Back from the honeymoon

Our honeymoon was great! Before we ever even got engaged, we bought tickets to the Gathering of the Vibes music festival in Bridgeport, CT. It so happened that it was July 21-24th....just in time to be our honeymoon. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our marriage then going to a festival. It's something we do so well together, always enjoying every moment. This time was no different.

We opted to leave Maine on Wednesday night and drive as long as we could before pulling over to sleep. We got about an hour out of Bridgeport at 4:20 am and pulled over for a 4 hour nap in a rest area. At 8am we got up and finished the drive, arriving on site at about 10:30 (it took us a while to get to the festival grounds because we didn't have directions and there were no signs up). However, a good Samaritan saw us driving around town (I'm thinking the hoops in the back of the car gave us away as festie goers), and had us follow him to the gates. Once there, we hit festival traffic, got lost 3 times, and eventually found our way into the right line for weekend camping. And what a line it was! It took us until 2:30 to go from the start of the line to our campsite. But it wasn't that bad. We hung up signs on our car that we were just married, turned on the Vibes radio station, and got to know our fellow Vibers. Security was a breeze once we got there because nothing wins over people searching your car like big smiles and just married signs! Then it was off to our campsite...

Our site was in the back of the camping, all the way towards the public beach....a 20 minute walk from the concert fields. And I use the term "campsite" loosely. Really we just pulled up in our car and the event staff guy said "get out quick and stake out your tent or you want have any space!" Not really the feel good way to start a festival....What they should have said was "get out, put up your tent, but make room for you neighbor." Cause boy did we have to make room. We had 3 girls from NYC next to us with a 12 person tent. And they  had obviously never set up a tent or been camping in their lives. Luckily Tim and I didn't have a tent, we were just sleeping in the back of the subaru, so we could accomodate their massive tent (Tim also helped them set it up, the good man that he is). We simply popped up the e-z up over the back of the car, hung up tapestries, and we were set. By 3pm we were chillin' in our chairs, chatting up out neighbors and getting prepared to eat and head on into the show.

The first night we saw Dark Star Orchestra. For any dead fans out there, you know DSO puts on an amazing show, very similar to the actual dead show experience. This year they had Donna Godcheaux singing with them, which is a special treat for all those Donna fans (I'm not one, but my husband is). They pulled out some amazing tunes like Loose Lucy and Mama Tried (two of my favorites). The crowd was cheerful and bouncy, even after the heat and long drive in. Right as the band started a cheer from the back of the field filled the air and we turned to see a throng of festival goers pouring through the gates....it was amazing. We danced our butts off then finally bailed near the end of the show to start heading home to our campsite. I have a feeling we missed a killer ending and encore, but we could only push our bodies so much after the long night and day we already had getting there. Back at the campsite we utilized the public beach showers (ice cold water never felt so good) and then passed out in the back of the car.

At 7am on Friday we awoke to the most stifling air I have ever felt. Last year at Nateva we had a pretty hot day, but not as humid as it was on Friday in CT. The air was stifling. At about 10:30am we decided to leave camp and walk to the concert field before it got too hot. We sat in shade for two hours, then made our way to the front of the stage for the Ryan Montbleau Band. Anyone who knows us knows how much we LOVE seeing this band. Having hung out with them and gotten to know them makes the music that much more infectious. They have such a good time up there, even the heat couldn't keep Tim and I from dancing our asses off. They even did a spot-on recreation of the Back To The Future Johnny-B Goode, with Marty McFly busting out all crazy on the guitar during a dance in the 50's. It was hilarious! Mostly because there was only a handful of people in the audience up front with us of the right age to know what they were doing the moment the guitar player said "All right guys, uh, listen. This is a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes and try to keep up." Amazing!

The rest of Friday was spent moving from shady spot to shady spot, hitting the mist tent, drinking tons of water, and listening to the sweet tunes of Taj Mahal, then the Tedeschi Trucks band. We finally decided to head back to camp for food and a swim in what may have been our only bad decision of the weekend....we missed the Levon Helm Band. I really wanted to see him, but to make it worse, he had Bob Weir on stage, too and they played the one song I had wanted to hear this weekend - Deep Elem Blues. I missed it. And I'm very sad about that....Furthur was Friday night and in all honesty, I thought they sucked. I love Bob and Phil, but without Jerry, Mickey and Billy, there's no fire to their music. By the time they hit a very drab and boring Mason's Children, I had to bail on the show. We went back home and fell asleep, hoping for cooler weather on Saturday.

