The Rothbury Festival - The Double JJ Ranch, Rothbury MI - 07.03.08 to 07.07.08
Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 07.17.2008
A new music festival enters the scene in 2008. Dave Matthews, Primus, Snoop Dogg, and more. Does Rothbury fill a gap or is it be one to many?
I had the opportunity to go to the first Rothbury festival in Northwest Michigan over Fourth of July weekend. Rothbury was a four-day music festival, comprised primarily of “jam bands” and focused on environmental issues and specifically on alternative and renewable energy. They had some extremely lofty goals, specifically to produce a “zero waste” festival that had little to no carbon footprint. The question I had was whether they could live up to that mission while still having a strong event.
Since I had never been to a festival of this magnitude before, I decided to break my review of Rothbury down into three parts: Music, Venue, and Festival. The Music section focuses primarily on reviews of the different bands that I had the chance to see over the four days. The Venue section focuses on the venues themselves, the camping, the amenities, the food, and anything else that I could think of. And the Festival section focuses on all of the other stuff going on at Rothbury that wasn’t directly tied to the music. Hopefully this all makes sense to you, because it was the only way I could think of to do a comprehensive review of a spectacular four-day event.
Music
Before I get into specific bands, allow me to make a little confession here. I was not familiar with the vast majority of the bands at Rothbury. Even for most of the bands that I was familiar with, I wasn’t what you would call a diehard fan. I was very interested in whether or not a bunch of bands that I didn’t know (or didn’t know very well) would be able to keep my interest for four days. It was a tall order, but there was a lot of talent on stage to take on that task.
Thursday
Greensky Bluegrass
As the first band that we went to see at the festival, I was pleasantly surprised at how good these guys were. They’re a pretty basic bluegrass group, but they weren’t afraid to branch out beyond basic bluegrass. Obviously, I didn’t recognize any of the original songs that they did, but I was interested instead of bored. They closed out their set a cover of “Time” by Pink Floyd that was very impressive. They made it their own, but instead of giving it the full “bluegrass” treatment, it still had the depressing attitude that the Floyd original did. Nice start to the week.
Friday
First full day of the festival, and there were plenty of bands that I wanted to see. Luckily most of the music was spread out, so I didn’t really miss anyone that I was interested in.
The Wailers
These guys are obviously legends of not only reggae but just of music in general. Not too many of the original members remain, but it did seem like they were interested in continuing the Bob Marley legacy as opposed to just living off of the past. That’s not to say that they didn’t focus on their hits from the past. They did 4 or 5 songs I didn’t recognize, along with classics like “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Stir it Up,” “Three Little Birds,” and, of course “No Woman, No Cry.” The crowd was into the set, and the band sounded really good.
Snoop Dogg
This was probably the artist that I was most surprised to see at the show. I don’t know if Rothbury wanted to get 311 and Snoop came along because they’re touring together, or if they just wanted to throw a bit of a curveball into the festival, but I’m glad that they did. I’m generally not a fan of live rap music, but Snoop put on an excellent show. For starters, he had a live band. Yeah, he had a DJ, but he also had a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboard player. This led to a really full sound to his music, and some musical improvisation from the band.
I’m not a huge Snoop fan, and I don’t know much about his career since the late 90’s, but that wasn’t a problem. There were a bunch of songs that I didn’t know, but they were easy for the crowd to get into. I remember him playing a reggae song about what it feels like when you have no weed (shocking), He did a soul song that I think was called “I Wanna Fuck You.” He even did a crowd sing-along with the only lyrics being “Get high, get drunk, and fuck.” I think we all know what Snoop’s into. At least he’s consistent.
Of course, he also played songs that everyone would know. He did “187,” “Nothin’ but a G Thang,” “Gz and Hustlas” (a crowd request) “What’s My Name,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and, of course “Gin and Juice.” He even covered “Jump Around” by House of Pain.
Overall, Snoop put on a very impressive set. I’ve seen live rap before, and Snoop was by far the best live rapper I’ve ever seen. Definitely worth checking out.
Still the real G
Yonder Mountain String Band
Yonder Mountain String Band is a band that I’ve really been waiting for an opportunity to see live. I’ve heard them on a regular basis on “Jam On” on Sirius Radio, and I have heard a lot of good things about their live show. I’ve made myself somewhat familiar with their music, and, while I’m not a bluegrass aficionado, I do enjoy what these guys do. This was really the first band that I had been looking forward to for the show.
