GRF 2022, Sunday

Woke up to another beautiful day in Shelburne Falls, which we knew was going to turn out even brutally hotter than yesterday, woo!  Another leisurely breakfast of yogurt, orange juice, and iced tea in our ski lodge of an apartment, then we packed up, hobnobbed with the crew, and got ready to leave.  Paul reported that Diane was doing better and would probably be released that day.  Poor Diane that she had to miss the whole Festival!

The first act that day at noon was going to be one of the ones I wanted to see most, but we realized there wasn't an incredible hurry to get there so didn't get on the road until 10:30 or so.  Plenty of time for a mellow drive back to Greenfield, up to the plateau the Fairgrounds are on, and a slow stroll in.  The strategy was to be mellow and stay cool.  Even so, we got great seats again in front of the soundboard.  These were probably a little too close to the standing room zone, but we knew we wouldn't be at the seats when it got really crowded, so that was no problem at all.

Another late morning of cruising the vendors and not panicking while the temperature rose and rose, and then it was time for the first act at the GSB Stage, Brennan Leigh.  Brennan's been around Nashville for a while and has written some mildly successful pop country songs, but lately has been hitting her stride, has recorded with Asleep At the Wheel, and has come out with a string of successful hits.  I was psyched that the GRF had gotten her, and I thoroughly enjoyed her set.

Brennan's been touring with Asleep At the Wheel and was backed by four members of the band, who laid down some excellent country/western beats.  But I was not prepared for what a great guitarist Brennan is!  Her vocals were great of course, she did Obsessed With the West, Analog, Steam Threshers Reunion, etc. (no Tommy Duncan's Voice), and displayed her smoky but at the same time bright and precise voice.  She got some great fiddle and dobro breaks from the guys.  But she was playing the lead instrument, and she proceeded to take over each tune after they had their say.

Another great start to the day!  I was melted into my chair at the main stage after being up front for most of her set and then realizing I had to sit down or fall down.  The mid-day sun was beating down on us unmercifully.  But I forced myself to move and got up and over to the Dean's Beans stage for another act I really wanted to see.

Dave and Sarah were over there too and we got an uncrowded spot over to the left of the stage to see Sarah Borges.  Sarah's been around for a while herself and we've seen her at Johnny D's.  She's a Massachusetts girl from Taunton who's played all kinds of rock and punk and rock and folk and country and rock over the years.  This time she had a great band with Keith Voegele (Bottle Rockets) on loud and loping country electric bass, Eric Amble on stratocaster with a big hat, and a drummer who was determined to tear the place down, and she played a set of excellent, greasy rockabilly.  She was wearing a little black dress and white cowboy boots and rocking a telecaster herself.  She covered If Some Folks Would Leave Us Alone, but that was as close as she got to the mainstream, everything else was their style of rockabilly and was riveting!  Loved this set.

After that I realized I hadn't eaten anything since my small breakfast, the afternoon was beginning to get on, the heat was still rising, and I'd better take care of myself.  Got some more water and then wandered over to the far side of the Fairgrounds, where I knew there was a food truck selling burrito bowls.  Got a chicken one and then a seat in their shaded eating area and had a nice relaxing, refreshing meal.  The bad thing was that the La Veracruzana people chose that time to come over and say hi to their food truck buddies and busted me as eating somewhere else!  Oh well, they smiled at me.

Where to after that?  It was a slow spot in the afternoon.  I'd thought about seeing the Young At Heart Chorus but was feeling kind of sleepy after a nice meal, so I headed out to the parking lot and took a short nap in the car with all the windows open and a slow breeze.  Actually, I could hear the chorus through most of it, so that was a nice sonic background ... even out in the parking lot the sound from the main stage was pretty good.  Several others out in the lot had the same idea about a nap/rest.  But after the food, the nap, and some more iced tea from the cooler I was ready to go again.

