Langerado Recap

Well, it was the best of times; it was the worst of times! I still haven’t recovered from the weekend, but it doesn’t help when I have a sick child at home who won’t sleep at night. But the trip down to the Langerado music festival had its highs and lows. I can officially mark it off my list of things to do before I die, cause I won’t be doing that again! I will say one thing; it was definitely worth doing the VIP tickets. That provided us with a closer campsite, which was huge due to the distance you had to walk to the entrance of the festival grounds. Also, the VIP lounge provided two solid meals a day along with discounted drinks. That saved us a ton of money right there! In addition the VIP tent provided cover from the heat and cold. There was soft, comfortable seating and complimentary 10-15 minute chair massages. I had at least 2 a day! There were also some marked off viewing areas at the two big stages that allowed us to get really close and even on the side of the stage for a few shows.

Let me start with the good things, most of the bands we saw were awesome. The Beastie Boys, REM, Thievery Corporation, The Wailers, and 311 all played on the main stage. They all rocked the swamp and drew the biggest crowds. I was impressed by the set REM threw together. It was a great mix of their old stuff and their new, yet to be released, stuff. I have seen them a ton of times and they always put on a good show. The Beastie Boys were very enjoyable, but they had some sound issues and that really affected the vibe. I had never heard of Thievery Corporation but they did a great job. They had a ton of guest with them and played all types of music.

On the other big stage we started the festival with seeing Les Claypool. We had a great viewing area; we were on the side stage right there next to Les and his creepy mask. It was really cool! We also say great acts on that stage like Dark Star Orchestra, Ben Folds, G. Love, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey’s McGee, Arrested Development (yes, that Arrested Development) Brett Dennen, and Matisyahu. This was the stage where we often got to go through the photographer’s section right in front of the stage to our exclusive viewing area right in front. Also we were able to walk around behind the stage and see the artist hanging out and use the secluded porta potties. That was a nice perk!

There were three other stages and some of the bands that we saw and liked were Sound Tribe Sector 9, Sierra Leon’s Refugee All Stars, Perpetual Groove, The Lee Boys, The Wood Brothers, Spam All-stars, Phix and Mickey Hart Band. These bands, even though they weren’t on the main stages, put on incredible shows and were much better than some of the bands playing on the bigger stages.

The festival grounds were expansive and it could take up to 20 minutes to walk from the main stage to the furthest side stage. I am sure we walked upwards of 10 miles a day. There was a good merchant village and plenty of food and drink stands. I think the Langerado people did a decent job with the layout. They did have some flaws with the VIP access. They didn’t have a decent viewing area for the main stage. That was one of the biggest reasons we went with the VIP tickets, for the ability to be close to the main acts. But instead we were put back on a small raiser to the back and the side of the main stage. The sound wasn’t good over there and you could get much, much closer in the general crowd. Also, they should allow VIP to purchase discounted drinks anywhere on the grounds, not just in the designated VIP area. There were some other issues but not really big enough to write about here.

Now on to the low points of the weekend, first the horrible drive down to the Everglades. We left Atlanta right at 3pm on Wednesday and finally stopped just outside Sarasota Florida about 11pm. Woke up the next morning and still had about 2 hours until we hit the Langerado traffic. After we got off at the Big Cypress exit, we had to wait over 4 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic until we hit the main driveway to the campgrounds. Once we finally made it through the checkpoints and found the spot where we would be calling home for the next three nights, it started to sprinkle. Luckily for us, we were able to get the tents and cover tents up before the heavy stuff hit and it hit hard! It was a torrential downpour for a couple of hours. Just before the rains hit, our friends from Ohio showed up and were able to get their tents set up as well. Another thing the Langerado people could have done, at least for the VIP camping, is take a tractor with a mower to the field. As well as maybe moved some of the cow patties. It was everywhere! We had to place our tents strategically between all of the anthills and cow patties. We barely did it, but we made it work.

After it rained in every direction for several hours, it cleared up in time for the music to start. It didn’t rain again until about 4am, and it came back with a furry. I woke up a couple hours later with everything on one side of my tent wet. Not a good way to start the morning! But there was good news, the rains were gone but the winds took its place. For the entire day, there were hurricane strength winds ripping though the campsites. There were tents flying all over, but some how, our camp stayed in place. Must have been the good engineering of the campsite. For a short period of time, the winds calmed down and the sun broke through. It also brought 95-degree heat. It just keeps getting better. The winds came back later that night and then late night so did the rain. I heard there was a tornado close by, but could never get conformation so it might not of happen. But I know I woke up partially wet again on Saturday. During the day on Saturday, it was pretty pleasant, but that quickly changed when the sun went down. The low that night was in the 30’s! We were all bundled up by the end of the night with layers and layers of clothes. It was ridiculously cold! As you can image, that was not a good night sleep either! After we woke up on Sunday, we were all ready to get the hell out of there! The Atlanta boys packed up the car and hit the road for the 12-hour drive. The Ohio boys tried to get a car service to come get them, but ended up staying the next night but leaving early on Monday for the airport.

I conclusion, we had some good times but they were wrapped in bad times. The music was great the travel and camping weren’t. I am confident that I will never attend another festival like that one. I might go to Jazz Fest or South by Southwest one day, but I will be staying in a hotel for those events. I am glad I went but I am even happier I am back home. I am too old to do that again. Next year, maybe we will go back to our original plan of having a guys ski trip, but who knows, I might get out voted again!

I will have some pictures posted soon!

Rock and Roll