My brain is still kind of melted from the heat and the rock, so I hope you'll forgive me for not being quite so detailed as usual. Oh, who am I kidding, I know really you're thankful for the change.

I don't have the exact setlist, but I do have photos and a few videos. Blazing sunlight is pretty good for taking pictures, though bad for spectators waiting for hours on baking concrete and the retinas of bands facing directly into it.

Overall the day turned out much better than I had feared it might. I and others had been complaining pretty constantly about how horrible the Hedgpeth organization has been, so with that and the dire weather forecast I was pretty much expecting a complete disaster. Nonetheless, any TMBG is good TMBG and should not be missed whatever the circumstances, so I picked up hobbitgrrl at the cupcake shop and we got on the road.

Taking into account the heat, the expected crowds (ha!) and some sage advice from leahrosmerta, hobbitgrrl and I had decided not to get there insanely early as we usually would, but just roll in whenever and make our plan based on how the situation looked when we got there. We left town around 2, not expecting the trip to take too long; I guess I still haven't learned my lesson about Friday Chicago traffic, because we didn't get there until past 4, meaning it took more than 2 hours to go about 70 miles. Stupid tollway.

The place really was in the middle of nowhere. After getting off the highway we cruised through miles and miles of cornfields and other rural delights. Finally we got there and were cheered by the sight of a vast parking lot (in a field) with just a few rows of cars in it. Poor turnout is bad for business, but good for the fan who arrives late. We went to the ticket shed where hobbitgrrl was going to collect her ticket from Will-Call and I had a mission to fulfill: I had asked Dan if he could put us on the list for the so-called "VIP seating" and he'd told me he'd try, but I didn't know if he'd been able to or not. I figured we had nothing to lose by asking, so I explained to the ticket lady that I thought I was on the list but hadn't had confirmation about it. The ticket lady asked another lady, this second lady radioed a third lady, the third lady said "okay," and the second lady said she'd walk us in. So this was pretty exciting, but honestly I'm still not sure whether I was actually on the guestlist or whether the people there just knew that everything at the festival was such a mess that there was no way of verifying whether I was telling the truth or not, and so were just letting anybody in who asked.

Anyway we were escorted inside and neither of us had to use the tickets we had already paid for. Now I kinda want my $42 back. Well, I suppose I don't really mind the $25 that was the actual price of the ticket, but I'm still annoyed by the $17 of mysterious fees that were tacked on.

So there we were inside. Almost immediately we came upon the stage where Trampled by Turtles, another band we wanted to see, were to perform. We were worried they had already started but then we saw the band standing around outside the tent so we knew we had a little time, which was good, because we still had some business to take care of—I had asked for clarification on the VIP seating thing and had been told to consult somebody in a building somewhere near the main stage. So off we went in the direction that had been vaguely pointed out to us. It was, indeed, very warm out and the attendance was quite sparse. When we got into the main performing area we were greeted with the vista of a great big natural amphitheater bowl, acres and acres of sloping, slightly crispy grass, dotted at distant intervals by small clusters of people, like lonely sheep scattered on a vast mountainside. Down in front of the main stage there were maybe a few dozen people waiting for the next set. Not at all an impressive prospect.

We continued on toward a building that might have been our goal. As we approached we were passing by the merch table; I glanced over at some people standing there and said, "Is that Dan?" We decided it was just a guy who looked like him, but then he turned his head and we realized it actually was Dan. He smiled at us; we went over; and he shook our hands and introduced us to his very tall, thin friend that he was with. I asked if they'd been there all day, and he said they'd just gotten there and now were thinking of leaving again right away (implied: because it was so hot). Basically our whole conversation was about the weather and the poor turnout. Dan was wearing his usual summer pre-show outfit, shorts and black socks. But he does rock that look.

We had our brief chat and then took our leave of Dan. We actually never found out if we were VIPs or not; since the pit area was so sparsely populated, we figured we'd get a good spot anyway and decided not to continue to pursue the VIP possibility. Instead we headed back to the Trampled by Turtles set. They had started by now but we didn't, I think, miss very much. They are so great—the rockin'est bluegrass you will ever hear. They were definitely an extra bonus attraction at the fest for us.

