Snowball Music Festival 2011

C=T contributor, Anna Michaels, went to Avon/Vail this past weekend to endure the elements and great music in the snowy mountain landscape paradise and here’s what she has to report.

the Flaming Lips (feat. Henry Rollins)-Eclipse (Pink Floyd Cover) [mp3]

The Snow Ball Music Festival was chill, in more ways than one. Besides the expected below freezing temperatures Avon gets in early March, the atmosphere of the festival and attitude of the attendees were very relaxed. The tents were set up on snow instead of concrete, and so dancing the first night was no small fete as everyone was slipping on the ice. By the end of the weekend, any movement at all was unpleasant as people were standing in puddles of water, beer, and probably some bodily fluids or stuck to the ground in thick mud. The crowd left their clubbing attire at home and sported their neon ski coats instead as they drifted through the clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke. Despite the cold weather and the impossible dance floor, most importantly, the music was good. Pretty Lights illuminated the dark starry night on Friday with their beats and beams. Savoy and Bassnectar kept everyone warm on Saturday night as the bass pulsated through hearts buried under layers of clothing and thick jackets. Light snow sprinkled the venue and the surrounding peaks on Sunday afternoon as the crowd chanted, “because I got high” with Afroman. The freshly, powder covered Snowball concluded with the entertaining show from The Flaming Lips that started with Wayne Coyne rolling out onto the crowd in a giant bubble and ended with the unanimous sing-along to “Do You Realize,” one of the last songs of the night. As people trudged through the destroyed grounds when it was over, the lyrics, “It’s hard to make the good times last” from that famous Flaming Lips song seemed to regretfully ring true as everyone left the long weekend behind.