Rothbury Festival 2008 - Thursday Review

The inaugural Rothbury Festival took place July 3-6 at the gorgeous Double JJ Ranch near tiny Rothbury, Michigan. We feel incredibly lucky to have been among those who experienced this event, and we're bursting with so many things to say about it that we're not even going to attempt to shove all of our text into one post. That simply wouldn't do it any justice. In the interest of being as comprehensive as possible, we're going to post a separate review of each day. There's no way that our words could even begin to approximate the experience of attending, but we'll try our damnedest. So let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Continue reading 'Rothbury Festival 2008 - Thursday' after the jump

Eggs and Cereal flew into Chicago on Wednesday, July 2 and were retrieved by Toast in a tightly packed car. We made our customary Wal-Mart run in Grand Haven, MI and entertained ideas of bargaining for a cheap hotel room while we waited for the rest of our group to join us. However, it hadn't occurred to us that Grand Haven is located a scant 30 miles from Rothbury and thus probably saturated with festival-goers. We quickly learned that all the hotels in the area were sold out, so in the end we caught a few hours of sleep in the parking lot of a Rodeway Inn. Though we grumbled about it at the time, in retrospect it was a small price to pay for what was yet to come.

With our festival family complete, we left our 'accommodations' at 6am and headed for Rothbury. Admission was already in full swing when we arrived, and we had to wait 30 minutes or so for our turn. We hopped around outside in the cold - the temperature was in the upper 50's (F), which was a bit shocking coming from humid 90+ degree weather. We soon breezed through entry and were then guided to our camping spot. We've since read complaints about the campsites in various forums, but we didn't have any problems at all. The parking director's experience with large NASCAR events seemed to prove useful - instead of general madness, the campgrounds had orderly lanes, enabling easy entry and exit. Perhaps later arrivals were more restricted in their space, but we had plenty of room. We kept stepping in horse doody while we were setting up our temporary homes, but what's a little poo when you're in such a beautiful place, you know?

It was still quite chilly when we finished setting up our tents, which meant that we were actually able to nap without baking in our sleeping bags. Amazing! After picking up our media credentials and logging some quality pre-game time, we left our campsite at about 5 to get our first look at the festival grounds. The Establishment tent immediately caught our attention with its striking yellow and pink color scheme, and we also spotted some monkey machinery that wouldn't make sense until night fell. Visual stimuli greeted our eyes everywhere they wandered. Just inside the main gate, we came upon an inflatable dome, a large bamboo art installation, and a bamboo hamster ball a là Wayne Coyne. Walking was a slow affair, because we couldn't resist stopping to play with everything we saw along the way.

We were headed in the direction of Sherwood Court, a stage located in the northeastern area of the festival grounds. On the way, we passed the Tripolee Domes, an incredible jungle gym-like structure unlike anything we'd ever seen at a festival before. Further on, we came upon a percussive junk garden at the turnoff for the Ranch Arena. We pressed on and entered the awe-inspiring Sherwood Forest for the first time. It's difficult to explain in words the magic that prevailed there among the trees. Swaths of cloth were artfully draped above the pathways, enourmous geometric ornaments swayed over our heads, hammocks stretched lazily from tree to tree. Giant gourd-like structures had already begun to function as gathering places, and lights and reflective paper along the walkways hinted at what the forest would look like after sunset. We meandered over to an amazingly intricate garden filled with elaborate patterns fashioned from sticks, rocks, fruit, and other assorted items. And everywhere we went, we found bliss. The air was filled with happy cries of, "Oh my god, look at that!" and "This is so amazing!" The first note that Cereal jotted down in her notepad under the the 'Rothbury Thursday' heading reads: Best festival ever. And this was before we'd even heard any music. We just felt strongly that this was destined to be something special.

