For years, my friends have been telling me of a magical place: a music festival at a permanent facility with shaded campgrounds, flushing toilets, manageably small but big enough to rope in major talent, populated with friendly people.  This year, I finally made it out to this legendary event as a correspondent for GratefulWeb.com, and am happy to report that the rumors are true.  10,000 Lakes Music Festival r

On Sunday, the revelers at the second annual Mile High Music Festival were granted a temporary reprieve from the heat.  The sky was cloudy, and lo!  The grounds were clean!  The night before, as I waded through a sea of discarded plastic beer cups, it occurred to me that perhaps a better way to save the planet would have been to sell freely refillable beer cups, in the hopes that folks would use the same cup all day, rather than burning through five or six.  Now I’m all in favor of just about any recycling program you could think of, but refillable beer

The seventh annual 10,000 Lakes Festival opened yesterday to a large crowd that seemed small. This was partly due to the fact that the Main Stage had two acts running against the Saloon Stage (called the Vitamin Water Syn Saloon Stage this year). The Field Stage and Barn Stages were dark until 11:30 pm. This meant that the focus of last night’s audience was on the Main Stage acts: Gomez and Widespread Panic. Unfortunately, this drew some of the crowd away from the acts up the hill at the Saloon.

Borrowing a thought from another Grateful Web writer, I’d say that you can tell a lot about a festival by how it handles its second year.  No festival is ever perfect, and the first year is definitely the experimental year.  In the second year, you get to see how the festival responds to the demands placed upon it by its patrons.  Do things get better or worse, smoother or more of a hassle?  Last weekend, July 18th and 19th, I boogied on down to the second annual Mile High Music Festival just outside Denver, Colorado.  Having rocked

With just 5 days until Colorado's second annual Mile High Music Festival, today festival organizers announce the weekend's performance schedule.  Five stages will host 50 bands during the two-day festival, with music beginning at 11:15 am each day and going until 2 am on Saturday and 12:30 am on Sunday. Mile High Music Festival has also unveiled the 2009 Site Map.  Visit www.milehighmusicfestival.com for complete details and to purchase tickets.

Colorado's Mile High Music Festival, happening at the Fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on July 18 and 19, unveils yet another round of 2009 performers.

It’s coming up on that time of year again, my favorite season, the summer outdoor concert season!  And that, among other things, means its festival time.  The floundering economy may have it’s dirty little fingers stuck in pretty much everyone’s pie, forcing more than a few festivals to close up shop this year (Langerado’s off, and Jackson Hole seems like a long shot), but rest assured Denver, the second annual Mile High Music Festival will be going strong right in our own backyards! 

Colorado's Mile High Music Festival returns to the Fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on July 18 and 19. The 2009 festival expands to two main stages for its second year. Headliners include TOOL (Saturday), Widespread Panic (on both Saturday and Sunday), and The Fray (Sunday).

The 10,000 Lakes Festival has confirmed additional performers to the 7th annual music festival held at the Soo Pass Ranch in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota July 22 - 25. The festival, anchored by headliners Dave Matthews Band, two nights of Widespread Panic, and Wilco, has added artists such as Gomez, Mason Jennings, Todd Snider, North Indiana All Stars and many more.