MCB's Andrew Bender was on hand for all of the crazy fun insanity going on in western Michigan this past weekend at the 2nd annual Rothbury Festival. Check out his photos from Thursday and read on for his take on the first day of what is quickly becoming one of the most talked about music festivals around.
My assistant Jyll and I rolled into Rothbury late Wednesday night to secure a campsite close to the festival entrance so we could camp with some friends in the general camping area and still not be too far away from the media area at the other end of the festival site (which was pretty huge). After picking up our credentials and eventually making our way down to the campgrounds taking a back way in by charming our way past clueless security guards and ill-informed volunteers, we got our camp site set up. Shade canopies? Check. Tent and sleeping arrangements set up? Check. Beer? A couple of hours later our first group of friends rolled in and we managed to get some sleep before the craziness began on Thursday. Since the music wasn't scheduled to start until 6pm, and they weren't letting media in much before that, I took the opportunity to check out the lay of the land. The campground was quickly filling in with row after row of cars and tents. Back to back campsites with an access road between each row made for the most efficient arrangement, although empty spaces were quickly filled with tents and cars of newcomers.
"Tent after tent of pipes and glass work made it the biggest head shop within a 5 state radius"
We were situated just in back of the main campground vending area, or 'Shakedown' as it's commonly referred to after the Grateful Dead song, 'Shakedown Street,' as all manner of food from lo mein to quesadillas, art work, and tent after tent of pipes and glass work made it the biggest head shop within a 5 state radius. Giant rainbow pinwheels and streamers fluttered in the breeze as barefoot, dreadlocked hippie kids in patchwork clothes ambled about. My memories of Rothbury from last year created such high expectations for this year that I knew I'd be somewhat let down as the inaugural year was just too special to be repeated. Plus, after the first year, everybody hears what a great time and freak show it is and they want to come take advantage. Including the grungy, drug dealing, 'wookie' tour rats sneaking in to the festival, piecing together wristbands from scraps, hiding from security, smoking heroin next to our campsite (just one guy, but...), selling nitrous oxide (which only sucks when it's in front of your campsite and suddenly there's a bunch of wasted hippies sitting on our car, milling about, dropping balloons on the ground and making a nuisance. At 3am when I was brushing my teeth and this was going on, I gently asked the douche bag selling the nitrous if he could move it on sooner than later. His response was, "this is a drug festival and people come here to do drugs!" and he continued, "What do you do for a living? I do this and I've been doing this for 13 years and I'll do it 'til I die." So there was that unfortunate element to the festival, which we had an over exposure to because 1) were were in general camping in the area near the entrance where the big party was always raging, and 2) the other people who could get there early were often the people without anything else going on in their lives - this was it. Although music festivals like Rothbury, Bonnaroo, or even Wakarusa have a lot of music that appeals to people who like to take drugs (mostly weed, I'd think), calling it a 'drug festival' is clearly missing the mark quite a bit. Yes, there's a lot going on that appeals to those under the influence of or who have taken psychedelic drugs, BUT I'd like to (perhaps naively) think that the primary focus is still on the music. It's certainly one giant party going on with bars at the stages, the CRAZY, tripped out highly psychedelic Sherwood Forest between the large stages, all manner of carnival buskers and jugglers, a burlesque show at a small stage in the middle of Sherwood Forest, and some truly phenomenal musical talent.
Thursday I saw the band Toubab Krewe at the Ranch Arena; Toubab Krewe combines West African instruments and rhythms with Western jazz and rock to make a truly cool, remarkable sound. Following that I ran up to see Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam perform at the Sherwood Stage and the young guitarist was busting out some great blues rock hooks and keeping the crowd entertained. I wandered through the Sherwood forest to see the Reincarnation area where the festival organizers had taken recycled and reclaimed materials to make an artistic space full of pine cone sculptures, pine branch shelters, a wire Buddha, and so many more cool sights. I then wandered down to see Keller Williams perform at the Ranch stage where his one-man show sampling, looping, layering, was just awesome. Later on he was apparently joined by members of the String Cheese Incident, although by then I'd already taken off to get some food elsewhere. Unfortunately hip hop group the Mighty Underdogs had to cancel their set, but Chief Xcel from Blackalicious was there to spin and keep the crowd moving. I took some shots of folks who'd decorated their own trees next to Sherwood to help make the festival more audience participation-intensive. Later that night I checked out the rocking jamtronica sounds of Lotus and the Disco Biscuits and the alt-pop stylings of Cold War Kids - all in all a great first day for the festival.
Tomorrow - Rothbury Day 2
Werd!!
-drew
"MCB IS DETROIT"