Here is where I would post some pictures except that I left my camera at home. That’s pretty indicative of the last couple of weeks. If I’m not blogging and I’m not taking and uploading pictures that’s usually symptomatic that I am not well. And I have not been well lately. I’m wondering if it’s seasonal. It seems that August is the mirror of February for me. In Feburary I am usually coming down off of the high of the Christmas season and I am stressed out about work and I am tired, so tired of the cold weather. Here in August, I’m coming off of the high of Cornerstone Festival and I am stressed out about work and I am tired, so tired of the hot, humid weather. This makes me an unpleasant person to be around.

So, having recognized the problem, now it’s time to take steps to correct the behavior. Here I am blogging again (catharsis) and now that I’m back home I’m taking photos again (creating.) The weather will take of itself. For the first time this week, the highs dipped below the 90′s, a hint that fall is coming. And with fall comes family trips to see the changing of the leaves, football, and at some point a new addition to our family (by way of my sister and her husband. This is not a veiled statement that we are expecting.) In years past, it always seems that I bottom out around this time, so hopefully that means better days are coming, and soon. And more blog posts. And more pictures.

I’m a big fan of travel, a big fan of history, and a big fan of Americana so it should come as absolutely no surprise that I have an infatuation with Route 66, the old US Highway that runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. The old road has long been bypassed by Interstate Freeways, but continues to live on as a tourist destination, or rather tourist travel. When one of my favorite bands, The Lost Dogs, decided to try their own take on the old road, I was in on the ground level. It’s no wonder the band would look to Route 66 as an inspiration for songs, the road has a wide variety of geographic sights and tourist traps from hotels shaped like teepees, to Cadillacs buried nose first into the sand, to a giant blue whale sitting in the middle of a pond. The road has also gone through several phases of existence, from the cord of life for Dust Bowl stricken farmers to try and find employment in California in the 1930′s, to the essential route to vacation destinations like the Grand Canyon with hotels and tourist traps to boot in the 1950′s, to a battleground in the 1960′s and 1970′s for small towns trying to save their existence from the freeways that would carry their traffic past and never into their shops, inns, and restaurants.

The Lost Dogs aren’t certainly the first band to dig into this rich soil for content, but the four members, Terry Taylor (of the band Daniel Amos), Michael Roe (of the band The 77′s), Derri Daugherty and Steve Hindalong (of the band The Choir) took it on themselves to gain first-hand experience of the road travelling together in a RV from end-to-end while filming the entire trip. The band played shows along the road and explored forgotten nooks and crannies away from the bright lights of gas stations and restaurants that sit right off the exits. The album explores the different parts of the road, starting with some thematic songs about the highway in general, including a re-worked version of Daniel Amos’ “Glory Road.” I really like the addition of Mike Roe’s Dick Dale-like surf rock guitar motif, but live version they played when they reached the Santa Monica pier has a faster tempo and I prefer it to the slower version they put on this CD. The cornerstone of the album is the middle section that focuses on the plight of Okies heading west along the dangerous, winding old Route 66 only to reach California hoping to find work there. This part is, as would be expected, somber and unsettling as Mike Roe croons “the wife cries/she wants to go back/but there ain’t no back to go back to/the banks and bulldozers made damn sure of that.” The next section of the album centers around the arid, dry desert that the road crosses through the Southwest, even evoking an Eagles-like tribute to Winslow from “Take It Easy” with their song “Goodbye Winslow” and a hopeful song about the children of a mission school on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona in “Desert Flowers.” Taylor writes “Dead End Diner” about a waitress located off the freeway pining for a better life with a little political satire mixed in (never a fan of any president, regardless of party, Taylor sneaks in the repeating lines “Obama’s on the radio/Here’s my money/Obama’s on the radio/Keep the change, honey”).

