Featured review by:
UG Team, on august 25, 2008
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Sound: “The magical mystery tour is waiting to take you away” wrote John Lennon in 1967. Little did he know that over forty years later he would be embodying a weekend in July that was encompassed by the Rothbury Music Festival. From the magical, majestical lineup of incredible bands and musicians, making a stand for peace and environmental change, to the mysterious haunting psychedelic depths of the Sherwood forest -- Rothbury truly was a coming together, a melting pot of all we hold dear; Love of music, love of earth and love of each other. While Rothbury got off to a rocky start, in regard to parking and camp setup details, any concerns were quickly swept up, with the start of the first band, into the swirling vortex of love and acceptance that quickly became the policy of this Festival. The true colors of what was in store for the listeners wasn’t even begun to be revealed by an incredible performance by Dweezil Zappa. No, the true magic didn’t hit until day two when, within twelve hours, Rothbury was to be host to musical guests such as; The Wailers, Snopp Dogg, 11, Widespread panic and Primus. But even by the time that primus finished at two-thirty in the morning, the surface of what was yet to come hasn’t even endured a scratch. Over the course of the next two days of the festival would be host to over forty more bands, of which Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Gov’t Mule, Michael Franti, Phil Lesh, Slightly Stoopid, Citizen Cope, Taj Mahal State Radio, STS9, and The Crystal Method, were included. // 9
Perfomance: The energy generated by the entity now known as the festival, seemed to effect all of the artists as they made their treks in and out of the festival. The combination of artists and events seemed to perfectly complement each other. On an individual level the artists performances mirrored the excitement and enthusiasm shown by the attendees. // 9
Impression: But if constant music running as late as four in the morning, on six different stages isn’t your thing you could choose to take the plunge into the raging psychedelic commune with nature that was given in the Sherwood Forest. The forest was illuminated by softly pulsing Pink, purple, yellow, Orange, psychedelic lights that seemed to pulse with excitement to the very energy and whim of the entity known as Rothbury. Yet the forest was like the womb of the Festival; Dark, warm, nurturing, a strong core to which people would commune to feel the security of the energy of their fellow festival goers. But words alone can not hope to give a view into the core of the festival that was found in Sherwood Forest. In addition to taking the world of festivals and turning it on its end, Rothbury also accomplished it's goal of taking on “greening” the entertainment industry. On July fourth (the second day of the festival) Conscious Alliance and Whole Foods Market set the Guinness World Record for “largest canned food sculpture.” The canned food sculpture -- designed by Architect John Brittingham and students of his Graduate Architecture Program at Montana State University, in the form of a hand reaching out to receive a can of food -- used 45, 725 cans of food donated by Whole Foods Market. The previous largest canned food structure was comprised of 25, 656 cans and was built in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2004 in the shape of a rocket. After being awarded the Guinness Record for “largest canned food sculpture,” Conscious Alliance donated the cans to Rothbury’s Food Drive, which collected an additional 16, 344 lbs of food via festival attendee donations (Conscious Alliance’s highest single event collection in their 6-year history). All of the food, a combined total of approximately 66, 000 pounds, went to benefit local Michigan food pantries. But this was only a small part of the stand that Rothbury took towards greening the industry. In addition to the can food Drive, Rothbury was also host to a score of scientists Who hosted in the Festival’s Think Tank. The Think Tank’s used the incredible energy offered by the festival and channeled into working on solutions to problems as big as climate change and finding sustainable, renewable energy. The Think Tank was curated by the Nobel Peace Prize winning climate scientist Dr. Stephen Schneider. Other Rothbury Think Tank participants/moderators included Time magazine's 2000 'Hero of the Planet' L. Hunter Lovins, etown hosts Nick and Helen Forster, Empowerment Institute founder David Gershon, founder of Cooler Inc. Michel Gelobter, Native American author and activist Winona LaDuke, organizer of Focus the Nation Dr. Eban Goodstein, and many others. In addition to all of this, Rothbury had over 500 “Green Team” volunteers Who maintained the compost/recycling/landfill stations throughout the site and sorted through collected materials. This kept Rothbury as near zero-waste as possible. However, all good things must end, and as Monday afternoon rolled around the forty thousand people from all fifty states, and fifteen countries were faced with having to go home. Leaving Rothbury, one felt a sense of fulfillment, of completion; the roller coaster of entertainment, emotion, and awareness had come to an end. But yet a sense of longing, not only, for more music, but of not wanting to part from the incredible energy of love, peace, acceptance and change that was offered by the festival. As the master wordsmith, Shakespeare said; “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” I and forty thousand other will be waiting with bated breath to see what the “morrow” of the next Rothbury Festival may hold. // 9
- Nicholas Cole-Klaes (c) 2009
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