Unfortunately, they ended up being somewhat disappointing. I was really hoping for some great bluegrass music, but they really moved away from their bluegrass roots, in my opinion. The first few songs were pretty good, energetic, and got the crowd involved. However, I think it went downhill when Jon Fishman joined the band on stage. Quite frankly, these guys don’t need a drummer, and really didn’t benefit from his presence. I have all the respect in the world for Fishman, but I think he really brought down Yonder Mountain’s set.
Fishman turned Yonder Mountain from a bluegrass band to a jam band. I didn’t mind that there weren’t many songs that I didn’t recognize (I had to deal with a lot of that over the weekend), but I did feel that this wasn’t the best effort that the band could have put forward. A real disappointment for me.
Primus
More so than any band other than the Dave Matthews Band, I was looking forward to seeing Primus. I saw Primus at Ozzfest years ago, but I didn’t really know much about them. It wasn’t until more recently that I began listening to their music and following them. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had an opportunity to see them live again.
Overall, I can’t complain about their setlist at all. They opened with “Here Come The Bastards,” and really mixed up some of their more well known songs with some more “underground” Primus songs. They played most of their hits (such as they are) like “Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers,” “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver,” “My Name is Mud,” and “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.” They also hit plenty of lesser-known fan favorites like “Frizzle Fry,” “John the Fisherman,” “Harold on the Rocks” and “American Life.” While there are many songs that I would’ve liked to have heard, there’s no way Primus could’ve accommodated everything that I was looking for.
Despite the great setlist, I wasn’t totally thrilled with their performance. Instead of really rocking out, I felt that Primus jammed out on songs where they really didn’t need to. Primus has some jam influences, and they have the ability to improvise on their songs, but I felt that they did that way too much, especially in the latter part of their set. They took forever to end “My Name is Mud.” “American Life” dragged on, and “Southbound Pachyderm” seemed to drag out as an encore. It probably didn’t help that they didn’t start until after 12:30 a.m. By the time they were halfway through their set, the crowd really needed a few kick-ass hard rocking songs. Primus just didn’t deliver in that respect.
Of course, I’ll still gladly go see Primus. I think that they’d probably be much better in the role of headliner instead of on a festival bill. They just weren’t as good as I hoped they would be.
Remember kids, Les Claypool is cooler than you
I was able to catch a bit of 311, but not enough to do a real review. Heather (my partner in crime for the weekend) really enjoyed their set, so that has to count for something. I also skipped out on Widespread Panic. I was preparing for Primus, so I figured a rest in a hammock (more on those later) would be the appropriate option.
Saturday
Saturday was the big day for me. The Dave Matthews Band, plus…well, honestly, for me it’s all about DMB. I was extremely excited to see these guys. Unfortunately, I had some tough decisions to make. Dresden Dolls or Gomez? Black Keys or Medeski, Martin, and Wood? While I would like to have one of those decisions back, Saturday was a great day.
State Radio
Another band that I had never heard of before, State Radio mixed more genres than I can count. I stayed for most of their set, and I heard rock, punk, reggae, bluegrass, roots, and blues. Believe it or not, they all mixed rather well. They’re very political, very anti-Bush (and anti-establishment), and really very good. They got on the Rothbury lineup because they’re currently touring with the Dave Matthews Band. I’m looking forward to seeing them again when I check out DMB later this month.
Dresden Dolls
I forgot the Dresden Dolls were on the bill until I picked up my schedule at the show. This is a band that I’m really glad I got a chance to see. The Dresden Dolls consist of a keyboard player and a drummer, both of whom are exceptionally talented. They’re also pretty weird and quirky. I can handle that, though, because they write some great songs.
Again, I didn’t come into the festival knowing much by this band, but it didn’t stop me from really enjoying their set. It also didn’t hurt that they opened up with a cover of “In The Flesh” by Pink Floyd. No, not “In The Flesh?” (the first song on “The Wall”), they did the second “In The Flesh,” the one with references putting “queers” and “coons” “up against the wall” and having the whole audience shot. Interesting choice for an opener, but they did a great job with it.
