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Friday afternoon seemed to be
split between seeing moe., the
Weir, Robinson, Greene Acoustic
Trio and moving in the remain-
ing 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 sun-
screen on my feet and could feel
them baking in my rope sandals,
which also gave me an interest-
ing 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 physi-
cal struggle from start to finish.
That physical struggle is heavily
outweighed by the overwhelm-
ing 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 danc-
ing, 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 amaz-
ing 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 re-
ally 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 chemis-
try. I had a feeling the band was
having about as much fun as we
were. At this point some camp-
ers 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. Some-
one was giving out free chocolate
chip pancakes. Campers were still
dancing and the traffic of people
at that time of the early morn-
ing rivaled mid-day traffic. I was
ready for my sleeping bag. It hap-
pens every year. I always spend
too much energy Friday night.
The anticipation is too great. But
I’m never disappointed.