And perfect timing to head back to the GSB Stage and see Allison Russell!  We've seen Allison several times with Birds Of Chicago, Sisters Of the Strawberry Moon, and Phil Lesh (just stumbled across this duet from Allison and Emmylou).  Lately she's put out a solo record and was now touring with an all-woman band.  And boy were they good!  The stood in a line across the stage, just close enough to link hands to show their support for each other.  From left to right they were cello, acoustic guitar, Allison, electric guitarist, bass, and drums.  Allison of course played some excellent banjo and her other-worldly clarinet, but even in the shadow of Allison, the acoustic player was the one who stood out.  She took the lead on each song and kept things from getting too atmospheric or down-tempo with some great finger picking.

OK, we loved her set but had developed an exit plan!  We'd go see the next set at the Dean's Beans Stage, then come back to catch a little of the penultimate act at the main stage and pick up our chairs, then put them back in the car and take a little break, then be all set for the act we really wanted to see ... and then leave and skip Father John Misty, who they somehow had booked as the closing act on the main stage.  I mean, he's good but things have to be pretty bad if you've positioned him as the ultimate headliner at your music festival.

First up over at the Dean's Beans Stage was the Dustbowl Revival.  We three walked over there together and at first figured we could be shaded some if we were at the left of the stage, but then realized that if we went over to the right side we'd be shaded even better.  And they did a fine set.  Z. Lupetin is still leading the band (again, we'd seen them at GRF before) but Liz Beebe has left the co-vocalist role and has been replaced by Lashon Halley, who was fantastic, though she didn't play the washboard.  They were the most vocal artists at the Festival on recent political developments, though by no means the only ones.  Z. and Lashon performed a song they'd just written.  They warned that it was not yet complete but they wanted to sing it anyway, it was about the abortion rights rollback and was viscerally honest about politicians, uncaring people, and what this would mean to victims of our patriarchy and our unfair economic system.  The audience exploded with applause, shouts, and screams when they finished, mixed with many tears.  They had done it at the Green House Stage earlier, which I missed, and I'm told the reaction was similar.  They followed it up with a few happy songs, and got us all singing along.

Time to execute the next step of the plan, which was to strike our camp over at the main stage, where we were entertained by a few songs from Waxahatchie.  Got the stuff out to the car, texted the group with our latest plans, and hung out for a bit.  This was our last calm break at the car and then our last return to the busy Fairgounds of the weekend.  Things were starting to close down (frantic lines at the beer tents before last call) and everyone was packing up.  But we strolled down to the Dean's Beans Stage for the set I was most looking forward to, Asleep At the Wheel with Brennan Leigh sitting in!

I'd been anticipating a mob scene for AATW, and was shocked when, not only was there not a mob, there was plenty of room for dancing even close to the stage.  How could people not be crazy about this venerable band who are masters of perhaps the most distinctive style of American music (see this on the band's history)?  I don't get it, but we sure had fun being up front in our shady spot (I moved close to the stage for some of the set).  And it was exactly the setlist you'd expect: Miles and Miles of Texas, Cherokee Maiden, Faded Love, San Antonio Rose, Route 66, etc.  Brennan sang lead and/or accompanied Ray Benson for about half of the songs.  Ray stuck to a blue strat, they had a dynamite piano player, a precise player on a tiny pedal steel, a doghouse bass and a small trap set, and of course twin fiddles (the fiddlers switched to mandolin off and on).  Even so I was a little disappointed that the band wasn't as huge as other times I've seen them, but they couldn't have fit some of those bands on that stage!  OK, it was a mellow and pretty formulaic performance, but I love that formula.

Oh no, time to leave!  Another quick bathroom break and then it was back to the car and back to the road East.  We'd seen a lane drop on the stretch where 2 and 91 join, and so split through downtown Greenfield so we wouldn't be caught in that miles-long backup.  That worked out fine and the traffic back home was fine too.  Got back in a bit over 90 minutes and the cats were ok, we'd left them with large stashes of food and water over the weekend.