They went on to play quite a few songs that I didn’t know, alternating between hostile and sensual, heavy and slow. They did one song with the drummer playing guitar and Amanda just singing, which didn’t work out too well, but the rest of the set was top-notch. They did one of their “hit” songs, “Coin Operated Boy,” but didn’t do “Sing.” I’m not complaining, because I think “Coin Operated Boy” is a much better song than “Sing” anyways. The band closed by covering “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath. Amanda did a great job playing the bass parts with one hand and the guitar parts (including the solo) with the other. I think that this band could really break out into the mainstream if they let go of a little bit of their quirkiness, but I don’t really see that happening. Either way, a real highlight of the festival.
Rockin’ out with Amanda Palmer
Black Keys
Since they’re from the Akron, Ohio area, I was obligated to check out the Black Keys. They’re a two-man blues band, and they’re really gaining in popularity with alternative radio. My sister-in-law and my father-in-law are both big fans of these guys. I know some of their stuff, but not much of what they played. I was very surprised at how full of a sound the band got with just a drummer and a guitarist, and how they were able to pull off a bluesy sound with no bassist. However, I skipped out after about half their set in order to find my friends at the main stage to get ready for DMB. While I know that they’re talented, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on too much by skipping the second half of their set.
Michael Franti and Spearhead
I got back to the Odeum about halfway through Spearhead’s set, in preparation for Dave Matthews. This was a very high-energy, upbeat set. A lot of funk and rock, and a certain amount of goofiness made for a good performance. Not necessarily a band that I’d pay to see, but a really good festival band.
Dave Mathews Band
As anyone knows, I went to Rothbury primarily to see these guys. There were plenty of reasons to be excited about DMB at Rothbury. It was the first time I’ve seen the band at a festival. It was the first time since 2000 that I’ve seen them without Butch Taylor as a guest on keyboards. And it was the first time ever that I’ve seen them with Tim Reynolds on guitar. Plenty of exciting things for this show.
A bit of upsetting news came in less than a week before the concert. LeRoi Moore, the saxophone player for DMB, was injured in an ATV accident less than a week before the show. Luckily, the band was able to get Jeff Coffin from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to play in his place. They really couldn’t have found a better replacement. Coffin knows a lot of DMB songs just by virtue of the number of times the Flecktones have played with DMB. Given all of these developments, I was more excited about seeing DMB than I had been in a very long time.
Overall, the band played a spectacular show. They opened up with a great version of “Seek Up,” and went into one of their newest songs, “Eh Hee.” The set was very heavy on their old songs, with half of the songs coming from their first three albums. Personal favorites for me were “#41,” “Proudest Monkey,” and a great version of “Tripping Billies.” Their older songs also included some hits like “Ants Marching,” “Satellite,” “So Much to Say,” and “Too Much.”
Old songs weren’t the only highlights of the show. The band did two songs off of Dave’s solo album, “So Damn Lucky” and a spectacular “Gravedigger” in the encore. They played the unreleased “Cornbread” and “#27” (one of my personal favorite new songs). They even brought out two cover songs that they just started playing this tour, “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly and the Family Stone closed out the encore. Overall, the band played 20 songs in a 2 1/2 hour set. Nothing wrong with that.
Of course, there were a few disappointments for me for the show. First and foremost, they didn’t play anything from “Before These Crowded Streets.” Frankly, I really don’t understand that. I understand why they didn’t play anything from “Everyday,” (they’ve really been limiting songs off of that album) but BTCS has plenty of concert staples that they could’ve chosen. Second, despite the fact that Trey Anastasio and Warren Hayes both played on Sunday, they didn’t bring out any surprise guests. I know that it’s not a good plan to expect guests, but this was a great opportunity to bring someone out. Finally, there were only a handful of songs that I haven’t heard many times before. “Sledgehammer,” “Thank You,” and “So Damn Lucky” were the only songs I had never heard before, and “#41” and “Proudest Monkey” were the only songs I hadn’t heard consistently. I was hoping for a really special set, since it was the first Rothbury ever, but it turned out to be a fairly typical show.
Of course a typical DMB show beats a great show by almost anyone else. I wanted DMB to be the highlight of the festival, and they absolutely were. I’m looking forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks.
