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Considering you've found the need to respond to my threads as if you are threatened by me I offer you some peace my confused counterpart. May you find peace in your restless soul.
Camping The campsite location is about 5 minutes from the music area. They had school buses to take you over. Never had to wait to get on or off and they were no issues. The camping area is about have wooded sites with power, and the other half in a field with no power hookups. I got there early enough and was in the woods. Plenty of space and shade. Showers in the campsite were free and never had to wait to use. They were only open during the morning. There could have been more food vendors in the campsite but not the end of the world.
Security Security to get into the campsite was pretty heavy. They had cops and volunteers doing the car searches and they would look inside bags and suitcases. Once in the campsite I didn't see anything crazy. Security to get into the music area, on the other hand, was light. Light bag searches but that was it.
Music Area The stages were set up in 2 major areas. The 2 main stages basically face each other in the same field. They would only have music going on one at a time. So once a band finished up on one stage, the other stage would start about 10 minutes later. It made it easy to see more of the bigger artists. The other two main stages were about 5-10 minute walk up a hill through some woods. The hill sucked, but at night, the wooded path was lit up and looked really cool. There was also a tiny stage hidden in the woods where I think they did poetry readings. The two stages at the top of the hill were really unique. They weren't "normal" tents, but instead had more of a curved structure and felt more artsy.
The port-a-potties were alway clean and you never had to wait, but they were in some semi out of the way locations. The food was good but they could always have more options. Beer was good and cheap. I drank tall boy IPAs for $6 the entire time. They also had yard games set up both in the campsite and in the music area. I saw jenga, connect four, bags, and kubb.
The art installations were all really cool. The big "Eaux Claires" letter would change colors and light up during music. The also had this really cool organ art installation and they would play organ music from it in between shows. It also seemed like they spent good money on the sound systems. All the stages sounded great.
Music I was able to catch 8 shows each day. I probably could have gone to more but didn't get in right away each day and also took an evening break.
There were a ton of collaborations. I think at most sets, a band or musician would come out on stage and perform a song. For example, I saw The Staves perform with Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, and Bon Iver, so this seemed to be a common theme.
Seeing 2 new albums performed for the first time was also pretty cool. Obviously Bon Iver but also seeing Francis and the Lights perform a new album.
Bon Iver's new album leans much more heavily on electronic music and saxophones. Vernon mainly sat at the front of the stage using his synthesizer. I think he only played guitar on a couple songs. It clearly felt like a departure from his previous albums, so I guess if you were hoping for more folksy ballads, it would have been surprising. Personally, I liked the change, especially the more electronic and experimental stuff. After playing the new album, the encore was old material. They were also all new arrangements and also had a more experimental and heavy feel to them; "Minnesota, WI" and "Beth / Rest" (with Bruce Hornsby) especially.
And of course, what would a festival be without a Chance the Rapper appearance. He joined Francis and the Lights to perform one of his songs as well as Lights with Francis and Justin Vernon.
All in all, it was a good time and I would recommend it for future years as long as they keep putting it on.
Thanks for the review. I've had friends go both years, and they rave about the experience--the music, art, general operations. It continues to sound like a really well done festival.
It was pretty excellent. I wish that they had had more seamless transitions between songs, but I suppose that is kind of tough when nearly every song had different personnel. Every single one knocked it out of the park though - not a single bad performance among the whole set. My personal highlights were Bird Song (Will Oldham sings this perfectly), Black Muddy River, Shakedown Street, Cassidy, Morning Dew, and Ripple. DotD was probably my third favorite show of the weekend, behind Bon Iver and James Blake. Really, everything I saw was great. Other standouts were Deafheaven, Beach House, and Bruce Hornsby. Phosphorescent was also good, but they really need to get that new album out as they've been touring the same material for three years now. Bon Iver's new material was astoundingly great. Sounds like a natural progression of the sounds of Bon Iver, drifting somewhat towards electronic instrumentation. Also, the reworked versions of old songs are terrific; they had already started to do this somewhat towards the end of their last tour, but what they've shown from the Sydney/Cercle shows and the encore at Eaux Claires is pretty exciting. Hoping for a full tour this fall so that they can explore all of the material in depth.
With respect to the festival itself, I'd highly recommend it. Very well organized - never had to wait in line for pretty much anything, except for a couple of times for some of the more popular food vendors, and then again when they announced that the new Bon Iver single was available on vinyl in limited copies at the merch tent. It was very easy to get around, and if you didn't care much about being close, you could basically stand in the middle of the main field and have crystal clear sound for shows on each of the two main stages (which never overlapped). The impromptu performances were cool: various artists would take turns on the massive organ/sculpture in the middle of the grounds, S. Carey played a series of random sets on a stage partially hidden in the woods, etc. The hike up the hill to get to the second performance area was a bit of a pain in the ass, but at nighttime it was illuminated with all kinds of lights and artwork, which made it a treat. The artwork in general was very well done, and the emphasis on local vendors was cool. I will also say that this fest had the best beer of any I've ever attended; in particular, the fact that Mikkeller and the Brewing Projekt collaborated on a special session IPA just for the festival was great, and prices really weren't bad at all. Also, pretty much everyone involved with the festival (staff, security, vendors) was super helpful and very friendly. Security was light, the crowd was pretty chilled out.
