Still pretty tired so the write up will be in the order I think of things
Before the show: Was disappointed to not find the schedule online beforehand. Once we got inside the had the schedule posted up at a bunch of different places. I did what most everyone else was doing and just took a picture of the schedule and kept referencing it.
The location:
http://goo.gl/maps/zrxXZ These guys have it down. They had shuttles running between the parking area and the fairgrounds and actually had enough buses that we weren't standing around for very long. Once we got to the fair grounds (at about 1:30) the line was still about half a mile long but it moved quickly. They had two stages and we got confused about which one was the main stage and which one was the second stage. I, honestly, liked the second stage more as it was on the west side of the grounds (in front of the building labeled "Navy Golf Course" on the map) and had plenty of grass seating. The main stage was in the horse arena on the east end and just had a dirt floor which didn't invite seating while we wait. The rest of the fairgrounds rocked. Lots of places to chill, easy to move around even with all the people there, some great food (including beer milkshakes), and a lot of trash disposal areas. A lot of the disposal areas had different receptacles for different materials (recyclable, trash, compost, etc) and people were manning them to help direct what to put in what. The beer cups were compostable!
The music: The day started off with Slow Club who were decent and a good way to kick things off. At this point we were still confusing the two stages so we went to the other stage afterwards to see Haim when we should have stayed where we were. From what other people were saying, and the little we saw of them afterwards, it seems like we missed a good show. We then caught Apache Relay which was a fun band and one I'm gonna have to check out some more. We decided to miss Two Gallants so we could get some food and get over to the other stage for Grouplove. Grouplove was AWESOME. We were fairly close so we got the feel of the music and the crowd. Unlike the other bands Grouplove really didn't pause between songs for more than a moment. They did a 45 minute set and it just flew.
After Grouplove we went back to the main stage and caught most of Gogol Bordello which I was very meh about. The music itself was fun but didn't seem to have any direction to it. But any band that can do rock with an accordion deserves some respect. After they ended there was a 40 minute break so as some people left we moved up further.
Mumford & Sons did an hour and half set that was fucking awesome. While we weren't as close as we were for Grouplove we were still close enough to get the energy from those that were really into it. The set started off with some of the more energetic songs and then mellowed out then kicked it back up. They didn't have an elaborate light show but what they did use worked really well. During the break between Gogol Bordello and Mumford it got fully dark which really helped it out.
After Mumford we decided to checkout The Very Best since they had a short 30 minute set and I was figuring that if we left then I'd be spending that 30 minutes in traffic anyways so why not. Interesting band. Kinda Caribbean-ish rock. Everyone was dancing around and it was a great way to end the day.
For all the bands the crowds were awesome and everyone seemed to be into the music.
Trip home: As I said there were a ton of buses taking people back to the parking lot. As we were going through the lot I knew we had made the right call because it was about 3/4 empty already. And I was lucky as my aisle was the one closest to the exit and I got let in without any problems. So I was on the freeway in less than 10 minutes. Was surprised that the freeway was so clear.
It was totally worth the trip.
BTW, any tips for the mild ringing in the ear?
Edit: Almost forgot the weather: Perfect. Overcast but not gloomy. So didn't have the sun beating down on you all day. In the evening we got a light misting that you really didn't even notice. It probably did help to keep the dust down.
Oh, and as they mentioned a few times: This was the place where Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire. They said the burn mark is still on the stage.