Reflections (and Ramblings) on Bonnaroo...plus some more pictures

I am finally well rested, my body has mostly recovered, my sunburn has healed...I haven't gotten over the obsession with my shower, and my air conditioner, I haven't stopped enjoying having a bathroom nearby every time I need to use one, instead of having to walk half a mile. This means that it is time to start reflecting on the amazing experience of Bonnaroo. I think my friends have been a little perplexed my reactions...my stock reaction has become "It was unreal/unbelievable and I couldn't really use normal words to describe it." This is true. Bonnaroo was more than a music festival, more than a 4 day camping trip with friends, more than a collection of hippies doing drugs...I truly left the grounds on Monday feeling like I had been a part of something amazing. With that, here are some reflections on various topics...

Drugs - one of the main questions people ask me about Bonnaroo was the drugs there. Anyone that has looked into the festival at all has heard about how there are many drugs available at any time of the day or night for whatever price you want to pay...but I was not even prepared for the experience there. Before we had even set up camp, we had been offered drugs. It seems like every time we would sit/stand still for more than 5 minutes, whether we were at the campsite or in Centeroo (the concert area) there would be someone offering us whatever drugs we wanted. All of that said, the interesting part to me (and unbelievable to some) is that no one I was with used any illegal drugs. I could discuss why this is...but the point is that, even without doing drugs. The thing that struck me is that Bonnaroo is such a weird experience and environment, that I don't see why people would need to alter their state of consciousness to enjoy it more?

Festival Organization - I was amazed at how well organized Bonnaroo was. I have only really been to one other major festival, Lollapalooza, but the organization at Lolla could not even hold a candle to the organization at 'Roo. First of all, you have almost 80,000 people camping on one farm, which is a feat in itself. But everything else seemed to be organized enough that it did not cause us undue inconvenience. The parking/traffic situation was organized on the way in for us (I know it was not for everyone). Everyone had enough space to camp. The port-o-potties were cleaned everyday and remained relatively clean the whole time (I'm not joking, it was never a problem.) There were showers you could use during the day without much of a wait. There were water stations located throughout the festival that provided cold, clean water for washing, drinking or whatever else you wanted to use it for. My favorite thing is that the people running the festival went to great lengths to ensure that the ground where people stood to watch the shows was as dry and clean as possible. Before the Bela Fleck show, they cleared everyone out from under the tent we were in to lay down a layer of sawdust and hay to try and dry out the ground. It worked, and I think everyone really appreciated it. The medical staff was always attentive, and when that guy had a bad trip right behind you, the medical staff was always there in seconds to pick him up and take him to their makeshift hospital.

The People - The people at Bonnaroo are one of its greatest assets. I was hoping to meet a lot more people than I did...but this was likely due to the fact that we weren't that outgoing. That being said, I still met and encountered a lot of chill, cool people. When you're camping in heat, rain and mud with 80,000 other people for 4 days, you develop this camaraderie somewhat similar to kids at a summer camp. Everyone helps each other out and makes sure everyone else is having a good time. I noticed on Sunday that I had gone the whole festival without seeing people get pissed about running into each other or someone taking someone elses spot, etc. That stuff happened all the time at Lolla. A bunch of peaceful hippies at a music festival in the middle of nowhere? yep.

Since I've now been writing for much longer than I expected, I realize this is going to take more than one post. So I will end this with one more topic...

Phish - As I've said before, the catalyst that made me buy the ticket and commit to Bonnaroo, was the 2 shows that Phish were to play. When Phish went on Friday night, it was completely surreal. As cheesy as it may sound, I actually did get emotional. I started listening to Phish during high school and they quickly became my favorite band. Seeing them in 2003 from the 6th row at Alpine Valley was by far the best concert experience of my life up that point. When they retired in 2004, I did not realize how much I would miss them. When they stepped on stage at Bonnaroo, all of the waiting and wishing they would return came out of me, and I got to enjoy 3 hours of amazing live music. They ended the weekend with hands down the best set of Bonnaroo. The Tweezer Reprise was my favorite song I saw at Bonnaroo. I can't wait to see them 3 more times this summer.

With that, I will leave you with a link to some great, professional pictures and videos from the festival. This is a little taste of what I experienced.

Phish...and special guest

Yesterday was an absolutely astounding end to my first Bonnaroo!