The match of Route 66 and Lost Dogs seems quite the fit as, like the highway, the members of the band have gone through several phases of their own history. Taylor, Hindalong, Roe, and Daugherty started out as pioneers in the 70′s and 80′s playing rock and roll in churches against some ridicule that rock was inherently sinful. In the 90′s they joined together as a novelty supergroup and in the last 10 years have coalesced into elder statesmen of rock and roll and thoughtful Americana music. Much like Route 66, they have been bypassed by bands that are faster, better looking, and get to the point quicker, but like Route 66 they are a still quietly delivering to those that take the time to step off the radio and explore what’s outside of the mainstream. All of the expected elements are here on the album, Roe’s guitar work, Hindalong’s quirky percussion, Taylor’s thoughtful penned lyrics, and some nice harmonizing from all four members. The introduction of a theme ties the album together nicely and the format of the album gives the listener almost a feel of traveling from east to west. The entire trip was filmed by the talented Jimmy Abegg as they visited with people that live along the road and hopefully that footage will also see the light of day, but for now, Old Angel makes for a satisfying travel journal of one group’s road-trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The veteran bands were strong, Over the Rhine returned to the festival and made up for last year’s absence by giving us almost two full sets. The Lost Dogs brought out a touching tribute to Route 66. Some of the bands that I hoped would have incredible shows, Future of Forestry and Paper Route, delivered. The only disappointment I had was that there were not as many interesting new bands. Campbell The Band showed promise, but I really only saw three songs by them.

I do wish I had seen more worship-focused bands. David Crowder Band was on Main Stage, but at the same time as another show I wanted to see and I think I would’ve enjoyed The Glorious Unseen more if I hadn’t been feeling so sick at the time.

So, let’s narrow it down to my Top 5 shows: (in no particular order)
Paper Route- This was my number 1 most anticipated show coming into the festival and they hit it out of the park. The band drew energy off of the crowd and the crowd was totally into it.

Deas Vail - Successfully navigated the rocky waters of moving from the side stage to Main Stage. Played much of their newest album which contains their strongest material yet.

Future of Forestry – Only three members played about 20 instruments. The band brought energy on the last day with a wide variety of instruments with drums, keyboards, guitars, cellos, and even a harmonium

Eisley – Welcome back DuPree family! Please come back sooner than eight years to Cornerstone.

The Kicks – Good old fashioned four-piece rock and roll songs with girl’s names in the titles. Just a fun show that reminds me of 80′s rock.

The Next 5: These shows are in the second tier, in no particular order.
Over The Rhine – The new songs are still in development, but it was very cool of the band to share them with us. Can’t wait to see how they end up on the new album. Two full sets of material gave us plenty to enjoy.

Lost Dogs – Loved the new Old Angel material and Steve Hindalong thrilled the crowd with twirling a rope. Not as much old schtick as previous shows.

Seabird – Nice end to the festival. The new album might not be as strong as their previous album, but it’s still pretty good and the crowd was into it even though everyone was fatigued from the long week.

The Choir – It was a little rough, sure, with some underrehearsed moments, but it was great to see the band back after a five year absence and the new music was great.

Nitengale – Strange to see only the lead signer at the festival, with the rest of the band dismissed, but his voice is compelling and the new songs are great. Even just on guitar or keyboards, the songs were enough to make me see him twice.

Five Bands That You Will Hear About Soon:
These five bands are flush with potential. We’ll see if they return next year, but if they do, they are going to come back with higher expectations and bigger crowds.

Campbell The Band – They toured around the grounds, playing impromptu shows on drums, guitars, and pianos and it worked, drawing a big crowd to the New Band Stage. They only had three songs, and they sound totally different than the EP they sold, so we’ll have to see what the develop into.

Quiet Science – I expected this band to turn the corner this year, but they still have some untapped potential. The promotion with the “protestors” and costumes was genius and I think it drew bigger crowds. The first Jesus Village show was a little rough, but they hit on all cylinders on the Impact Stage. They are still on the way up.

House of Heroes – For some reason I didn’t expect to like this band, but they rocked it out. The new material has a little bit of Muse influence and I may have to check out some more from this band.

News From Verona – This band is strongly influenced from bands like New Found Glory and Taking Back Sunday and the kids loved it. Fun teenage rock.

The Rendition – Nice piano rock with female lead vocals. I’d like to see this band again with a year of experience.

So there you go, Cornerstone 2010 is in the books! I hope I can go again next year, but just like every year, you never know. At the very least, I’m hoping next year I won’t be ill the entire week.

By the last day, I’m usually starting to get in the groove at Cornerstone Festival, but this year I was still restless and sleepless at night and still suffering from my lingering illness and still dozing during shows. Something was definitely not right with me. Nonetheless, I only had one day left so I needed to get the most out of Cornerstone while there was still some festival left.

