We arrived in the quaint town of Bangor a bit dazed and confused. There were no signs of any music festival taking place here, no hippies, no hoola hoops, no nothing. We stumbled into the KahBang art gallery,(which was amazing!!) curated by the lovely Kate Dawson who quickly got us back on track and informed us where to go to get our press passes, and whatnot. BOMB!
We investigated the festival grounds, nice! Spread out enough to explore, but not too big to get lost. A bunch of live art from painting to wood sculptures, free stuff, fire jugglers, and lots o people. I had my bearings down, and decided to go set up our camp before it got too dark..
We wandered to the campsite, which was oddly attached to a huge game complex, stacked with arcade games, putt putt, and a bowling alley.. I didnt think I'd be using this much during the weekend. I was right. We drove to the back corner of the campground, and suddenly with mud flying everywhere, almost instantly my 2000 Toyota Camry was very very very stuck in the mud, after pushing, and more mud, and more pushing, and waiting, and standing, and Tweed, and more pushing, we decided to walk our stuff and set up camp… Blower.
After a few trips back and forth, our festival camp neighbors came over to see what our deal was, the nicest people ever, they stumbled over to their truck and drive with us back to my car, after a few attempts and some "pre-biblical" knots, my car was in neutral being escorted to our campsite. SCORE!! We were free, and had made some dope friends in the process, we kicked it with that crew for the entire weekend, which reminds me it really i WHO you are going to festivals with, not where/why/how/ or when, that makes or breaks it. Shout out to our new family in Portland, Maine!!
This small setback caused us to miss Atmosphere, whom I saw in 2005 at HFStival, a set in which he played with so much passion after finding out his father had passed away minutes before showtime..
We did arrive in time for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, which I was pumped about. She is a rockstar if I have ever seen one.. smokin hot, angelic voice, stellar dance moves, and the stage presence of a goddess. And this doesn't include the awesomeness of her band.. who also ROCK btw. Non-stop dancing was dominating the festival, as its nearly impossible to deny the magic Grace and Co. are creating. Entire band participated in a group "drum circle" a they all simultaneously played a different section of the drum kit as harmoniously as anyone could ever do, a very cool way the close out the show.
Lupe Fiasco hit the stage next, bumping an array of his hits from 2010's "Lasers", all the way back through "The Cool" getting us to his roots of kickin and pushin and concluded his set with "Daydreams," one of my personal favs. Armed with a full band behind him, he was giving off non-stop energy at very high levels, not really letting down throughout his entire hour plus set. With his entire camp decked in camo army pants, they threw water into the crowd, all the while never once removing his shades, except once to light his newly acquired Tweed rolling paper.
We took the drunk bus back to camp, and womped away the rest of our night in the almost empty dance tent, chalk full of fog, lights, and lasers.. and some people dancing too. An earlier act of the night was there with us too, DOM, he liked Tweed, and the little girls running around the dance tent.. probably the latter more.
Great first day, very different from past music festival experiences, but different is good. I like different. BOOM!! Another thanks to Chas Bruns for setting up such an amazing week of festivities!! Will def be making another trip to New England for next years KahBang!