What happens in Bråvalla stays in Bråvalla

Not to say that anything bad would be happening there, of course. It's a festival, what do you expect? It was my first, though, so I wasn't really sure. But what a first festival it was.

Living in a tent in a massive field in the middle of nowhere with over 50,000 other music-lovers really brings some perspective to life. There were moments when I wondered why I was paying to be here at all, and others when I wanted to stay for another week instead of our Wednesday-to-Sunday stretch. 

And then there was the music, which made every discomfort worth it.

Imagine Dragons on our one sunny day

I saw a total of 22 bands over the course of 3 days - many more than the number of live shows I've seen in recent years. There truly is something incredible about seeing live music, whether the sun is shining brightly as it did on our first day, or torrential rainstorms are matched with hurricane-level gusts of wind, like they were on Friday. 

our post-storm, pre-dismantle party tent

Despite heroic efforts (and lightening shocks!), our party tent didn't really survive the storm. But we just piled on more layers (somewhat damp by then) and tramped through the debris-filled mud pits in our wellies.

I won't tell you all the bands I saw, but I will list my top three:

- Imagine Dragons - a surprise, as I thought I was sick of them
- The Kooks - what's not to love?
- and Veronica Maggio - featuring a surprise duet with the legendary Håkan Hellström (like Sweden's Bob Dylan (right, Swedes? or?)) - can't get enough of her (Veronica, that is), whether or not I understand all of her lyrics

Despite such an amazing festival, it was also wonderful coming home. And taking a shower. My first in 5 days. I went down to Bråvalla expecting to at least wash my face every day, but soon realized brushing my teeth was all I was likely to do in terms of hygiene. And that was okay. Everyone's in the same boat of uncleanliness at a festival, especially after making it through a storm like the one we experienced. There was a feeling of camaraderie afterwards; that we'd made it together.

Sometimes we all need to live a little - grab some beers, pitch a tent with good friends, and listen to some incredible tunes.

The New Guys in Town

There's a new band in town, they've got a retro sound
Nothing close to lame, the band is called The Names
5 guys, 2 managers, and some good rock 'n roll
Check them out in my article here
And see their show next Sunday @ The Federal House

Rock Bottom Remainders

Exactly one week ago tonight, I was engulfed in a wild crowd of music lovers in D.C.'s 930 Club, jamming out to the tunes of the Rock Bottom Remainders. Who is this band, you may wonder. If you haven't heard of them, you're not alone - I'd never heard the name until a few hours before the show. "By day, they're authors. Really famous authors" their website boasts. And by night: rockstars. Well, they play covers for the most part, but they're really good covers.

You may know a couple of these writers, who include Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Stephen King, Mitch Albom, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening... the stage was pretty packed with some true literary talent.

The best part of the show I have to say was each band member's sense of humor. They seemed to be having the time of their lives up there, from Amy Tan's vocal solo beneath her enormous blonde wig to Mitch Albom's incredible Elvis act, hips and all. Here's me getting an autograph from the man himself (a bit blurry, but I swear it's really him)

me 'n Mitch... yea, we're on a first name basis now

They made it clear from the start that they were there to have fun when they told their audience "We want you to forget we're all such geniouses of the pen- we just want you to get drunk and silly because that's what we would be doing if we weren't playing up here." I'd say we followed their instructions pretty well...

I <3 Amy Tan

About midway through the show, someone on stage called out, "We've come to a point in the night when you may have forgotten what good music sounds like" and then continued on with Los Rabanes' I Shot the Law.

It was an incredible, unique experience to be in the presence of so many fantastic writers, and to watch them be whatever character they wanted to be on stage that night. I won't ever think of them in quite the same way again.