Sponsors didn’t flinch at constructing an entire makeshift garage-type apparatus right next to the second stage that the Wailers performed on. Inside, drums and guitars were available for anyone to mess around with, as well as a fleet of hammocks, and six VWs with girls sitting inside getting VW corporate insignias tattoo’d onto their foreheads as photographers shot away. A basketball hoop was affixed to the outside for pick-up games.

Pepper took the stage, sans shirts, yelling, “Have some dirty, hot sex with me,” jumping from foot to foot over messy reggae chords. I wondered how many would take them up on the offer — Trojan was handing out samples at a nearby stand. Jurassic 5 held it down later with a set featuring throat-tickling bass lines and some high-quality old-school jams from their 2002 disc Power in Numbers plus some new material from their latest, Feedback (both Interscope), that included the feel-good single “Work It Out.”

Later, perched on a chair in a baby-blue pimp suit and top hat, G. Love waggled his knees as he and Special Sauce launched into “Don’t Drop It” and then continued through a set of insanely extended guitar/bass/drum solos that actually put a few fans to sleep. It was up to Dropkick Murphys to wake the slumberers and save the night. Walking onto a darkened stage punctuated the sounds of Irish uillean-pipe music, a woman singing, and primal drumming, they exploded into familiar punk sing-alongs: “Boys on the Dock,” “The Walking Dead,” and even a heartfelt “Tessie” for a Red Sox team that was by then in desperate need of a boost.