banjomatic, you summed it up very well — much agreed!
It’s really interesting seeing the different opinions here.
For example, jjwood, Laura Love’s set last year was the weekend highlight for us.
Let your freak flag fly!!
historyman, I found Laura’s “freak flag” bit to be thoroughly contrived,
and her vocals far too over-the-top for my taste. Again, it’s subjective!
I would up leaving 25 minutes into her set to catch a workshop
at the Wildflower Pavilon.
It’s the little things, like getting Noam, Chris and Ben with Casey at the Wildflower. Sublime.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/eddyhopper1960/SI5ltQslXeI/AAAAAAAAAP8/nn5oJ5LYbSE/P1020568.JPG
Well said. I agree. :medal
Wowzers! What a great week we had!
THANK YOU Craig and all of the Planet, it was an amazing time.
We began with the Academy and were treated each day to instruction from wonderful teachers, I thought that I had died and gone to heaven when I found Daryl Anger teaching us one day!
I was surprised to find what a good teacher Jeremy Garrett from the String Dusters is, he knows his stuff!
We made so many more new friends and were able to jam with them and just enjoy being immersed in the music pre-festival. I feel that this is the very best possible way to spend a vacation!
Thank you, thank you!
The festival itself was wonderful. There was just not a bad set the entire 3 days!
We enjoyed the line-ups each day beginning with Spring Creek, Mike Marshall & Darol Anger,The Steeldrivers, Russ Barenberg & Bryan Sutton; John Cowan Band; Béla Fleck & Friends,Dan Tyminski Band, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas & Edgar Meyer
… and this was just the first day! Not a bad set this day… or any day.
The highlights for me were: Instrument Contest Finals
Chatham County Line, Infamous Stringdusters, Psychograss, Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet, Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy- this was an incredible set, what talent!
I too love the talent in the Punch Brothers but I am not a fan of watching their set.
The GarrettGrass Gospel Extravaganza was the best gospel set that we have heard,
The Stairwell Sisters are such a fun group, Adrienne Young Band, well Adrienne is just so sweet and so very talented, JD Crowe & The New South was a treat, Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band were fun, the Carolina Chocolate Drops stole the show adn I am certain that we would all love to see them again! And the Sam Bush Bluegrass Band was outrageous! Loved the ending for sure!
All in all there was a lot more instrumentation this year and I liked this.
We were floating down the river during Brokedown Palace and I was thinking that this is just the best place on the planet to be!
I too found that there seemed to be a lack of organization with the vehicle lineup this year and in addition there was a miscommunication with the festival vehicle parking. A friend was #5 in line and was told to park by the road at the back of the festival in a VW pop-up van while several other VW pop-up vans were allowed close to the entrance. This friend has a bad ankle and would have benefited from camping closer, it was very frustrating for her and more so when she saw the number of others that came in after her that were able to park closer.
My second concern is the campground porta potties, I would like to see them serviced more, especially during academy and then more often during the festival. They were pretty nasty a lot of the time.
The third concern was the line waiting after the show for the lottery numbers. I know that the Planet can hand out the numbers at any time after midnight, but isn’t the numbering system designed to keep us off of the highway at night? On Friday night we were lined up on the highway until 3:37 a.m. and it seemed like it would have been better to just have had us spend the whole night in line instead of having so many folks hanging out waiting for numbers. The crowd was uneasy waiting so long, so many enjoy sharing picks in the campground. Above all it just seems to be a safety concern… I know that this will be in a thread and I do not mean to start anything, but it did concern me waiting on a highway so late at night.
Some kudos need to go out to Planet Bluegrass right here.
1- Prices for 3 days of music are reasonable
2- It’s great that they are doing their thing for sustainability. I like that you paid $6 for a beer glass and could reuse at a discount
3- For the most part it is an organized event (aside from the numbers)
4- People are really laid back and fun
5- Music is varied enough (although I did have my issues with some acts). I hope that it stays the path and doesn’t end up like Telluride. It’s nice to have a true BLUEGRASS event
6- It’s a wonderful space to listen to music
7- For someone who didn’t line up for numbers, I got a nice space all three days. Had shade most of the time, and it’s wonderful to be able to move around and share tarps if the need arises
8- Loved the free filtered water. Wish other outdoor events would do this.
