Festival Times.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

As stated in my last blog post, this summer has been a full one. I was extremely lucky to have been able to attend two major Festivals that were held for the first time in our Area. Kristy attended both with me, she's my new official concert girlfriend, because well Ashlee had a baby. LOL. Now concert going next year will be super fun with TWO girlfriends. Yay.

(before anyone asks, no, I didn't camp at either one. For the most part Nick drove us and picked us up, or Kristy and I got other rides).

This was the first year WayHome had ever run. Think of Coachella, but smaller, and less famous people. It was full of hipsters and hippy’s, fun pretty flags, and it was super clean. Lots to do, and see, 4 stages, and lots of booze. There were two food truck area’s which was huge, and you could eat anything from Poutine to Quinoa Salad. Lots of hippy food. Kristy and I went on the Friday and Sunday. It was one of the hottest weekends of the summer so far, so we tended to drink more water than beer, which just makes us smart.

Fave artists/bands of the weekend:

- Sam Smith (of course)

- Walk the Moon

- Randomly finding Scott Helman at the small stage where we tried to have a nap (what?) he sounded amazing.

- Hozier

- I feel like I should say Neil Young, but honestly I only knew like 4 songs. One I sang while walking down the side of hwy 11 to get to the car. We almost died. It's a scary walk in the dark down hwy 11.....

Some interesting facts learned this weekend

- Fanny Packs are back

- As is any 80’s type clothing. Neon? Sure, wear lots of it.

- Glo sticks are cool at festivals

- Totems are a must apparently. If it has Oprah’s face on it, even better.

- Hipsters are clean people. And recycle. The park was spotless. They also don’t drink a lot of beer, there was never a line up.

iPhone pics can't really capture how pretty it was. I LOVED the flags.

That middle pic above was in this cool little forest part over by the small stage. People just chilled there, brought their own hammocks and napped. We also played cards (below)

That ice cream pic above, we ate that ice cream while Vance Joy sang Riptide, while we danced our way to the main stage before Sam Smith came on. Soooo fun!!

Two weeks later, I attended Boots & Hearts. Now, most of my life I haven’t been a country music fan. Unless you consider Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks or Taylor Swift Country. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to listen to it a bit more, and of course the show Nashville just made me love it. Mainly, I love folk. And any good singer/song writer, and country has a lot of those. SOOO when I heard Lennon and Maisy were going to be there I was sold. I photographed a wedding the Saturday morning, but then it ended at like 2pm, so off to Boots and Hearts Kristy and I went. Just in time for the Stella’s and Lennon and Maisy. This time we had VIP tickets (or Premium) so we were super close to the stage.

I cried when Maisy sang, and I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m not sure why I get goosebumps when these kids sing, but I do. It’s crazy. Perhaps because I have kids their age? Or just because they are super crazy talented. Either way who cares, they rocked the crap out of that stage.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, due to the fact that I didn’t really know who was playing / drank too much beer. But It was fun.

Some interesting facts about the boots and hearts crowd:

- Plaid, lots of plaid is a must if you are at a country festival

- There are no glo sticks, totems, or any pretty ‘frilly’ things at country festivals. No flags, nadda. There is hay. And it smells like sweaty men.

- The country folk don’t recycle (as much) as the hipsters. Nor do they clean up as much (it was a disaster). BUT they are way friendly, and no one sits. You stand, and you dance with who ever is around you, and everyone is your best friend.

- Did I mention it smells like sweaty men?

- Country folks drink A LOT OF BEER. Way too many line ups.

- I drank tequila instead. In the form of margaritas. They were delish.

- Which apparently causes more of a hangover the next day. Lesson learned.

Summary. I knew way more bands/songs from WayHome, than I did at Boots & Hearts but I had a better time at Boots. Who knew?! I fully plan on going to both next year because it was super fun, and I’ll start making my totems now.