So before we knew it we were hurtling towards the last day of Solid Sound 2024…all good things must come to an end.

But first, breakfast in our dorm.

Yesterday one of our Wilco friends from Japan gave me this awesome Cherry Ghost temporary tattoo that she made. (It’s a lyric from a Wilco song in case you were wondering) Today was t shirt weather so I decided to put it on my arm.

On our way to Mass Moca this morning we stopped by the Elks Lodge – who had opened up specially for Wilco fans to come in and have a look as Wilco filmed the video for their song “Lifetime to Find” in there. A local business was serving up bagels and you could buy drinks etc It was meant to be to be open only until 11am and as we were walking towards it we realised it was already 10:50am – so we hightailed it there as quick as we could, thinking at least we could get a sneaky peak at it. When we got there, everything was still in full swing and we got to have a good look around, took some great photos, enjoyed a Topo Chico mineral water and met and had an extensive chat (mostly about music) with Eric who is the co-owner of Tourists (the hotel we will be staying in post Solid Sound)

Then it was time to get on over to Solid Sound. There was no line to get in today so that was nice. We went straight to the Hunter Center to see Young @ Heart chorus. They are a musical group from Massachusetts who’s members are all 70 years or older. They perform rock/alternative rock songs and the like. Today we got to hear songs by Cake, Talking Heads, John Prine and Led Zeppelin. And honestly – it was the best thing ever. One of the absolute highlights of the whole festival. They were just so awesome and I really wish there was more things like this in the world. We loved every minute of it – and could’ve watched it all day.

A quick stop for some lunch dumplings before going to check out Iris De Ment. Now, I had a dilemma at this stage as Iris’ set overlapped with The Autumn Defense’s set. And I love the Autumn Defense. Some may say, I love them more than Wilco, but that is up for debate. But, Iris!

In the end I watched half of Iris’s set before hightailing it over to Courtyard C to catch the Autumn Defense.

So I get to courtyard c and it’s not too crowded because people don’t want to stand in the sun, but I’m from Perth and sun doesn’t faze me, so I walked straight up to basically the front row. Well there was one lady in front of me, but then she let me go in front of her and amazingly I was in the front row for Autumn Defense! Hurrah!

They started playing and they were great. They even played some new songs from a new album they are working on! Hurrah ! Love them a lot.

Then…about half way through their set, a guy came to make an announcement- there were storms in the area and we were told we needed to evacuate to inside the gallery until further notice. Show over folks. 😫

We all filed in to the gallery to wait out the storm – luckily the gallery is huge so we could all fit inside. This actually happened in 2019 as well. Storms are common around here and they take them seriously.

We chilled in the gallery for a while and got a coffee. It was actually a nice rest…but Autumn Defense!!! 😭😭😭

By the time the storm had passed it was time for the last set of the weekend – Jeff Tweedy and friends. Autumn Defense didn’t get to finish their set and the band Wednesday didn’t get to play at all – I felt sad for them as that would’ve been a major disappointment. Also I kinda wanted to see them too.

The Tweedy set started a bit later as road crew had to re set up the whole stage after the rain.

While we were waiting, we were kept amused by a rogue pigeon that we named Lil Jeffy. He was eventually rescued and set free into the trees – receiving a round of cheers and applause from the audience.

Great set. Great songs. But always a little sad as we know the weekend is coming to an end.

And then, just like that it was all over once more. Such a magical music festival full of the best people and music ever. Real life should be more like this.

We went and said bye to all our Solid Sound friends – we have so many now. When we first came over in 2017 we knew no one – now we know almost everyone at the festival- ok, well not quite.

We eventually dragged ourselves out of the venue, but ended up getting dinner and some beers at the places just outside the gates and hung out with some friends and met some new ones as well. Solid Sound really is a special place with the best people ever. We think this SS was possibly the best ever.

We dropped by our Floridian friends house for a bit of a debrief (and to say bye to the ones that were leaving tomorrow) before heading back to the dorm and passing out after a jam packed Solid Sound Sunday. See you all in 2026!! ❤️