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Solid Sound - 2015 - June 26-28


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there is a big difference between someone manning a spot all day and someone plopping down a blanket or chair in the morning and expecting that to hold a prime spot the entire day.  The former is reasonable, the latter is just plain douchebaggery.  

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I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you.

My group got there at 8am or before EVERY single day to secure our rail spots for the Wilco/Tweedy shows. We took turns manning camp and it was only left unattended one time because my husband needed a bathroom break while the rest of us were drumming with Glenn or watching the performance. In the 10 minutes he was gone, teenagers actually moved our stuff to try to watch (edit: Feliece Bros, not Mac Demarco) He came back and explained we'd been there for the entire day (in our case 9am because we got authorization to go in before doors to make sure we were where we needed to be). The kids teenagers were kinda mean about it, but ultimately backed down. We would fold our chair up for the wilco gigs, btw.

 

 

If a person is willing to invest time to get the spot they want they should get that spot. Early bird gets the rail.

See, you were doing it right though. You were having someone stay there. You probably didn't need the chairs for marking purposes. But I agree with you, early bird and all, just, the bird has to be there.

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I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you.

My group got there at 8am or before EVERY single day to secure our rail spots for the Wilco/Tweedy shows. We took turns manning camp and it was only left unattended one time because my husband needed a bathroom break while the rest of us were drumming with Glenn or watching the performance. In the 10 minutes he was gone, teenagers actually moved our stuff to try to watch (edit: Feliece Bros, not Mac Demarco) He came back and explained we'd been there for the entire day (in our case 9am because we got authorization to go in before doors to make sure we were where we needed to be). The kids teenagers were kinda mean about it, but ultimately backed down. We would fold our chair up for the wilco gigs, btw.

 

 

If a person is willing to invest time to get the spot they want they should get that spot. Early bird gets the rail.

I don't think we disagree at all.  You had an actual person in the spot, and moved your chairs away for the music.  That is considerate.  It's the inconsiderate folks who have chairs and blankets reserving their 5'x5' space while they are out and about, then when the music starts they expect that they are entitled to all of that space.  What you did is reasonable.

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 The chair/blanket issue is obnoxious.  As mentioned, Newport does it right with chairs only behind the soundboard.  You really can't expect to set up camp near the stage with chairs and a blanket right next to the stage, leave for most of the day, and come back right before Wilco.  It's rude.  Even more, when blankets are all spread out and then the owners get pissed that they are being stepped on.  It also creates a obstacle course to get in and out.  

 

It's a rock concert, not a picnic.  I'm only talking about between the soundboard and the stage.  Behind that, go crazy.

 

Great idea, they should adopt this policy. People just can't stake out a huge territory, abandon it, and expect fans to politely honor the 100 square feet of space they claimed.
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I had a great weekend and came to appreciate some new things this time around:

 

Free parking nearby (if you're early enough)

 

The ease of going in and out of the grounds all day

 

Being allowed to bring food in

 

 

I also liked the addition of post-headlining events on Friday and Saturday. Great idea! And all the screens around Ctyd D during Real Estate's late set? Duuuuuuude. Loved it. Forgot my 'shrooms! (Just kidding. Too old.)

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the rain on Saturday --I expected worse and at no point was everything unplugged or people held in buildings like at SS2. I only had to wear rain gear for a few hours total!

 

Glenn's event with fan participants was great, based on premise alone. What a generous and unique idea. It sounded great, too.

 

I can't think of any significant complaints. Sure, I'd prefer it was limited to 2,000 people and was a 10 minute drive from my house (along with other completely unrealistic requests), but for $100 and 3 days, it's a fun pilgrimage where I get spend time with people I love to hear music I love. I can't imagine missing it. #teamtarpforlife

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so can anyone tell me what kind of beer Summer Teeth was?

 

Also, as far as "blanket-gate"...Last SS we didnt put a blanket down until almost 3:30pm, and we always had someone at camp. However there were LOTS of people that just let there stuff sit there, and came back 20 mins before showtime...which is ok...however, when the music starts, don't expect people not to step "in your area". Your blanket is not an invisible forcefield. If you decide to be a dick, and not pick up your chairs and blankets when the show starts you deserve to have your stuff trampled.

 

just my thoughts on the matter.

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Here is a link to my slide show. It's loaded with some personal picts of the wonderful people my wife Allison and i had the pleasuer of hanging out with, but i think it captures the weekend. Mountian Bed and the intro were taken from my master from my taping Sundays set. I hope you enjoy! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTLTlDJr1A0#t=124

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I'm Stephanie, new to Via Chicago and Solid Sound. :) So new that I only had time to post a message over in the wanted/needed section about needing a Solid Ground campsite last week. Nothing like doing things at the last minute. :D (I won a spot to drum with Glenn, and gave it to my boyfriend, so that was the last minute motivation for us to go. Otherwise, we had planned to be "responsible" adults and continue to live on a crap budget and be miserable here in Cincinnati. :D )

 

Anyhoo.

 

I wound up taking a lot of video of The Immortal Flux rehearsal and performance, but I realized today while uploading one to YouTube... I don't have any shots or full video of Glenn's community orchestra performing. Did anyone go to the performance and take video? Or know someone who has footage? If so, could you pleeeeeease share it with me?