No luck, really. Saturday was almost as oppressive. But nothing was going to keep us from enjoying this day. There were three things keeping us going - it was our 1 week anniversary, Elvis Costello, and Jane's Addiction. First thing in the morning we jumped in the LI Sound for a swim (nastiest water I've ever been in), grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and coffee, and enjoyed our morning and early afternoon. After lunch, we donned some gold stars we had hanging all over our campsite (it was a steady influx of people congratulating us on our wedding after seeing our just married stars on the front of the car), grabbed our hoops and headed to the concert grounds. Max Creek was amazing, first time I've seen them, and certainly not the last. I'm hoping to get the money to go to Camp Creek in two weeks up in Oxford (same location as Nateva), if I can. Call it a birthday gift to myself. They were followed by a mellow, but still incredible, Deep Banana Blackout, a local Bridgeport band that is insanely amazing. The rest of the night became a sort of tipsy whirl of awesomeness. At some point during Deep Banana Blackout we realized that the beer we were drinking finally was having some sort of effect on us - we drank a few beers all weekend, but more just to cool off then anything. By the start of Moe, we had 3 beers and were gearing up for a stellar night of music.

Elvis Costello is the man. Period. End of story. He was my first musician crush as a kid....I loved him. And I still do. This is my 2nd time seeing him, but first time with a band. He kept that festival crowd on it's feet for his entire set. There are no words to describe this show, but to top it off, he covered the Dead's Must Have Been the Roses, one of Tim's and I's favorites. To hear him sing it with such emotion was beautiful.

And another fun thing happened during Elvis - we met 2 amazing guys from Idaho. They had won day tickets to the Vibes from Saranac. We spent the next hour and 1/2 hanging out with them and getting to know them - they bought us several beers and we shared our treats and blanket with them. I couldn't have asked for better festival friends for that brief amount of time....so glad to have met you Jason and Tim. Then came Jane's Addiction....

Melt your face. That's what their show should have been called. In the first few notes, after the black curtain fell, our friend Jason ran off into the crowd. 5 minutes later so did his friend Tim. And that was the last we saw of them. Hope you had an amazing show guys....we sure did. Part way through the first song, with a nice buzz on, I jumped to my feet, put on our backpack, and pulled Tim into the crowd. We spent the whole show probably 50 feet away from Perry Ferrel and Dave Navarro. I had such a great time, I can't even explain how fantastic it was. Jane's Addiction. I was 13 all over again! Finally, I grabbed Tim again and said "want to make it to the front?" We were off! We saw the last 3 songs (including Jane Says) only 2 people back from the front. Hot. Smoking Hot. Best way to end the day. After that we stumbled home to the campsite and crashed.

Sunday was bittersweet. There were a ton of great bands playing, but the kicker is that after they are done at 8pm you have to leave. And we had to be home to be with the kids Monday morning. If I didn't have to be there for them, I would have stayed the whole afternoon, slept in my car in a rest area and drove home. Another great regret is having to leave before the music ended. We missed the Rhythm Devils and John Butler Trio - two of the bands I specifically wanted to see and bought tickets for the festival because of them. Again, I wont' let it ruin my memory of the weekend, but it makes me sad none the less.

Before the music started, though, we had quite the mini heart attack. We were packing up our car in the morning, so it would be done and ready to go when we were, when we discovered we didn't have our car keys. Apparently in the hoopla of Jane's Addiction, they fell out of our bag on the concert grounds. Calmly, we walked all the way down to the Lost and Found and I walked up to the woman working and said "You are about to make my day because you have my car keys." The kid behind her reached into a box and voila - my keys. What a miracle!!!!

That, and Dr. John, Wavy Gravy's 75th birthday (he was emceeing the Vibes), and running into our friends Joe and Valerie on the way out of the concert grounds, sent us off onto a great drive home back to Maine. We arrived at 11pm, dirty, stinking of festival, and blissfully in love. Not once did we let anything get us down all weekend. Like I said, we festival really well together.