We arrived early to the Main Stage to see The Glorious Unseen, a unique and reverent worship band, but I was still sluggish from lack of sleep and the unshaded heat of the main stage made me sleepy. The weather, which had been just about perfect the entire week, had heated up just a little bit, but was still very much tolerable. Unless you are sick and sitting out in the open sun. I don’t really remember much about this show, unfortunately.

We stepped over to the Label Stage to see Tonight Tonight but again, I don’t remember much about the show because I still in a sleepy stupor. Going back to Main Stage, I perk up a little bit for House of Heroes who sound surprisingly good. They have a little bit of a Muse influence and they have a good rocking sound so I’m back paying attention. All The Day Holiday played next on the Main Stage and much like the Deas Vail show yesterday I was a little apprehensive about their show playing in the middle of the day on the Main Stage instead of with a lively crowd under a tent. All The Day Holiday didn’t do as well as Deas Vail, in my opinion, partially because they left off many of the songs that I like by them. A mild disappointment though I still do really like this band.

There wasn’t much going on in the afternoon and I still wasn’t feeling great, so I mostly stayed in the web trailer and caught up with blogging and photos and then enjoyed a leisurely dinner with everyone. This year we didn’t get an opportunity to all have dinner together at the Behm’s campsite which is a shame, that’s one of my favorite moments of Cornerstone, but the schedule didn’t allow for it this year. After a little bit of rest, I was ready to close out my Cornerstone at the Gallery Stage.

O’Brother started the night out and they were ok, but a little to abstract for my taste. I may have to give them another chance sometime. The next band Future of Forestry was one of the bands I had been looking forward to seeing all week. I was a little apprehensive because, like Paper Route, I had been talking them up all week and was afraid my friends would not be impressed, but like Paper Route they delivered the goods at the show. The band had only three members, but there were probably fifteen instruments on the stage as they moved between all of them. The show was incredible and I was glad to see this band that rarely ventures out of the West Coast. I may have some video of this show that I will upload later.

The last show of the night, much like last year, was Seabird This year, they had a new CD worth of material to play and it was well received by the crowd. The lead singer even brought his cute little four year-old daughter onto the stage (which made me really, really miss my two little sprites.) to say hello to everyone. The show was a nice way to close out the festival weekend.

Quiet Science was playing another show on the Jesus Village stage, but at this point, I was pretty much used up. We all went back to the web trailer to say our goodbyes to all the hardworking people on the coverage team at Cornerstone and chatted for a while before eventually heading out. The last night was kind of a coda to the whole festival, wrapping things up from the climax of the previous evening.

As for me, I slept almost the entire way home the next day and upon returning home discovered that I had a sinus infection. I don’t know how you get a sinus infection while you are still on antibiotics for a strep throat, but I managed to do it. No wonder I felt so bad during the week. Oh well, physical ailments aside, Cornerstone Festival 2010 was a great amount of fun and in my next post I’ll sum up the week and note some of the highlights.

Everyone comes to Cornerstone Festival for a variety of reasons to see a variety of bands, but almost everyone looks at the schedule and singles out “The Day.” It’s that day when from afternoon to after midnight, there is a great show after great show happening all day long.

The first thing I do is to check out the band Centralia Mine Fire They are a very young band that is mostly instrumental with a little bit of the old, old emo sound. Somewhat interesting stuff, though they are just getting off the ground. While walking back, I stop by a tent where a band called Oh! The Humanity is playing. They have sort of an Owl City meets 80′s metal guitar sound which makes me stop for a moment before continuing on to the New Band Stage.

The soundcheck took too long and by the time the show started a band curiously named Campbell The Band had only three songs to win the crowd over. Of course, the band had already done their work, canvasing the Cornerstone grounds playing impromptu shows for crowds of people. So, the tent was completely full for Campbell The Band and those three songs.

And how were those three songs? Not bad. The band got the crowd involved immediately by handing a drum into the crowd and playing it from the stage. It only took three songs to get the crowd rushing back to the merch table to buy the EP. The sound reminds me a little bit of a more rocking, ensemble sound based around Sufjan Steven’s symphonic music.

I was initially a little apprehensive about seeing Deas Vail on the Main Stage in the afternoon. Their shows on the tent stages in previous years have been great with a packed, excited crowd, but sometimes the crowd can be dead at the Main Stage early in the day and the band can wither. Fortunately, Deas Vail handled things just fine and delivered a quality show. Their new album Birds and Cages is one of the early leaders for my favorite album of the year so far.

