Posted: 5/27/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Facemire Fans watch moe. during one of their sets at Summer Camp in Chillicothe, Ill., on Saturday night.

For complete coverage, including pictures and interviews, check out On The Town, The Daily Illini Entertainment blog.

As the band moe. took the stage for its last of five sets Sunday night, the crowd was at its largest. Exhaustion was in the air, which after more than three days of music, was understandable. It had been a long weekend, and bassist and vocalist Rob Derhak asked the audience to stay with them, even though they were all tired. They did.

In Chillicothe, Ill., a town of 6,000 people, the Summer Camp Music Festival comes once a year.

It has grown considerably since its inception in 2001, and this year it ballooned into a three-day event filled with music, attractions and camping.

Three Sisters Park has been home to the Summer Camp Music Festival since the beginning. Each year, there is no shortage of hippies on festival grounds, and 2008 was no exception, and along with them came an abundance of tie dye, hula hoops and a green substance festival-goers referred to as "Molly."

The people that come to Summer Camp are partially there to visit with each other, and it may seem that the music takes second place at times. The Campfire Stage was set up to have late night music, but large portions of the people just sat close to the fire pit nearby, talking to each other and trying to keep warm during what were some chilly nights.

Still, it was all about the music in the end, and there was no shortage of it. Headliner moe. played each of their sets to a large, rowdy crowd who threw balloons, inflatable animals and glow sticks during their performances.

When it started out, Summer Camp was a jam band festival with artists such as moe. (who play each year) and Umphrey's McGee. As audience sizes have increased, the festival has attracted more diverse artists, such as Flaming Lips and Girl Talk, an electronic musician whose specialty is to mash up different parts of songs to create entirely new songs.

"I think I'm still strange on this bill, but I'm really into it," said Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis. "I like to be an outcast, if possible."

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