I will be there Friday and Saturday. Lots of Allman family bands there.

Phew, what a weekend! After several Wanees, this was my first Gathering of the Vibes and it was a doozy.

It took about 3 hours to get in, which was kind of crazy since Wanee entrance takes about 5 minutes, but I know Lock'n and other bigger fest can take 8 hours, so no big deal. Everyone driving was full of good vibes while in line. The grounds were cool, and we got a spot close to the venue entrance.

Thursday was pretty chill, meeting our neighbors, checking out the park, etc. Dark Star Orchestra was your usual show and it was great way to kick things off. I wish I had known they were playing 2 sets, because there was 2-3 hours from their break until the late show and I went back to camp to recharge but never made it to Karl Denson at 1AM. I had just caught them in Brooklyn earlier in the year with Chuck Leavel, so wasn't too bummed.

Friday was my favorite day of music: The Word, Sharon Jones, Jaimoe, TTB, Gregg Allman were all must see and were all fantastic. Sharon Jones just has to be seen to be believed. TTB just keeps getting better and better, they were by far my favorite set, especially with Sharon Jones joining for some Sly at the end.

Gregg's set was great. For anyone saying he doesn't change up his set list I'll tell you right now that's a lie. There were the usual suspects ("Angel", "Melissa", "Midnight Rider", etc) but there was a lot of variety compared to the set I saw at Wanee (which was also fantastic). There was a little bit of comedown from the energy of TTB, I think the crowd mellowed out. One odd moment: Gregg introduced "Come & Go Blues" as written "with Mr Allen Woody". I can't even imagine his train of thought there.

Since it's a festival with tight turnaround times between acts, there weren't many encores - until Gregg re-emerged with Marc (whi is touring with Gregg), Jaimoe (whose band has toured with Gregg recently), and Derek for "Southbound"! 4/7ths Allman Brothers? I will take it! It wasn't earth-shattering, but it was nice to witness.

I had never seen String Cheese Incident live before, but I really enjoyed their sets. The first was all bluegrass, which I really dug, and the second was more typical Cheese jam, which was fine. They are a little formless and repetitive for my taste, (not everyone can be as melodic as the Allmans) but it was a good show.

I wasn't as jazzed about the Saturday line up, so I partied a little (a lot) more than Friday. Warren with Railroad Earth was pleasant, and they played one of the prettiest versions of "Blue Sky" I've ever heard, but they were a little too mellow for me. Honestly, I'm not as big on Warren's solo/Mule stuff so I didn't catch much of his late show with the Seaside All-Stars (or Wilco).

Sunday's lineup was aimed at the day-pass younger crowd with Ben Harper and Weezer, but there was some cool stuff in the margins. The Preservation Jazz Band was a ton of fun and the School of Rock was a great break through out the weekend - some really talented kids. It's cool that Vibes has so much stuff for kids and parents.

The World Peace Flag Ceremony has a lot of great intent, but was the most obnoxious 15 minutes - some guy shouting every country name on the planet while Wavy Gravy wishes peace upon them. Nice thought, but it seemed a little self indulgent considering its intent.

Dweezil Zappa spent the first 35 minutes of his set trying to fix his sound, which was kind of a bummer for him.

I was really excited to hear Weezer until they started playing and I realized I thought I was going to be seeing Ween. I then realized that a lot of Weezer songs aren't Green Day songs. They didn't really fit the festival for me, but it seemed like a lot of the younger day-trippers dug it. Ben Harper was a nice way to close things out. I'm not really a fan of his popular hits, but his lap guitar playing was a nice surprise.

All in all, a great weekend and a great fest. It's interesting to see the different vibes at different festivals - definitely a lot more young people and rich New Englanders at Vibes than the chill southern vibe you get at Wanee, naturally, but after 20 years they have this fest figured out. Looking forward to the next fest.

Warren and the Seaside All-Stars was the absolute highlight of the entire weekend. And the highlight of that show was Dreams.

I was at Vibes. Was such a great weekend of music.

The Blue Sky with Warren and RRE was a highlight for me. The whole Seaside All Stars set was amazing. The music on Friday was top notch. I really enjoyed The Word, Sharon Jones, TTB, and Gregg in particular.