So what did I think of the 2022 GRF?  The last few Festivals had struck me as having themes: great guitarists and guitars one year, saxophones another, female singers, drummers and drums, etc.  But nothing like that stood out for me this year.  The weather has been getting to me more and more, possibly related to age, and as with other GRFs, that will always be one of the first things I think about when I remember the weekend.  But I had a great time, from the nice upgrade we got at the hotel, to a few surprises from smaller bands, and on to the performances by my headliners, which did not disappoint at all.  We'll be back!

GRF 2022, Saturday

The early acts on Saturday did not make for a compelling bill, and so we decided to have a mellow morning instead of rushing out for "gates open" at 10:00.  We'd brought some yogurt and orange juice, which with our beer and cider might have filled a small fridge in one of the rooms, but took up only a bit of the big one in the kitchen.  We were kind of embarrassed not to have more food to cook ... next year!  Joined the crew out on the patios in front of their rooms, yucked it up a bit more, and shared impressions of the Festival so far.

We'd all been a bit disappointed when they announced that they'd be staying at the Franklin County Fairgrounds instead of returning to Greenfield Community College, where they'd been for years and which we loved.  But we had to admit that there were lots of plusses to the Fairgrounds and they'd tried to address the minuses.  There had been lots of audio leakage between stages last year, but this year they'd lined up the vendors a little better to create more distinct areas between stages.  Their selection of vendors was as good as ever, and they keep adding kids (and adult) activities.  This year they had a whale exhibit, the BMX bikers, the Frisbee Dogs, an Art Tent, and they even had a VIP tent (at outrageous prices of course).  And they did a great thing in putting up a large tent with open sides that they filled with picnic tables, perfectly positioned to let you cool off, eat your food from the vendors at a table instead of balancing it on your lap, and also hear the set at the Dean's Beans Stage.  They also opened the huge, shaded basement of the Grandstand for people to cool off in, they had a hammock jungle, and they added the shady (well, shadier) Green House Stage.  No hot air balloons like they used to have, but it was very acceptable and very well done.

Strange though, that the attendance didn't seem to be over the top like in previous years.  There was never much of a line to get in (partly because they managed opening times and checking bags a lot better), and though the stage-fronts were as packed as ever for the big acts, the edges were pretty empty at times.  None of the days sold out, tickets were available at the gate all weekend.  The good thing about this was that it was never really packed like the last few years and there was no problem walking around, though the shady Green House Stage was usually filled.  Perhaps they'll take a look at their bottom line and realize that they need to get some bigger acts ... I sure hope so.

The heat was *really* oppressive on Saturday and Sunday.  They had a lot of water stations and water sprinklers set up, but also a lot of hot, hard-packed, dusty ground and pavement to burn your bare feet.  There were a few clouds but we could have used a lot more.  Luckily there was a breeze all weekend, not strong but enough to cool you off and make you say, "Aaaahhh!!" every once in a while.  A guy in a chair near us was suddenly unresponsive on Saturday afternoon, probably from heat stroke.  But we all yelled for security and they had the golf carts over with ice to put on his neck and medical professionals to tend to him within a minute. 

There had been a schedule switch and Matthew Fowler went on at the Dean's Beans Stage at noon.  I'd just had a snack (a "BBQ cup") in the big tent with the picnic tables and was undecided how much of his set I'd listen to.  But then I realized they were really good and walked up front.  He was the dreaded one guy strumming his folk songs on an acoustic, but he had two women with him who supplied excellent, moody harmonies.  And then one of them picked up a clarinet and the other one picked up an oboe and they made a great sound!  This was excellent main-stream folk but with an unexpected edge from the woodwinds.

