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Summer Camp Music Fetival 2012

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Photos by Michelle Reed

Throughout the years I've seen Summer Camp grow from a few hundred in the crowds to thousands. No matter the number in attendance, there always seems to be a common theme. A congregation of the masses all for one purpose:
Having fun.

Summer Camp is consistently a physical struggle. From random gatherings in the parking lot, to the moment when you're at the show with your best friends, to when you're giving your last hugs and waving goodbye to them. Hauling the gear takes about an hour or three depending on your camping needs. The seasoned campers either pack light or have a wheeled cart of some kind. About half the carts seem to be homemade with bike tires, PVC piping and string carefully balancing a piece of plywood. The first walk in is always entertaining. After the bag checks a band is usually there greeting campers, for me it was the local band Easy Riders. If you plan on camping out in the field be sure to look for the tractors hauling wagons. They'll take a load off, and you can high five people as you go. You must plan on being there early to find a good spot in the woods. They fill up fast. I knew I was taking two trips from the car to the campsite so I took just my tent and essentials for the first load and I walked it. After passing one of the general stores and the Campfire Stage you get a good look and smell of the food you'll be eating at some point of the weekend. The best sights are people's attire. Everyone gets out their best stuff for these festivals. Humorous t-shirts of political nature and/or cartoon characters of the past. Body paint. Every version of tie-dye. Hair strings and feathers. Cool hats. Angel and fairy wings. Impressive facial hair. Sunglasses with fake, hanging mustaches attached. And the list goes on (however the best stuff is worn at the shows). I saw a sign at a show the day after that sums up the feeling I got walking in. The sign was two sided: "scamp 2012" and "Welcome Home".

It's almost ceremony to crack a beer from the general store once we reach our campsite. Whenever I've camped at Summer Camp I've been in the field. This year was no different. I've seen it grow from a few dozen groups of tents to a sea of canvas and tethered cords. Some campers erect flags or lift balloons to help find their site. It was a bit windy in the field to put up the tents this year. A couple chases and high kicks were needed to stop the half erected tents from whisking away. I'm not even going to talk about how hot or dusty it was yet. Thursday night offers a variety of entertainment not to mention the general excitement for the weekend ahead. My group decided to take it easy, Summer Camp has a lot to offer and it takes a large amount of energy to get the most out of it. Conserve energy for now. A bit of wandering included a "sound check" that was really two songs performed by Umphrey's McGee, and a few jams on the Star Shine stage by Cornmeal.

Friday afternoon seemed to be split between seeing moe., the Weir, Robinson, Greene Acoustic Trio and moving in the remaining campers in our group. The war between the camper and the sun had begun. Stay hydrated, this is a must. First defenses of canopies and sunscreen are necessary. Hats and sunglasses help so much. I forgot to put sunscreen on my feet and could feel them baking in my rope sandals, which also gave me an interesting diamond pattern tan on my feet. An ice cold bloody mary from the canopy bar was a nice treat. Friday evening welcomed the last of our campers and we planned our night. Umphrey's McGee on Friday is what sets off the weekend for me, as the sun is setting. Remember when I said that Summer Camp was a physical struggle from start to finish. That physical struggle is heavily outweighed by the overwhelming feeling of being in that spot, in that moment. You're listening to some of your favorite music, live, with your favorite people. Words are occasionally said with our mouths about the antics of the performers, but our dancing, clapping and screams of joy express the letting go of stress and worry of other times. We are purely enjoying the moment. The word this year was "raging". You put your head down, close your eyes, feel the music. And when the band does something amazing and awesome that makes you laugh out loud or whoop and holler, you'll take a look around yourself. Smiles and thumbs up or just the head nod from others to acknowledge "Ya, that just happened." I look forward to Summer Camp every year, and a good portion of talk during the weekend includes plans for the next year. How we can improve the campsite or make something cool to take into the shows. After Umphrey's McGee we were a bit late for, but did our best to get close to Primus. We weaved our way through the crowd to about ten rows from the stage when a camper turned to me and said "This is where you're supposed to be." I raged for a few songs in that spot. It's hard to explain the level of enjoyment you get when experiencing really good live music along with thousands of others feeling the same way. If you happen to meet someone that went to the show ask them: "How'd ya like it?" and just watch their eyes light up. The night didn't end there. It was decided we needed to take a walk through the woods to see what kind of characters were still roaming around at that hour. However, the small group of us ended up being in the Soulshine tent until the wee hours of the morning. AfroZep drew us in and we had to watch it through. A plethora of percussion and add in a couple layers of good chemistry. I had a feeling the band was having about as much fun as we were. At this point some campers were lounged in the back on blankets while others danced with renewed fervor.