We spilled out of the Sherwood Forest and into Sherwood Court. After stopping briefly to admire a giant boot, we headed down the hill to more closely inspect the stage. Two brightly decorated gazebos flanked either side of the performance space, and two pendulous recycled art pieces were suspended from the ceiling. The Kyle Hollingsworth Band soon took the stage and started off the weekend's music with a funky instrumental version of The Beatles' "Taxman". Recently added as a member of the Mickey Hart Band, Hollingsworth took advantage of his early slot to show off some new material that focused more on the funk, soul and at times Latin-based jams. As the opening songs of Rothbury filled the Sherwood Court and Forest, it also started to fill with music-craving festival-goers. Halfway through their set, Hollingsworth invited out some familiar faces in George Porter Jr. and Jen Durkin, who were both slated to perform with Mickey Hart later that evening. As more and more Rothburians made their way into the Sherwood Court, we headed back to the forest to discover some more visual splendors.

Greensky Bluegrass at the Ranch Arena was our next stop, so we headed back through the forest for a banjo/mando fix. This five-piece from Kalamazoo, MI seemed genuinely excited to be playing - one band member profusely praised their opening slot, declaring, "We're playing early, so we get to hang out with you guys the rest of the weekend." The band delivered a solid, straight-ahead set with a sound that evoked comparisons to a mellower Yonder Mountain String Band. They also treated us to our first Talking Heads cover of the weekend with a rousing grassed-out version of "Road to Nowhere." Their cover of Pink Floyd's "Time" was also particularly pleasing. Another Rothbury first occurred during Greensky Bluegrass' set: Tim Carbone, violinist of Railroad Earth, lent his talents during a guest appearance.

Perpetual Groove was up next at Sherwood Court, so back we went through the Sherwood Forest. We'd been impressed with Athens, GA-based four-piece P Groove on previous outings, so we weren't surprised to find them in top form at Rothbury. This was the first official show featuring new keyboardist John Hruby, but you wouldn't have guessed it. The instrumentation was smooth, and the onstage dynamics didn't at all suggest that the lineup included a brand new member. With the sun beginning to set on the first day (ever!) of the festival, P Groove supplied an abundance of jam dance-rock perfect for hoopers and smiles. The band seemed to draw energy from the crowd and then project it back out through their music. One of their strongest points is that they don't allow awkward moments to sneak in - you know, those experimental, improvisational stretches commonly found in the jam world that are sometimes great but almost always impossible to dance to. P Groove doesn't torture your hips - they ensure that the, uh, groove is perpetual.

Once again, we found ourselves venturing through the immensely decorated forest to catch some of Zappa Plays Zappa's set. After touring extensively throughout 2006 and 2007, Dweezil Zappa and company made their way into 2008 with several scheduled festival slots. The BOT crew was actually supposed to cover them in Lawrence, KS at the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival, but their set was cancelled due to poor weather, making us even more excited to catch their show this weekend. What was served were some characteristic Frank Zappa licks, with lengthy screaming guitar solos and experimental stylings. Surprising to us was how jammy this act was. This was also topped off by the extensive light show provided at the Ranch Arena. Several of Frank's classics were spewed out in front of our eyes, including crowd favorite "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow." ZPZ's set was impressive on the strength of the sheer intensity that was held on stage. Many would think that, as is the case with several other "cover" acts, the novelty would soon wear off. On the contrary, ZPZ managed to keep the audience entertained and engaged.

A festival without at least one member of The Grateful Dead is not a festival at all, so we knew all was well when the schedule was bookended by two of them (Mickey Hart Band on Thursday and Phil Lesh & Friends on Sunday). For the first of the two Dead-members sets, Mickey Hart brought out his own group of friends which included bassist George Porter Jr. (The Meters), guitarist Steve Kimock (KVHW, Rhythm Devils, Zero), keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth (String Cheese Incident), vocalist Jen Durkin (Trey Anastasio), percussionist Sikiru Adepoju and drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr. This varied all-star ensemble added many different pieces of their respective genres to several Grateful Dead and Rhythm Devils songs, highlighted by both "Sugaree" and "Fire On The Mountain".

