R.I.P. Rothbury

It comes with great sadness to say that Rothbury Festival will be no more. For those of you who don’t know what Rothbury is, it was a music festival that took place on the July 4th weekend in Rothbury, Michigan. For 4 days, roughly 30,000 people gathered to camp out and listen to some great live music. The headliners in 2008 included: Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, John Mayer, 311, in 2009 the headliners included: The Dead, Bob Dylan, The String Cheese Incident, and Willie Nelson. There was a statement on the Rothbury Festival website last week that stated the festival would not be taking place this summer, due to complications assembling a lineup. I was astounded when I read this. It was hands down the best weekend of my summer last year, and just like that it’s gone. Just everything about the festival amazed me all weekend. Waking up early because the sun is beaming down, getting out the sauna you like to call a tent, crack open a few beers, hang out with the homies, then enjoy some live tunes. It’s a very jam band oriented festival, which I love, but it’s great, at night it turns into a whole different world. Electronic based music bumps from the speakers as people walk around the mystical festival grounds. The “Sherwood Forest” is what many Rothbury goers rave about. It’s a forest with different colored lights, hanging art pieces, and hammocks to go around. It makes the festival grounds into this mystical world, which is what made Rothbury so unique. My friends and I have been discussing what were going to do this summer now that Rothbury is no more. Perhaps Bonnaroo, Coachella, Summercamp, Wakarusa, who knows. Excuse me while my mind drifts away to Sherwood for a little…