The late night walk through the woods was next. I think it's entertaining both for the people walking through as well as those camped right on the path. Someone was giving out free chocolate chip pancakes. Campers were still dancing and the traffic of people at that time of the early morning rivaled mid-day traffic. I was ready for my sleeping bag. It happens every year. I always spend too much energy Friday night. The anticipation is too great. But I'm never disappointed.
In the field, sleeping in late isn't much of an option. The lack of shade invites the sun to bake your tent to about three digits in the degrees. What little conversation occurs in the morning between campers usually includes highlights from the night before and plans for later. This is also the time to try and find any lost things now being revealed by the sun. A quick cleanup of the campsite, an iced coffee and it was on to planning the day. I must admit that I never get to see as many shows as I possibly could. Heat and keeping the group together takes away from concert time, but that's just how the game is played. A stand out performance of the day for me was Rebelution. I fought the heat to dance with these guys from the west coast. I later bought their album "Peace of Mind" due to a solid live performance. Rapper and movie extra Common was later that afternoon. I was familiar with his songs from the album "Be". It's always nice to see Chicago come down and give love to the cornfields. We had to listen to G. Love & Special Sauce from the tents while we cooled off. We would fill spray bottles with the melted iced from the coolers. (Not the meat coolers of course.)

Saturday's dinner was served from the brick oven pizza cart. I had two. The Hawaiian and a Deluxe. The cart was atop the hill that faced the Moonshine stage where Gov't Mule was jamming. We stuck around the Moonshine stage for moe. As a group we decided to stay closer to the top of the hill. Some of us danced while others sat. Saturday night was a bit more relaxing than the previous night. We watched hula dancers and glow stick jugglers. This was also a good time to catch up with friends I usually only see a few times a year. We left during the break between the two sets moe played that night to retrieve a few friends camping in the RV section. Our group broke apart at this point. Some to go see the rest of the moe., others to the food carts, and a few of us wanting to check out the last bit of Umphrey's McGee at the Sunshine stage. After Umphrey's and back at the camp the weekend was starting to catch up with me. My legs were worn out and I felt I had about three coats of dust and sweat caked on my skin. I slept on top of my sleeping bag that night.

Sunday morning I took full advantage of living locally. I went home. A nice long cool shower and air conditioning are the two big reasons I headed in. After resupplying water and a couple of meals I headed back to Three Sisters Park. Most campers in my group were up and about, while a couple others were still back in town. The heat Sunday seemed to be the worst. Trucks were dumping water on the main paths to keep the dust down. I met up with a few friends coming from the Umphrey's McGee afternoon show. They had purchased the Sunday one-day passes.

The heat was taking it's toll by now. Both campers and our campsites were deteriorating. Not much effort was put into repairing fallen canopies. We used our energy instead to get our fill of good string picking. Greensky Bluegrass and Yonder Mountain String Band offered great tunes to kick some dust up. Micheal Franti and Spearhead had some of the best crowd interaction. Letting fans on stage and playing a song out in the crowd made us feel special. Very happy music. The next few hours were spent walking from Tedeschi Trucks Band, Victor Wooten, and an interesting performance by Shpongle presents "The Masquerade."
The sun was starting to set and we knew only a few more shows would finish out the weekend. We geared up for Pretty Lights at the Moonshine stage. There's a large contrast of music played throughout the festival. Some of my favorite stuff is the rustic pickings of a bluegrass band like the ones we saw early that day. However, in the past few years electronic music has been taking a hold on campers attention. Pretty Lights is exactly what you'd expect it to be. An astonishing light show brought on by the artist and audience alike. There were dozens of lasers and enough glow sticks to land a plane. The music is a genre called dub step were the beat becomes more and more intense until it "drops". Great music to rage to.

The headliner band for the weekend was Jane's Addiction. I hadn't listened to them for a while and was reminded of highschool days and junior college. The last show for me was moe.'s final set at the Moonshine stage.

Again we stayed at the top of the hill and watched the thousands of campers enjoying the show. Some people were setting off sky lanterns, basically a mini hot air ballon that flickers as it floats away. Afterwards we had one final walk through the woods. There was some lingering energy, but the general mood was exhausted satisfaction. Much like a full belly after Thanksgiving.

Monday morning came and there wasn't much to do other than to pack up and hike out. Everyone is tired and it's sad to leave such a wonderful weekend. Summer Camp is a central hub for my group of friends and we all look forward to it each year. Hope to see you there next year.

Go online to thepeorian.com to view more photos by Michelle Reed

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