Re: What was your 1st camping Music Festival
Does following the Dead without a sufficient plan for where to sleep that night count?
Back in '86, me and my buds went to the Rubber Bowl in Akron to see the Dead, and Bob Dylan backed by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. This would have been July 2. Killer show, and local for me. My one bud was a huge Deadhead [as was I] and wanted to see them two days later in Buffalo on the Fourth of July. He had a reliable car, we had nothing better to do
and so we drove up that morning. A real mess w/ traffic, but we scored tix and had another great day of music, and a
great July 4th setlist from Jerry & co. Jerry wore a red shirt for the show
Later on, we didn't know what to do for a place to crash, and some freaks said 'follow us!' ... we did for about an hour; they had a private camp somewhere along Lake Erie, south of Buff. We partied all night with our new friends, and eventually got a few winks in the car. I woke to a gorgeous morning, and took a dip in a cold, clear stream next to the camp to freshen up. We shuffled on home, weathered, but really no worse for the wear. That was a fun couple days! And really the only time I 'toured' with the band; I held down a day job, so Dead shows were always one-offs for me.
But my first real camp fest, was at SpringFest at SOSMP in 2002. I wanted to learn about bluegrass, which I had about zero experience with, other than the iconic album that the Nitty Gritty boys put out; Circle somethingerother
... I took my son, who was all of seven. We camped with a friend, who was camping with others right about where Waneetopia is, and a hard partying / up-all-night group it was. They were really put off by some stranger bringing his kid to their camp, but it all worked out. One of my favorite memories of that trip was driving in on Thursday, the fest was well underway, and a line of cars was crawling along the main road. I spy this old guy in a suit, walking along the road, carrying a fiddle, saying 'hi' to all the passerbys and drivers. We passed, and I said hello to Vassar Clements. I was like Flounder at the end of Animal House~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arZdeg_fL-I 
... and we've been going to SOSMP twice a year ever since! Actually, this year, it'll be FIVE fests there
