Moods of the Madison Festival in Montana – Review
If you were considering going to the Moods of the Madison festival in Ennis, Montana this year but didn't quite know what to expect, here's a review that may help you make a decision in 2017.
This year's Moods festival line up included Young The Giant, who I was there to see, Bassnectar, The Wailers, Wolfgang Gartner, SOL and mostly electronica sets. It was a 2 day fest, a Friday and Saturday, so you could enjoy the weekend and still get to work on time on Monday.
Tickets were $125 plus $60 for camping, which I found to be pretty steep considering the line up. $125 including camping if you're really into electronica would have been fair, I'd pay for the ticket and camping again next year if there were more big names on the bill.
If you're a seasoned festival camper, camping was pretty alright, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. It was nice, mostly dead grass and dirt, but even the farthest camping was just a short walking distance to the stage. We enjoyed a gorgeous view and sunset and some awesome neighbors.
Speaking of the stage, the festival promoted 2 stages. One stage and a small vendor canopy would be more accurate.
As far as vendors go, the food was outstanding! The food kicked some serious ass on any festival I've ever been to. Almost everything was local and fresh made, we did the pizza and a bowl from Bozeman's 'Mo Bowls' and it was fantastic. Wish we could get a Mo Bowls truck here in Missoula, everything is mac n' cheese based and very hearty, excellent for festival campers. All of the vendors were quite affordable too, it's unheard of to be able to get a soda or water for just a buck at a music festival. Really zero need to bring a cooler full of food or grill to this event, save the room for more beer.
The sound was top notch. It's what I like to call heart attack bass, it's so deep it resonates throughout your body. The Young The Giant set was stupendous and I was quite impressed that they did sound check with headphones rather than annoying the crowd with the 'ol "check check, mic check" routine. There were also fire performers and rad chicks doing lyra aerial to make the atmosphere feel more festival like.
Set times were not on point and it kinda felt douchey to be partying so loud at midnight thirty in the middle of a neighborhood, but all in all it was fun, the sound was great, the people were glitter/rainbow/happiness wonderful and the drive is reasonable.