Bonnaroo

One of the reasons I haven't been around lately is because I was at Bonnaroo (that dirty hippie music festival in Tennessee) for a week. I wrote a review of it for my friends who were interested in possibly going in the future, and thought you guys might like to read it/find it interesting!

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Overall thoughts: Amazing time that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was pretty nervous since I?ve been to many concerts and outdoor festivals but never one where you camped on-site for 5 nights and drove 13 hours to get there. It was intense, but all the hassle of getting there and the inconveniences of logistical problems were all worth it in the end.

One thing that?s hard to conceptualize about Bonnaroo until you actually get there is the sheer magnitude of it all. It?s 75,000 people camping on 7 acres of land with a multitude of camp sites, some as close as 5 minutes away to the hub where all the bands/stages/food is (?Centeroo?), other campsites are as far as a half hour walk. It all depends on when you arrive at the festival where you have to camp. We lucked out and were a 5 minute walk away, but I can?t imagine being one of those farther campsites.

Anyway, getting there was a NIGHTMARE. We drove all night and arrived to the fest at 6:50 in the morning. The state troopers had no idea what was going on and wouldn?t let us go on the off-ramp we were supposed to be going in, and this was after waiting for 90 minutes in line. So we were forced to get out of line, THEN go in another line. No joke, no exaggeration, this line was 12 miles long. Just imagine cruising down the highway and seeing cars (to your left and your right) lined up on the shoulder, just waiting for the same thing you are. We ended up finding a side road that took us in the festival, but it still took us about 6 hours total to get in ? that?s after a 12/13 hour drive. I was reading a Bonnaroo forum and heard of people taking as much as 12 hours just to get in the festival. Ridiculous, you?d think after 9 years they?d have stuff like that figured out.

Anyway, we got inside, set up our tent/canopy. We elected to rent a tent with cots instead of having to pack our tent/sleeping bags, etc., and I thought it was really nice sleeping elevated from the ground. And the location was killer ? we would have risked getting a crappy spot if we brought our own tent, and I liked that ours was reserved for us. After arriving, we filled up our Camelbaks with booze and went to go check out the central band area ? ?centeroo.?

You have to walk through this big rainbow arch thing that says ?BONNAROO? next to this psychedelic looking ferris wheel ? the whole thing really is stereotypical hippie ? and just imagine seeing people everywhere. There were food vendors (with some amazing food, might I add: some of the highlights were veggieand sweet potato samosas, blueberry crepes, falafel and thai drunken noodles ?there were a bunch of vegetarian options so I was in heaven.) Also, they have a bunch of other stands where people can interact with the brands/companies that sponsor Bonnaroo. There?s no advertising, really. Like, there?s no ?Vitamin water? stage or anything, but there is a Vitamin Water ?Silent Disco? where you go and put headphones on and dance with 200 other people who are listening to the same thing as you via headphones (but it?s silent to everyone else passing by), and they pass out free Vitamin water. There was also a Twix ?Need a minute?? station or something where you can go charge your phone and hang out in a hammock, or the Garnier hair washing station where you?d get a professional stylist to wash your hair for you ? with Garnier Fructose products, of course ? and had a line that was always packed. The corporate presence there was a little obnoxious, but it wasn?t over the top by any means ? you could pretty much just ignore those stands, I just thought they were interesting to note.

And the music! The music was so great. They had a bunch of stages that were confusingly named ( ?This tent? ?that tent? ?the other tent? ?which stage? and ?what stage?) with a bunch of different acts going on at all times. Here were my general thoughts about the acts I saw:

The XX: Good, I was really drunk though, so I don?t really remember much about this since it was the very first night.

Conan O Brien: He was hilarious. I think we were just one stop on his regular comedy tour ? I?m pretty sure he recycled a bunch of the same stuff? but there was a lot of Bonnaroo/dirty hippie jokes that were funny. The sun was SO hot during this act, and that?s when I got most of my tan. It was a nice change of pace to see some comedy.

Damien Marley and NAS: This was really high energy and fun. A cool duo with good chemistry. I don't think they ever really go on tours together so it was fun to see.

Tenacious Snore. I hate them, and this show was no different. I got dragged to it.

She and Him: This is the band of Zooey Deschmel?? (the actress from Elf, btw, who I didn? t know is married to the lead singer of Death Cab). I felt like most of the crowd there was guys who had a crush on her, but the set was good and for me never hearing any songs of hers before, it was entertaining. She has kind of a retro/mellow vibe.

Kings of Leon: Also not a fan of them, but we could hear the set from our tent so that?s where we listened. They sound EXACTLY the same as on the album, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences for live music. There was no variation between their live act and their recorded stuff.

The Flaming Lips playing Dark Side of the Moon: SORE subject. Okay, so this was pretty much my tipping point for making me come to Bonnaroo. For those of you who don?t know I?m a huge Pink Floyd fan and Dark Side is probably my favorite album on earth. I thought this would be an incredible experience, but like all things that are hyped up, it feel short of my expectations by a long shot.

