Okay y’all, I know I’ve been absent for a while, but life has been cray. If it drives me to say “cray” instead of “crazy,” then you know I’ve been insane lately. #sorrynotsorry But crazy busy for all the best reasons!

One of those reasons was the Riverbend Music Festival, which happened June 10-18 right here in Chattanooga. I had the amazing opportunity to cover the festival for PrettySouthern.com, so I was there for most of the eight nights. Riverbend was also my first music festival, so lots of firsts in just eight days!

I could write a whole post about how incredible the experience was and how much I loved listening to live music down by the Tennessee River for a week. I could talk about seeing Thomas Rhett (oh be still my beating heart), ZZ Ward, Get the Led Out, Kane Brown, Heart and so many more incredible acts. I could write a whole other post about seeing the city of Chattanooga come together to celebrate great music in a great city and talk even more about how much I love living here. But I do that all the time anyway.

So this time, I’ll just show y’all all the pictures I took. Well, maybe not all of them; I took a lot.

Here are my top highlights of Riverbend Music Festival 2016, in photos!

The world-famous Coca-Cola Stage, where all the headliners performed.

Thomas Rhett was night one’s headliner. Oh my goodness gracious. What a man.

Best part of his set: about halfway through, he handed his guitar to a stage assistant, hopped on the drum set, and then broke out into “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE. So unexpected, so awesome.

ZZ Ward also killed it on night one.

Little known fact: I am a huge Led Zeppelin fan. So when I heard tribute band Get the Led Out was performing, I had to check them out. Lead singer Paul Sinclair is Robert Plant to a tee.

And can we observe this crazy awesome 12-string guitar?

Southern rock band Blackberry Smoke was also pretty rad.

Another really awesome act was Chattanooga-North Georgia native Kane Brown. He’s 22 and signed with RCA Nashville earlier this year and has since released his EP Chapter 1. He’s really talented and I can’t wait to see where his career takes him!

For all y’all American Idol fans out there: does the name Bo Bice ring a bell? He’s now performing with rock-jazz group Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Richmond, Va.-based rock/jazz/jam band The Shack Band jammed for fans at the Chevy Stage.

And I didn’t actually “watch” Chris Young’s set, but I listened to him from the other side of the river. This view = worth it.

Riverbend Music Festival is definitely a highlight of 2016, and of my time in Chattanooga. I’m already super excited for next year’s festival and will be anxiously awaiting the lineup announcements next spring.

Sam Hunt please?

Side note: my one-year anniversary of moving to Chattanooga is coming up. Talk about something crazy to think about!