Meanwhile, Cereal hit up the Tripolee Domes, from whence Lotus' jamtronica sounds were emanating. Nightfall had drastically altered the appearance of the structures. Lights of constantly changing colors seemed to be everywhere and trippy images were being projected onto the fabric surrounding the stage, magnifying the already surreal feel of the atmosphere. Lotus' musical offerings were quite dance-friendly, and the bodies gathered around the domes responded in kind. Though Cereal enjoyed their set, she got distracted by simian movement near the Establishment and felt compelled to investigate further. Once there, she stood open-mouthed underneath the revolving monkeys for several cycles, then finally tore herself away to tell the other BOTheads about it. For the rest of the weekend, we couldn't walk near the monkeys without stopping to stare at them. It's something you really have to see for yourself to understand - and it's one of the most psychedelic things you'll ever witness. Even police officers couldn't keep themselves from gazing at it awestruck.

Next up on our plate were The Disco Biscuits out of Philadelphia, PA. Previous experiences with the band had left us lukewarm - in particular, their underwhelming performances at Amsterdam's 2005 Jam in the 'Dam come to mind. But since those were several years prior in our lifelong musical adventure, we decided to give them another try. I think that all parties involved were glad that we did. Bisco rolled out with a very traditionally jammy tune for their first number. This would soon change, turning the packed Ranch Arena into an all-out dance explosion and leading to the first of many glowstick wars to occur throughout the entire weekend. Bisco impressed us thoroughly, and provided for a smooth transition into the late-night scene, with EOTO still ahead. The energy in the crowd also added to the atmosphere, leaving everyone with a gigantic smile on their face.

On a late night that was dominated by dance music, there was still one option for all of those good ol' boys attending the festival. We had only caught Railroad Earth in the daytime at festivals, so it was somewhat of a treat to catch them in the dark. While we weren't there for the whole set, they quickly demonstrated why they deserved such a prime spot. Bluegrass is certainly their main focus, but this set showed that they can do a lot more than just that. When we walked up to the Sherwood Court, they were playing through an almost-trancy jam that sounded more like The Disco Biscuits than Bill Monroe. A few songs later they were back to the sound that we have grown accustomed to from their studio album The Good Life and live album Elko. While Railroad Earth did not impress us as much as they have in the past, they still played through a solid set of music that left everybody dancing with huge grins adorning their faces.

EOTO was set to hold down the two hour late-night slot at the Tripolee Domes, and we walked up in just enough time to catch them heating up. For Michael Travis and Jason Hann's set, the illuminated geodesic domes that highlighted this stage served primarily as a dancing ground, as everyone was heavily focused on the improvisational drum and bass grooves that they were laying down. We are now very familiar with what these guys can do, and if our attendance record for their shows is any measure of how much we like them, then they must rank up their with our favorite bands. Hell, we have written 4 rave reviews about them since November 2007. Later in their set (as we only heard from our gloating friends) Yonder Mountain String Band's Jeff Austin stepped on stage for one of his improvised scats.

Why'd we miss the Jeff Austin guest spot, you ask? Halfway through EOTO's set, we decided to hoof it back to camp so we could ditch our equipment and enjoy the rest of the night/morning. We apparently lingered too long in the campgrounds, for when we returned to the main gate, we were denied entrance. We could hear EOTO melting people's faces off so clearly, and there was no way we could get there. Dejected, we wandered over to the monkey area and stared at it forlornly through the fence. That was the only real downer the whole day - it would have been nice if the festival grounds had been open 24 hours. Perhaps they were trying to limit the number of wooks spending the night in the Sherwood Forest hammocks.

We finally headed back to camp to rehash the day's events and relax before turning in. We unanimously agreed that Rothbury had an absolutely outstanding first day. Especially impressive were their environmental efforts - the majority of the waste bins were manned by volunteers who helped sort trash appropriately, and free portable ashtrays were distributed to smokers. It really seemed like the grounds stayed much cleaner throughout the day than at other festivals. Our perma-grins still plastered across our faces, we watched a random fireworks display of sorts, then headed to bed after being repeatedly creepdogged by a lurker. Friday was just around the corner, and we were primed.


Check out our other Rothbury coverage:
Thursday
Review
In Photos
In Videos

Friday
Review
In Photos
In Videos

Saturday
Review
In Photos
In Videos

Sunday
Review
In Photos
In Videos

-Breakfast On Tour