Back to the GSB Stage and saw a bit of Steve Poltz, who's another folkie with a guitar.  He's really got some chops and knows his way around his instrument.  It would have been good if he'd concentrated on that, but instead he talked a lot.  He name-dropped Molly Tuttle and then Billy Strings and then Anthony d'Amato and then even Emmylou Harris, and later he told everyone how he'd had a stroke and after that was suddenly a Grateful Dead fan.  The funny thing was when he introduced the song he'd co-written with Molly Tuttle, a chorus of voices shouted out, "How fast can you play it?" as Molly had told us to do.  He staggered back, he was so surprised!  He had no idea how to react and we could almost hear Molly laughing.

It was peak heat by then and I took a break out at the car, where the open hatch shed a little shade.  Then met Dave back at the Artifact Cider Stage for a band I really wanted to hear, Poor Monroe.  This is a basically amateur bluegrass band from the area who were tickled pink that they'd been asked to perform at the Festival.  They mentioned several times that this was by far the biggest gig they'd ever had, and they were psyched for it.  They danced back and forth around a ribbon mike and showed some great vocal arrangements and a great variety of talent (to put it kindly).  They started off with an a cappella cover of On the Resurrection Morning and then their name-sake song, Poor Monroe.  Then they did a Jimmy Martin song and then a Peter Rowan song (not the Rowan and Martin you're thinking of), and then a David Grisman song and I was in bluegrass cover heaven, singing along with all the lyrics (Dave was loving it too).  But most of the people there were shade seekers, not necessarily bluegrass fans, and when they asked how many people in the audience had heard of a band called Hot Rize only 4 people put their hands up, two of which were me!  Not heard of the best bluegrass band to ever exist????  I was beyond shocked.  They said that the song they were about to play was perfect for the Artifact Cider stage and then lit into Hard Pressed.  They followed that with one of my favorite Hot Rize songs, Pete Wernick's Just Like You.  Loved their set!

Then back to the GSB Stage for Parsonsfield, whom I'd seen a couple of times before at GRF.  They played a great set of bluegrass-tinged folk, led by Chris Freeman on vocals and guitar and with Antonio Alcorn on banjo and other stuff.  They also had a great keyboards sound from a small box that could be set to sound like a piano or a harpsichord, or somewhere in between.  The frustrating thing was that for once the sound guys really couldn't get them right.  There were feedback and cutting-out problems throughout their set.  Very unusual for GRF, which is generally excellent on sound.

Time to wander, have another beer and lots of water, and look for some shade after that.  I can't emphasize enough how hot it was, though the humidity was fine.  You'd be in the seats at the Main Stage and realize that you were just turning into a shriveled up piece of bacon in the middle of a hot and dusty field.  I'd checked out the Green House Stage several times, which featured shade and lush grass, but it was hard to get a seat there it was so packed.  I bet some people did not move from there all day.

Then back to the GSB Stage and caught most of Katie Pruitt's act.  I'd checked out a couple of her videos and she's a rocker, I was really looking forward to seeing her and she did not disappoint!  She reminded me of seeing Annie DiFranco on the same stage a year ago, at about the same time of afternoon.  She had a great band with her (all from Georgia, one of them shouted out, "Go Braves, Go Dawgs!" when introduced) and she'd engineered a really good setlist mixing some of her ballads with power anthems.  She closed with CSN&Y's Ohio, and she rocked the whole world with that.

I should digress for a second to say that this was ... is ... a tough time for freedom loving people, for all of us.  You can read about it in the current papers and you'll be able to read about it later in your history books I'm sure.  But right-wing politics are ascendant in our country, especially represented in late June 2022 by a couple of politicized Supreme Court decisions, overturning a New York gun law that had been on the books for over a hundred years and overturning the federally-guaranteed right to abortion that had been on the books for fifty.  They rolled back our rights!  These decisions are not popularly supported by a wide margin, are illogical (anti-states rights on the one hand and pro-states rights on the other), and represent a shocking power play to control us by limiting our rights and our protections.  Pruitt played Ohio as a protest anthem, and several other groups expressed vehemence against what's been happening.  I think almost everybody in the crowd agreed.

