Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Post by bonnar08Me on Feb 20, 2007 22:08:08 GMT -5
I don't think he has all his facts straight, for the most part he's on point...
It was slow around Boston's clubs this week (I would've seen the Ataris, but my lawyer thought that hanging around that many 14-year-olds might make me look like a pedophile), so I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about The Great American Music Festival, which released its initial lineup on Wednesday.
There are two things that you have to keep in mind when talking about the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. First and foremost, it is miserable, and if you've never been, there is almost no way to convey the back-breaking misery you are almost guaranteed to meet.
Picture the hottest, muddiest plot of land in the continental United States, then fill every square inch of it with people ranging from the scummiest acid casualty to the most upstanding live music columnist. Next, imagine what happens when you don't stabilize this environment with enough restrooms, charge too much for food and water and fling open the doors to hordes of young capitalists offering, among other things, "headies," "pharmies" and "boomers." Then let some of the acid casualties bring and lose their mutt dogs, and let these starved beasts rummage through your campsite for food. Then have it rain. This is more or less the Bonnaroo aesthetic.
But, the second thing to remember about Bonnaroo is that it is simply unlike anything you have ever done, and you won't do anything more fun all summer. Anthropologists have to scrounge for funds from all manner of foundations and organizations to make expeditions to non-Western societies so that they can study lifestyles vastly different than their own. All young people who like music have to do is pay $200 and drive to Tennessee to feel like they have permanently moved to a parallel universe.
When you walk on to the grounds it has all the trappings of a normal place. There are cars, metal fences and trees. People's clothing is generally familiar, and occasionally, in the teeming crowds, you may see someone that you think you recognize. But make no mistake - Bonnaroo does not function like mainstream society.
In many ways, despite the torturous environment, the festival grounds are utopian. Unlike every other large-scale American music festival, Bonnaroo takes place on private property. This confines law enforcement to the one paved service road on site, and relegates them to the position of general peacekeeper rather than that of a fascist underage-drinking watch.
Last summer at Wakarusa, a similar festival in Lawrence, Kansas, law enforcement agencies arrested or expelled 144 festival-goers due to heavy patrolling. At Bonnaroo, well, let's just say that didn't happen.
Time also functions better at Bonnaroo than outside its colorful gates. Rigid conditioning has us waking up when the sun is out, doing stuff all day and going to sleep for six to eight hours when it is dark out. At Bonnaroo, the bleeding, naked strangers that stagger into your campsite late at night prevent you from sleeping when it is dark. It is also too loud and your tent too hot to sleep unless you absolutely have to, leaving more time for you to wander around and go to shows.
Which, ultimately, is the single reason Bonnaroo is the ultimate in music experiences. Coachella might boast better bands, but nothing can touch Bonnaroo in terms of performers.
In late April, Coachella fields an impressive lineup, but one full of bands you'd rather listen to than see. Bjork, Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainright, Sparklehorse and Grizzly Bear are awesome, but I don't want to be one of 100,000 people standing in a sweltering desert seeing them. While Bonnaroo's initial lineup might seem less exciting than its foe to the west, Superfly Productions has put together the type of bands that are at their best playing to big crowds outside.
As far as I'm concerned, bands that play loud power chords and catchy hooks are the optimal kind of music to see at a festival. Hip-hop acts and solo artists tend to be consumed by the huge stage, and the sonically rich sounds of arty bands never seem to fare well outside. In Franz Ferdinand, The White Stripes, Spoon, The National and The Hold Steady, Bonnaroo has culled together five of the best, purest, guitar-heavy rawk bands making music today. When My Morning Jacket eventually signs on for the festival, Bonnaroo will feature at least six of the most festival-ready bands around. Boo-yah Coachella.
Additionally, this year there are a number of artists that don't play chunky guitars but are able to transcend the inhospitable surroundings to blow the collective socks off more than 80,000 people. In this category, confirmed artists Ween, Keller Williams and Annuals come to mind, but at the top of this list is STS9, who is back for the third year in a coveted 12 to 4 a.m. time slot. Most festivals can't have shows past midnight: in 2005, the livetronica quintet rocked a jam-packed Bonnarooo tent from midnight to dusk, ushering in the sunset with the dark, pummeling samples of "Peoples," (and then going on to play for another 30 minutes).
And herein lies Bonnaroo's uniqueness. Virtually nowhere else in the world can you see a mind-blowing show while the sun comes up. What's more, virtually nowhere else can you do so while high-fiving someone whose distinct raw sewage odor is a product of their actual wallowing in raw sewage. Finally, nowhere else can you be so thoroughly ripped out of your element, forced to grow accustomed to a way of life so foreign to your own and love every second of it.
