Bits and Pieces From Adventures @ 10,000 Lakes Festival 2009

After having stumbled onto a ticket for this year’s (courtesy of Perfect Porridge), I jumped at the convenient option to head out of town for a few days of ridiculousness, sunburn and of course, endless live music. So began my journey to rural Detroit Lakes, MN accompanied by my friends and – here’s a few bits and pieces from the weekend.

Important things first: provisions to survive four days of camping

About the Music:

Widespread Panic: Headlining 10KLF on Wednesday and Friday for two brilliant nights of pure jamming—no doubt about it, those guys can play.

Then again, I’ve never been to a Panic show that was anything less than remarkable.

This band’s 20+ years of experience doesn’t go unnoticed— outstanding performances from John Bell (guitarist/lead singer) and Dave Schools (bass/vocals) gave fans an intoxicating, ground-shaking experience that couldn’t have been more perfect for the atmosphere at 10KLF.

Wilco: Hands down one of my favorite bands, occupying a permanent and frequented presence in my music collection, but before 10KLF I had only seen them live in a more formal, auditorium style setting.

That was not the case at 10KLF when Wilco brought their rocking out A-game with full force to the main stage as Thursday’s headlining band– what a FUN show. Leading the performance, Jeff Tweedy had the crowd clearly turned-on, and we partied the night away as Wilco kept the vibe going – making for one of the best shows all weekend. I kid you not when I say the most fitting word to describe the night is perfection.

Dave Matthews Band: I was really looking forward to this show – there’s no denying that Dave Matthews Band is an incredibly talented ensemble of accomplished musicians. But unfortunately, I have to report that my anticipation was not met with satisfaction by any means whatsoever.

The Saturday performance brought an onslaught of new faces to the crowd and there’s no doubt this was the most packed show of the weekend. But with the new crowd came a different festival vibe, of which I was not a fan. The standing room at the stage was reminiscent of a frat party that made for a buzz kill.

That aside, I still made an effort to dismiss this and just enjoy the music. After a few songs in, I found myself bored and unimpressed. The time had come for me to admit that the show wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. Then they started covering Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” – I won’t tangent off to my feelings on that, but I was officially done at this point. It was a disappointment.

I should’ve followed the hippies. At the Blue Ox Campground stage, lively bluegrass carried over from the afternoon (which was a great time) and for the more light hearted festival goers – this was apparently the place to be.

Speaking of bluegrass, I thoroughly enjoyed kicking back on Thursday afternoon to watch the :

Norman got a chance to make a few friends over bluegrass and hit the stage with :

So that’s just a few bits and pieces from my adventure at 10KLF – it was an absolute blast and I fully intend to make it back for next year’s fest. –