The Rothbury Report

July 20, 2008

I’d just passed the “Birch Crick” Party Store and a guy inexplicably riding a banana-seated bicycle down the middle of highway M-20 when I realized my drive was finally over: 206 miles, four hours, $50 in gas, one 20-mile construction detour on never-ending remote roads lined with signs saying “BIG Garage Sale!!!” and “Buy Pet Goats Here!” and “JOHN MAYER STOP AND SAY HI”... and I was in tiny Rothbury, Michigan (and we mean tiny - population 440) at the Double JJ Ranch, a former dude-ranch-turned-rustic-resort and the site of the latest Midwestern summer festival destination - The Rothbury Music Festival.

BONNAROO WANNABE
Rothbury seemed to arrive out of nowhere several months ago, making their lineup and campground announcements and snagging a plethora of big-name performers (hence the ticket prices of around $245 for the weekend). Thought at first to be a combo of the Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza aesthetics, it became apparent immediately upon arrival that Bonnaroo - and Woodstock - were the more accurate models for what Rothbury hoped to be, with indie bands at a minimum and jam bands at the forefront.
One focus of the fest seemed to be trying to keep everybody as busy as possible - whether to keep ‘em out of trouble or just to keep things moving was anybody’s guess. The schedule was, in a word, crazy, with six different performance areas happening simultaneously across the reportedly one-mile-wide, three-mile-long festival grounds.
The two big main stages, The Odeum and The Ranch Arena, were located on the far opposite ends of the Double JJ grounds, making it quite a trek from one show to the next. To the fest’s credit, they at least attempted to make that trek as painless as possible, with hammocks strung as “rest stops” through the pine-forested grounds, macrame and fabric artworks stretching through the trees’ upper heights, strobe and colored floodlights panning across the dirt paths as night set in, and police patrolling on horseback.
Strolling minstrels also passed through periodically, banging drums in their bright costumes like hippie pied-pipers to attract attendees to some of the fest’s sideshow events. The Establishment, The Wagon Wheel, The Court, and the Tripolee Domes were the other activity locales, where you could view and/or participate in everything from the Think Tank environmental discussion groups to yoga, DJ classes to “Chill Sessions,” interactive dance performances to the “Big Gig” open mic show.
I only made one foray into the pricey vendor area, instead mostly relying on backstage foodstuffs, but I did notice a decent variety of selections, some organic and some, er, not-so-organic (Krispy Kreme donuts and Twinkies in the on-site General Store). Fresh-made lemonade and a smallish hot pretzel - although they were quite good - cost $9; so back to backstage I went.
The thing that was much cooler than the food and souvenir vendors themselves was how Rothbury chose to deal with the corresponding waste. All of the waste bins were grouped in threes, one for compostables (they made the resulting compost available to local farmers for free), one for recyclables, and one for landfill trash. This was only one component of how Rothbury worked to make the event environmentally-friendly and sustainable; they also carbon-offset their electrical usage, chose recycled items for such things as beverage cups and paper products, and ran many of the stage elements and light towers off of such cleaner energy sources as solar and biodiesel.

ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
Now that the scene has been set, let’s talk about the music, which there was plenty of. Each day of the event had its own highlights. Thursday opened with sets from Greensky Bluegrass and the Kyle Hollingsworth Band, with a midnight DJ set from DJ Rootz playing along as eager festival-goers continued to arrive in droves, staking out their campsites and checking into the VIP cabins.
Meanwhile, Rothbury crews had their work cut out for them, trying to keep things organized at the gate and dumping hay to soak up the mud dredged up by the rain the day before; the distinctive and unfortunate odor of, well, cow, would permeate the grounds the entire weekend.
Friday, July 4, was one of the main festival days, kicking off with “Spiritual Gangsters” yoga, scheduling an official Siesta in the noon heat, and then moving right into non-stop music at 1 p.m. with performances from Jakob Dylan, The Wailers, Widespread Panic, and Snoop Dogg (who, based on the many loud pronouncements he made during his set, mistakenly thought he was in East Lansing the entire time - although we’ll cut him a break, since he was spotted sorting his own recycling after lunch).
Music elsewhere on the site included Modest Mouse (complete with an audience singalong), Of Montreal, Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam, and Fiction Plane, the band fronted by Sting’s son J. Sumner. And of course, there were fireworks in the evening, given the holiday.
After a mere 15-minute pause at midnight, the festivities continued onward until 4 a.m. with a heavy set from Primus and DJ spins from Flosstradamus, DJ Rootz, and Thievery Corporation. Thievery’s music might seem pretty downtempo in its recorded form, but their in-person show threw in live drummers, horn and sitar players, and plenty of enthusiastically-flung glowsticks from the hyped-up crowd.

