Last time on Hype Hype Hooray: Jamie and Brittany get an invitation to a super-secret Idaho music festival/party. They accept! After receiving the secret directions, they pack up the car and begin the journey. Will they find glory? Shame? Or will the experience be overall neutral? Find out more this week in Ranch Fest: The Secret Idaho Music Event of Your Dreams Pt. 2!!
Brittany and I popped on a Boy Eats Drum Machine CD and we were off. While I can’t disclose exactly where we drove, I doubt that would be interesting to any non-Idahoans anyway (“You’re north of Montana, right?” –You Non-Idahoans). Let’s just skip the car drive and get the good parts. Brittany and I pulled up to a nondescript ranch that the directions led to. There were no signs that said “Ranch Fest” and very few other cars. We were concerned.
As we got to the end of the driveway, two figures approached the car. Instantly I knew they were Ranch Fest people. A friendly, mustachioed man drinking a PBR introduced himself as Phil. The woman to his right was his girlfriend, he said, and she would be giving massages later. The beer (from an Idaho microbrewery) would be there soon and once they tapped the kegs it was all-you-can-drink free. Excuse me? Free beer, massages and two days of music for a suggested donation of $30/person? When we handed him that $60, I felt like we were stealing from the man.
We drove into the field behind the ranch, parked next to the few other cars and pitched our tent. As we walked the windy path back to the barn we imagined walking it in the pitch-black dark with several beers in our stomachs. The marsh that ran along the path suddenly seemed very daunting. As the sun started to set, we realized that this May night was going to be a COLD one. Despite our fears we carried on. By 6:00 the kegs were tapped and the music was on. Ranch Fest was a go!
The first act to take the barn-turned stage was Talk Math To Me, a young band made up of guys from some of the other bands playing the show. Their brand of subtly odd, folk-inspired indie rock made for an excellent opener. Ranch Fest handled the in-between-act lull by scheduling small, acoustic acts in the middle of the crowd, highlighting some truly wonderful musicians (like Hillfolk Noir and Sam Cooper) and giving the audience constant live music. We watched more great music as the sky turned from pale blue to a lovely amber to black. We saw stellar sets from bands like Sleepy Seeds, Dark Swallows and Yeah Great Fine.
By the time 11:00 p.m. rolled around, it was freezing cold. I was glad I brought thermals, a hat and gloves, because I actually needed ALL OF THOSE THINGS. Brittany and I were pretty tired so we decided that if we planned on staying up until 2 a.m., we should skip an act and take an hour-long nap. We bundled up in our sleeping bags and promptly woke up at 2:30 a.m. By the time we crawled out of the tent and back up to the ranch, there was only a handful of guys standing around a barrel fire talking about drunken nonsense. Naturally, we decided to join them.
Somewhere in the course of the long drunken ramblings somebody mentioned “the sauna.” Wh-wh-whaaaa? (That wasn’t a stutter, it was our surprised lips shivering in the cold air.) Brittany and I, and one of the drunk guys, headed down to a tiny shack that held the actually very nice sauna. A couple left just as we went in, leaving just us, a very nice woman, and the very drunk dude we came with. Now, in case you didn’t know, there’s a difference between a sauna and a steam room; the main difference of course is that a sauna doesn’t usually use steam. Unfortunately, drunk guy didn’t know this and kept insisting on pouring water on top of the heater, resulting in a very hot, not very steamy sauna. But we didn’t care; it was warmth, beautiful warmth.
When the sun started to rise, we decided it was probably time to leave the sauna and go back to sleep. It was 4:30 a.m. as we crawled back into our little tent, with sounds of indie rock playing in our heads and the taste of beer lingering on our tongues. We were tired and we were cold, but we were excited for a full day of Ranch Fest ahead.
Next time: The Shocking Conclusion or How We Missed All the Bands We Went There To See!
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