After that it was about 5:30 (TMBG was scheduled to start at 7) so we headed down to the main stage. The stage was quite large and elevated, with a short landscaped slope at the front, then a barricaded area with a catwalk parallel to the stage, then the metal barrier and a big concrete-paved area where the audience stood. There was also another long catwalk that extended out from the center front of the stage, through the crowd (sic), all the way back to the soundboard. We immediately predicted that Flans would at some point take that walk.

The catwalk split the pit area in half, and most people had fetched up in the stage left half, so we crossed over to our usual Flans side and were immediately able to get about into the third row, pretty near the center. During the next set and afterwards we were lucky enough to work our way up to the barrier. Thank you, Hedgpeth organizers, for your total lack of publicity for this event! That incompetence allowed us to get in the front row despite our late arrival. And we were very glad we hadn't decided to get there early and bake all day long.

The stage faced west, so we had the afternoon sun beating down on our backs. It was bearable, though, with water and fanning. Minus the Bear left the stage and the crew started setting up for TMBG. There was a big metallic sheet covering Linnell's keyboard, and somebody took it off, but then later they put it back on. Andy Lala had sunglasses on and his hair in a fetching little bun so I didn't recognize him at first. Tour manager Bob also came out to check on things; when he came downstage towards the catwalk (and us) I yelled out "Bob! k1cup says 'hi!'" but I don't think he heard me. Okay, and I didn't yell very loudly. Also, Wayne (of Flaming Lips) came out for a few minutes in his little waistcoat and tie. He strolled a bit down the central catwalk and touched people's hands and there was a lot of screaming.

When all of TMBG's stuff was ready there were still a bunch of people setting up stuff for the later acts, screens at the side of the stage and lights. It was past 7 and Bob finally came out and yelled at those people for cutting into Their set time. Yay Bob! So he managed to chase them away and shortly after that the Stompy intro music started. hobbitgrrl and I went "whoo!" and we were like the only 2 people there who did. I think the crowd was largely a Flaming Lips one.

Then our guys strode out and it was thrilling as always. We had been hoping for all five guys to come out in sunglasses, but in the end we only got 60% (Flans, Dan, Danny). Danny was dressed all in black which I consider inadvisable in 90° heat, but he remained looking dapper as ever through the show.

I don't have an exact setlist...they started out with Damn Good Times. Then it all gets kind of fuzzy for me. There wasn't much banter, either—they were probably conserving their energy which was being sapped by the brutal sun. Most of the amusing moments were strictly visual. For example—there were these steps down the center front of the stage and on either side a big flowerbed. During Birdhouse, Linnell called for the "2 guitars!" part and Dan looked over at Flans (expecting Flans to follow his lead) and then leaped right into the middle of the stage-right flowerbed with his guitar. But Flans didn't follow into the other one, and also, Dan had jumped too far causing his guitar cable to pop out, and then he stood there in the flowers just laughing for a minute before going back and having Lala hand him his cable. Meanwhile Linnell was making these squinty faces the whole time, regretting not having worn sunglasses like the other guys. In fact most of the conversation centered on the sun shining directly into their faces. I hope they had put on sunscreen before coming out.

Flans wandered around the stage, destroying the gear that had been set up for the following acts. During Fingertips we finally got the walk down the catwalk we'd been expecting. He took his wireless mic with him and disappeared (from my line of sight anyway) off to the far end; then at the point of the song when Dan usually whispers "fingertips," Flans did it instead, from the end of the catwalk. I mean, I couldn't actually see Flans doing it, but I could see that Dan was not doing it, so that was the only plausible explanation of the voice I was hearing.

The set was relatively short and pretty standard—it also included Cyclops Rock, Drink!, Particle Man, Polk, Ana Ng, Alphabet, Doctor Worm, New York City, and others...when they did Older I yelled angrily "Stop playing this song!" but sadly (for me anyway), they kept on going. Just before Experimental Film Dan left the stage carrying his shoes in his hand. (When he came back he was wearing them on his feet again.) We're the Replacements seems to be a new standard for the time being, as well as Bee of the Bird of the Moth (which Linnell keeps saying is called "Bird of the Bee of the Moth"—I think he even sang it wrong once during the song) and We Live in a Dump. I think that was just about everything. They grand finale was Istanbul, of which, as you know, I never tire, but there was even a new little bit in it this time, which was that Dan soloed for a while and then called on the other guys (Danny and Linnell) to respond. It was totally weird and cool to see Dan directing these other guys as if it were his stage to command.

