Rothbury Festival Entertainment Art The Double JJ Ranch Rothbury, MI July 3 - 6, 2008

Though Dave Matthews Band was one of the largest acts drawing thousands of fans Friday evening, the real highlight came when Trey Anastasio ( guitar and vocals), Mike Gordon (bass and vocals) and Jon Fishman ( drums) of Phish appeared on stage during Mike Gordon’s set; closing out the performance with the Beatles hit song “She Said, She Said.”

Before Gordon’s set, Trey had a solo set in which invited Gordon to perform, highlighting two new songs to the crowd, “Backwards down the Number Line,” and “Alaska.” Humoring the situation, Trey commented, “If we could just find a drummer and a keyboard player somewhere..."

The all-green festival featured more than just an array of music, but an artistic battlefield. Various displays of recycled materials used to compile sculptures and stages surfaced the ground of Rothbury, Michigan. Aiming to be the first zero waste camping festival, tremendous efforts were put forth to make nearly everything on site compostable. A 500-person green team assisted in reducing waste content and increased the knowledge and power of recycling to limit contamination. The message was clear to all campers, as volunteers flaunted bright orange t-shirts that read “ One person who cares,” while standing next to waste retrieval stations educating campers on what is compost, landfill, or recyclable material. Food service items were made up of plant-based compostables and excess materials left on festival grounds were donated to the Red Cross; including shoes, tents, and tarps to be used later for disaster relief.

Not only did the festival go green but also the artists. The boys from State Radio have stripped themselves down from the typical band image by trading in a bus for a van run solely on bio diesel fuel. “Sometimes the bio deasel gets pretty intense, we will be running late for a show and have to go to some pretty strange places to re-fill like farms or natural food store,” declared front man Chad Stokes. Although the boys have to manage various strange stops in between shows, they manage to put on a stellar show Saturday commanding the set with an eruption of cheers from fans as they performed “CIA” and “Camilo.”

Zappa Plays Zappa kicked off Thursday evening; Dweezil Zappa charmed the crowd with his eclectic performance and eerie resemblance to his father, the late, great, Frank Zappa. The every-changing electronic band EOTO featuring Jason Hann and Michael Travis (former percussionist and drummer of the band the String Cheese Incident) closed the Tripolee Domes with their improvised music.

Friday brought more than just red, white, and blue attire as campers celebrated Independence Day. A stellar set from the Wailers moved the crowd as they prepared for the following set featuring the Mac-daddy of Hip-hop Snoop Dogg. Fans chanted “Snooooop Dogg” as the D-O-double G backed by a full band lit up the stage (as well as fans)—performing all the classic hits including “Gin and Juice.” Widespread Panic closed the Odeum stage with an encore of the classic Talking Heads hit “Life during Wartime,” backed by an assortment of fireworks.

Michigan’s own, Four Finger Five started the day off Saturday with funky melodies and a dash of soul as they opened the Odeum stage that later hosted the Dave Matthews Band. DMB headlined the evening performing “#41,” “So Much to Say,” “Satellite,” and covered Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer.” Fans gathered around, dosed in glow sticks and sound motion toys for the near 4-hour long Sound Tribe Sector 9 set that closed the Ranch Stage Saturday evening.

Trey Anastasio made his return Sunday with his first performance since his arrest back in 2006. As he got on stage, a large grin made its way across his face; he reached for his guitar, sipped his water, and began strumming “Back on The Train.” DMB may have been the headlining act of the festival, but it was apparent that Phish and Trey fans alike were there for the momentous occasion, welcoming Trey back with open arms.

Closing down Rothbury was Phil Lesh and Friends who brought up friend and guitarist Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule. The two-hour set compiled of various Grateful Dead songs including “Sugaree,” and “Eyes of the World,” along with guitarist Jackie Greene’s popular bluesy song, “Mexican Girl.”

Although the final attendance has not yet been released, organizers were estimating between 30-50,000, a strong count to a first-year festival; Rothbury 2009 is already in talk.

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