Downtown Dayton Revival - A Photo Tour

Earlier this month, John and I went to the Downtown Dayton Revival music festival. This was the inaugural event of a 2-day festival held on a few street blocks on the streets of downtown Dayton. We weren't able to attend the second day but here's what went down on Day 1.

The weather was absolutely amazing! We couldn't have asked for a better day. There was a lot of rain the day before but it cleared up and remained in the 70's the whole time. Here I am after having just arrived. Gates opened at Noon but we had errands to run and didn't know any of the earlier bands so we arrived around 3:00 pm.

I had to show you my new bad ass bracelet. It's made from a vintage belt and I bought it at a craft festival last weekend. Don't I look super tough when I wear it? I wanted to feel like a rockstar so I wore it today too. It says, "Don't mess with me" in a not so subtle way.

There were three stages about a block apart. We did have to pay for parking but I expected that. They also ran a free shuttle to the Dayton Art Institute where the Greek Festival was being held. If we were attending both days I definitely would have taken advantage of that. You know what they say. Never pass on baklava.

Motel Beds on stage - we didn't know them but they were good



The Wheels on stage - didn't know them either but they were decent.



This was the main stage

Unfortunately, as a first time festival, there really weren't that many people there. That ended up turning out really nicely for those in attendance. You could get really close to the stages without trying to hard. Plenty of room to move around in between the sets, no food lines, etc and so on. The amount of people made it feel like a much more intimate festival.

And what's a festival without libations? This truck had about 20 taps coming out the side of it. And not just Bud Light here, no sir. Stella, Shocktop, Sam Adams, and more. Great selection and at $5 for a beer, well, you just can't beat that price at an event of this nature.

Once you've had your fill of beer, you have to face a sad truth. We are outside and none of these buildings around us have public toilets. So, you hold your breath and tough it out. Actually, these weren't as hateful as some porta-potties can be. Probably a testament to the lower attendance levels. There were plenty to choose from and never a line.

While there were more than 20 bands playing over the two days, we were there for 2 specific artists on the bill. The first is one of my all-time favorite bands Guster. I have loved them since high school and have seen them in concert 8 times. I guess you could say I'm a fan. Theirs was the first name I read when I first heard about the festival and immediately emailed John, "We're going."

Adam - Brian - Ryan

They played a great mix of old and new which I appreciated because I like their older albums better. They did not disappoint! But, I knew they wouldn't. And we were able to stand really close which was great. Here's the only bad part about the main stage, all of these old people (and by old I mean easily 30 years older than me) had parked their collapsible chairs in a cluster right up by the stage. I know they just wanted good seats for the headliner (more on that later) but they also just sat in them during the sets of all the other bands (including Guster) and just didn't seem like they were having a good time at all. So, while we were maybe 30 feet from the stage, we could have been a lot closer. Oh well.

This is right after Adam and I had a moment during Amsterdam. Pretty sure we locked eyes even.  I know he saw me.

Singing Ramona




They played for over an hour and we loved every second of it! Good crowd support and they were funny in between sets. It was awesome. After that it was time to wait a bit for the headliner.
I should also tell you there were a ton of food vendors to choose from. I had a Thai PB&P sandwich from our favorite local food truck. John had cabbage and noodles and earlier we had split salt and vinegar fries. There was chicken, mexican, gyros, lots of stuff.

The headliner for the second evening was Train. I wouldn't have minded seeing them but a Sunday night just wasn't happening. We are too old to get home that late on a school night. The headliner for Saturday was.....John Legend! John Legend is local to Dayton and comes back to town for various events but not usually to play. John (my husband) didn't really care about seeing him but was a good sport about sticking around. He also put on a really good show. Although by then, our feet and backs were tired! You could bring in blankets but we never sat down on ours as you wouldn't have been able to see.

These pics didn't turn out as well because our camera is not good with night shots and we weren't as close to the stage.

It's him. I promise.

Tickling the ivories

I'm really glad we went, even though we had to pay for 2 days but only attended one. I hope this becomes an annual event here in Dayton with great music. It also fulfilled my 'try new things' challenge that I just invented for myself. High five, Ashley!