On Friday, I got not one but two concerts by Over The Rhine, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The band spread their material out over the two shows and I don’t think played the same song in either set, which was impressive. The afternoon set was a little more familiar, but they threw in a new song or two. For the festival appearance, they picked up Caedmon’s Call drummer Todd Bragg which was like two of my separate worlds colliding. The afternoon show was a fun preview of their traditional midnight appearance.

Quiet Science was one of the bands that debuted at Cornerstone last year that I was really looking forward to seeing again this year. They returned to Cornerstone with aggressive promotion dressing up in strange costumes and even bringing their own “protesters” to generate a buzz at the festival. I missed their show earlier in the week, but from what I heard the show I saw at the Impact Stage was better. I really think this band has a lot of potential. They haven’t quite achieved that potential yet, but it’s there, they are original and creative and I love the show. The execution will get there. I’m not a video person by any means, but I’ve uploaded my video of their song Queen Elisabeth on YouTube

Paper Route was probably the best I looked forward to seeing the most at Cornerstone this year and they completely and totally delivered. I’ve seen the band a couple of times now, even at the first appearance here at the festival a couple years ago. The band has energy and stage presence sure, but this year’s show at Cornerstone was something else. The band was all smiles, leaping across the stage and playing with gusto I’ve never seen in their previous shows. Girls in the crowd were so overwhelmed they were crying. Guys were nodding along with their eyes closed. These kind of shows are what make Cornerstone so special and different from other concerts.
More shaky-cam video from me here.

Later in the evening, Eisley continued the incredible lineup of artists on the Gallery Stage. The DuPree family is overflowing with talent as the four siblings and cousin played their first show at Cornerstone since they were mere children in 2002. Hopefully there will more material from this group soon as they have wriggled their way out of their contract with Warner Bro. Records.

By the time Over the Rhine returned to the stage for their midnight performance, it really did feel like an “encore” show as there had been so much great music all day. Over the Rhine was the cherry on top. Karin Bergquist and husband Linford Detweiler let us in on a couple more new songs as they are wrapping up the recording process of their newest album.

Up to the Over the Rhine show, the Gallery had taken on a younger and more rocking crowd than normal, but I’m glad it did. The stage has badly needed an injection of youth in both bands and crowds. The kids just need to learn that you sit down at this stage (that’s why there are chairs all over the place) and you stand at all the other stages. Other than some “down in front!” “everybody stand up!” drama in the crowd, I thought the changes to the younger were good for Gallery stage. What an incredible lineup of artists on Friday night. This was the peak of the festival for me.

The second or third day is when the “Cornerstone Burn” kicks in. You aren’t used to this kind of sleeping schedule. You aren’t used to this kind of noise all day. You aren’t used to walking this much. This is when you start to wear down. All of this combined with my lingering illness meant I was dragging this day, but I had to keep pressing on, because there was some good music to be heard on this day.

I started out the day with some newer bands at the festival. The Clutter played first today for me with some instrumental songs mixed with some rock music. Over on the Label Showcase stage, News From Verona and Don’t Wake Aislin got a great reaction from the kids. News From Verona leaned towards the power-pop side mirroring while bands like Taking Back Sunday and New Found Glory while Don’t Wake Aislin delivered powerful driving rock with female-led vocals. They have a heavier sound sort of like Flyleaf but with a much brighter sound, not quite so morose.

Continuing the theme of women bringing great music, Brooke Waggoner, joined by harpist Timbre, played a fantastic set at the Gallery stage. She’s so fun to watch play as she shifts tempos mid-stream in songs and goes from lush ballad to bouncy ragtime all in the same song. From there, I finished the afternoon with a very loose and very fun second set by Jeff Elbel and Ping, consisting mostly of covers.

I spent the early evening taking a break by sitting out in the back of the Main Stage, eating dinner and listening to The Almost I’m not a hardcore kid, so naturally I gravitate more to this music by Aaron Gillespie than Underoath. The Tom Petty cover was pretty weak, but otherwise the set was enjoyable. Once I finally regained my strength, I headed over to the Afterhours tent where my friend David was starting off the night of dance music. The crowd slowly started to trickle in as I arrived and as I was leaving the numbers were starting to swell and I suspect once Skillet (who were unbelievably loud) finished up on Main Stage, things really started to get going at the dance tent.

