Here're some reactions to MudFest-1 in Charlottesville, VA, on April 27, 1997,
at the Downtown Amphitheater.

To set the scene... The rain started about mid-day (and continued way into the night) -- with the
temperature dropping steadily to the low 50s by Leftover's showtime. A day fit for Salmon!
The "festival" quickly turned the City Fathers' nice green grass to bright red mud! No raincoats
in sight, few umbrellas (can't dance with an umbrella, now can you?), and few shoes... Did this
matter? Well, read on !!!

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"Hey this is my first time to post to this list, but I've been reading for awhile 
and I am definitely a big time LoSer!  Today's show was amazing.  It was 
definitely the greatest I've ever seen or heard.  It was pouring down rain, so 
there was a lot of craziness.  For me the highlight was Rueben's Train; it was 
unbelievable."  <brent@cycles.evsc.virginia.edu>

"The 420 got things moving real fast.  Once the River's Rising had finished I 
was starting to think I was right, about this being a great show.  After the 
Boogie, I was positive.  They could have stopped right there and I would have 
been a happy camper.  But, no, they went on, and boy oh boy, did they go on.  
The whole rest of the set consisted of more than just the usual foot moving 
good times of a leftover salmon show.  The band seemed to be really getting off 
on the rain and all the people who were willing to deal with the rain to see them.  
The Reuben's Train was just plan sick, and added another instrument to Mike's 
percussion instruments, well kind of.  See, it all started during the little crazy 
section in Rueben's.  Drew grabbed his bow and started playing his mandolin 
with it.  Then Mark followed that by using his mic stand to play his banjo.  Not 
to be out done tye walked over to mike and lifted up his Bass so mike could play 
it with his sticks (as if it was a drum).  EXTREMELY, funky stuff.  It was 
definitely hot."  <barett@erols.com>

"once again, the audience played a HUGE role in the energy of the show.  
Afterwards, Vince said, "Look, when you see folks willing to do THAT to hear us 
play, the band just HAS to go ALL OUT to give them our best."  He went on 
to say, looking at the mud hole in front of the stage, "The city fathers aren't 
gonna be real happy in the morning when they see what we've done to THEIR 
grass!"  At least it wasn't below zero like Breckenridge, but I wouldn't be 
surprised to hear on the morning news that 700 cases of pneumonia have been 
reported in Charlottesville -- just since last night!"  <vann@his.com>

"Hats off to anyone who was dancing without raincoat, umbrella or shoes. 
Ah, youth.  I'm very glad to make  the trip down there, the band was in fine 
form, and it couldn't be better."  <espall@netrix.com>

"salmon show was one for the books!!! it rained. all day. did not stop. the little 
amphitheater became a mud'n'slide. vince was in great form. he started the set 
off by informing us that the red mud was good for painting our faces. he was 
right. those who painted looked quite handsome...  the crowd was going nutzo. 
people stompin and sloshin in the mud. it was so much fun.   it was at this point 
that the boys in blue decided we'd all had bout as much fun as is legal in virginia 
on a sunday and halted the hill sliding to a chorus of boos..."  
<lippy69@juno.com>

"Well, got back from Charlotesville late last night (after a disgustingly rainy 
and boring trip down 29 back to Winston-Salem).  All I can say is that it was 
well worth the trip, in spite of (or maybe because of) the rain...  it was nothing 
short of incredible.  I ended up covered in the most mud I have seen since the 
aftermath of the torrential rains at ROAM almost a year ago, and extremely 
cold.  Essentially, what made this show so great for me, was the incredible 
energy from both the crowd and the band. ( Tye particularly had more energy 
than I think I have seen him have.) It is incredible to me that a band can 
deliver such great, innovative music with such momentous energy to a crowd 
that is much like a family despite the wide range of ages, backgrounds, etc.  I 
really felt that came into play yesterday in making it such a great time."  
<milase00@wfu.edu>

"well, i just got back into town from c'ville (a hell of an 8 hour drive through 
some kind of monsoon/hurricane/tornado thing)...  this was the first show i'd 
seen since i really became a salmon-freak (aka LoSer) and i was not 
dissapointed...  when they came out to set up i thought Vince and Drew looked 
a little out of it, be it tired, wet, cold or whatever. they weren't as soon as they 
hit that opening note the energy level rocketed. i was in the front row going 
nuts, and the two guys next to me had obviously never heard of LoS before and 
they just kept grinning more and more as the show went on, they even started 
to dance a little. Rueben's Train was unreal and did anyone else catch the 
David Bowie Space Oddity tease. impressive. i thought Tye stole the show. he 
must of heard what people here had been saying about him, because he went 
nuts. i also thought drew had a lot more energy than when i'd seen them 
before...  if anyone does have tapes, please please please get back to me. i will 
DO ANYTHING to get this show."  <reid.s.brecher@vanderbilt.edu>

"I wanna give a shout out to all those hard-core Salmonites who braved the 
Charlottesville muck and mire to make a potentally dreary show a rollicking 
slamfest!"  <oakley@fls.infi.net>

"Ok, it's about 24 hours later, My feet still hurt (barefeet & brick don't mix 
when you jump up and down a lot ;).  My back hurts a little.  And I've stopped 
bleeding..."  <barett@erols.com>

"May I be the first to publically grovel for an sbd/1 (analog) of the already 
legendary *Mudfest I*?"  <tlynch@violet.berkeley.edu>

"Just got to work after two great shows, I took Monday off to recover from 
C'Ville.  Saturday night in Gettysburg, LoS in a college ballroom with about 
200 - 300 people, kinda of like the early days of Phish. Lots of room to dance, or 
just watch the boys jam up close...  The C'Ville show was blast - lots of Salmon 
Heads dancing in the rain. What incredible jams with JC from Agents of Good 
Roots on sax!  I was up under the corner of the pavilion during the songs 
watching the boys hit new highs.  After the fist jam they were all looking at 
each other with these huge smiles...they knew IT happened.  Like when the 
Dead takes you away with a Scarlet > Fire jam."  
<TDIPAULA@PRESIDIO.com>

"INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  as everyone already has heard, the c'ville show 
was incredible. the pouring rain definitely made the show memorable. As 
always the band was into it as much as the crowd and everyone was having a 
good time, despite the cold and rain.  Vince even came down right next to where 
i was dancin and got some mud to paint his face with!!  it was cool seeing J.C. 
from agents play with them, it sounded pretty good and they were sure having 
a great time...  I also couldn't help but notice how nice the merchandise people 
were, the one guy, i didn't catch his name, but he was real friendly gave me a 
bumper sticker, and one of the girls, with long curly brown hair told me about 
the all good festival, and was basically just real friendly...  All in all it was an 
amazing day, despite the muddy, wet clothes.  well, sorry to ramble on, but i 
just went nuts sunday and had to get  it off my chest, it was soooooo much fun. 
I can't wait to see them on  HORDE."  <LUSD22A@prodigy.com>