Who brought the big ball?
Sunday
Honestly, I was half tempted to skip out on Sunday morning. I was exhausted, tired of sleeping on the ground, and, frankly, relatively stinky. My cohort Heather was desperate to see Colbie Caillat and John Mayer, and I felt a sense of obligation to stick around, since I was reviewing the show. Turned out to be a really good decision.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
This acoustic guitar duo was another surprise for the weekend. I don’t think that I’ve heard two acoustic guitars (with no vocals) kick so much ass all by themselves. Their talent was apparent, and they obviously enjoy heavy music. They make heavy metal work for the acoustic guitar. Definitely worth checking out.
Trey Anastasio
I will freely admit that I’m not really a Phish fan. I respect their talent, I respect the fanbase that they’ve been able to put together, but they’re really just not my cup of tea. However, I knew that I had to make it a point to see Trey Anastasio, out of respect if nothing else. I was very glad that I did.
Trey played an acoustic set relying heavily on Phish songs. What was apparent to me was that, when you strip away all of the jamming and all of the extra “Phish” stuff, Trey is one hell of a singer-songwriter. The songs were very basic and very heartfelt. He played 16 songs in just about an hour, with very little jamming at all. Highlights were “Farmhouse,” “Sample in a Jar,” and “Driver.” However, all of these paled in comparison to a spectacular version of “Waste.” This was one of the highlights of weekend, and possibly the best single moment of the entire festival.
After “Waste,” Trey brought out Mike Gordon (Phish’s bassist) for his last three songs. He started out by saying that all they needed was “a keyboard player and a drummer.” Yet another tease of a Phish reunion. They added to that tease by playing two never-before heard songs, “Backwards Down the Number Line” and “Alaska,” and closing with “Chalkdust Torture.”
Like I said earlier, Trey can write a damn good song. Give him an acoustic guitar, and he’s one entertaining guy. I’m not too interested in seeing Phish live, but I’d go see Trey again, that’s for sure.
Gov’t Mule
This was the last band that I saw for the festival. They put on a pretty good set, but weren’t as exciting as I hoped. Highlights included “Bad Little Doggie” and covers of “Huger Strike” and Led Zepplin’s “Heartbreaker.” A very talented band, just not what I was looking for at the end of the festival.
Music Breakdown
The music was the most important thing for me with this festival. Were there some disappointments? Of course. But the highlights and surprises outweighed those disappointments by a very large margin. I’m the type of person who can spend entire days just listening to music, whether or not I know the band. I was able to do that for 3 1/2 days, and it was worth every second.
Venue
There was a lot of hit and miss with the venue itself, the stages, and the other “amenities” at Rothbury. Let’s start with the stages.
Stages
There were three primary music stages. The main stage, known as The Odeum, was located at the far end of the venue. This was basically a very large grassy field with a slight slope and a hill at the back of the crowd area. The sound quality at this stage was fantastic. Not too loud, very clear, and you could hear the music very well from the very back of the lawn. There were a few food vendors at this stage, and a handful of other festival vendors (clothes, art, etc…) You could get into The Odeum either by entering through a path through Sherwood Forest or by coming in through the Sherwood Court stage area. There were plenty of restrooms at The Odeum, and free water. A lack of shade would be my main complaint, but it wouldn’t make sense to have the main stage in an area with lots of obstructions. A very nice main stage.
The #2 stage was The Ranch Arena. This was a similar setup to The Odeum, with the lawn area rising into a slight hill for the crowd to sit on. There were plenty of trees for shade at this stage, which was something that The Odeum was missing. Again, no sound complaints, although this stage had significantly less ground to cover. This was also where the majority of the food vendors were located. Primus, John Mayer, and The Disco Biscuits were all featured on this stage, along with many lesser-known acts.
The #3 stage was Sherwood Court. This stage had no shade, no free water, and no nice place to sit. Unlike the two main stages, the “lawn” for this stage was nothing more than a dirt field with straw laid on top. Not a comfortable place to sit down and hang out for a few hours. The only band that I saw at this stage was The Dresden Dolls, and the lack of a place to sit was a key reason for me skipping Medeski, Martin, and Wood in favor of The Black Keys. Also, since this stage was so close to The Odeum, there were places where you could stand and watch the Sherwood Court stage but hear what was playing at The Odeum. I understand that the festival was limited as to what they could do with the venues, but it was unfortunate that they didn’t do anything better with this stage.
