gentlemen of the road recap

Sorry for the unintentional blogging break! I've been getting into a routine with school, church and my new job. There has been a bit of a learning curve but I absolutely love my classes, professors, and classmates; my discipleship group and sweet girls; and my coworkers at the coffee shop! 

For Valentine's Day, I was gifted tickets to the Gentlemen of the Road tour which just so happened to fall on the weekend of my birthday. It's an amazing two-day, folk-rock music festival held in quirky small towns across the US and Europe. Mumford and Sons organized the entire tour with invited friends and a portion of the proceeds from our show in Guthrie, OK went to benefit the victims of the tornadoes in Oklahoma. 

I was already a huge fan of Mumford and Sons- I mean, the banjo, the smooth harmonies, the meaningful lyrics- what's not to love? But after this weekend my heart has swelled to love them even more! They were absolutely charming, so much fun to watch and put just so obviously love what they do. 

I was also incredibly excited to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes- a 60s throwback-rock-folksy-flower-child group. You may have heard their song "Home" after a daddy-daughter duet on youtube went viral but the rest of their discography is equally fun and sweet! I really love That's What's Up and 40 Day Dream. The camera work for their concert was crazy! They had psychedelic kaleidoscope effects on the screen which made the whole show a pretty trippy experience. 

Each of those shows individually would have made the trip worth it but together with Phosphorescent and Alabama Shakes, it was really an awesome event! 

I loved how, since the festival was held in a small town, there were signs, decorations and artwork all throughout Guthrie celebrating the arrival of the Gentlemen of the Road. Local restaurants and businesses extended their hours and put together specials just for the event. 

Most of the festival-goers set up camp for the weekend and packed coolers, visited festival vendors (who were actually small businesses- not some corportion), or ventured into downtown to check out the street fare and local offerings. 

It is funny now but at the time a LOT of things went wrong. I lost my camping tickets while walking from the car to the campsite (thankfully they were found!). I forgot to pack my emergency inhaler and with all the Oklahoma red dust, had a lot of trouble breathing. Thankfully a little Google search revealed that caffeine can help mild asthma so a couple of lattes later and I was feeling much better :) I wanted to check out the downtown street fair but even the fifteen minute walk from the festival grounds seemed like too much with the scorching heat of the weekend. It was unbearably hot. Much of Saturday afternoon was spent drinking water and iced lattes under a giant canopy and playing gin with David.

I absolutely want to go again next year! It was such a fun experience and I loved being a hippie for the weekend.But next time I think I'll stay at a bed and breakfast with AC. And bring a segway ;)

<3 <3 <3

And did you know Marcus Mumford also plays drums? So impressed! I wish my phone hadn't died so I could have gotten video of the super fun Beatles covers that Mumford did!

Overall, fun weekend, great music, and now it's back to the grind!