Back to the Green House for the next couple of hours.  I'd met up with Sarah and we both grabbed some more water and pulled up a seat on the lawn there.  The Festival organizers were announcing Green House pop-up acts by text message and Sarah and I had both heard that Parsonsfield would be playing there soon, so moseyed on over.  The band was as almost as good as at the Main Stage but without the sound problems.  They brought the funky keyboard machine with them, had a small trap set, and Freeman and Alcorn rotated on guitar, banjo, and mandolin.  A short set but very fun!

Wandered around some more after that ... the afternoon was beginning to get on and some of the vendors were already out of wares and beginning to close up.  But then we got a text that LSD would be on the small stage soon, and so bee-lined over there.  We squeezed into about the same spot on the lawn and were quickly surrounded by almost everybody else in Western Mass.  The people out at the other stages must have been wondering where everybody went.  Where we were was over in a back corner of the Fairgrounds, waiting for the great Lake Street Dive.

And then they pulled up in a golf cart and soon went on!  Bridget was on her big bass of course, Akie on some kind of mouth-powered melodica, Mike C had a combination tambourine/frame drum that was Bluetoothed to an amplifier, James Cornelison (the new guy) was on an acoustic guitar, and Rachael was as radiant as ever.  They only played three or four songs but this was a great teaser for their impending evening set.  The second song they did was the classic Neighbor Song ... great to hear them still playing the wonderful songs from their first few albums as well as the new stuff.  And right from the first note it was clear that the vocal backup by Bridget and Mike was as good or better than ever.  Then they jumped in the golf cart and took off, this time surrounded by their fans and looking a little alarmed at the adulation.

Out to the car for another long break after that.  I should have remained in the fray and caught some of Rayland Baxter, The Dip, and/or StompBoxTrio, but just thinking about that made me tired!  I had to get my act together, summon up energy, and then return to the main stage for ...

Ripe was Dave's favorite band of the Festival.  They're another product of Berklee College Of Music led by the dynamic Robbie Wulfsohn on vocals.  Though they look like a bunch of headbangers (and can play that way), like Pruitt they had a great setlist, mixing tempos and instrumental arrangements.  Another band that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I was going to.

OK GRF, time to fasten the seat belts and get set for the main act!  Lake Street Dive came out after the sun had gone fully down and you realized that maybe it was still early Summer.  They spread out across the stage like the last time we'd seen them at GRF (they've appeared more times at GRF than any other band) and proceeded to play a long, loud, thrilling set:

• Know That I Know
• Hypotheticals
• Hush Money
• Being a Woman
• Anyone Who Had a Heart (Burt Bacharach)
• Same Old News
• Lackluster Lover
• How Good It Feels
• I Don't Care About You
• Making Do
• I Can Change
• I Want You Back (The Jacksons)
• Feels Like the Last Time
• You're Still the One (Shania Twain)
• Nick of Time (Bonnie Raitt)
• Baby, Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts
• Nobody's Stopping You Now
• Seventeen
• Bad Self Portraits
• Good Kisser

Encore:

• You Go Down Smooth
• My Speed

What can I say?  They were great and the addition of Cornelison is a good one, he played several fine leads but mostly stuck to his role as the new guy.  Akie took a few vocal leads, Calabrese was rocking our world, and Bridget Kearney is nothing less than an amazing musician (she switched to electric bass for a few songs).  But this was Rachael's night and her voice was in as fine shape as I've ever heard it.  A couple of songs she just killed were I Can Change and Bonnie Raitt's Nick Of Time.  And my favorite part of course was when they pulled Seventeen out of the night (talk about early songs!) followed by Bridget's incredible Bad Self Portraits and they capped off with Good Kisser.