-Mikey Goralink is a sophomore majoring in American studies. He can be reached at Michael.Goralnik@tufts.edu
This message is a natural hand made product. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty, and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects.
Post by msfelithatsme on Feb 20, 2007 22:18:23 GMT -5
how strange i just read this exact article about 30 minutes ago after i google newsed "bonnaroo" at first i thought i was going to be pissed at the journalist. but he turned it around/
at the top of this list is STS9, who is back for the third year in a coveted 12 to 4 a.m. time slot.
holy nuts, where'd he get his facts? anyone care to confirm the times? because if thats true...wow, what a scene that will be that pretty much locks me up for late night on friday all night, i hope there's no conflicts, i'd hate to leave this set at all.
nh5698 said:
Virtually nowhere else in the world can you see a mind-blowing show while the sun comes up.
wonder if there's still the possibility of STS9>sasha&digweed...4am is a bit late to start, sasha went on at 3:30 last year and still had like a 2-3 hour set. of course if STS9 is friday, as i think someone said their web site said? i definitely wouldn't mind if S&D had a similar time slot on saturday..
Maybe I'll throw myself to the dogs, but my back's not to the wall Maybe I'll lay some bricks for the man, but the days just aren't that long So if I settle back and chill will I see far enough to feel the angel's dream? I thought it was the Story of the World!
i think this guys out of his mind and would be much better off at coachella. but i guess hes gonna come to roo and escape the hot sun. lol. and he must only go to city fests. i can think of a dozen fests off the top pf my head with music way after 12 and i can only think of 2 that dont. coachella and langerado. but even langerado has it off site.
First of all, noone should take this type of journalisim very seriously. After all it is only one person's opinion. 2nd, I don't really think that he "turned it around at all" becuase there were so many back handed complements in there it wasn't even funny. Just remember that one person's gauge for happiness and utopia can be very different from anothers. The way I saw Bonnaroo when I went was a society of people ranging in all different ages, cultures, and social structures. I saw them all getting along wonderfully and having the time of their lives. I didn't see overflowinf portojohns (well maybe some) but I instead saw people peacfully taking care of buisness without complaining. I saw musicians playing there heart and soul out to a crowd that would remember that one set forever. I saw people enhancing their experience and opening their mind to new and wonderful things. Live on Bonnaroo and forever hold your head up high. You are a utopia that I could find nowwhere else. And as far as security goes, a utopian society could not function with law!!!
a journalist has 2 best friends: exaggeration, and sensationalism. not to mention the fact that bad news sells more than good news. again, its all about the money.
Maybe I'll throw myself to the dogs, but my back's not to the wall Maybe I'll lay some bricks for the man, but the days just aren't that long So if I settle back and chill will I see far enough to feel the angel's dream? I thought it was the Story of the World!
hmm, i think you got me there, probably not maybe he's just practicing learning to lie using creative and flowery linguistics in expectations of -future- earnings with a regular newspaper?
Maybe I'll throw myself to the dogs, but my back's not to the wall Maybe I'll lay some bricks for the man, but the days just aren't that long So if I settle back and chill will I see far enough to feel the angel's dream? I thought it was the Story of the World!
We treat mishaps like sinking ships and I know that I don't want to be out to drift Well I can see it in your eyes like I taste your lips and They both tell me that we're better than this
Post by Sköldpadda on Feb 21, 2007 18:05:19 GMT -5
That man doesn't know anything about Hunter S. Thompson.
I also don't believe I ever smelled anyone that smelled like raw sewage, either. However, I passed by (downwind) the porta potties in Centeroo on Saturday night, and that smelled like raw sewage. I believe in exaggeration within the boundaries of the appropriate adjectives. I guess that guy doesn't.
Does anyone else feel like "power chords" isn't that great a way to sum up the music at Bonnaroo?
Post by imsquare17 on Feb 21, 2007 21:09:48 GMT -5
It sounds to me like the guy is unfamiliar with the Bonnaroo's very jam-band-like environment. It sounds like he's trying to do the nostalgic "all the things you never realized you loved about something" type of writing, but he just doesn't get it enough to write about it.
the article read like a novel. i thought he was going to bash the festival to pieces but then he put a little twist on it. i think that its a great article to show someone that may or may not want to go to their first bonnaroo. it is quite extravagent but everyone's bonnaroo experience is different. his experience sounds like one of the worst ever but he still found it to be "utopia"