And on the ninth day, the grunge gods played.
The 33rd installment of the Riverbend Festival came to a close Saturday night after nine straight days with Stone Temple Pilots, the reincarnation of the once huge '90s grunge rock outfit minus original lead singer Scott Weiland. There were mummies, puppets and fireworks too.
At 5:30 p.m., boats started to cluster in the river behind the Coke Stage and people started staking out turf in the viewing areas on Riverfront Parkway. Among them was Rhea County native Kevin Clingan, who discovered the band as a teenager in the early 1990s.
"I grew up on STP since I was 15," Clingan said. "I remember first hearing them, I was like, 'Yeeeeaaaahhhh!'"
Even though the band would be fronted by former Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington instead of the singer that he felt "made the band," Clingan was excited.
"It's going to be different, but it'll be great," Clingan said. "It's about the music, the words."
Clingan and his girlfriend, Cindy Adams, also were pumped for the fireworks show that would start shortly after STP's set. The show of 1,200 command-fired canisters set off from Renaissance Park is a closing highlight of the festival.
David McElhaney, 16, was also interested in seeing STP's set, but for a reason that echoed the band's vintage.
"My aunt likes STP, so I'd like to see them for her," he said. "But I'm really here for the mummies."
McElhaney meant Here Come the Mummies, a Nashville-based funk band whose eight members take stage in head-to-toe mummy wrappings. When the Mummies took the Coke Stage at 6:30, they got the crowd up and dancing, despite the 90-plus degree heat. The bandaged band members jumped and danced through their set, encouraging the crowd to dance and let its "freak flag fly" through its ska, funk and soul-influenced grooves.
"I'm a hungry mummy, I never get enough funk!" howled lead singer Mummy Cass.
Local singer-songwriter Nick Lutsko, of Hixson, played an energetic set under the tent on the Chevy Stage. His band, all dressed up in Muppet-type costumes, braved what Lutsko called the hottest day of the festival.
"You think you're hot, imagine how these guys feel," Lutsko said.
Dixie Fuller, talent and production coordinator for the festival for 15 years, said he was pleased with this year's event.
"We had an incredibly good lineup this year," Fuller said. "There was something for everyone every night on every stage. We had great turnouts, the weather mostly held. The music has been wonderful."
And despite a "tsunami" tripping up the Bessie Smith Strut, Fuller said everything ran smoothly.
"I think we had a pretty darn good year," Fuller said. "Not many challenges at all, I'm tickled to death with everything. The vendors, the crafts, it's been really good."
After the last mortar spent its payload Saturday night, the countdown to Riverbend 2016 had already begun for Fuller.
"As soon as I put this baby to bed, I'll start looking at acts for next year," Fuller said.