On Saturday, we felt much better and more energized. That was neat because there was much to do. To start with, the neat heat wave that had warmed up the festival on Friday was ever present the day after. We took advantage of that situation by taking a dip into the pond that lies just down the festival hill. Bathing there was quite an experience I have to say. It felt strange for us to bathe and not be in pain at the same time. It was actually rather nice, and warm! I still suck at swimming but we had a blast enjoying non-arctic waters.

From left to right: Maggie and Mo outside the Café in the Woods.

Shortly after that we meandered around the festival site and looked at the wares that were being sold at the unofficial market. There we met up with Mo, who shared managerial duties at the Café in the Woods with Maggie. To be fair, Mo is quite the girl: she’s an artist that deals with both tattooing and metal-working while being the living definition of Swag. She sold some of her own creations together with some stuff made by friends of hers which is what most of the other vendors had to sell as well. Ultimately, Linnea encountered a purple tank top with Celtic-styled cats and bought it on the spot. T’was that or dying of a cute overdose I guess.

The Town Pants put on an absolutely floor-stomping show in the jam-packed dance tent!

In the afternoon The Town Pants played a second set, this time in the tinier dance tent. We enjoyed the show while consuming some spicy organic burritos and cheering for the numerous new tunes the band played. At one point, they even brought an old man wearing a Stetson on stage who sang a rather quiet country tune. Guess what, it was actually the father of the vocalists! He seemed quite happy to play but also overwhelmed by the wild crowd and the even wilder musicians surrounding him. T’was really cute!

Linnea relaxing with Owlette wearing her new Celtic cat tank top.

After the second and still excellent show of the Town Pants we decided to take it easy for a while before the evening’s festivities. While Linnea rested a bit I sat under the oak trees by the main stage and went on with my volume Game of Thrones which went along surprisingly well with the Roots Rock of Big Leg Emma (Also, Tyrion rules!)

After a while, we got together again and waited for the festival’s main act Donna and the Buffalo, a band that has played at the Heron every year for 26 years. For some unknown reason, the band was excessively late to enter the stage and we decided to go back in the woodlands were we found even weirder stuff, going on for seemingly almost forever. We also went to have a look at the drumming circle which had an impressive bonfire but too few dancers for Linnea’s taste.

Lyonel met up with this strange character at one of the vending booths.

Back at the festival area, it was time for some more food! Linnea took me to an incredible gypsy food stand called Phil’s Grill where we ate incredible artichoke spinach melts with fries. That was yummy. Meanwhile, a band I had no idea even existed was playing on the main stage. Jimkata seemed quite popular so we went to check them out and they were amazing! Contrary to 99 per cent of the festival line-up, those guys are a fully electric combo and knew how to blow the attendees’ mind. If I was a fancy blogger on Pitchfork, I guess I would call those guys Neo-Psychedelica but I ain’t so I’ll rather say the truth: they are an interesting mixture of old-School Psyche sound, Shoegaze aesthetics and the delicious melodic edge of the better side of Prog.

Despite the fact that we barely caught the two last songs of their setlist it was still an amazing experience and the best way to end the second day of the festival!

Text by Lyonel Perabo | | Photos by Linnea Nordström