At the end of Istanbul Flans did a few quick band intros and then they took off. No encore. The way the stage was set up, with large tracts of landscaping around it and lots of chain-link fencing, there was really no way to try to meet the band afterwards, and besides I'm sure they got straight into their air-conditioned tour bus and fled immediately, so we didn't bother trying to look for any of them. Also we had these plum spots right in the front and weren't going to give those up.

So we waited around for the next act—the sun was going down and it rapidly got a lot cooler, which was a huge relief. Before the Flaming Lips there was one more act, some guy called Peeping Tom. I was not looking forward to this: having seen him on the schedule for the fest, I'd acquired his album and listened to it, and really hated it. I guess it wasn't as bad live, but still not particularly enjoyable for me, and also the Tom guy kept making these hip-hop gestures and poses which looked ridiculous. "Is he doing that ironically?" I asked hobbitgrrl. She wasn't liking it any more than I was. She shook her head. "It's not ironic," she said. No; it was just annoying.

There actually seemed to be quite a few Peeping Tom fans in the crowd, though, singing along and, astonishingly, apparently genuinely enjoying themselves. The two sunburned kids to our right, however (they'd been there since noon waiting for Flaming Lips), were clearly in agreement with us. When Tom finally left the stage we four immediately sat down, thankful that it had come to an end; then we realized he was coming back for an encore. "Please," I screamed, "don't come back!" At least he only did one more song. And we stayed sitting down.

We were getting pretty packed in; when they started setting stuff up for the Lips set we stood up again and watched. There were many, many elements that needed to be assembled, and it was all extremely colorful.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that at this point I completely wimped out: though the day had not been that hot, I was pretty exhausted and my feet were hurting. So (with her permission), I left hobbitgrrl and went to sit down farther back. As the crowd was still not very big I had no problems finding a chair with a good view on my own little plot of land, yards away from any other person. Also I ate a tamale. Man, I love tamales. This one was really good, even better than the ones you can get from that tamale guy who's always at the Hideout.

The pit eventually got pretty full, though farther back on the grass, which was a much huger area, there were still very few people. I sat comfortably in my chair in the nice cool night, witnessed a drug transaction, enjoyed the view. The sound actually was great, and there were several screens so I could see pretty well what was happening onstage. What was happening was about twelve thousand different kinds of crazy, so I won't try to explain it all. I will say though that TMBG could learn some lessons about confetti from them. The coolest bit was when they turned off all the lights (I've forgotten during which song). Wayne had tossed a bunch of glow sticks into the crowd before the show, and now he instructed the audience to throw the glow sticks ("not too hard") onto the stage during the song. Then the Santa Claus and Alien Girl dancers onstage would gather them up and toss them back out. In the darkness the effect was gorgeous, with the little purple lights arcing through the air, and then when multiple ones were thrown at once, spreading out like miniature fireworks. It was quite awesome. (I saw a real shooting star too, up in the night sky. You don't get to see that too often at a rock concert.)

Wayne kept encouraging the crowd to make more noise and be more enthusiastic—I'm sure a lot of the bands performing were disappointed at the dismal turnout. But the show was pretty great nonetheless; they didn't stint us even though the crowd was small.

And then it ended and the few thousand people streamed out. After a confused drive through the absolute blackness of Wisconsin back highways, we made it back to the interstate and had a very quick trip home.

Overall, a satisfactory day. What's funny about it is that we were annoyed that the festival organization sucked so much, but it's pretty obvious that if the organization had been better, our experience would almost certainly have been worse. So I'll just be thankful that things worked out as they did.

Here are the photos and videos. I apologize for the wobbliness of the videos; I rested the camera on the barrier, but I guess I was unconsciously dancing along the whole time, making them a bit shaky. It's not like Lars von Trier seasickness-inducing camera work, though.

Now let's hope the weather for the zoo show will be nicer than this...