The wait for the gondola can be really long in the heat. The bathrooms under the stairs are air-conditioned! Also, the last few years they have tried to have some sort of farmer's market up in MV during the fest, but forget what day that was. The plus side of waiting in line for the gondola is sometimes you get to stand/talk with or even ride with Tim O'Brien, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, various members of Yonder, Leftover, or even Barenaked Ladies.
the Nightgrass negatives have been mentioned. The Greensky acoustic outside the SOH was great, as was the Hot buttered floor pick & don't forget the Yonder till almost 3 something that started the SOH sellout fever, all great & all missed if you needed the gangjala er gondola.
course, so are the late night TP bathroom picks, anahuac's, early morning line wakeups, birthday serenades, and elks park tuneups.
another plus to MV is more sleep? since supposedly you actually need sleep sometimes, else you could actually see it all.
Listening to:
cracklin rosie