Years ago I spent three weeks living on a farm in Saxapahaw, and came to the conclusion then that, despite popular belief, it's actually a hell of a lot hotter in the country than it is in a city. I thought about that Saturday at TRK Fest while witnessing several local musicians, and a whole lot of local music fans, on the verge of passing out due to heat exhaustion. Poor Ryan Gustafson (below) looked like he was just going to melt up on stage. The only good thing I can say about the heat is that I sweated so hard I only had to make a trip to the dreaded port-a-potty - in which it was easily about 30 degrees hotter -- once.
I had decided early on I wasn't going to stay till the bitter end, mainly because I didn't want to drive back to Raleigh from Pittsboro after Megafaun's 11 p.m. set. I got there right before Ryan Gustafson took the stage and stayed through Mount Moriah (below), catching Veelee (top) and Butterflies in the process. I would have liked to have taken the Piedmont Biofuels tour and stayed around for Midtown Dickens, but I was just spent by that point. See more photos from the show.
I was glad to catch Butterflies for the first time, and more impressed with Veelee this time around. But Mount Moriah stole what little of the show I saw. Midtown Dickens and Phil Cook from Megafaun even joined them for "Lament". Other highlights of the day included making my first tie-dye since college, and finally trying an Only Burger, which was pretty tasty indeed.
