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4. Another problem was security. One of the perks to vip is NOT being searched. On the first couple days (especially with the whole tool and no cameras/flashlight crap) they were searching us as throughly as GA.
2. They also provided bigger/more tents for food, but that made the place hardly air condidtioned, and the quality of the food was worse. I also saw a few red and yellow bracelets snagging meals in there. 3. Rv and Camping was mixed, and though we didn't mind too much some people were stuck listening to generators running all day and night. 4. Another problem was security. One of the perks to vip is NOT being searched. On the first couple days (especially with the whole tool and no cameras/flashlight crap) they were searching us as throughly as GA. 5. The biggest problem was check in. I think they changed it around so that the people arriving for check-in wouldn't cause traffic for the town but after check-in trying to head to camp was INSANE. I partly blame the state troopers for this...they were everywhere but it took them 3hrs to figure out there was a problem and even then there were only a couple who were trying to fix the problem ...I certainly saw all their cars but where were the officers themselves!?
3. I think the younger high school/college crowd were to blame for a lot of the rudeness. It seems it's really cool to be into music right now, so i can only figure a certain % of kids were there because it's cool and their friends were going, not because they are passionate about the music. Plus a lot of young people are rude in general.... I'm 21 and can't stand most people my age or younger because of this.
So all in all, I think security/staff problems created the most complaints, but we still had an amazing time. I love 'roo for the life style it creates. When I leave, i'm left pondering my own life and searching for ways to make my everyday life as great as it is when I'm at roo.
god, what a whiner, why didnt you go taddle on the people stealing food from the VIP tent? Its crazy to think that you can complain about the rudeness as you complain about "thieves" in VIP. If you want better service you should drop the VIP pass and bring your own food, and a maid. Some of you VIP cats just dont get it.........
LINES: everytime I wanted to go into centeroo I went in the second, smaller entrance, never had to wait more than ten minutes.
UNDERCOVER COPS: are they allowed to do this on private property? Also, whats to stop one from just running away from a UC cop?
Yes, uc's can do this on private property, especially when its posted on the website and in the info book that they will cooperate fully with law enforcement. As for running, you still get the evading/resisting charge if you run.
"When I was 4 years old, they tried to test my IQ. They showed me a picture of three oranges and a pear. They asked me which one is different, and does not belong. They taught me different....is wrong." -- Ani Difranco
1. Walmart was WAY more crowded then it was last year 2. The search at the entry gate was ok - but they confiscated ALL my glowsticks (400 of them) 3. We got in around 11 p.m. and ended up in girl thingy Galore (which was what we expected) 4. The sound at The Other Tent sucked BADLY for every show I went to (including superjam) they had way too much bass - especially for Tea Leaf Green 5. The dust sucked 6. The traffic people were assholes the first night and for no reason at all - just rude and inconsiderate. 7. The guy that put my bracelet on was the most awesome guy I encountered the whole weekend. Matter of fact - I was sitting and waiting for one of the shows - either Tool or The Police and they had an interview with him on the screen - he was really cool 8. My neighbors were less then desireable - when we first pulled up - the ones directly across from us - thought they were gonna take up our entire campsite with their tent - so no happening when we had three cars with us. The right next to us was someone selling pancakes and muffins every morning - they were good but it sucked to be woken up on Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. to someone yelling Blueberry Pancakes One Dollar, Muffins two dollars! Fri she was more considerate and waited until 7:30 to start yelling and Sat morning - WE woke her up at 4:30 coming in from STS9 9. We never had any problem with the search to get into Centeroo - but the added VIP section made the walk from BFE that much more unbearable. 10. I got excited on Friday because they opened up a path from BFE that cut straight through VIP - but - turns out they close it at midnight - so after STS9 we had to take the long way around - which sucked because I ended up with blisters ohn my feet despite wearing the same sandals I wore last year. 11. The crowds were rude and obnoxious - not all of them but I saw quite a few more arguments and fights then I did last year and the vibe just was not the same. 12. The Police were good but - as someone mentioned - they lacked the energy that I expected. - we cut out 1/2 way through to get a good stop for Flips only to have 4 or 5 people stand on the trashcan in front of us and totally block our view.