First of all, it was billed as Flaming Lips playing ?Dark Side of the Moon.? So these guys show up on stage and play some over-the-top, indulgent set of their own songs (in typical Flaming Lips style, I should have known). For like almost 90 minutes. The set is from midnight-2 a.m., and they took up at least an hour and 15 minutes with their own music first, and I knew Dark Side was 45 minutes long (minimum) so by this time I was getting confused/annoyed. Why would you ever disrespect Pink Floyd, a rock legend, by playing your own contemporary stuff in the same set as Dark Side, and WHY would you play it first, especially when you?ve billed your show as ?Flaming Lips covering Dark Side of the Moon.? They played all their typical theatrical garbage with flashing lights, confetti blasts and bouncing balls and lasers and stuff, visuals I was hoping they?d save for Dark Side. Anyways, whatever. Then they GET to the actual Dark Side set, and I felt they totally butchered it. One of the Flaming Lips musicians was talking over the music about how it?s time to legalize marijuana. Okay buddy, that?s great, but STFU and play the music and show some respect. Maybe some people liked it (I didn?t talk to any) but I was not a fan, mostly because I didn?t think they showed deference to the album at all ? it was just plain arrogant. I think I?m too big of a Dark Side fan, maybe casual listeners liked it.

Weezer: I was annoyed because they were on too small of a stage. I also am over the whole nerd geek rock thing. It was fine sitting in the grass watching it for 45 minutes, but nothing memorable.

Stevie Wonder: Epic. I am so lucky I got to be there in that crowd. He was on the biggest stage and had a huge presence and everybody just had a great time.

The Dead Weather/Norah Jones/Blues Traveler: Wanted to go see them, but it was too damn hot to do anything before 4p.m. so we just drank beer and played cards at our tent through these sets.

Jay-Z: So I like Jay-Z. When his songs come on my iPod I don?t switch them. I own a majority of his albums. I know a lot of his words. But I still consider myself a very casual Jay-Z fan. As in, I would never have gone to see him on my own. I had a *BLAST* at this show. He was also on the main, massive stage, and he was just such a gracious performer ? like telling the crowd how awesome it was and what a good time he was having; he brought a fan onstage to sing happy birthday to her; gave a shout out to Beyonce, who was waiting in the wings watching him. He was totally class act and really respected the fans that were there. At the end of the set (which was supposed to be at 1:30am) he?s like ?F*ck it, this is fun, Bonnaroo, we?re going overtime? and everyone went nuts! I wish I would have been closer to the stage for this show. I was screaming like a groupie and dancing and having so much fun and I texted like 8 people in my phone with ?HOVA= best rapper alive? or something equally as embarrassing. But anyways, a total blast and one of my highlights.

Pheonix: I don?t know how I never really knew about this band, but they played a lot over the speakers (like they were on the ?waiting for the band to start? playlist) and had a pretty big presence there. They put on an awesome show and were pretty much the closing act for the non-DMB fans.

DMB: I am not a big Dave fan, but we got into ?the pit area? for this, which was incredible. We were probably about 25 feet from the band, and got to see all the video guys swinging their cameras around, Dave?s facial expressions, etc. His songs are just too long for me ? I?m not into the whole ?jamming out with no concept of time? sort of thing, especially when I?m standing packed in between hordes of other people. I barely recognized any of his songs, he didn?t play any old favorites that everybody knows. Which was fine, it?s your set guy. But after about 45 minutes I got bored and wanted to get out of the pit because I was dying of thirst. I had alcohol in my Camelbak but I just needed water really badly. So I flagged down the huge security guard, who picked me up with one arm and plucked me from the crowd. I thought he was going to walk me back (away from the stage) to leave but he ended up walking me forward toward the stage, and then down the front walkway to the side exit. So then I was like 5 feet away from Dave Matthews, and he looked at me for like a millesecond, hah. I thought about jumping up and down or waving or blowing him a kiss, but then I remembered who I was looking at and that I?m not a fan so I just walked out normally.

This is already way too long but I also wanted to mention the heat. It got into the 110+s with the heat index, and one person even died. The access to water was shiitty. You were allowed to bring in camelbaks and water of your own but for those who were relying on the filtered water stations it was absolutely insufficient for a crowd of 75,000 people in 100 degree weather. I guess the guy who died was a regular on the Bonnaroo message boards, and a bunch of people are going to his memorial service today or tomorrow. Anyway, if you ever go I would suggest bringing way too much water because that and beer is all you?ll drink.

On Monday morning we packed up our stuff as quickly as we could, and were on the road within 15 minutes, all very grateful to have not run into any issues with congestion when leaving. When I got home, I walked immediately up to our laundry room to do a load of laundry, then hopped in the shower and lathered up for a good 40 minutes. Waking up this morning, I felt like a million bucks and all I am left with is great memories.

So overall, there were lots of highs and lows to the whole thing. It may not sound like it from this review, but the lows were totally negated by the highs. Would I go back? Probably yes- If the line-up was as good as it was this year. I love live music, I love camping, I love hanging out with my friends talking, playing cards, boozing and listening to music. So it was totally my type of thing and I?m glad I did it.