This summer, Chris Mocharla and Keely Gerhold are hitting the road with HeadCount to run our booth at six festivals. Each week, Chris or Keely will report back.
Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Atlantic City is now in the bag, and I'm on my way to Electric Forest in Michigan. Here's how it all went down...
A three hour drive to Atlantic City put us in around 10pm on Thursday and at Applebee's around 11pm. We chatted with our waiter about the upcoming shows. Now I know what you're thinking: Why mention the 'Bees (as I so affectionately call it)? but it will be brought up again so stop nitpicking. It's my blog! After eating, Keely (my road partner this summer) and Adam (intern extraordinaire) went back to the hotel to rest before a full day of registering voters, but I was ready to hit the poker tables at the Taj Mahal (where they filmed a scene in Rounders, and my primary reason for going to that particular poker room). After the highs and lows of a night at the tables (I finished up 80-bucks) I went back to the hotel and prepped for some democracy.
DMB’s Caravan in Atlantic City was the first of a series of festivals that Dave Matthews Band will be putting on throughout the country. For a first-time festival it seemed to have been smooth sailin' for staff and fans alike. We were part of the Reverb Eco-Village, where fans could win prizes by visiting various non-profits. We also gave away a pair of VIP tickets to the DMB Caravan as part of our photo contest.
The weekend was not all business though - I caught some great acts like Lotus, Guster and Warren Haynes. And I witnessed some funny people doing some funnier things. And now what we have all been waiting for... the exciting conclusion of the Applebee's portion of our story. In a sea of people at the Dave set on Friday who do we see but our very same waiter standing right next to us. After we decided it was actually him we said hello and continued listening to the show.
With three full-length shows over the course of the weekend, even the more picky Dave fans were satisfied. There were a few other moments of comedy. For example, during "Crash", what could only be called a "bromance” seemed to erupt in front of me and an awkwardly long embrace occurred. But alas who am I to judge, they must have each really wanted to hear the song.
The photo contest had some great entries that made me laugh and others that made me think and some that even made me cringe but that is the contest, an open avenue to give a voice to the people (Check out the pics here). Next, I'm off to Electric Forest, the former home of Rothbury Music Festival, while Keely is headed for Phish’s Super Ball. So until the next installment of Chris and Keely’s Festival Adventure, take care.