It’s the first day of the inaugural Sacred Rose Festival, taking place on the outskirts of Chicago, Illinois. The weather is looking beautiful to be outside for hours; it’s partly cloudy and there’s a breeze in the air. I pack a sweater just in case, and I’m glad I did because it gets a bit chilly once the sun goes down.
Walking into the park mid afternoon, it’s not crowded yet and there aren’t any lines to get in. I can hear that City and Colour is about to start, so I head over to The Canopy, which is a nicely shaded stage smack in the middle of the fest. Dallas Green’s soothing voice helps ease me into festival mode.
I walk around for a bit to check out all of the food and shop vendors. You have your typical Island Noodles, pizza, and hot dogs for food options, and Goose Island and Liquid Death are proudly advertised at every drink station. The shops appear to all be local with a ton of handmade options. Plenty to choose from to complete your festival attire!
There’s quite a few installations to relax in between sets. I make note of their locations so I can enjoy them during some of my downtime this weekend. At night some even transform into fire pits, pretty neat! There’s also a huge dome that has DJs playing all weekend while they have a laser show, it’s really dim in there so this could be an awesome place to go when you need a break from the sun.
Yves Tumor and Lettuce are up next; their crowds are ready to dance. I stick around and enjoy both sets. They are vastly different, yet somehow boast the same mellow vibe. I find it funny that a group of people brought heads of lettuce to throw around during Lettuce’s set. I don’t think I want to know how they got those past security, but I commend them for following through!
I’ve been hearing the buzz surrounding PHILCO’s debut set for several weeks leading up to this moment. PHILCO is composed of Phil Lesh, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Jeff Tweedy and Nils Cline from Wilco, and musicians Elliott Peck, John Molo, Stu Allen, Karl Denson, Jeff Chimenti, and Grahame Lesh. They also brought Margo Price on stage, who was an artist at large all weekend, popping up at different sets at random. They fly through several Grateful Dead classics through their two sets, including “Ripple” and “Dire Wolf,” which saw Tweedy lend his vocals. This set is going to be a highlight of the weekend.
The War on Drugs takes the stage, and their grungy and soulful music is a great way to end a Friday night. The same full, illustrious sounds you hear from their recorded material is perfectly replicated in their live show. They started off with several slower paced tracks and eventually built up to their heavier true rock songs, leaving the crowd feeling euphoric.
CITY AND COLOUR
LETTUCE
PHILCO
ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES
THE WAR ON DRUGS
YVES TUMOR
