Mile High Music Festival

It was a mild, breezy, late summer afternoon in Commerce City. The smell of petrochemical refineries was masked by the occasional waft of "prescription" smoke. I was shoeless with a constant supply of beers and I was dancing about like a hippy.

I was very happy to welcome Dave Matthews back to the festival. I thought Weezer was awesome. And, as usual, the headliners were peppered in amongst some great up and coming bands.

I am really pleased with the fact that they are holding the festival in August as opposed to July. The temperature for an all day festival was much more pleasant.

Next year...Winnebago .

For only being a two-day festival, I thought there was plenty of solid b-list bands to warrant the ticket price, but I wouldn't have gone if I didn't like the lineup, would I? I don't think Jack Johnson should be headlining a festival, though this shouldn't be a review of individual acts.

This is the first time I've purchased tickets online through Flash Seats, which doesn't issue you a physical ticket, rather the credit card with which the tickets were purchased are scanned at the gate. On the one hand, it prevents you from losing your tickets and eliminates counterfitting (also cuts down on dudes holding cardboard signs saying "I need tickets"), but I also think it would have made selling tickets difficult if I wasn't able to attend (they do offer an official reselling point on Flash Seats' website). I think it also added a bit of a delay at the gates, too, as people had to fumble for their credit cards after trying to reconfigure themselves from the bag searches.

Stage placement was pretty effective - there's five major stages, two of which are tented. The four smaller stages were parallel to each other, separated by a few hundred yards. The main stage is perpendicular and facing the other stages, so there was more sound bleeding when situated near the far ends of the tented stages than I would have liked.

Not all festivals allow food, so I appreciated bringing in some snacks and saving money on concessions. These weren't normal vendors, though, showcasing a lot of local Denver places (we tried to hit up Big Jim's hot dogs, but they were in the stupid VIP area). It's not every festival where you can eat some lentils and curry.

The atmosphere was laid back and very respectful. My friend even lost a camera on Day 1, only to have it show up in the lost and found on Day 2.

By far the worst part of the festival was the beer selection; I hope you like Bud, Bud Light, or Bud Light with Lime, because that's all you're getting. I can appreciate sponsorships, but not only is Budweiser a terrible, terrible beer, but I'm would really not prefer to pay $7 for 16oz of 4.2% ABV pisswater. Some of the beer tents were serving draft Shock Top and Michelob, which helped the situation slightly, though at $9 a pint. On Day 2 I tried to sneak a four pack of Oskar Blues Gubna  into the festival, but sadly, got stone-cold busted. Protip: the younger kids doing the bag checks didn't seem to be as thorough as the older guys, so choose your line wisely.

A bunch of acts were webcast, many of them live. It was awesome being able to watch the second half of Dave Matthews Band's average festival set after I left early to avoid traffic.

Between my experiences here and at Telluride, Colorado is a great place to hold a music festival, and they tend to throw a cool party. Telluride is sponsored by New Belgium, though.

This is hands-down the absolute best and most fun weekend I've ever had in this fair city - two years in a row, and about to be three when July rolls around again. The lineup the first year was like out of a dream for me and seeing all of my favorite bands outside in the hot sun surrounded by thousands of Denver's music lovers was pretty close to nirvana. People were jumping rope in circles barefoot to Michael Franti, going nuts over how LOUD Rod y Gab were (just two people with guitars, they are unreal), swaying to Citizen Cope, thrashing to Flogging Molly, jamming to John Mayer and Steve Winwood, bouncing to O.A.R. and Jason Mraz and singing along to every word Tom Petty sang. A very drunk Tom Petty at that! This past year, the lineup had many bands that were new to me live: Gomez, Galactic, G. Love, Paolo Nutini, Ben Harper's new band R7...and a crazy performance and light show by Tool. The temps were under 100 degrees too which made it slightly more comfortable. Shade is hard to come by at Dick's Sporting Goods soccer complex but they made some improvements over the first year by adding shaded tents with misters and chairs. But beyond the music, what sets this festival apart is the utter smoothness with which it operates. Lines were short, security was minimal, police presence unobtrusive, fights nowhere to be found...just a bunch of shiny happy people in the high desert! Because of this lax approach, you'll have no trouble bringing in chairs, blankets, food, water and even booze which you don't have to try too hard to conceal. We made it in last year with 4, yes 4 liters of vodka! Made for many tasty and cheap John Daly's (lemonade, iced tea and vodka). Get in, claim a spot and get comfy. The tickets may sound steep but if you haven't gone yet, you're truly missing out.