Rothbury was incredible this year. Lots of great music, great venue, plenty of food and water, very fun details, great staging, sound and lights and great contoured stage areas with good views from everywhere, and a mellow, cheerful crowd. String Cheese were amazing, tight and melodic while the carnival spun joyfully around them. The Dead were the Dead, thought the 45 minute electronic feedback/echo/snooze inducer piece was a bit much after a 45 minute long break.
The only musical disapointment was Bob Dylan’s soulless show band who marched through some of the greatest most poetic and expressive songs of all time like a stripper’s pit band hammering out the bumps and grinds for the millionth time, with too much caffiene.
Dylan’s an icon, his songs are poetry, and they both deserve much better support than this campy trash. A few thousand garage bands can play “Watchtowers” with more expression and energy than those guys.

bob dylan’s performance was classic and beautiful. bob dylan stole my heart again.

I thought Martin Sexton and Brett Dennon were as good of an act as I saw all weekend. The Deads first set was great.

wow… what show where you at?

Cause the DEAD where incredible with Warren and to say Dylan’s band sucked is just poor reporting… They JAMED and 50k+ people would slap you for being an ass!!! I got video to prove it!!!! check my uploads to youtube!!!! ROTHBURY ROCKED!!!! MUCH LOVE TO THE DEAD FOR MAKING THAT WEEKEND ONE OF THE BEST FESTIVALS I HAVE EVER BEEN TOO!!! P.S. ITS ALL ABOUT SHERWOOD FOREST!!! GOV’T MULE WAS AWSOME WITH WARREN EVEN DOING A RUFF NIRVANA JAM ON AND A STUNNING NEIL YOUNG COVER!!!!

THANK YOU ROTHBURY!!!!! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!!!

MICHIGAN>>>>> GOT IT GOING ON!!!!

AREALSAVAGE

Rothbury was the best festival ive ever been to. Even though I had to walk 30 min to main stage..
Im going VIP next year..
I saw the dead in CA a few times and thought the shows were better at shoreline and the gorge.. Well they had to play after the friday night string cheese SHOW. THEY Were by far the best. I hope and pray to see much much more Cheese… they should have the main event next year..

Bob Dylan butchered his own music and ended his set a half hour early and was the only headliner to not play and encore, thank the crowd, or the promoters. and most of his classics were nearly unrecognizable. he is one of my icons so I’m glad i got to see him perform before he dies, but i will never need to see him again.

The dead were pretty good seen them at philly and MSG, i think it was just too hard to follow string cheese’s act stole the whole festival ive never seen anything like that.

CHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! !!!!!!!! Best band period. Dylan was terrible how can anyone say that was a good show. Who walks off stage 30 min early. Never have seen that in my life.

Im happy i did not go see dylan, i heard he was terriable.

String cheeeese played amzing lotus is crazy an biscist is wild.

The closing when matisyahu came out with umfreez wow.

the dead no word.

Damin Marley two word, triping balls.

STS9 DJ came out the last night and DJ after the festival closed.
Was wild.

The foreset was insane.

My spelling is bad becouse i am stll not recovered from
Rothbury 09.

Somehting everyone should experince
Thank you

Seen lots of comments about Bob Dylan and his band’s performance. I have seen Mr. Dylan over 20 times over the last 15 plus years, and if you can’t tell what song he’s playing or what he’s saying it’s either because you don’t know the music well enough or the legendary wordsmith is sprouting alternative or improvisational verses on the spot. The band was not only technically proficient, but allowed Bob Dylan more leeway to control the tempo and vacillation of the music. It was a wonderful treat to see and hear Mr. Dylan on guitar, harmonica, and keyboards, the later of which he has often been drowned out of with more overzealous musicians. Bob Dylan is on the top of my list of artists of any kind from any period, and this show was pure magic and a hell of a lot of fun.

By the way, throwing glow sticks and beach balls while listening to a band that emulates Phish is about as ridiculous as the modern music scene that embraces it.

I wish I brought more glow sticks and some bigger beach balls. I thought it was amazing. Anyone how saw that show were in aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!
Phish who.? ,.

Cheese is on top now!

? Pure magic ?
? Hell of a lot of fun ?

I wouldnt say that For Mr. Dylan.. Allthough I wouldnt have missed it. I thought he was good.

cheese was amazing! enough said!

Congratulations Bob!

“Bob Dylan butchered his own music”

Even worse, I hear he went ‘electric’.

How BEAUTIFUL! He is SO LOVED!!!!x

Simply the Best Festival ever. Cheese was Insane, I have Never seen a better show. Dead rocked it until after 1 a.m And to everyone who is knocking Dylan, you should all be ashamed, He is a legend and once again transformed his music, Best Tangled Up in Blue I ever heard. Top to bottom the best 5 days I have ever had.