Other Stuff
There were plenty of other cool “venue” related things at Rothbury. For me, the biggest non-musical highlight was the Sherwood Forest. This was basically a path through the forest between the Ranch Arena area and the Odeum and Sherwood Court stages. They really didn’t have to do anything with this if they didn’t want to. But it was obvious that the people running the festival were paying close attention to detail. Sherwood Forest had plenty of things for festivalgoers to do and to look at.
For starters, Sherwood Forest had multiple large-scale art instillations. These were all over the festival, but Sherwood Forest had a very high concentration. There were white sheets hanging from the trees over the paths where they would project different lights and patterns. There were large onion-shaped pieces in the forest that people could sit under and hang out. There were lights all over the forest, all connected to project different colors and patterns (including a cool strobe light effect that they did every now and then at night). And there were large, brightly colored pieces of art in the shape of cubes that looked really cool, especially at night when they shined black lights on them. This all made for an awesome visual experience in the forest.
Blacklight in the forest? Pretty cool, in my opinion
They also had plenty of things to do in Sherwood. There were different performance art things going on at random throughout the weekend. I only got to see a few, but I’m guessing that they had plenty of things when I wasn’t in there. I got to see two guys juggling knives, riding unicycles, and doing some pretty cool circus-style performances. They had a couple of guys giving “sound massages.” This basically was sitting on a reclining lawn chair with a mask over your eyes so you can’t see, and two gongs, one at your feet and one at your head. You lay between these two gongs while the people running the thing hit them in different places. Since the sound bounces off of one gong back to the other, you’re really in a “tunnel of sound” that is impossible to describe. On Sunday night, they had people walking around the forest dressed all in black except for what looked like glow sticks in the shape of stick figures attached to their bodies. It’s pretty odd to see a pink stick figure walking around a dark forest at midnight. There was even a “secret stage” in the back of the forest that we didn’t even find until Sunday night. We saw some music and dance, and I wish that I had the chance to see even more at that stage.
A cop in the sound tunnel. Who says cops aren’t cool?
I could juggle knives if I wanted to. Wanted to lose a hand, that is
With all of this going on in the forest, however, my favorite part was the hammocks. In two different sections of the forest, they had about 20 hammocks hanging from the trees that people could just go lay in and relax. No signing up, no time limits. Just go hang out in a hammock. There is nothing more relaxing, in my opinion, than laying in a hammock in the middle of the day with absolutely nothing to do. Other than the music, this was my favorite part of the festival, and it showed Rothbury’s attention to detail.
There were other large-scale art projects throughout the festival. 20-foot tall bamboo sticks in the ground, a “monkey carousel” that you had to see to believe, carved wooden arches, and even a giant wooden boot. This is just a small sampling of some of the art that was included. I’m not an art guy, and I’ll freely admit that I didn’t “get” everything that they had there, but it was pretty cool just to look at and take it all in.
Large scale art is kewl
So the inside of the venue was really good, but it was also important to me that the camping and the “necessities” be nice as well. Again, there was a lot of hit or miss with this part of the festival, but the conditions were at least livable. First off, there wasn’t really “camping” unless you paid a ton of money for the VIP treatment. Camping consisted of parking your car in a huge dirt-and-straw parking lot and pitching your tent behind it. No camping in the woods, no campfires, nothing like that. After thinking about it, I’m not really surprised. I know that it would be next to impossible for the tens of thousands of people that came to the festival to all have their own campsites. I just didn’t know what to expect coming in.
My home away from home for the weekend
The festival offered plenty of free water for the concertgoers, both inside and outside the venue. There were occasional lines during the middle of the day for the water in the campgrounds, but it tended to move pretty quickly. Figuring I drank at least a couple of gallons of water, this was an important thing for me. They also offered showers for $10. I’m a guy who likes to shower at least once a day, but I wasn’t about to pay $10 to wait in an hour line to take a shower. I simply filled up a couple of water jugs that I brought and dumped cold water on myself while soaping up. Good enough. Finally, I have to commend the festival for keeping their port-o-potties relatively clean. That’s never a fun experience, but I’ve seen much, much worse in my life. They cleaned them daily, and it didn’t seem like anyone was messing them up. That was a relief to me.
