We checked out the Morning Benders – in the Rock Room of the visitor center (they referred to it as the dungeon, very hard to find, not great sound quality and an odd room for such a show). Despite this, I found them adorable and fun to watch! Next we saw my favorite of the day: Cameron McGill and What Army. What a random group of guys for a band! From the skinny pianist to the very much like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite guitarist, to the very interesting head bobbing lead singer – these guys are all unique and extremely interesting to watch, put on a good show. Cut Copy was like being at a club – fun all around but they ended their show apologizing that they went over their time limit and were getting kicked off – sort of odd.  Mickey Avalon was scandalous and just not good. I thought everyone knew he was not good but likes him because it’s funny to like someone so horrible – but apparantly the 17 year olds in the crowd were very, very serious about liking Mickey – and wanting to have his coked out babies. On the whole he was the only disappointing show I saw – and even his theatrics were good (girls stripping down from fur coats to their black leather outfits carrying around whips. Entertaining at least.) Vampire Weekend, and Atmosphere were great shows as well. Silversun Pickup’s were okay in my opinion – but the crowd seemed to love ‘em. We were too cold to stay for Devotchka.

Other highlights of the festival:

the Dell tent: complete with fake tatoos, a button making station, and girls who did your hair in a number of fashions and sprayed it bright colors. (We participated in each of these. I got the rock symbol on my arm. Holly got a bird on her back – and a mohawk for a hairdo.)

the Hoola-Hooping Girls (no music festival is complete without them).

the fairly nice weather until about 9 pm when it dropped 30 degrees in 5 minutes and started raining.

the Red Rocks view can’t be beaten – great place for a music fest!

Check out Westword’s reviews and pictures.

Update: Post-UMS, here are a couple reviews, pics, videos and more.

The festival was some serious heat – as in I was sweaty and gross as were all attendees both days – so one of my favorite features was the water station that rained on you, but that’s just me. As expected, the festival included all the things festivals somehow always have: lots of pot, hoola hooping hippies, hacky sack circles, passed out drunks, stumbling drunks, well just basically any type of drunk you can think of, art tents and tents with stuff no one should ever buy in them, a row of pretty good choices for food at a festival (yeah, Steubens!), a guitar hero station, and of course – lots of music shows to choose from on this years 5 stages. 2 covered, 3 open – quite a hike from one end of the place to the other.

Worst festival situation: getting to it on Sunday. While I had no problems on Saturday (we took the bus and it was a pretty quick trip) – on Sunday, the non existent traffic plan should really be addressed next year. Seriously, police – standing at the entrance to Dick’s isn’t traffic control or directing. The other thing to be addressed: the $8 per beer which was everywhere to be found but the must wait in long line to get water situation – good thing we brought in our own cheap fifths and filled up our camel backs in the stadium. Bathrooms also were the worst thing ever by Sunday – also good thing the stadium was actually open and we could sneak over and use the clean(er) bathrooms there.

As for the shows, I am shocked to say that Lupe Fiasco was one of my favorites. He got the crowd roaring for more and the energy made the show great. Tom Petty is getting a little old to be so entertaining, but it was a great sing-along. John Mayer – while his show was pretty good – started early so unless you were there to stake out your spot you missed his first 1/2 hour – horrible hobo outfit and all – and no, we did not see Jennifer. Dave Matthews – as much as I seem to be one of the only people who just doesn’t go crazy over the band – was admittedly a really great show.

Other class acts we hit were Spoon, Flogging Molly, Jason Mraz, The Roots (yah, Tuba!), and I can’t say I was disappointed at all. I completely recommend attending next year – well worth the money as these shows would be a lot more if not combined!

What were your favorite artists? Let us know!

Also, if you attended, take a survey and let them know what to do better next year.

Court says: I scammed my way into a (mostly) free ticket and really enjoyed going to the festival on Sunday. Anything that brings that many different types of individuals together is always perfect for people watching.

The two hours it took us to get in was a little disturbing but gave us a chance to see some humorous characters. As we waited in a long line of cars inching our way to the parking lot we saw people darting in and out of cars — some answering nature’s call and some bailing out in hopes of getting to the festival faster on foot. We got there in time to catch the tail end of the Flogging Molly performance, which was super high energy. The other artists we saw were also good and I really liked the tuba guy with The Roots!

If I go next year, I’ll be a little better prepared for the heat and bring some cash to buy a couple of those REALLY pricey beers.

The Walnut Room, (3131 Walnut St, Denver, CO, 80205) is a great place to check out music, or sit on a patio and grab some happy hour drinks and pizza. Great days to go are flip Tuesdays between 4 and 6 pm (you could eat free), PBR Wednesdays after 9 pm or my favorite – wear a tube top on Sunday and drink free (who doesn’t love tube tops in the summer?)! We might head over sometime this week – you can view their calendar of events here and just go when you see an artist you like. More info here, and here.