Just like many SCampers, I began coming to this festival because of my love and passion for Umphrey’s McGee. Ever since my first Umphrey’s McGee experience five years ago, I have been catching as many shows as possible, and what is better than getting five sets of your favorite band at an amazing music festival?
It wasn’t until I arrived at Three Sisters Park that I began to realize how incredible this year’s festival was going to be. The other Camp Counselors were beyond friendly when I arrived, and they seemed just as excited to meet me as I was to meet them! I immediately felt at home and knew that I had found my way into a special group of hard working, fun loving, music enthusiasts.
Thursday afternoon is always a bit stressful, trying to set up camp when you have a large group of friends all trying to camp together in the woods. But once again, we managed to secure our favorite spot right near the crossroads in the woods. Once my friends were in and the tents were up, any sort of remaining stress completely melted away as it was time to get the pre-party started!
For my first show of the weekend, I met up with some of the other Camp Counselors to shoot Chicago Funk Mafia on the Starshine Stage. I had never even heard of these guys before they were added to this year’s line up and I was impressed. Their lead vocalist, Christian Barnes, was bursting with energy and it was the perfect afternoon set to get me warmed up! After swinging by the campsite to gather up some friends, we watched Hyryder, a Grateful Dead tribute band, and entered in the Fare The Well concert ticket raffle that Homestretch Ride put on.
Although I knew that Summer Camp was going to be celebrating the Grateful Dead’s 50th Anniversary this year, I did not realize how special it was going to be until I was actually witnessing it. It is hard to put into words what the Grateful Dead really means to me, as this band and their music had been part of my life since before I was brought into this world.
My exposure to the Grateful Dead as a young person has had a major impact on my life and I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I had not been exposed to the Grateful Dead’s music, culture, and spirit.
I was grooving hard to Family Groove Company when they played a really fun “They Love Each Other.” At this point I realized that not only were there acts planned to honor the Dead’s 50th Anniversary (like moe. ft. Bruce Hornsby, and Keller Williams and Grateful Grass ft. Infamous Stringdusters), but I sensed that this would be a major theme in which many bands would pay tribute to the Grateful Dead throughout the weekend.
Where was I ever going to find a festival that highlights the two most important bands in my life? I knew I was going to enjoy five sets of Umphrey’s McGee (we are so lucky to get that every year!) and I was starting to realize that this Summer Camp was going to have more Grateful Dead tributes than a girl could ever hope for. It felt like this year’s festival was designed just for me, and I thanked the Summer Camp Gods again while I soaked in every minute of Floodwood’s Workingman’s Beauty (a combination of songs from the Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty albums). I was feeling more at home than I ever had before at Summer Camp and it was only Thursday night…
Friday morning was especially exciting as I took my first festival shower ever! It felt amazing to wake up and start my day clean and refreshed. That feeling alone, combined with the comfort and cleanliness of the air-conditioned bathrooms made the VIP upgrade worth every dang penny! All the shows in the VIP tent and the cheaper drinks just felt like an added bonus. I will never go to Summer Camp without VIP again.
Now that I felt clean and clear and under control, it was time to meet up with my fellow Camp Counselors for an incredible opportunity. I wandered through the woods over to the Moonshine Stage, to find everyone being blocked off from getting into the area by security. When they finally opened the gates, I stepped aside and watched as hundreds of people ran past me, as well as hundreds more running down from the hill to secure a great spot to watch the first moe. set of the festival. I had never seen anything like it!
Minutes later I was walking onto that stage along with my fellow Camp Counselors, and all of those people were looking up at us! It was unlike any experience I had ever had and I don’t think it truly sunk in how amazing that really was until a couple hours after it had all happened.
After all the moe. excitement I ventured over to Umphrey’s McGee Golden Ticket event (where fans purchase merchandise gift bags in hopes of finding the Golden Ticket, which could win them incredible prizes like a ticket to every show), which I try to attend every year. This year, however, I was extra excited because this girl loves beer, especially craft beer, and Umphrey’s McGee was tapping their new beer for the first time! Waiting in line with the sun pouring down on us was much more enjoyable with a cold, refreshing glass of Nothing Too Fancy Pale Ale. I really enjoyed this beer and I look forward to the next opportunity I have to drink another one.
