It was a weekend of gratitude and recognition for the eighth annual Nelsonville Music Festival, with many acts calling the festival one of the country’s best.
“Now this is a festival done right,” Andrew Bird said during his Saturday night set. “… Better than Coachella, that’s for sure.”
The three-day festival, held at Robbins Crossing at Hocking College, featured multiple collaborations between acts. Mucca Pazza, a self-proclaimed “rock ’n’ roll marching band” back for a second year, joined Bird on Saturday. And on Sunday, Hayes Carll pulled Shovels & Rope — his “favorite band in America” — on stage several times, while later in the day M. Ward brought Dawes back on stage.
Tim Peacock, executive director of Stuart’s Opera House, said he was pleased with the weekend.
“It was awesome; I think it was our best ever,” he said. “We had great weather and a great turnout with no major incidents.”
Peacock said about 4,000 tickets were sold, and once the 500 volunteers, band members and their guests were factored in, he estimated that almost 5,500 people were in attendance this weekend.
Despite temperatures in the 80s, paramedics said they did not have to treat anyone for dehydration. Officer Brian Sass of Hocking College Police added there were no arrests throughout the weekend.
The low number of incidents might be attributable to a focus on the lineup as a whole rather than one or two headliners, according to festival organizers.
“The Flaming Lips were a big band, and we knew we couldn’t outdo them this year,” Peacock said. “There was not one act drawing people to the festival, and I think that’s good for the overall festival because that’s what they came for — the festival, not just one act.”
Acts such as Charles Bradley, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Mucca Pazza and Dawes drew some of the weekend’s most energetic crowds.
Ford and her band played two sets Saturday, one in the No-Fi Cabin and the other on the Porch Stage, which became a full stage this year rather than taking place on the porch of one of the wood cabins preserved at Robbins Crossing.
“(The No-Fi Cabin) was a funny place to play, really,” Ford said. “We probably should have just gone outside.”
In one of the weekend’s more surreal moments, Lee “Scratch” Perry took to the main stage to cap off Saturday night. The reggae legend came on stage with a lit candle on his head and let wax drip down his back.
“I liked Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry,” said Joe Rust, an OU alumnus who attended the festival. “It was just a little ridiculous, and I enjoyed that.”
The festival as a whole had a feeling of camaraderie, which was echoed at the campgrounds as well.
“(This year), there was a lot more community in the campground, and last year it rained, so it has been a lot more fun in the sun this year,” said Grant Roberts, a Hocking College student studying ecotourism. The college offers a course in festival management, and part of the class requires students to volunteer at Nelsonville.
Like Bird and others throughout the weekend, festival closer M. Ward made a point of giving the festival a shout out.
“We’ve heard people talking, saying this is the best Nelsonville there’s ever been,” he said. “And we’ve heard people talking, saying this is the best Nelsonville there’ll ever be, so it’s really a pleasure to be here.”
—William Hoffman and Ian Ording contributed to this report.
nb360409@ohiou.edu
