It will take more than one post to tell this story. Let's begin where all road trips begin. We got the car, filled it with people, drove the back roads through Eastern Germany, got in line and waited. Fusion has a policy to let in anybody who shows up, ticket or not. You pay, get a program (the lineup is not announced before hand), a map, and a garbage bag. I think they were overwhelmed by the number of people that first night and traffic was slow getting in. After a brief closing of the gate they opened things up and just let the overflow spill where it would - onto the tarmac and the adjoining airfields. Every day things spread a little bit further and people adjusted and it worked. Fusion is unlike most festivals; there are no advertisements, virtually no security, and almost all staff are fellow festival goers who work for a few hours to make back most of the cost of the ticket. Giving people that sort of freedom doesn't lead to chaos (well, maybe, but it's a good kind of chaos). It leads to people respecting and looking out for one another. We were all there for the same reason - to have a good time - whatever your musical tastes. And it worked.
We did a quick tour that night, saw some music and some art and watched our first sunrise...