As I told you, we waited all day so we could see Phish from the front. It was definitely a long day, but very worth it.

There were two performances before Phish. Erykah Badu was completely unremarkable. It's hard to have a "comeback" performance when there's nothing to come back to. She spent her hour and a half on stage singing about how she is god; and how she has a large rear end.

Snoop Dogg on the other hand tore up the stage. He busted out all of his classics and rapped over some other artists tracks. He also had one of the cooler stage setups included a drum set made out of a chopper motorcycle that the drummer sat on the seat of.

When 8:30 finally rolled around, I was tired...but that was all gone when Phisb went on. The first set was epic...and ended with Trey bringing on a special guest. We had talked about hoping Phish would bring on Snoop Dogg, since the band had previously covered Gin and Juice...but this special guest we had not even considered. Trey told a story about the first concert he attended at the age of 12. When he started getting choked up at the end of the story, we knew he was going to bring on someone big...and he did. Bruce Springsteen. They played three of The Boss' songs including Glory Days. It was breathtaking seeing my favorite guitarist trade riffs with Bruce. That was only the first set.

The second set did not disappoint. They threw in some of my favorites, like Suzie Greenberg and Farmhouse. They capped off 4 days of unbelievable music with a ridiculously high energy Tweezer Reprise. It was surreal walking out last night. I'm still processing everything I saw, heard and experienced. I will post at least once more with my reflections when I am a little better rested and have an actual keyboard to type on. Happy Monday!

The Boss

I would not call myself a Bruce Springsteen fan...or I should say, I would not have called myself a Springsteen, until last night. After coming on a half hour late, Bruce absolutely rocked our faces off. He played through the hits, added some new ones, and even threw in some awesome covers. I was impressed and I'm excited to listen to his stuff a little more.

Right now, were sitting in the front row of the main stage, waiting for Phish. Yes, they play at 8:30 tonight, so we have a while to wait. But at least we get to see Snoop Dogg somewhere in the middle of the wait. Here's a preview of our seats:

Catching up on 24+ Hours of Awesomeness

First off, sorry for the lack of posts! Between lack of cell phone signal/data coverage and lack of an outlet to plug my phone into, posting was a little tough. But we're still here stronger than ever! Here's a recap of what we've been up to...

Bela Fleck - yesterday I got to see one of my favorite artists, Bela Fleck, play with a man named Toumani Diabate. Bela Fleck, probably the world's most renowned banjo player, had been one of my favorite artists since I heard one of his albums, Live Art, which he recorded with his band, the Flecktones (which includes another of my favorite artists, Victor Wooten.). I was a bit bummed when I found out Bela was not playing with his band at Roo. Things changed when I first heard Mr Diabate play!
Toumani is the best kora player in the world. Never heard of the kora? Me neither, until yesterday. The kora is a 21 stringed instrument made of calabash and cowhide. The bass line is played with one thumb, the melody with the other thumb, and the fingers are used to improvise. So it is essentially a one man band. The show was unreal and was capped off by an awesome rendition of Dueling Banjos.

Beastie Boys - our first show on the huge stage was the Beastie Boys. While I listened to them a lot in high school, I hadn't thought much about them recently. I was unsure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by a high energy show which included some favorites like Intergalactic and Sabotage. The best part though was when Nas came out and did a song with them! Amazing! No idea what Nas was doing at Bonnaroo, but it was sweet.

Phish - as you may already know, the deciding factor for me in my decision to attend Bonnaroo was the prospect of seeing Phish twice. The first show was last night and lived up to all expectations. They played some of my favorites, like You Enjoy Myself and Golgi Apparatus. They finished with an encore that consisted of a medley of Beetles songs.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - if you like guitar music, you know R&G. They put on an unbelievable show this afternoon. I, along with the crowd were consistently blown away by the sheer amount of talent emanating from the stage. If you haven't checked them out, go do it!

So here I find myself sitting on the lawn, listening to Jeff Tweedy and Wilco for the first time and waiting for The Boss and the E Street Band to tear it up.

What an amazing experience this has been thus far. There's still another Phish show too! More updates to come hopefully!!!

Good morning!

Wow...not the easiest night of sleep! At least the weather took a break. Getting ready to eat some bacon and eggs.

Today should be an awesome day of shows. We're planning on seeing Bela Fleck, TV on the Radio, Beastie Boys, Phish and Public Enemy. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can send some pictures!