The final show of the night was the long-awaited return of The Choir to the midnight slot on the Gallery stage. The Choir had last played at Cornerstone in 2005 and hadn’t played the festival with noisy bass guitarist Tim Chandler since 2002 so it was wonderful to have the band back, with a new album in tow even. Of course, being a Choir show, there was lyric and tuning flubs and some missed notes that come from a band that no longer tours anymore, but those are small prices to pay to see these guys play music once again. It’s always a treat to watch Steve Hindalong and his quirky expressions on drums.

By the end of the night, the “Cornerstone burn” was in full effect and I was ready for sleep. I needed to get some sleep too, because the next Friday, was looking to be epic.

Early in the day, the band The Kicks started things off on the Underground Stage. From Nashville, the band is firmly rooted in good old classic Southern rock and roll. They had a little bit of a sheen of professionalism sometimes lacking in new bands at Cornerstone. Currently, their new single is available for download from their myspace site and their first album can be downloaded for free from thekicksrock.com

If the Main Stage move is somewhat drastic, the Gallery move seems almost imperceptible. Oh sure, the tent has moved, but it’s almost as if it was teleported, complete with fans and bands to the new location. The stage is the same. The arrangement of chairs and tables is the same. The coffee shop is still there. Even many of the same people that frequent the crowd from year to year seem to have found their way to the new location.

The afternoon set of artists reinforced that familiarity. Mike Roe performed solo and then joined Terry Taylor for an acoustic set. Later, Roe performed a duet with Derri Daugherty with all sorts of cover songs. While Taylor’s set was a little disappointing, the setlist was nearly identical to his previous show at Cornerstone last year, the duet with Roe and Daugherty was surprisingly fun as they mostly did covers.

Gallery Stage guitar tech Jeff Elbel brought his band Ping on the stage and even brought children of the band on stage for a song. Family is a strong theme at Cornerstone and for many of the artists and patrons of the Gallery stage, this is their family at the festival.

After a short dinner break, it was time for the evening set of shows at Cornerstone. On any given night at Cornerstone Festival, there are a dizzying variety of choices to make for who to see in concert. The choices are as across the board as can be, too. I started my evening out with mewithoutyou on the Main Stage. They commanded a big crowd and hit through many of their more popular songs while adding in a few from their new album. I can’t really accurately describe their sound, but they have a pretty big following here at the festival and they all showed up for the show. The fine video crew at Cornerstone captured their last song of the concert.

I could’ve stayed for Red and TobyMac (who I did hear while walking back and forth on the grounds, it’s just about impossible to miss whoever is playing on Main Stage), but I headed to the Gallery tent where two longstanding acts performed once again. The Lost Dogs are a yearly favorite and this year they finally had their newest album, Old Angel, a travelogue about their trip on Route 66 for sale. Mike Roe wailed on guitar during “Bullet Train” and “Eleanor It’s Raining” and Steve Hindalong twirled a rope to the crowd’s delight. After their show, Iona brought their Celtic progressive rock back to Cornerstone after an absence of nearly 15 years. The band performed some old favorites from their albums in the 90?s, a couple longer progressive pieces, and even an Irish jig or two. The Iona show was reminescent of their shows that I’ve heard about at Cornerstone in the 90′s as it stretched deep past 1:00 AM…. and it was cold… and I was tired. We bailed after a while, but I’m glad I got to see this band at least once now.

It should come as no surprise to me that a crisis arises right as I prepared to leave for Cornerstone Festival. I started feeling ill on Saturday and went to see the doctor yesterday on Sunday and sure enough, I had strep throat. Ugh. Fortunately, the antibiotics started to kick in as I left for the festival, but it definitely had a negative effect on me during the whole week as I found myself dragging many afternoons and sleeplessly tossing around in my bed at night.

This isn’t the first year that something has come up right as I’m about to leave for Cornerstone Festival. Just a few years ago, someone decided to run up a couple thousand dollars using my credit card number right as I was about to leave, so I had to frantically call and cancel the card and find alternate ways to get money for the festival. Such is the way of my trips to Cornerstone.

Nonetheless, we boarded the car and made our way up to Illinois. Jerry Ray, our faithful driver rented an SUV and we were fortunate to have no car problems despite the dire message “REPLACE OIL NOW” that kept appearing in the dashboard. We picked up Glenn in Nashville and made pretty good time on the way up, closing the day with an amazing sunset and then thousands of fireflies lighting up the sides of the road as we approached Western Illinois University.

