It was on the third day at Rothbury that I knew I had settled in to a bit of a routine. I knew my favorite food vendor, I knew the fastest route to each stage, and I even had a port-o-john that seemed to be cleaner than the rest. I knew I could survive on very little sleep, I knew the importance of drinking lots of water, and I knew the benefits of Gold Bond.

This was also the day I had planned to see the most music. Three of my most anticipated sets would happen on Day 3 – Railroad Earth, The Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee. One was just as much fun as I figured it would be, one blew my mind, and one was a huge disappointment. Read on to see which was which…
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We are mere hours (mere = 48′ish) from the beginning of this year’s Rothbury Festival. Our crew is assembled, and we’re all ready to bring you pictures, videos, tweets, and observations from all over the Festival grounds. The Rothbury section is all set up at woodtv.com, and is starting to be populated with stories – Jessica Leffler took an excellent look at the Festival setup process yesterday. I think she has a bunch of video left over, so I may try to poach that and share it with you later on.

Anyway, I wanted to take a quick moment and just introduce the 4 of us who will be up north (or down south, depending on where you live) this weekend. Hopefully, we can build some street cred… Except for Jason and Michelle’s first concerts – we probably lose 2 points each for those…

Here’s a quick look at our crew:

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Busy day in the world of Rothbury – getting both the Festival Schedule (here’s a printable version, too) and a revamped Festival Map. I’ve seen some disappointment on Twitter over the lack of any organized Circus and Theater events at the Establishment. From my understanding, those things may still be happening, just in a different way than last year (think roaming performers rather than scheduled)…

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I went to Mountain Jam last weekend, and got to see Railroad Earth, Umphrey’s McGee, Gov’t Mule, and Gomez. Oh, and I didn’t have to leave my living room.

iClips.net – the same folks who broadcast last year’s Rothbury Festival, and the ones who are lining up to do it again this year – hooked me up with access to their premium live feed for last weekend’s Mountain Jam.

I tried out the feed on 3 separate platforms – a Windows Vista desktop, a Playstation 3, and a laptop running Ubuntu (a Linux OS). The feed looked great on all 3, with a little stuttering on the laptop… though that thing is really an old piece of junk, so I wasn’t expecting much.

I did most of my watching on the Playstation, mostly because it was hooked up to the TV and the stereo. Looked great, and sounded even better. The video was blocky only during times of quick movement, but was mostly consistent. Picture quality was similar to, and slightly better than, the kind of streaming I see on popular TV site hulu.com. Camera shots were great – looked like they had 5 or 6 set up. Audio sounded straight off the soundboard, and was clear and well-mixed.

My friend Dave also checked out what iClips had to offer, and has this much more in-depth analysis:

I’m new to the whole “streaming concert” scene, so I don’t really have any other services to compare iClips to, nor am I certain any other comparable services even exist. Regardless, I can tell you this: if you’re a die-hard festival/concert-goer, and you can’t make it to a show you really want to see, iClips is very likely the next best thing. The site is extremely easy to navigate, even for me, a first-timer. A big “watch live” button took me to a big “enter code” prompt–I entered my code, and the stream popped up immediately. I tuned in just in time to start my iClips experience with Umphrey’s Mcgee’s “Mantis.”

From a technical standpoint, iClips is spot-on. An extensive multi-camera setup is obviously necessary, but means little if your crew doesn’t have the skills to back it up. I’ve gotta say, the iClips crew did not disappoint. The director was either familiar enough with the specific songs, or familiar enough with song structure to know what to put on camera and when, and was never late to the “money shots”, which can be incredibly frustrating to the viewer. No on-camera gaffs either, which can take a viewer lost in a beautiful sequence of shots and mentally slam them into a brick wall.

Onto a Stones cover: “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” with Warren Haynes. Certainly a good time to talk about resolution and audiovisual sync. Nothing but good things to say. Like I said before, I don’t really have any services to compare the resolution to, but I would certainly rank it as “good enough.” The sync between video and sound was dead on. No delays or dropouts or anything of the sort. The sound quality also scored on the high end of “good enough.” In theory I suppose it could have been better, but at no time did I think it NEEDED to be better. High marks all around.

Obviously nothing can compare to being at a show live, but if you can’t make it, and still want to experience the live show, iClips is probably your best bet. At around $30 for a weekend festival, I’d say that the iClips experience is best enjoyed with 3 things: A computer with a large monitor (or routed into a large television) hooked up to a good sound system, several like-minded friends, and room to dance.

Just added this morning – 2 of the big ones that were predicted here, as well as some folks I’ve never heard of. Here’s a look at the list of additions. I’ve added links to all the bands’ websites, so be sure to check them out!

Umphrey’s McGee
Keller Williams (note, if you ever need to find this again – it’s “.net” and not “.com”… unless you’re into realty)
The White Buffalo
The Parlor Mob
Reed Thomas Lawrence
Wendy Darling
Big Gigantic
LYNX & Janover

Glad to see the Umph coming, along with Keller… could there be a Keller Williams Incident on the way? So far, I’m really enjoying “The White Buffalo” and “Reed Thomas Lawrence”… Lots more listening to do.

Also, we should be seeing a daily schedule posted in the next 2-3 weeks. Keep your eyes here…

Looks like the rumored June 1st announcement of new artists is no longer a rumor… and no longer coming on June 1st. Keep your eyes peeled next week for what Rothbury’s Twitter account calls the “rest of (the) bands”. They’re also promising the daily schedule shortly thereafter.

Umphrey’s McGee should be on that list of additions (check out my reasoning), as well as Keller Williams – both artists are playing Summercamp this weekend over in Illinois. Rothbury has also (via Twitter) put to bed the Kid Rock rumor… and I am also hearing that it’s time for the Phish rumor to disappear, sadly with a big “no” for Rothbury.

So who do you think will be added next week? Take a look at my list, and then leave your guesses in the comments section.

My List of Additions:
-Umphrey’s McGee
-Keller Williams
-Wilco
-Greensky Bluegrass
-The Crystal Method
-John Mellencamp
-O.A.R. (that’s my “out of leftfield” pick)

We’ll see just how smart (or not smart) I am sometime next week…

It’s become quite the internet scavenger hunt, but it looks more and more like jamband prog-rockers Umphrey’s McGee are heading to the Double JJ in July. Luckily, you get to benefit from my legwork (and the legwork of others as well), so don’t feel like you need to rush away and start Googling “Umphrey’s” and “Rothbury”.

Here’s what I’ve seen so far:

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There’s a good chance that you aren’t familiar with every band on the Rothbury line-up. Really, discovering new music is one of the joys of the summer festival season. But, if you’re looking for a sneak preview, I think I’ve found a resource that you’ll like.

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