Rothbury was amazing! We totally loved it…the vibes were great all weekend, people were friendly, services were pretty good, lines weren’t too long. But the music was the star…SCI put on one of the most incredible rock spectacles I’ve seen; the Dead were spot on; Gov’t Mule outdid themselves; Dylan was just being Dylan. It was worth every penny. And Sherwood Forest was truly magical!

Dylan is the only one who takes license at completely reworking the music underscoring his poetry, and he gets completely disrespected for it. If you know the words, you know what’s being played. If you’re relying on 30+ year old recordings, sorry you were disappointed. I went in with low expectations and was completely floored by Dylan AND his band.

The Dead was better than I could have hoped for, and Cheese completely burned me to a crisp AND raised me from my own ashes. WOW!

One of my favorite moments was Phil coming out with Jackie Greene. Awesome version of New Speedway Boogie. One of my favorite moments from the festival.

Ah, to Mr. Fackert regarding “the 45 minute electronic feedback/echo/snooze inducer”… it’s called “Space” for a reason…

hey adam, you must not have caught any phish this year. dont get me wrong i love me some cheese, but phish is back and sounding better than ever!

Once I saw Bob Dylan smile in 1988, Champlain Valley Fairground. Upon looking closer, it was a sneer. Still, I listen to Bob daily; he tells the truth.

Rothbury was TRULY AMAZING! There wasn’t one minute I didn’t have the time of my life, from Sherwood Forrest to the unbelievable lineup that made the whole experience magical.(the doses definitely helped!)

If you were there, U know what I am talking about, leaving that place was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and am counting down the days till next year’s festival.

The Dead’s set list is arguably the BEST EVER show they have put on. Even though “space” could have been shortened
OMG i can’t get it out of my head, then right after the dead, Umphree’s McGee covered Comfortably Numb…I can go on and on about how great this festival was…everyone should definitely experience this place.

probably walked 40 miles in 4 days… I only took the taxi one time when I got lost the 1st night….knowhere was hard to find.

maule is my friend!

See u Next Year!

OK. I wasnt there but I did see dylan recently (Oct. 08, maybe not that recently). The first time i saw him in summer of 99 i didnt appreciate that he played old songs in a new styling. We all want to hear “Like a Rolling Stone” or “Subteraneann Homesick Blues” like the original but it isn’t going to happen. You have to respect that Dylan changes his style; after all if he never had he would still be playing acoustic folk. That’s what makes a folk/ blues player themselves; they experiment with their music and others music in different ways. If every live performance was the same it wouldn’t be much fun.

Okay rothbury was off the wall. With out a doubt the best festival ive been to. SCI was an amazing performance one the best u could hope for however though the dead still stole the show with out a doubt. And dont forget bout keller williams he put on a fantastic show to open the festival also much props to rebelution and the parlor mob awesome sets and to all the other amazing bands that shared their music with all of us i will def attend nxt year.PEACE&LOVE

holy shit !!!!!! Took our kz 1000 and the bare minimum, got a spike in our rear tire on way over. The beautiful people of michigan got us to the show, with a good tire and we had a blast. The dead show was truly fitting to the sherwood forest, we fell into the rabit hole!I will be back.

Yes, you had to BE THERE to get it. Every performance was extraordinary, but SCI blew minds on a scale that really was pure magic – their show was one of the most beautiful thing’s I’ve ever experienced. No exaggeration, and I had never even seen them before. I went for the Dead and they in fine form for sure, but SCI will always be the weirdest, greatest and most exciting thing I’ve ever seen on stage (of course, the real show was in the Audience). Anyhow, it’s impossible to describe the excellence of the Rothbury trip – you have to see it to beleive it. Just 100% perfect.

rothbury is 10x better then bonnaroo because they dont sell out to that comerical BS. LES CLAYPOOL 4 PREZ

rothbury is 10x better then bonnaroo because they dont sell out to that comerical BS. LES CLAYPOOL 4 PREZ

The Dead stole the show. They rocked out. Excitement and energy abounded. Awesome!

sci copying phish? imho both great bands but apples to oranges. phish delves into the jazz and sci the bluegrass.

i was down for dylan and phish but came for the electronic mostly dominic lalli from the big gigantic and shpongle go check em out if you haven’t. c you all next year! joba

exempt 180 records research

Rothbury 2009 was the best time of my life! Too many great bands and not enough time! Every band poured it on! The air was electric with energy! As mentioned The Dead were amazing! What about “Into The Mystic”, I cried like a baby, the most beautiful moment! The Sherwood Forest shook during drums! WOW the Sherwood Forest. Dylan was fantastic…Tangled up In Blue was amazing. No one has even metioned Willie Nelson a music icon who rocked. Of the three times I have seen him that was the only time I have heard him talk to the crowd, and smile sooo much! What a fantastic festival and amazing place, so much love. Thanks for the best time of my life…Peace

Rothbury 2009 was amazing! Great photo gallery! We can’t wait for Rothbury 2010!