One of the perks of being a Camp Counselor is having a press/photo pass for the weekend. I have had the privilege of shooting Umphrey’s McGee before, but I can honestly say I have never been that close up to the stage at a large festival before, let alone for my favorite band. It was unreal! Regrettably I had forgotten my earplugs back at camp, but I soaked up every minute of that first time experience. I snapped a few photos and smiled at some friends that were riding the rail, while the feeling of the bass literally pounded through my heart. It was one of the happiest experiences I had all weekend. I finished out the first set completely content, back in the audience with my friends and my Headphones & Snowcones, excited to see what Godboner would throw our way next!
When “Godboner meets Gene Ween” was initially announced, I was kind of bummed out for about fifteen minutes, realizing it meant that we would lose a set of our beloved Umphrey’s McGee. But I quickly realized that I was being a dummy because I actually love Ween and I knew that the collaboration would be nothing short of amazing….and it was! I took that hour of music to enjoy just me, myself, and the headphones as I danced in the VIP seating area. I was especially excited that they busted out Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.”
After the final Umphrey’s set of the evening, I unfortunately fell asleep and missed out on seeing STS9 and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. But I woke up in time to catch Daft Rock and take some photos of the awesome people that dressed up for the Cosplay Contest! The most impressive costumes I saw were a Batman and Poison Ivy, but I also saw a Pikachu and a couple dressed up in Daft Punk costumes. There were some pretty great costumes throughout the whole weekend this year too.
Then I wandered back to my campsite to find all of my friends already asleep. I grabbed a blanket and a chair and spent the next two hours watching what I believed to be Indigo Sun play some fantastic music directly across the road from my campsite. They even played China Cat Sunflower!
I didn’t spend a lot of time in the VIP lounge until Saturday where I started my day watching Soap, an energetic rock group with great songwriting out of Minneapolis. I first saw these guys a few years ago at a small music festival in Nebraska and have loved them ever since. I didn’t leave the VIP lounge for long, as I was back an hour later to witness my first Kung Fu performance! Kung Fu is a fantastic funk band that I had been listening to for quite awhile and I definitely was not disappointed! In fact, I ended my Saturday night up front and center for their whole late night set from 2-4am on the Campfire Stage and loved every minute of it! Their overall energy and excitement is contagious and I am really looking forward to my next opportunity to see these guys again. My Saturday was also spent watching Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, The Motet, Umphrey’s McGee, The Werks, and moe.
Sunday I was up early enough to catch Turkuaz in the VIP lounge and then relaxed at the campsite until the afternoon.
By the time Sunday rolls around, doing anything starts to become more difficult as I am rather sleep deprived by this point. Mid-afternoon I mustered up enough energy to try the Amazeballs Hole-in-one challenge (which I lost), and to see Bruce Hornsby perform on the Moonshine Stage. The Steve Miller Band was definitely one of the highlights of my Sunday. They played all of the songs I had hoped they would, and the Moonshine Stage was packed! I hadn’t seen that many people there for any show all weekend.
At this point I was ready to rest my feet at camp for a decent chunk of time, but thankfully someone convinced me to go check out the end of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. I arrived just in time to hear “Under the Sea” from my favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. That excitement gave me just the boost of energy that I needed to catch one more band for the day, Here Come The Mummies!!
What a show! Here Come the Mummies are an amazing funk band that perform live shows dressed head to toe in mummy costumes. Their songs are upbeat, raunchy, and fun; their sound is truly phenomenal. This was definitely one of the best shows I saw all weekend long, and they are the one band I’ve been listening to non-stop since I got home from the festival.
Overall, this was by far the best Summer Camp I have had yet. Being a Camp Counselor and upgrading to VIP for the first time opened up doors to a whole new world that I had never experienced at Summer Camp before. I had a fantastic group of friends to accompany me this year, and amazingly enough I even managed to avoid the Wook Flu for the first time ever attending Summer Camp.
As I expected, I learned that the Camp Counselors are incredibly funny, creative, and talented individuals that work hard and play hard, and I am honored to have become one of them. I hope everyone that attended the festival this year had as great of a time as I did and I look forward to playing a hand in making each and every one of your Summer Camp experiences better than the one before!
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