Wrockstock 2009 by Kat

It is well known in the Harry Potter fandom that “the bus don’t go to Hogwarts, that you’ve got to take the train,” but for a group of amazing witches and wizards, stretching from the age of 8 weeks to 70 years, the bus is exactly how you get to Hogwarts. From November 6-9, Wrockstock, organized by Abby Hupp and a crew of her awesome friends, takes place in a small YMCA camp in the Ozarks of Missouri. “It’s Woodstock meets wizard rock,” a friend described to me when I was first was introduced to it, “without the drugs.” Wizard rock is the up and coming music genre where fans get the opportunity to write and sing songs about their favorite Harry Potter characters. Nerds, people may call them, but they sure know how to throw a party.

After taking the last stop of the muggle world (some odd shop called “Wal-mart”), the magical Knight Bus is greeted by rolling mountains, a great lake just like the movies depict, and stretching lawns of the YMCA, which has been transformed into Hogwarts. The fans shed their muggle clothes and put on their wizarding robes. “It’s home,” as one witch said one evening after the festivities had died down. “It’s hard going back into the muggle world after this,” said a wizard later on. And while there was lots to do during the day (I heard Lord Voldemort and a small posse of Death Eaters won at Quidditch, shouting the slogan “evil wins”), the real reason witches and wizards gathered on the Hogwarts grounds is for the wrock. I lost my voice, hearing, and quite literally my health as I cheered for some of the best of the best magical musicians of our time. From the Half-Kneazles and The Blibbering Humdingers of the quieter sets to the all out head-banging (yes, head-banging) sets of the Mudbloods and the Moaning Myrtles, every musician brought it 150%.

If you’ve ever been to a wrock show, you know most of the faces, since the wizard rock community is generally a really tight-knit one. Matt as the Whomping Willow, Russ of the Creevey Crisis, Jarrod who is so awesome he is both Gred and Forge of Gred and Forge, Alex Carpenter and his posse of Tyler and Toby, which make up The Remus Lupins, and those saucy Slytherins of Swish and Flick. But then your favorite artists take off their guitars and basses and get out from behind the microphone and just chill out like they were any other Harry Potter fan. Seeing people that basically I listen to on a daily basis getting food from the buffet line is a little strange, and seeing their reactions to the things that we do (like a spontaneous pillow fight that might have started during The Whomping Willows “Merch Girls are Easy”) is even more entertaining. Some wrock stars don’t even bat an eye, they’re used to the crazy things that we get up to doing (heck, some of the things they’ve done themselves), while others find us a rather strange but interesting group of people.

It’s hard to describe the rainbow of emotions that greet you when you go to Hogwarts. Hundreds of people are there to greet you, make you feel like family. Instant friends are there to force you to eat with them, and nobody gets left out. I suppose the best way to describe the feeling you get when you go to wrockstock is that it’s love, in it’s purest form. If you’ve ever gotten the chance to spend an extended amount of time with 300 fellow nerds, you probably know what I’m talking about. Perhaps Dumbledore was right in the first Harry Potter novel when he said that music was a magic beyond all that can be done at Hogwarts, because I’ve never know a magic as strong as what I witnessed.

The best example of this was when the Mudblood’s final set was finished, when the crowd’s cheers of  “ten more shows” had died down, the entire room was met with complete silence for a full minute. Then a voice cut through the silence. “…We may have lost Sirius Black…” Those simple words launched the 300 people into an a cappella rendition of “The Weapon” by Harry and the Potters, which has traditionally closed out Wrockstock every year. Tears streamed down people’s faces as they hoarsely shouted the words will never be forgotten as long as there exists a wrock fan in the world.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life was going back home to finals and work and real life after letting go of the love and companionship expressed that weekend. It’s harder to go back to your normal, “muggle” life, knowing that a simple weekend has drastically changed you, and knowing that your best friends in the world are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. Twitter and Facebook and Skype are all things that make things easier (daily calls and tweets help us all keep going), but going back to the life that you lived, and knowing that you don’t fit into the hole that you left, is a difficult thing. I suppose that’s why a lot of Harry Potter fans have gone broke, traveling all over the place to see their friends just a few times each year, friends that, with each passing moment seem like family. Next year’s Wrockstock takes place November 5-8, and I truly hope to see you there. Because if you’re not a wizard rock fan now, you will be by the end of the weekend

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