The chants of “go Hammer, go Hammer, go Hammer, go!” were all we needed to hear to know we were almost at the stage. Playing a children’s benefit at 10:30am on the first day of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, MC Hammer was in prime form and belted out hits such as Pray, 2 Legit 2 Quit, Pumps and a Bump, The Adams Family and, of course, U Can’t Touch This.

MC Hammer at the 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
MC Hammer at the 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Gone were the parachute pants and in was baggy tux: the same outfit he wore at last year’s HSB festival, according to YouTube searches. He belted out his jams and for the finale he invited hundreds of kids at least a decade too young to his cultural significance onto the stage to dance with him.

I can’t describe the feeling of fun nostalgia that filled me as I watched the short set. It was all I needed to see. No modern Pastor-induced medleys…just the classics. Apparently, the few thousand other gen-x’ers or older around me felt the same way and for 30 awesome minutes we all danced like we were doing the running man wearing hypercolor tee shirts and snap bracelets.

While I do wish I had my good camera with me and sweet access to the stage like I did for Outside Lands, I was more than glad to just shoot a few videos and snapshots from far away. Besides, it gave me a chance to wave my hands in the air like it’s 1990 all over again.