I didn’t camp, although next year I would like to. I parked at Bohn Park, but it was too far to walk with all of my stuff. The shuttle buses are too small, and I didn’t like that the first one didn’t start till 8am. I ended up paying to park at the ATV rental across from the festival. It was significantly more than parking at the Festival lot, but for convenience, it was worth it.
So, aside from the issues, my first experience was wonderful, loved it. I do have tickets to Folks Fest and I’ll see how that goes. I went last year for only one day, but am going for all 3 days this year.
Thanks for great summer music.
:flower
And let’s hear for the stage crew as well. Great sound, great ability to turn acts over, I didn’t see one goof up the entire weekend. It’s not easy to make it look it so effortless. :medal
Well, I’ll briefly repeat a lot of what’s been said already:
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Yay!
Punch Brothers - Eh. Wrong venue for that type of music.
Sam Bush - Always great.
Edgar Meyer - The dude works that bass like no one I’ve ever seen.
Donnell Leahy - He made that fiddle his bitch!
Bacon - I love it!
Weather - Freekin’ Hot!
Maple the Dog upstaging Sam Bush - Priceless!
Overall Festival Experience - Excellent. Very little to really moan about. I would like to reiterate the comment about the porta-pots needing more servicing. I would also highly recommend that Planet Bluegrass reduce the amount of vehicle passes in the on-site camping area. I know it’s convenient and many people do need one, but more people don’t need one. It’s too much like a parking lot and people are taking up more than their share of space.
Thanks to all the Planet folks for their hard work organizing a great festival!
>>> Maple the Dog upstaging Sam Bush - Priceless!
Yes, Hooch!! Loved how Sam petted Maple in response too!
WAY TO GO, MAPLE!! 
Great Great time at RockyGrass. This venue is simply the best there is. I know it’s all been said already, but the vibe here is just awesome. The festivarian “bill of rights” is great - free water, tarp sharing, kids in for free etc. Seems to me all this goodness just trickles down and sets the tone for everyone. No one gouges on ticket resale, and man above all everyone is just Coooooooool! I was there most of the three days and never saw a single bad attitude display.
To me the highlight of these festivals is finding great new (new to me that is) music in the Wildflower Pavilion.
For the main stage, my highlights were:
Carolina Choc Drops - like everyone else, we were blown away. I second the call to add them to future festivals.
The Stairwell Sisters - Rock!
Dan Tyminski - Great entertaining set.
Spring Creek - got it all started right!
Thanks for putting on such a great event. I’m still hearing bluegrass in my head two days later…
Wow! Crazy lazy year! It’s crossed my mind that this could be my favorite Rockygrass. However, that “crosses my mind” pretty much every year I suppose.
I have to say there have been times I looked at the lineup for this year and had some mixed feelings. Natalie MacMasterand the Chocolate Drops were 2 that I had some concerns with. “Is Rockygrass going to become more of an Americana fest, falling somewhere between Hardly Strickly, Telluride, and Merlefest?” Don’t get me wrong, most of my/our favorite music can be heard at those fests, but I think many of us agrre- keep Rockygrass, well, Rockygrass. Otherwise festivals lose their identity. Any, enough of that. This was my worry, but… I’m not worried anymore (just don’t go any further, ha ha). The lineup crushed it!! A handful of favorite moments:
Steeldrivers: A lot of people still at work during this set? Guessing so by the lack of overwhelming praise. These guys are in one of the very top slots for me in 8 years of the festival. The playing was stunning and perfect, but rarely does “the song” take such center stage and everything else works with the song so perfectly! Flat out some of the best songs I’ve heard. An absolute MUST see and hear to believe. I’ll stop there.