 

Kinda sorta Cliff Notes version of my brain fart: I recorded the entire rehearsal on my digital camera. It died before the first run-through. I pulled out my iPhone to record the first run-through with quickly panned shots of the orchestra. Then when they decided to do the second run-through, I remained focused on Glenn. Well, not knowing if the video was crappy or not (I had issues keeping my iPhone charged all weekend, so wanted to refrain from watching video or doing social media as much as possible), I filmed the performance remaining focused on Glenn again. :( (I had the stupid thought that my drummer boyfriend would rather have a good close-up video of Glenn drumming rather than... you know... him performing. *headdesk*)

 

The second run-through is here.

 

Thanks! :)

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Thank you Massachusetts for the hospitality and your beautiful landscape. This notes for you brought to you by one of your own. The very funny and tallented John Hodgman. The recording is captiured from my master on the first row of the Hunter Center. Sorry about the shitty cell phone pictures but thats all i had.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHMATROTtyI&feature=youtu.be

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My first post, have lurked for a while, seems like a great community here.

 

I was also my first SSF, and it was simply life enhancing. Absolutely magnificent, can I book a hotel now for 2017? Long drive from Ottawa, but completely worth it and the weather was actually just fine.

 

Regarding some of the comments here, I was also disturbed by loud chatting fairly close to the front on Friday and I politely told the worst offenders to keep quiet as I wanted to hear the band. They apologized and shut up. I think the use of weed and alcohol doesn't really help for attentive crowds.

 

Saturday I sat on the bleachers right hand side, decent view and awesome sound. Possibly the best Wilco show I've seen going back to 99 (only 12 shows though). Also NRBQ tore the place up in that courtyard, Richard Thompson didn't really do it for me.

 

Sunday started with meeting the band (just made it), then an astonishing work from Nels and Norton Wisdom. Felice brothers were awful and Tweedy etc was just perfect, I was in tears for California Stars as it all came to an end.

 

Regarding queues for food, some of the views here seem a bit off compared to my experience. I had Indian food (twice), Bratwurst, Jambalaya and a Pulled Pork sandwich over the weekend and my longest wait was about 5 minutes. Didn't drink much for various reasons, but Summerteeth brew was really great.

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and it's up:

https://digboston.com/solid-sound-festival-2015-wilco-mac-demarco-richard-thompson-et-al-at-mass-moca-june-24-26/

 

 

i have a ton more photos to post later...it seemed like ~70 was a lot for the gallery, but there was a lot of stuff going on!

Nice write-up! Very comprehensive. I feel like I experienced maybe a third of what you mentioned and still felt busy and engaged nearly every minute of the festival. Couldn't view the slideshow on my iPad, though. Is there another link to it?
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This was my fourth Solid Sound and my boyfriend's first. We had a great weekend! I think it was my favorite both in terms of the Wilco performances and in terms of the other acts we saw. I love seeing Cibo Matto again, and Charles Lloyd's quartet with Bill Frisell was another highlight. Stained Radiance was so different than the other time I saw them. The whole tone of the performance seemed a lot darker, and I thought the dancers made it a lot more intense. My big disappointment was that there were a lot of conflicts with things we wanted to see. We lined up really early for Stained Radiance (so early, in fact, we were line leaders), so I missed William Tyler. We also missed Glenn's performance and Quindar because we wanted to see Charles Lloyd. I've never gotten to see everyone I've wanted to, but this year's choices were harder to make. 

 

I'm surprised to see people complaining about waiting for food. That was a big issue for me last time, but the only thing we had to wait more than five or ten minutes for was pizza. We must have eaten at off-peak hours the whole weekend. Even the line at the merch tent wasn't too bad Friday night. It seemed to me that things were laid out better and flowed better than last time. Parking was really the only thing we had a hard time with, except for Sunday when we came early.

 

My boyfriend is already excited for his next Solid Sound!

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I'm surprised to see people complaining about waiting for food. That was a big issue for me last time, but the only thing we had to wait more than five or ten minutes for was pizza. We must have eaten at off-peak hours the whole weekend. Even the line at the merch tent wasn't too bad Friday night. It seemed to me that things were laid out better and flowed better than last time. Parking was really the only thing we had a hard time with, except for Sunday when we came early.

 

 

I never had a long wait for food either. If i saw the line to long for any particular truck i just went to another until i found one short or just found something else to do, my wife had snacks to tied us over in the event of hunger. Maybe 10 min tops any given day. I think the only truck i missed was the Burrito and the BBQ becasue that stuff is on every corner in Texas. 

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the lines for the dumplings, burritos and bbq were always huge when i wandered over there. i ate twice at the That's How We Roll place because that was never that busy, and grabbed a hot dog from the rotary club tent once too. i would have preferred other options, just didn't feel like waiting.

 

the one time i did wait (for the burrito truck), i ended up missing my chance to shoot Mac DeMarco from the pit. i figured that ~30 min was a safe enough window.

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sure, here's the link to a gallery on my site:

http://photos.tinnitus-photography.com/solidsound2015

 

 

once i dig out from my backlog (3 shows to process and a couple of interviews), i plan on adding a lot more photos to the gallery, which will be put in that same gallery.

Lol. In the photo of the drum orchestra I'm yawning. Jeez. (I only slept maybe 10 hours over Fri, Sat and Sun... our hotel situation was terrible... 

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