Woo!  What a performance and what a long and physically challenging day it had been.  We folded up our chairs and got back to the car covered with dust, still thirsty, exhilarated and exhausted.  Long line out of the parking lot and back to route 2 that night, but soon we had left the crowd and were on our way out West into the silent night.

We washed off our feet and rallied back at the Red Rose.  Most of our group were already out at the fire pit beyond the swimming pool, and we joined them with a couple of beers and bags of chips.  It was a perfect evening and we talked long into the night, waiting for the fire to burn down.  It was almost 1AM by the time we last few stragglers headed back, and we all were soon asleep.  Again, no need for AC, just leave the windows open and the cool night air filled the room.

GRF 2022, Friday

You may have heard this before, but we had a great time at the Green River Festival last year and were psyched to do it again!  They announced that the show would be June 24-26 in 2022, and they gradually announced an acceptable lineup.  The earlier date was fine with us, hoping to avoid mid- or late-Summer heat, and the lineup was what we've come to expect, spotty.  Lake Street Dive was going to be there, along with Molly Tuttle, and then Asleep At the Wheel.  And they had a solid second tier, including Galactic, Sarah Borges, and Brennan Leigh.  They're not back up to the quality of the lineups of several years ago, but we were looking forward to a few discoveries.

In January we decided on the Red Rose again for our home base, and made reservations.  I called a few days before the Festival to remind them that we wanted to check in early, and it's a good thing I called because there'd been a mix-up and our reservation wasn't in the books!  But they were great about it and said they'd give us a free upgrade to their "upstairs" which they were in the process of converting to a apartment rental.  Sounded ok to us, we were up for an adventure.

Dave came over the night before and then on Friday June 24 we headed out West.  The weather forecast was for intense sun the whole weekend, and unfortunately our hope to avoid mid-Summer heat was dashed.  They were forecasting temperatures in the 90s for Saturday and Sunday in Greenfield!  Oh well, we'd done this before.

Beautiful drive out route 2 to Greenfield and then to Shelburne Falls, arriving at the Rose at about 12:30 so we could be back at the Fairgrounds for gates opening at 2:00.  Aldo ushered us up the back stairs and into the upstairs apartment, which was as homey and funky as we'd hoped!  You enter into a big room with two couch areas (one with flat-screen TV), a bar area, and a kitchen/dining area.  A hall opened up from this towards the street, with a bedroom off of it and a sink area, then down the hall was a bathroom and around the corner another bedroom.  Both the bedrooms had double beds.  We were psyched and texted the crew that they all had to come up for a party after the Friday show, or at least stop by to see it.  And when they did, everyone had the same reaction, wow!

Dumped our stuff (they were still vacuuming and making the beds) except for what we needed for Friday night, and headed on out at about 1:30.  No problem getting to the Fairgrounds and parked a few rows from the gate, not bad at all.  I'd forgotten the paper tickets (duh!) but when we'd realized this on our way through Concord that morning I'd stopped and checked my phone, and all the PDFs were available there, so we had no problem getting weekend parking passes and wristbands.  We were about 20th in line and some of the same old folks were there.  Got in at 2:00 and set up about 16.5 feet in front of the soundboard.  OK, time to tour the grounds!

Entered a kayak raffle (Lundgren Auto tent), inspected all the craft vendors, got a beer (Berkshire Brewing), and found the new Green House stage they'd added this year.  A pot dispensary (Resinate) had been added as one of their sponsors, and also my favorite food vendor, La Veracruzana, had become a sponsor.  Got a CBD/seltzer sample from Resinate, bought a tapestry for our bathroom in Maine, and then settled down at the Main (Greenfield Savings Bank) Stage a little before 4:00 for...

Funky Dawgz Brass Band - another great opener!  The energy just went through the roof with their first note and continued for the whole set.  From left to right they lined up with two trumpets, a tenor sax, and an alto sax, with a guy on trap drums and a guy on Sousaphone in the back.  They supposedly also have a trombonist and another trumpeter but they weren't there and weren't really needed.  I moved up front and was back in my happy spot, being blasted by the two trumpets right in front of me and dancing to the great beat the drummer was laying down.  Almost all of them took turns singing and rapping, but the standouts were the alto sax player, who was a great technical player, and the Sousaphone, which was loud and funky and rattling the stage and OMG, just perfect!

