Rothbury Music Festival Day 1

The first song and only song played over the PA this morning, which could be heard in the campground, was from Seal.  “We are never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy.” If that doesn’t sum up the feeling from the artists to the fans, I don’t know what does in describing the atmosphere here at the first Rothbury Music Festival, located at the Double J Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan. 

Here’s a perspective from last night:
Five of the six stages were up and active for the first night, with the main stage remaining dark.  The stages are separated by actual forests, with intricate and scenic recycled art displays and also had on-going light shows between each stage.
The first band to play on the Sherwood Court stage was Michigan’s own Green Sky Bluegrass, which basically opened the festival at 7:30 PM.  Nestled on the route to the Sherwood Forest, an elaborate forest that is lit up with some very impressive lasers, and different lighting rigs, this stage has no backdrop except evergreen trees. The crowd was definitely giving them a warm welcome home as they ripped through a high-energy set, that was highlighted with a bluegrass version of Pink Floyd’s “Time” as the sun was dropping.  We moved on to the Ranch Arena stage to catch a couple songs of the Kyle Hollingsworth Band, and there were plenty of String Cheese Incident followers, hooping it up on grass and straw around the edges of the crowd.

A couple of highlights from Zappa Plays Zappa on the Ranch Arena stage:
* hundreds of glow sticks flying through the air, attempting a “glow-stick war.”

* Grateful Dead covers : Fire on the Mountain, Sugaree, and Going Down The Road Feeling Bad.

We caught the Disco Biscuits midset, as they had switched stages from the Ranch Arena to the Sherwood Court.  I have not seen that impressive of a light show since Phish in 2004.  They also played a blistering version of Pink Floyd’s Run Like Hell, the second Floyd tune on the Sherwood Court stage.  They also asked David Murphy of Sound Tribe Sector 9 to jam on a couple of tunes.

We traveled back up the road, through the Sherwood Forest, which was very busy with activity of people enjoying the visual displays and “chill tents” that were in the shape of large pumpkins, as well as the many hammocks that were tied up throughout the trees.

We caught a couple of songs from Railroad Earth, who were bringing it with what seemed like 12 people on stage, and people popping in and out to guest here and there.

We made it back to the campsite around 1:30 AM and the music was still going on multiple stages.

That’s all from the first day at Rothbury.  More to come soon.