Summer Camp 2015 Day 3: The Saturday Chronicles

Read more from Summer Camp Day 1, Day 2 and Day 4

It is now Sunday morning and to recap what went down on Saturday at Summer Camp, here’s a play-by-play morning until late night.

10am: wake up after three hours of sleep and sunrise kickball. Feel refreshed, not exhausted. Breakfast of banana, yogurt, life cereal and yerba mate and I am ready to roll.

11am: Head to the church (media area) and get writing my review of Friday.

12pm: Review submitted. I head over to the Camping Stage with camp counselor Nick Stock and catch American Babies. Good stuff, somehow I don’t see them often enough despite playing back in Albany somewhat frequently. Good catching up with Nick too – sometimes you have to meet halfway across the country to hang with your friends.

1:00pm: Field Day. Team Purple with Mer, Mitch, Lisa and two guys from Miami (Ohio) among others. Listened to Orphic during Capture the Flag, Floodwood during Spelling Bee.

3:30pm: Back to the Sunshine Stage for The Floozies. My friend Carrie was talking about them for weeks and for some reason I felt like they were some local/regional band playing hokey rock. This couldn’t have been farther from reality. A drummer and guitarist manning a laptop made for a sick duo ala Big Gigantic. The crowd was in love and rage sticks were everywhere.

4:00pm: Amazeballs Mini-golf! Jason K has an awesome addition to Summer Camp and many other music festivals. In addition to 15 holes you have an opportunity to Make a Difference and win a pair of VIP tickets for Summer Camp 2016. This was a lot of fun.

5:00pm: Back over to Vibe Tent to see how Field Day ended – Red and Yellow were neck and neck, Purple was out of the running but we did clean up the most cigarette butts. Milk n Cookies were playing on the Vibe stage – this is easily the best tent to discover brand new music, especially if you like DJs and EDM.

5:30pm: I meet up with John and head backstage for Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD). Despite numerous opportunities over the past year, I still haven’t seen them. By 7:00pm I’ll understand the hype. Choice covers of “Viola Lee Blues” and “The Eleven” stood out, with Russo leading the charge on drums. This was phenomenal. Stopped and chatted with Scott Hannay from Mister F and Evan from Aqueous before heading up to the Relix tent with Stephen.

8:00pm: Finally back to the site for a short break, time to decompress and change for the night’s music. Washed my face and got some food to prepare for the next six to eight hours. Listened to Victor Wooten’s set from the Starshine Stage (central camping location is perfect for not missing music on four of the seven stages). Wooten’s set seemed a little soft, but then he dropped a few Sly and the Family Stone songs to close it out. I still think his sit-in with STS9 Friday night was a highlight of the fest.

9:00pm: I head to the pit for Umphrey’s. Lighting designer Jeff Waful clears rage sticks from his sightline. There is dude about four rows deep front row keeps singing ‘Party with my dick out’ and no one thinks this is out-of-place. He keeps it up until the lights go down. Umphrey’s opens with “Plunger,” “Pay the Snucka” and “Higgins”. I head backstage for a few, enjoy a couple of beers and catch up with Chicago friends.

10:15pm: Head to pick up my charger at the Relix tent (thank you guys) and try to make it back for The Werks. This band still eludes me. Meet up with Erika, Drew and Phil at the site and head back over for the final set of Umphrey’s.

11:00pm: A “Wappy Sprayberry” opener sets the tone for the rest of the night, “Divisions” has great build and peaks upon peaks, but the encore was the highlight of the night – “Glory > Divisions > ‘Jam for Jesus’/A Love Supreme (for a dude in the crowd) > Divisions”.

12:30am: Beers at the site and then down to Moonshine Stage for moe. I remember a big segue into “Meat”. Saw a few familiar faces from New York in the crowd. The crowd for moe. at Summer Camp is larger than any moe.down I attended. Midwest moe. fans are a fun bunch.

2:00am: I walk to my car to get my rain gear with a forecast of showers during the day on Sunday and Monday. This proved to be a great choice since, as I write this review, a thirty-minute downpour passed by. At least the dust won’t be an issue.

3:00am: Back to the site, I lay down on a bench and listen to a brief shower pass by. This was the perfect way to relax after a long, long day. I am exhausted but beyond excited for Bruce Hornsby, Yonder Mountain String Band and Widespread Panic.

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