Bear with me as I catch up on what I haven’t written yet. I now have consistent internet, so I will catch up.

On Saturday, after my interview with Elsinore, I made my way over to the Camping Stage to watch a band called Uglysuit. The band’s sound was quite different from what most of the Summer Camp bands sound like, with them going more for an atmospheric indie rock feel (even though, I must say, the band still dressed like hippies).

Unfortunately, different does not always mean good, and Uglysuit did not impress me. I don’t think I’m that hard to impress, but when an artist or a band is so much in their own world that they are not conscious they have an audience watching them, there is a problem. The songs did not grab me at all either, so it was just nothing special.

After watching Uglysuit for about 10 minutes, I made my way over to a set by a band called Bump. I had never heard of them, but ended up being quite impressed with their set. They were jammers, no doubt, but the music went somewhere. It seemed like everything they played had a purpose, and it was refreshing to hear that (I know I don’t report on a lot of bands, but rest assured that there was a lot of pointless noodling in this set. A jam-band fan or not, not every band was amazing). The band had good grooves and cool sounds, and from what I saw, they knew what they were doing.

Finally, before Elsinore, I went to the Sunshine Stage to see what was going on. What I saw was a band called Lotus. From what I could see (and photographed), they were okay, nothing to write home about. They jammed, sure, but it was nothing that memorable (I apologize for being so brief about their performance, but in all honesty, they did not grab me much, so there is not much else to day. I did not stay long enough to really elaborate).

At 3:30 I went back over to the Camping Stage to see Elsinore. I have seen the Champaign band a couple of times, and they are always pretty good. When I describe them to people, I describe them as a good version of Maroon 5, without the faux-soul. While that may not be entirely accurate, the band started out with “The General.” the best of the new batch of new songs they have been dragging out as of late. Unfortunately, starting with the best is not always a good idea, and while the songs that followed (that I saw. I was only able to stay 20 minutes because I had to photograph Umphrey’s McGee at 4) did not live up to “The General.”

That being said, frontman/guitarist Ryan Groff has a great voice that can carry any song, and the band is only getting tighter. With more shows and a new album, I really think the band has a chance of getting known outside of Champaign.

Then came Umphrey’s. The band started strong, with some rocking tunes (forgive me, I am not very familiar with their music), but quickly turned into the type of jamming that is not necessary. It became clean, smooth and pointless. That may be the appeal, but it doesn’t lend itself to good jamming. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say it may not have been their strongest set, but I was not impressed nonetheless (even with bringing up the percussionist from the Chicago Afrobeat Project didn’t help. They did not utilize him well at all).