Bonnaroo Roundup

A view of Bonnaroo from What Stage

Yankee and I just returned from our second Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.  We were part of the crowd that swells the population of Manchester, Tennessee from 10,000 to 90,000+ for four days every June.

Because of house buying and work, we didn't plan on going this year, but at the last minute decided we would. Sadly by that time the VIP  (AKA old folks) section was sold out. There was no way I was staying in general admission, and the VIP tickets on resale sites were way too expensive, so once again we were on the planning-to-not-go plan. Then Sunday night some reasonably priced Guest tickets came up on EBAY, and our trip was back on again.

The Guest campground is populated with music industry people, friends and family of artists, non-profit people and even some of the very smallest artists themselves (small as in playing the tiniest stages, not small in stature), and it is very different then VIP which is almost exclusively people over 30.

The campground is shaded which is great, but very haphazard. Every day there was a new tent or car popping up closer to us. Yankee and I had to turn off our orderliness to deal with that. I also had to try to overcome my germophobia in order to deal with the very worst part of not being in VIP - Port-a-Potties. All I can say is ugh.

The best thing about Bonnaroo is there is so much different music in one place, and you get to enjoy it in the company of thousands of other music lovers. We saw everything from banjo playing (Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn) to '70's soul (Earth, Wind and Fire). You can experience  performances you would never see otherwise. The best off beat performance we saw was Tanya Tanaq. She is an Inuit throat singer. It was absolutely amazing.

Recorded music is great but it will never replace live music. I never knew the lead singer of  Alabama Shakes was a fabulous guitar player before seeing them Friday night. If you listened to My Morning Jacket records, you would probably say they were a little folksy, but if you saw them at Bonnaroo Friday night you witnessed a '70's style rock opera (cape included). I knew Florence of Florence and the Machine had a great voice, but I didn't know how great until I watched her dance and sing for an hour and a half Sunday night.

So yes, Bonnaroo is miserably hot, dusty, crowded and stinky, but it is so worth it. I hope we get to go to many more times before we get too old and decrepit.