While the freezing night 2 was enough for many fest-goers to forfeit their Sunday, a solid portion of AURA’s crowd persevered and were rewarded with another amazing day of yoga, art, activities and music. This lovely lady spent a portion of her afternoon twirling with 3 hoops, creating a spectacle for everyone who passed.
Sunday was a short day, with music ending at 9pm instead of 5am like the previous two nights mornings. For us, the day started with some group yoga courtesy of the Tribal Council. If you are unfamiliar with their work, check it out! They are at most festivals and love to help you love yourself, each other and the world we inhabit. Strong, positive vibes are the best way to start your day, especially with a weekend as eventful as AURA was.
Musically, the day started with Lingo, an up-and-coming Atlanta jam band. P-Groove’s Brock Butler, who proved to be an artist at large throughout the weekend, joined for a rendition of “The Weight” by The Band.
Lazily, we slothed around the Suwannee grounds for the next few hours, soaking up the vibes and cleaning up our camp site with the dreaded drive home on our horizons (immediately following Papadosio). However, it wasn’t enough to keep us from enjoying the remaining 3 sets of AURA.
Heavy Pets had their AURA amphitheater stage debut. The change in scenery allowed them to kick it up (yet) another notch from the previous night, where the infamous parachute group-therapy session had spirits high in the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park.
Dopapod followed up to keep the crowd warm for Papadosio’s festival-closing set. By this point, the cold had bit the hell outta my face. It felt like sandpaper had been scratching at me for the previous 48+ hours. It was getting old, but we had to see what Papadosio was going to do to follow up their epic Saturday night throw-down.
The festival organizers came out for a toast to introduce the rising jamtronica act. Papa D is the AURA band, really. They’ve played each year, they always close out the fest. Hell, they even played the first set at the first AURA ever. With that said, their emotions were clearly at the forefront of their Sunday evening performance. With a (much) smaller crowd than the previous evening, it was a more intimate vibe… and they rode that wave ’til the end.
When frontman Anthony Thogmartin claimed that they would show another side of the band, playing rarities and acoustic tunes, everyone was ecstatic that they stayed. Those rare sets are what make music festivals special. It’s that chance to see Brock Butler join a rising band at 1pm, or Nigel Hall join Kung Fu for a slew of Stevie Wonder joints, or, in this case, Anthony Thogmartin busting out the rare acoustic guitar in 30° weather.
The group busted through tunes such as “Planting the Seeds of Life” and “Direction” before closing with “Stick Figure”, per request of festival organizer Daryl Wolf. The house lights came on with some funky music blasting through the PA. The crowd danced around a while before ultimately making their way back to their campsites and in most cases cars so they could leave.
It was Sunday night, and while most of us wanted to stay there forever, it was back to the realilty that, unfortunately, isn’t filled with as many amazing tunes, people or spectacles. It is our duty, however, to bring those vibes in to the world that is filled with much more anger, stress and skepticism than in the Suwannee. We came, recharged, and can now carry these positive frequencies to heal everyone else who needs them.
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