with hundreds of people dancing inside and outside it, with music blasting. People were going nuts at this impromptu dance party in the California desert in the moonlight. I spent some time there, and found another jam session going on somewhere in the campground. There were crazy lights going mad in the darkness, while a small group of people went ballistic to some funk bassist god gracing us with his grooves and a beatboxer, coming together to form the perfect moment. The next night, my friends and I ventured back out, trying to relive that amazing session, but to no avail. I won't soon forget that.

Also, Bonnaroo 2003 - the organizers had trucked in loads of sand to help soak up the mud and water back from one of the main stages (which stage? i don't know). Well, the sand created a flexible layer above a bunch of water. The result was the ground was undulating like a waterbed. Then... Futureman busted out and amazing solo while the ground shook and swayed me with the music. THAT was a moment of magic!

[velvetc]

I don't know if it counts as festival magic, but for me the best part of every festival is that moment when you have just finished setting up camp and you get to finally plop down in a chair, crack open a beer, start passing the piece, and just look around and know you're home for the next four days with nothing to do but listen to music and meet people.

[grateful2bedead]

good vibes...

[Dexxy]

Festival Magic =

[wvmountainweir]

Mountain Jam 2008, Sunday afternoon we walked up a hill near the campgrounds and found a little watering hole that had a real grotto-like feel it to. We had heard from so many people all weekend about this place and how cool it was, and then Sunday afternoon we just stumbled upon it. Of course there were plenty of other heads chilling out and washing up. Through the woods you could kinda see the stage and hear the music pretty good. So my buddy and I hung out there for an hour or so, I think it was during the Felice Brothers set actually, just chilling and packing pipes with some random folks hearing the music in the distance. Then an hour later it was Medeski Martin Scofield and Wood, Levon and RatDog all in a row, to close out a damn good weekend at Hunter Mountain. The rest is history...

[Dexxy]

Jun 19, 2010 23:18:53 GMT -5 wvmountainweir said:

Mountain Jam 2008, Sunday afternoon we walked up a hill near the campgrounds and found a little watering hole that had a real grotto-like feel it to. We had heard from so many people all weekend about this place and how cool it was, and then Sunday afternoon we just stumbled upon it. Of course there were plenty of other heads chilling out and washing up. Through the woods you could kinda see the stage and hear the music pretty good. So my buddy and I hung out there for an hour or so, I think it was during the Felice Brothers set actually, just chilling and packing pipes with some random folks hearing the music in the distance. Then an hour later it was Medeski Martin Scofield and Wood, Levon and RatDog all in a row, to close out a damn good weekend at Hunter Mountain. The rest is history...

Spent many an hour at that beautiful spot. Prolly spent some time with you that year, I was up there sunday afternoon as well!! Great spot, great festival

[whosaninja]

At Woodstock 99 we were sitting in the field between I think DMB and Kid Rock and they were pumping music over the PA between the sets, it was bearly audible over the din of the crowd. Well, they started playing sister christian and the crowd suddenly burst into the "motorin'" part of the song, then we all cheered our collective voice.

The next day we rioted, That place was a clusterf@(k.

[mddichard07]

Umphrey's McGee Pink Floyd covers at Up North 2008

[benstonecrowe]

Jun 19, 2010 8:27:23 GMT -5 velvetc said:

I don't know if it counts as festival magic, but for me the best part of every festival is that moment when you have just finished setting up camp and you get to finally plop down in a chair, crack open a beer, start passing the piece, and just look around and know you're home for the next four days with nothing to do but listen to music and meet people.

Amen brother!! can i get an Amen?

[digforfire]

The Chromeo-OOOOOOHHHHH at Rothbury
The monkeys at Rothbury
The magical forest at Rothbury

....I really loved Rothbury.

[crixtala]

Jun 24, 2010 8:48:28 GMT -5 digforfire said:

....I really loved Rothbury.

You're not alone, my friend.

[mojo4395]

Oh Rothbury, how I will miss thee... I have to say, if Rothbury returns next year (fingers crossed), it's unlikely I'll be able to do that and Nateve. But thank goodness for Nateva filling the festival void for me this year!

[vincheese]

July 4th falls on a monday next year, so I'm not sure how that will work out. I've never really heard of a major Friday-Monday Festival. The next time July 4th falls on a weekend is 2014, so they are most likely going to have to switch up the dates.


But yes, Rothbury was the shiznittttttobammm

[digforfire]

Hear Hear my Natevans!!! This time in one week we will be having a cool beer and taking it all in. Can I get a HELL YEAH!?

[armedaneian]

AMEN! What a pleasant thought!

[vincheese]

HELLLL YAAA

[itrainmonkeys]