"The solipsistic escapism of post-grunge lived on earlier this month too, when Alpine Valley [Wisconsin] became a respite from the real world...."

"A few festivalgoers wore their politics on their sleeves in the form of T-shirts about 'Making the Gulf America Again,' but there were more faux campaign tees emblazoned with Creed ’24 ('Take Me Higher') than MAGA shirts.... Eventually, it was time for Creed to close out the festival.... [A]ll eyes were on front man Scott Stapp, who looks fit and focused.... [I]t was fascinating to watch him interrogate his own failings and turn them into inspiration for the audience... issuing Facebook status wisdom like, 'The past is the past — it does not define today'.... Things threatened to come off the rails when Stapp was at his most political. The meandering message touched on surveillance, taxes, bank runs, credit card interest rates and the true meaning of 'power to the people.' 'If you want change, stop being gaslit by the media, the government and by everyone in charge,' he said conspiratorially, before course-correcting and calling for positive, constructive change — not disruptive anarchy. Then the band launched into 'One,' an anti-affirmative-action missive that preaches unity and now sounds like the theme song to the All Lives Matter movement...."

Writes Chris Kelly, in "I went to see the world’s most hated bands party like it’s 1999/Creed, Nickelback and other leading lights of the post-grunge era explored the nostalgic limits of rock’s most reviled sound at the Summer of ’99 and Beyond Festival" (WaPo).

That's a free-access link, so you can see some interesting photographs of the deplorable crowd and a good overview of the Alpine Valley setup. Maybe you're planning to — or wonder if you should — go to Alpine Valley to see Bob Dylan there on September 19th. I went to Alpine Valley. Once. It was 2 decades ago. I would not go back. Not for Bob. And therefore not for anybody.