So I am back from another weekend away. This past weekend I went to Razlog to hit up the Elevation Music Festival. Day one was pretty great aside from the fact that the headlining band Jamiroquai didn't play because the lead singer had a health issue of some sort and was checking out <a href="http://www.tokudabolnica.bg/en" target="_blank"> Tokuda hospital</a> in Sofia. Then day two was canceled due to wind. <em>Yes</em>, wind.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="On the way to the Elevation Festival"]<img title="On the way to the Elevation Festival" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/262698_10150216614914632_647039631_7288293_1235789_n.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" />[/caption]

You might think that to have these two things would be incredibly disappointing and it was but I am happy to report that we managed to have a pretty good time in spite of these two setbacks. Part of that was due to the fact that Razlog even in the wind is beautiful and part of that was due to the fact that I was with friends.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="People at the Festival "]<img title="People at the Festival " src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/267688_10150216615049632_647039631_7288297_3865574_n.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" />[/caption]

Before the festival, I knew that I wanted to see Morcheeba play even though I hadn't listened to a lot of their music. Now I am in love. The same goes for the the Parov Stelar Band. I think I maybe listened to one of their songs but when they came on a little earlier on Friday night given the Jamiroquai cancellation they were great fun. This group can rock. The crowd loved them and danced their hearts out. I am now totally smitten. 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="Hands of Fans "]<img title="Hands of Fans " src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/259963_10150216615179632_647039631_7288300_6254066_n.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" />[/caption]

As for the crowd? All in all they were great.

Basically everyone was really chill even given the long lines at the gates (well, aside from the girls who were impatient in the line yelling "faster"). People were relatively patient for the long lines and bad service for beer (but not the guy selling beer at one tent never even looked at me but served my male friend pretty quickly).  The line at the food tent was pretty manageable (but slightly annoying given the fact that when I tried to order, get this, a hot dog the older woman working behind the counter told me that she doesn't speak English. The word is the same in Bulgarian. So I changed the emphasis a couple of times hoping to get a hot dog. No luck. However, I triumphed and another guy sold me a hot dog no problem). 

The one big thing that the organizers seemed to get right: plenty of toilets. What could they work on? Garbage cans. 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="Stage at Dusk"]<img alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269983_10150216615299632_647039631_7288302_8085811_n.jpg" title="Stage at Dusk" width="640" height="480" />[/caption]

After six hours or so at the festival on Friday, I was pooped out and preceded to sleep, sleep, sleep. I managed to sleep in until almost 12 noon and I haven't managed to do that in months. Doing so usually makes me feel so lazy but on Saturday it felt just perfect and very luxurious. 

On Saturday, we got up, ate by the windy pool, went swimming in the indoor pool and then got ready to head to the festival. We made it about 10 minutes to the festival when two really nice Bulgarian girls stopped us to tell us the festival was canceled due to high winds. Sure it was windy, windy, windy but none of us guessed that it would result in a cancellation.

Needless to say that was hugely disappointing but after a little complaining, a lot of joking and some time thinking about options we headed out to Bansko for the evening. Pizza and beer was far from the perfect solution to this problem but in a pinch it worked. We had a good time and managed to salvage the night.

Sure it would be much, much more fun to watch the groups scheduled for the second night which included Cypress Hill and 30 Seconds to Mars but it's not like anyone can control the weather and it was really be a lot worse for someone to get hurt because of wind and things being blown around rather than to cancel the show.
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And a very special thank-you to my friend M. who took all of these pictures and who organized this whole adventure!! 