There seems to be one day every festival that starts out normal and quickly descends into chaos. For 2023, that day was Saturday. Already the weakest in my view, the weather decided to have some fun with all the music lovers who showed up in time to catch MJ Lenderman.

That didn’t include me, of course. No, my Saturday started off with a large popcorn and soda as I sat at the AMC and found out that the patriarchy isn’t just horses. Followed Barbie with a nice brunch and a trip home to grab camera gear for the rest of the day. Got to the park around 4, and as I walked toward the gates a flood of people came pouring out onto the sidewalk.

There was a little bit of lightning in the sky, which is an automatic evacuation these days. The rain had pretty much ended, but there were troubling clouds in the air, so they held off opening the festival back up for over an hour. I had come to see Julia Jacklin at 5:15, which ended up being pushed to a very short solo set that started at 6. Snail Mail were completely skipped. They got back on track with King Krule on the Green Stage, which I had zero interest in seeing.

Instead I got the second big surprise of the festival, Yaya Bey, on the Blue Stage. Great voice, great message, very relatable personality. I loved everything about the performance. She gave a lot of positive energy and called for everyone to strike to get what they deserve.

Stood in the photo pit patiently while Big Thief waited for the loud bass from the Blue Stage to die down before meandering into their slow, quiet headlining set. Got out of the pit and back around to a good viewing area in time to catch a new arrangement of “Simulation Swarm” and then quickly headed for the exit.