October 12 kicked off the first and hopefully annual, Echo Project music festival. The concert took place south of Atlanta on the Bouckaert farm. Competing with the likes of Bonnaroo, which takes place over the summer, the Echo Project had a lot to live up to in terms of music, organization, and most importantly, having a good time. I can safely say that the organizers were onto something; giving my comrades and myself quite possibly the greatest three days of our lives.

The basic idea and underlying theme behind the Echo Project is to promote environmental awareness through music, art and various presentations and demonstrations throughout the weekend. While this aspect was the driving force behind the festival, the music was obviously the main reason why some 10,000 people gathered from across the states on this beautiful 300-acre piece of land. The festival featured over 100 acts spread across five stages.

Headlining the festival were The Flaming Lips, The Killers, and Phil Lesh and Friends. Cypress Hill, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bassnectar, Les Claypool, Cat Power, Thievery Corporation and The Disco Biscuits were just a few other amazing acts the promoters were able to snag for the festival. The stages were organized well with very few major time conflicts for the larger acts and little to no noise pollution from the other stages.

Conveniently, the center of the festival was located a short five minutes from the campsites. Friday began the epic weekend with main stage headliners Cypress Hill and The Flaming Lips. Cypress Hill put on one of the funner shows of the weekend, with lead Emcee B. Real running through all of their hits and inciting quite possibly one of the largest clouds of marijuana smoke to ever grace an outdoor music festival. The real draw of the weekend came with the Flaming Lips Friday night.