OK, after having experienced ToC yesterday, here are some musings:
-ToC seemed a lot more crowded than MJ. At times I almost felt claustrophobic.
-We really got lucky with the weather at MJ this year. While it didn't rain yesterday, there was mud everywhere because it had rained all week. It was also rather chilly compared to last week.
-It was clear that most people's drug of choice at ToC was alcohol instead of weed. The beer lines were much longer than at MJ, and the lodge bar was also much more crowded. I did smell weed occasionally though, and I heard at least one artist mention that he partakes in it.
-Security at the entrance seemed a bit more relaxed than at MJ. However, I know that security seems to be hit and miss depending on who you get, so I'm not going to judge the entire festival based on my one experience.
-Security and police presence inside the venue seemed to be about equal to what it was at MJ.
-I watched security haul off a guy who became combative when they tried to move him out of the way of an oncoming emergency vehicle. No major incidents other than that.
-Gary Chetkof was walking around in a Mountain Jam sweatshirt. I watched him buy a smoothie for his son. (I found this kind of funny given the fact that he probably has access to catering. It was good to see that he was out and about with the crowds.)
-I enjoyed the performances (and I generally enjoy all types of music), but I've realized I can only take country music in limited quantities. By the end of the day I was pretty tired of hearing songs about beer, women, cowboys, women who love cowboys, cowboys who love women, etc. Also, I don't mean to sound unpatriotic, but the "USA! USA! USA!" chants all over the place grew tiresome after a while.
-I wasn't all that impressed with Brad Paisley, but maybe that's because I'd already had my fill of country music by the time he hit the stage. Also, the setup of all his equipment caused an hour-plus delay in the start of the whole festival that day. They were actually still setting up his stuff while Jamie Lynn Spears performed.
-Speaking of Jamie Lynn Spears, she put on a decent performance and I give her props for trying to make a name for herself independent of her sister's fame. (She did throw in a few lines of "Oops, I Did it Again", but it was done in a tasteful way.) My only criticism is that she said "thank y'all" waaayyy too many times.
-Kudos also to Randy Houser, who due to car trouble, showed up late and without his band. He played a darn good acoustic set with the help of only a keyboard player.
-Charlie Worsham was the most energetic performer I saw, and I really enjoyed his set.
-Craig Morgan was OK but seemed pretty full of himself.
-There was a DJ that opened for Brad Paisley who played a mix of country, rock, and hip hop music. Some of the rock songs actually got more of a crowd response than some of the country songs.
-My dad said he felt that the ToC crowd was a bit more aggressive than the MJ crowd, but personally I didn't find that to be the case. Just like at MJ, most of the people I saw at ToC were reasonably friendly and were there to enjoy the music and have a good time.
-After having attended two festivals in two weekends, I'm festivaled out for a while! I know there are some people who travel all around the country and attend as many festivals as possible - kudos to you but I don't know how you do it!