The dorms at WIU are, to put it best, spartan, but up to this year we at least had internet connections. For whatever reason, we couldn’t connect through the ethernet (at least midway into the week) and the wireless connection was apparently at the base of the building and we were out of luck sixteen floors up. Nonetheless, the dorm was at least clean, quiet, and very, very cold, which I’m sure did no help to my suffering sinuses.

On to the actual festival. In the old days, I always called the first day “Day 0″ because it wasn’t an actual festival day, but rather a day sponsored by Tooth N’ Nail Day. So, I don’t know what day it is (generator bands had already been playing on Monday), so I’ll just call it Tuesday. Early in the festival, especially with the generator stages, flexibility is the key word at Cornerstone. Things invariably go off schedule. Bands fail to show up. Stages lose power. Things happen. So, sometimes the band you intended to see end up playing at a different time. That means I’ve been on the move a lot, trying to see what I’m intending to see. Early in the day, I caught Karina Mia, who played a Jason Mraz cover for us on ukelele. The Rendition played probably the best set of he early afternoon with a nice rock show with keyboards and guitars and nice, strong vocals from the female lead singer. I’m trying to find their music to download, but haven’t had any success yet.

Over on the Anchor Stage, Allen Aguirre exorted the crowd “who can approach the throne of God? You can!” with his band Men As Trees Walking. The band is truly a family as one of the singers, Aquirre’s daughter and one of the guitarists, his son-in-law, are expecting a child very, very soon. The worship music they play is a relaxed tone that goes against just about every rule in the book for “worship music” in church, but it’s relaxing and comforting in another way. The Anchor stage was in an odd location, located behind Main Stage and far from everything else, so I found myself less inclined to walk to it.

Continuing along the lines of flexibilty, I wandered by the old Main Stage grounds heading out to the new Main Stage. I have to say I really like how the Main Stage towers above the rest of the grounds. You can see it from almost anywhere at the festival. When the Main Stage was over by the lake, it was special because it was separate from the rest of the action. Now, however, its the center of the action.

During the afternoon, I saw Sleep For Sleepers where perhaps by fate, fell asleep myself. That’s no indictment on the band. They were actually pretty good, it’s just that I was seriously tired and still recovering from illness. We then walked over to the generator tent where the bizarre and entertaining Scottish punk band, Rodent Emporium was set to play. They were still setting up, so I stepped over to the next tent where Oh Sister, Oh Brother were playing. They were playing a pleasant piano-led trio. I don’t remember a whole lot about it (blame it on the sleeplessness and sickness) so I’ll have to check out their music again. Then, Rodent Emporium was on and the crowd was dancing and the band was playing their strange songs. It’s entertaining, I’ll give it that much.

Switchfoot was one of the ideal bands to start off the new Main Stage at the new location as they drew a nice big crowd on a cooling evening. One of the great things about Cornerstone is that many of the performers are also fans. While I was down front for the Switchfoot show (which by the way, thumbs up for the new Main Stage. Loved seeing everyone all gathered in the middle of the grounds and the views of the stage were perfect even if you weren’t down front), the lead signer for Nitengale was standing right in front of me. Only 40 minutes later I was watching him performing on the Chelsea Cafe stage. Seems like everyone is here to see someone perform.

Speaking of Nitengale, we were in for a surprise when the lead singer appeared on stage alone and announced he was the only member in the band left. I was a little apprehensive that the songs would sound a little flat without the backing band, but instead the solo performance on guitar and piano reminded me just what an incredible voice Josh Baumgartner has. At the end of the show, he was selling a burned CD which ended up being the latest Nitengale CD, Oh My Heart plus a couple demos presumably for his next project. He said he had a new agent and was putting together a new band and I hope it all comes to fruition, because there is serious potential there.

We wrapped the night up early with everyone still dragging a little bit from travel and me still a little sick, doing the rare thing and going back to the dorms from Cornerstone before midnight.

Anberline has been a regular at the festival (though, sadly, absent from the lineup this year) for 6 or 7 years now and they’ve moved from the tent stages to a featured performer on the Main Stage and, in my opinion, steadily improved along the way. I missed last year’s show, but from what I hear it was one of their best. This cover of New Order’s “True Faith” shows their 80′s influences while being firmly rooted as one of the hot bands of “today.”