BIG DAY SATURDAY
Saturday seemed to be the day everyone was really looking forward to, as probably 95% of the “Rothburyians,” as they began calling themselves, got decked out in a serious overload of their hippie best.
Suffice it to say the only place I’ve ever seen that much tie-dye and fringe and that many Birkenstocks has been in old photos of Woodstock. An older gentleman on the Rothbury staff who was kindly golf-cart-ferrying some of us around to the various far-flung stages agreed, saying he was “a little shocked” to see that the ‘60s had apparently returned in full force.
Saturday was also the day that officially wore out many of the musicians and media folk. By Saturday afternoon, the backstage media lounges were littered with VIPs taking naps on the navy blue couches, several so asleep that they missed cool impromptu acoustic performances by bands killing time between sets, plus a visit by Kyle Gass (one-half of the comedy/music duo Tenacious D, the other half being Jack Black), who swung by just to hang out with us for a while.
Gass wasn’t at Rothbury to perform - he’s the “face” of the GMNext Plug In Tour, which has him appearing at various summertime fests to interview bands - but plenty of other musicians were there to perform. The music got moving early with Trampled By Turtles and the Emmitt-Nershi Band, which brought together some old-school bluegrass musicians - namely, Leftover Salmon’s Drew Emmitt and String Cheese Incident’s Bill Nershi - to jam on what they called “newgrass.”
A little later, politically-themed punk/rock/reggae hybrid State Radio rocked out at The Odeum, while indie buzz bands finally took over The Ranch Arena, three right in a row - Secret Machines, The UK’s Gomez, and The Black Keys. Gomez and the Keys were the standouts - Gomez’ stylistically-varied set blending ragged guitars and singer Ben Ottewell’s laid-back yet powerful singing style, and The Black Keys ripping through their soulful indie-rock, with only a surprisingly grizzled-looking Dan Auerbach on vocals and guitar and the determined Patrick Carney on drums; it was remarkable how much musical noise they made with only two people, The White Stripes being the most obvious comparison.
Elsewhere on the grounds, Citizen Cope, The Dresden Dolls, and the Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Revival kept their respective crowds’ attention, while other events, including a Think Tank symposium on the energy revolution, more DJ classes, and an Earth Harp performance, gave those wanting a break from the main stages a few diversions.

DINNER AND DAVE
By Saturday evening, a few of us were thinking of driving off-site for a dinner break, but when one of the journalists asked a local policeman what good restaurants we might find in the little town, the cop said, “Well, there’s a family diner that’s decent, but y’know, you’re better off with the gas station - the food there’s real good!”
Uh... yeah. We continued to eat the free ice cream bars provided backstage and drew straws to see who we’d send over to the food court for overpriced wraps and Chinese food.
After dinner, everyone headed to the Odeum to see a little of the Michael Franti and Spearhead set, which included Franti pulling Dave Matthews himself out on the side of the stage to dance along as we waited for the night’s Big Ticket act - you guessed it - the Dave Matthews Band.
9 p.m., and Dave and crew were onstage, backlit by a bank of yellow lights. “Nice to see y’all,” Matthews said with a grin in his Southern accent. We all took some photos of Dave and violinist Boyd Tinsley, and then hung out in the press pit a few feet from the band with thousands of people behind us (all the other stages were closed during DMB’s set), listening in the fading evening light as DMB opened with a meticulously-played version of “Seek Up,” and continued on through a three-hour set that technically surpassed many of the other musicians eho had performed that day.
Saturday night wound up with another late night (early morning?), including sets from STS9 and Crystal Method as fans danced away their last bits of energy and departed one by one, heading back to their campsites or simply falling asleep wherever they dropped in the psychedelically-lit wooded path between the main stages, hopefully wearing insect repellant as the mosquitos and ticks were having a field day.

AND THE WRAP-UP
Sunday opened to a tired Rothbury grounds - tent flaps closed and quiet, dirt paths worn down by thousands of sandals and bare feet, food and clothing vendors groggily opening their tents, musicians and media folk finding shady corners backstage to consume cups of coffee, and a few diehards attempting the yoga workshop at 10 a.m.
The music, appropriately, didn’t start back up until 1 p.m. today, with sets from Steel Pulse and folk-pop singers Ingrid Michaelson and Beth Orton; plus some impressive guitar work from Rodrigo y Gabriela, a short set of bluesy pop-rock from John Mayer, and the long-awaited appearances of Trey Anastasio and Phil Lesh, plus what amounted to a 3/4ths-of-Phish reunion that got the crowd cheering in spite of their weariness.
As the Rothburyians either packed up their cars and drove away or returned to their campsites later that night after the Tripolee Domes Closing Party (everyone was scheduled to be off-grounds by 1 p.m. Monday afternoon), it was apparent that Rothbury definitely drew ‘em in - and is hoping to bring ‘em back next year.
Check out the official recaps and keep an eye on next year’s Rothbury possibilities at www.rothburyfestival.com