Stopped by the Dean's Beans Stage right after that and saw a couple of songs by Mtali Banda, who was laying down some soulful jazz (he'd been at the 2019 GRF).  He had a large band himself, and he was strictly in control, pointing at them to indicate who was going to solo next, and urging them to keep it mellow.  He wielded a big sax and once in a while took time out from his band leader role to rap gently or to play a spacey lead.  Great stuff, and his band included an even spacier guitar player who I loved.  I walked away to go get some food while he was introducing the band and then wheeled back around in a cloud of dust (the Fairgrounds were dry and dusty all weekend) when he got to the guitar player.  It was Anand Nayak, whom we've seen many times with Rani Arbo and most recently with Heather Maloney ... I hadn't recognized him.

Then got some food, took a break out at the car, and headed back to the GSB Stage and up front for Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, the act of the Festival!  Why they didn't have her on last I don't know.  They were at least as good as when we'd recently seen them in Shirley, and I have to say I enjoyed them even more (Scott and Michelle arrived as she was starting and rushed to join us up front).  The women in the band wore sparkly sheer tights (the guys probably did too, under their pants), and they put on a show like the big-league bluegrass band they are.  They stuck mainly to their new record, opening with She'll Change and closing with Crooked Tree and Big Backyard (for which they gathered around a ribbon mike).  Highlights were a long, jam-heavy Castilleja, a rocking Dooley's Farm, a transcendent cover of She's a Rainbow that had me on my tiptoes, and Molly's beautiful Grass Valley, about being a young girl at a music festival!  They also did some superior bluegrass featuring Molly's incredible fingering and style, like Take the Journey and the song she'd written with Steve Poltz, Over the Line.  Molly told us he would be playing on Saturday and we should ask him if he could play it that fast.

Wow, that was good!  Took another tour around to get some food and beer and then back to the seats for a band I was really looking forward to, Galactic.  They feature a great lead singer (Angelika "Jelly" Joseph, whom we had seen at GRF with Tank and the Bangas), a brass section that will blow your hat to smithereens, and a take-no-prisoners NOLA attitude.  I stayed back at the seats for them, but we weren't too far away and I was up and dancing of course.

Toured around again and caught snatches of Las Cafeteras at the Dean's Beans Stage and then Rose & the Bros over at the Artifact Cider stage, then back to the seats for the last act of the night, Guster.  They've been around for over 30 years and started as Tufts students (probably playing the same dorm lounges that my friends had played back in the late 70s and that Tracy Chapman played at in between).  They're a little too prog-rock for me, but had a great sound on the main stage and I thoroughly enjoyed their set.  We took off a little early to beat the traffic, but that was a fine afternoon and night of music.

Woohoo!  Back to the car and the lovely drive through the Western Mass night to our funky apartment at the Red Rose.  We were texting with our friends all along and encouraging them to join us upstairs.  The bad news was that Diane had ended up in the hospital with an electrolytes issue.  Paul split his time between her bedside at the hospital in Greenfield and the Rose/Fairgrounds.  So she missed the fun weekend, but she recovered fine and is determined to make up for lost time next year.

Washed the thick dust and the sunscreen off our legs, and soon the rest of the crew (except Michelle, who was ready for bed) joined us upstairs and we had plenty of room to gather around the dining room table, munch on chips and a cheese board, catch up on the past year, and drink a few beers.  They all loved the apartment and there was some talk about getting supplies for a big group breakfast, but this didn't work out.  Hopefully we'll be more prepared next year!

Suddenly it was time for bed for everyone else, and we slept well with the window open to the refreshingly cool night.