The final concern that I had coming in was the cost of food. They really had us stuck in the festival, basically paying whatever they wanted us to pay. Luckily the prices, while on the high side, weren’t outrageous. I probably got out of there spending under $100 on four days worth of food. A $5 smoothie and a couple of Nutri-Grain bars that I brought would cover me for breakfast. I’d pick up a small lunch (another $5 or so) and spend maybe $10 on a dinner that would keep me full until I got back to the campsite at night. They really had the opportunity to gouge people on food, but, thankfully, chose to keep tings reasonable.
I could probably go on about the venue, but I think I covered all of the basics here. I have to say that one of the best parts of the festival was the fact that the weather cooperated. It could have been a miserable experience if it had been overly hot or if it had rained all weekend. Luckily the temperature never got over 80, and it only rained late Sunday night/Monday morning. This was a real benefit to having the festival in Northern Michigan. It’s easy to deal with a cool evening. It’s not as easy to deal with temperatures in the 90’s or 100’s.
Festival
Aside from the music, there was plenty to do at the festival. First and foremost was The Establishment. This was another stage, but not really a music stage (although they did have music there). This was a modified circus. They had a woman hanging and doing daredevil stunts from a rope suspended from the top of the tent. They had a pseudo-burlesque show. They had tons of performance art. Hell, they even had a motorcycle daredevil show (which I am pissed that I missed.) I didn’t spend as much time here as I would have liked, but it was a very cool addition to the festival.
The Establishment. Doesn’t seem like an appropriate name, does it?
They also had plenty of “think tanks” going on. These were primarily speakers and discussions talking about ways to further the overall goals of Rothbury. Everything from “Fostering an Energy Revolution” to “Helping to Solve Global Warming in Your Own Backyard.” They wanted to give people the opportunity to really learn how to take the Rothbury ideals back to wherever they came from. I don’t know how successful they will be in making huge changes in energy consumption and global warming, but it was very exciting that they did more than pay lip service to these ideals.
If you wanted to learn something new at Rothbury, there were plenty of workshops to choose from. There were multiple “open mic” sessions at different stages. There was a “percussion jam” workshop, a “Poi Technique” workshop (which I believe is some form of juggling) and even a “Hoop Dance” workshop for all of you hoola-hoopers out there. I didn’t participate, sadly
Something that I knew I had to try at Rothbury was “Spiritual Gangster Yoga.” Now, I’m definitely not a yoga guy, but how could I pass up Spiritual Gangster Yoga? Well, it turned out to be regular yoga with a gangster rap background. I was thoroughly embarrassed by my lack of flexibility and lack of strength by the yoga experts that came out to do this. They even had different artists participate on Saturday and Sunday. Not really my thing, but a neat thing for them to add to the lineup.
My body does not bend like that
Finally, I feel the need to mention the overall “vibe” of the festival. Everyone that I interacted with at the festival was pretty much awesome. There were no incidents that I saw. No excessive drinking or drug use. No one puking on the lawn. No people screaming in the camping areas until 4 am. I saw a bunch of people actually picking up after themselves and recycling. It was a great experience, and I’m really glad that I was able to be a part of it.
Overall
The question that I wanted to answer for Rothbury was “Would it be worth the money?” Tickets were $250, it was a 6-hour drive, and that didn’t include things like food and souvenirs. Looking back at the weekend, I’d have to answer that question with a resounding “Yes.” I had a great time, and I would gladly do this again. Of course, it helped that my favorite band was headlining, but I would probably be interested in going again regardless. With so many bands on the bill, I knew that I was bound to find a few shows that I was interested in, along with plenty of surprises. Rothbury was a great weekend, and I would strongly recommend that anyone who normally hits up Bonnaroo consider Rothbury next year.
Heather and I having a grand old time.
The 411: In it’s first year, Rothbury really hit a homerun. The music was great, the venue was top-notch, and all of the little details were taken care of. The problems were mostly unavoidable, and the highlights were spectacular. Hopefully this is a preview of an even better show next year.
