All Good Music Festival 7/09 Masontown WV, originally uploaded by Spector1.
Man, I love All Good. My new friend Roger just uploaded his pictures to flickr. They’re sick! He’s really good at capturing the vibe of the show.
Cant wait to get back.
So I thought this was really mind blowing, but Laurel wasn’t that impressed.
Last year we camped with random people at All Good. So random that if we had been walking around 10 minutes later Matt may not have been walking around outside his camp and wouldn’t have invited us to camp with him and his group. So we, total strangers, camped with them at All Good 12 and had an awesome time.
Now move on to All Good 13 and we’re camped at the top of a hill overlooking the entire camp. A photographer walks close to us and takes a picture of the sunset. Being good All Gooders we invite him to sit with us for a minute. I think we might have explained that we were looking for our friends from last year, but I’m not sure.
So now move on to yesterday when I find his card under some papers in the living room and give him an email about getting a copy of those pictures. First thing he sees on my flickr page is that we were hanging out with his friends from Blacksburg …Matt, Becca, and Liz … and the same people we camped with the year before!
Maybe the All good community is smaller than I think and everyone knows each other? But I think that randomly meeting 2 people out of 30,000 on 2 seperate years that know each other is INCREDIBLE!
Next year we’re not leaving it up to chance. I’m fiends with Becca on Facebook and we’re making plans ahead of time.
I’m going to try and avoid the obvious phrase… All Good 2008 was the sweetness. I’m not sure if it was really bigger than last year, we didn’t camp in the same area, but it felt big. The people we camped with and around were the kind of people that I expect to be there, good people.
The Line:
We got the early admission tickets for Thursday and I’m glad we did. We got into the line around 4:30 and then hit traffic, it actually turned into a moving party. We would all jump in our cars, move 20 feet, then get back out and open up the coolers. It was fun to walk up the liine and back to see what kind of music the different folks were listening to. Four hours later we reached our parking space (side of a hill) there were still people in that line at 2am. The Stage seemed to be about a 20 minute walk (at least) from where our car was packed so we decided to hike our camp closer to the stage.
The Spot:
We had planned for this event by bringing a wagon this year. But we also brought about 10 times more stuff. We’re good planners, not good packers. We took only the essentials on the first trip, tent, bookbags and “The Spot Claimer”. When we got up there we found that it was pretty packed in. We spent a couple minutes looking for a spot big enough to plant the shade tent when a nice bearded guy said that there was some room by his group. They seemed like nice enough people and they were really excited by all the crap we brought (who wouldn’t be!). They seemed to be running the “We’re in college and all we brought was beer” Camp. The spot was in the Dogwood neighborhood, pretty close to the stage, About as close as last year without the giant hill (good). The neighbors were good people, the “Boy Scouts”, the “Really prepared Sisters”, the “Jam Band Junkies”, and the “Nice people who brought games”. No trouble from any of them, just good vibes.
The Music:
Like every year, I really wish I had seen more music. But waking up after a long night and then it’s hot outside the shade tent… I really didn’t want to go sit in a hot field. So we only saw a couple of daytime shows. We heard them from the camp, but that’s not really the same. My favorite show was by far Michael Franti and Spearhead (Last show of the Fest) I thought they really rocked it out and I really didn’t want it to end. Second would probably have to be the Widespread Panic set. I’ve been listening to them a lot before the fest so I was really excited to see them live. Phil Lesh was surprisingly good (I’m not really a Dead follower and didn’t like Ratdog last year) That Bassnectar guy ripped the place down, AWESOME! BOOOOM! and then BOOM! The crowd was so intense during that set and the glowstick rain was killer. Laurel loved the Dark Star Orchestra late night set on Saturday (Even though I’ve been trying to tell her that she would like it since last year). The music at the campsite was really awesome too, we had some guys that could really play the guitar and drums. Plus random “Mandolin Man” who came by on the last day. My plan for next year “See More Music”.
The Vibe:
Half the fun of All Good is the people. This year I think I heard that 18,000+ people were there. There were some sketchballs but not any more than last year. I only saw a few people that I know were not there for the music (there to make money). Laurel and I tried to make the fest fun for anybody and everybody around us. I think it makes us both happy to care for others. I wish I could find some other people like us before we go next time, I want to bring a little bit of the Burning Man art vibe out to the mountian next year. I think I’ll try to hang out on the Jambase forums and spread the vibe out for next year.
Next Year:
We’ll definatley be there, hope we can bring out some of our friends instead of just making new ones (that we may never see again) Laurel and I have already started thinking about what to do for next year. I have one plan… PERSONAL PARTY DOME.
If our new friends from VA TECH ever search for all good online I hope this post brings us back together.
Thanks for a GREAT time. (I’m not good with names)
Annie, Scotty, Matt, Jager, Coco, Desi, Jess… There are a couple more, but my mind is blank now.
Later!
1. Had a great time!
2. Met some really fun people from Va Tech.
3. Spent lots of money.
4. Going back next year!
A more complete and wordy summary to follow.
Later!
Mark
*update – Here is the full post*
I was thinking about something Laurel asked me.
“So did All Good change your life?”
Her timing could have been better as we were still at the concert when she asked this, but never mind that. Minds were blown, new outlooks were looked, and jam bands have jammed there way into my mind. I had a really good time out there. I think I would have a great time anywhere I go with Laurel, but this was a really cool experience. It was awesome to get out there with so many people who all wanted to have fun, with none of the immature posturing and anger that I remember from HFS.
Laurel and I get along better than pretty much anyone I’ve ever met. I remember when she said that her outlook on life was “Every thing always works out, for me” Which is, word for word, something I actually said to Faith a couple years ago. (I did not get a good response) I just looked at her with a blank stare because I couldn’t believe how perfect she was for me.
Without Laurel I would never have gone to a three day concert/campout in the West Virginia mountains and I would never have known how much fun you can have out there. Before I might have wondered if there was someone I was missing in my life. She makes me wonder what I’m missing everyday I’m not with her.
Mark
I’m leaving tonight for Marvin’s Mountain WVA. The All Good Festival is this weekend. It was Laurel’s idea, but I’m sure I’ll have a great time. 3 days of camping and music.
Later!