Sam, Jerry, and Edgar: What the hell??!! Obviously we all knew this set would be a good one, but utterly transcendental is what it was to us!! I’m sure there has been some rather profoundly eloquent babble about the sheer amazement of this experience over the last few days, so I’ll not try to find the words at this time. Another set I can’t wait to hear again when the discs come around. Masterclass!!
Bela and Friends: This just has to make my list. I did miss some of it and I’ve never seen so many people talking and not paying attention. This made the set harder to truly appreciate to the level I feel it warranted. When Bela “holds court”, I’m surprised more people don’t pay attention. It’s tough when you have the “dinner hour set”, like he did I suppose, so there’s a factor to consider. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one to tell you how to live your life. He is a KING though.
Chatham County Line/Bearfoot/Infamous Stringdusters: This was a power trio for me! So anxious to see all of these this year and they all nailed it. I’d been a little mixed on Chatham’s new album, but seeing it live made me a believer of the album and just them in general.
Bearfoot? Maybe my favorite set of theirs. It helped to have so many people there to hear Chatham and therefore the crowd was warmed up and gave Bearfoot more attention than I’ve seen in prior years.
Stringdusters. Phew. They absolutely crush it! We all know it. Super nice and approachable guys too. I talked their ears off a little on Thursday at Osckars and the had lots of interesting conversation during the signing. Can’t wait to see them in the future and hear the disc.
JD Crowe: Tuff as nails! Great tunes. Unbelievable band. This is what I come for. Period.
Peter Rowan: I thought last year’s solo set was possibly my favorite set of his. It’s got another right next to it. Killer band, and once again, set list of classic proportions. Sometimes, I think “ok, we’ve seen some of these tunes lots and lots…” Then he plays a Land of the Navojo and just takes it to new places!! We’re lucky to see this guy.
Chocolate Drops: Not an original call hear, huh! Future performers, take notes. A jug , fiddle , and banjo getting the ENTIRE crowd on it’s feet?!! Ovation after ovation of shattering intensity. The set was another that made me happy just to be alive.
Sam: Crushed it…again. True he can do a good show sleep walking, but he was there in every way on Sunday. Some great song choices and lots of fancy playin’! It was also cool that I was dancing my butt off behind the soundboard and a guy came by and said “courtesy of Sam Bush” and gave me a copy of Glamour and Grits. Heard another girl got a DVD. Thanks Sammy!!
Donnell Leahy is one of the most impressive players I’ve ever seen. Abigail’s set was really inventive and sweet-a-hell. Love to see it in a theater. GarreetGrass was certainly more masterclass as well.
Thanks to the Planet for delivering one of life’s greatest moments! The whole damn weekend comes through like very little in life really does. It always delivers!
Met some great people this year again and look forward to seeing you all again next year. Why not, we’ll do it again!!!
SPRING CREEK opened the Festival on Friday with some GREAT BlueGrass, this group was one of just a few that had REAL BlueGrass music going on, it’s good to have a mix of music but it would be nice to have more BlueGrass type groups like Spring Creek, Dan Tyminski Band, StringDusters, Del, Doyle Lawson, Skaggs, Alison Krauss etc.
I second that opinion!! I thought the Chocolate Drops were THE best act of the festival! With the next best being the Bearfoot Sisters! Punch Bros were so so, however I thought the Stairwell sisters were awful. I’m already counting down the days until next year! I do have a bit of the banjo blues, so it’s off to Keystone for some bluegrass and brews! :cheers
In no particular order:
The Stringdusters
Chocolate Drops
JD Crowe
Dan Tyminsky
C.C.L.
Blue Canyon Boys in the Pavillion (should have won)
Stairwell Sisters
Rockygrass is the best show in Coloraddy.
I thought it was funny when they introduced the monitor mixer and said he refers to the FOH engineer as “the right-left guy”. Mixing monitors for large bluegrass bands must be an extremely difficult and nervewracking job- they have multiple mixes and have to chase down feedback in each one. Kudos to the Right Left Guys as well 