7 YEARS AGO: Nateva Festival Gathered Good Vibes in Oxford

July 1-4, 2010 at the Oxford Fairgrounds, The Nateva Festival drew 15,000 people from all over the country. Zappa Plays Zappa, Tedeschi Trucks Band, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic and many more filled the ‘Hills’ with good vibes and incredible jams all weekend long. And as if that wasn’t enough, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s Furthur closed the festivities on America’s 234th Birthday.

A second year was looking promising. A line-up was announced and tickets went on sale for a brief amount of time. But then, festival founder Frank Chandler was having doubts.

According to the Portland Press Herald, Frank cited “We have a very thin margin, it’s still a difficult economy and a competitive environment. I don’t feel we can go out there and do it right. We brought a world-class event to Oxford, Maine, last year. But if I can’t do it right again, I have no business being in the game. It’s going to compete with a lot of festivals and suck up a lot of money.” Here’s the full article from the Portland Press Herald. 

Maybe someday this great weekend of magical music can happen again?  If not, I’ll always have great memories of being in the front row for Further with the most incredible sunset behind them! It was the first time I’d experienced live Grateful Dead music since my last time seeing Jerry and the boys at Highgate, Vermont 15 years earlier. The wait in front of the stage at the barricade rail with my bro, Josiah (King of the Rail) all day on the 4th was totally worth it! Beautiful times!