I am sure there is more that will come to me over the next few days but I doubt that we will be back again - the line-up would have to be outstanding.
Edited to add - 13. shakedown sucked - this was not the shakedown I experienced last year 14. No glass sucked big time 15. ast year we had a mini-shakedown in BFE - security ran everyone off this year 16. I did not see as many t-shirt vendors nor artists this year 17. way more naked women (and one completely naked man) 18. Food was good and bad - the pretzel I got was hard as a rock, the one time I bought bottled water it was not as cold as it could have been (but it was wet and good) and the plate we got from Outback Kate's was as awesome as it was last year! The pizza was really good also.
Last Edit: Jun 18, 2007 20:42:21 GMT -5 by Meg - Back to Top
Post by thelesamalee on Jun 18, 2007 20:34:30 GMT -5
ok i may be a bit drunk so please excuse my grammer.. (im usually a stickler on things like this)
Oh how excited I am to be comfortable at my home with my cats and my booze and AIR conditioning! My boyfriend had gone to bonnaroo in 06.. and Ive been hearing about how amazing it is for 6 months now. How the vibe of the people will turn you on and change your outlook on life.. Granted I met a few people who really made my week (shoutout to our nieghbors Gabrielle and Ryan you guys rocked.) Me and my boyfriend applied to volunteer back in feb. we sent in a 250 dollar money order and got a spot for prefest volunteer (completely siked!) we had to get there on sunday the 10th and check in and set up camp. which was allllll good everything worked out well that day and we were very excited. we were told to have an orientation at 8 o clock in an indisclosed location (thank god for a guy in our group who had good instict on these types of things) we didnt know where we were going and just kinda followed people around to find this orientation. upon arrival the volunteer orginazation informed us that they didnt have maps/showers/running water/and didnt know exactly where we were getting our food. THATS JUST GREAT! so when our shift came up at 10 am we wandered aimlessly for an hour in the heat looking for our jobsite and NO one on staff seemed to know where the access center (where we were working) was. that was pretty discouraging and i was ready to go back to camp. we finally found it and started our work. I enjoyed the people we worked for. nice people, kind of unorganized. On the site we applied for said we would have access to showers.. We didnt get a shower in our camp nor running water until wed. PISSED! no good man working in the dust for 3 days is hard without a shower. The volunteer program was very disorganized and kind of treated us like animals. the leader was a bitch and no one seemed to know what was going on.. Im sorry but you dont put 200 people in a field and tell them they have to walk a mile for showers and water. the boxed lunches were ok (sandwhiches and chips and such.. but you had to get your own drink) the lady at the catering was a bitch and i hope she dies a long and agonizeing death.
we didnt have to deal with security because we had staff wrist bands and could go through different entrances. the vibe of the crowd was kind of wishy washy.. cool people were there but we didnt seem to run into to many of them until the lips played. Tool fans were all around and you could blanetly tell who they were. (frat kids/meat heads/ doom goths/. all in all the volunteer program sucked and we mostly wandered around not knowing what we were suposse to be doin It was a f**king joke.
ive seen alot of complaints about shakedown and I never expierenced it in the years prior but it seemed to be dwindleing and there was no glass on sale.
and f**k those people who stand in front of you when youve been waiting on a show for 2 hours.. but thats concerts for ya! we left sunday morning and missed the stripes because a week in the dusty mess and the smell of sulfur puddles in our camp was too much I must say they took great care of the bathrooms! and they food was yummy but expensive as f**k.. everything ive ever heard about bonnaroo didnt reveal itself to me this year.. and i dont see it getting better next year.. I opt for a hotel and General admission. And the money orders we sent to volunteer didnt get back to us until friday when we couldnt find a way to cash them.. so we were broke for 3 days.. f**k karen and her volunteer program... get another person in there to clean that mess up.. i was extremely dissapointed in the way we were treated by them... and staff did suck. Bonnaroo may be dead.
you are correct becca, never again for me.....and that sux cuz i look forward to it every year...o well....they always seem to find a way to screw up a good thing
This was my first. I got stuck 30-40 minutes from Centeroo, which I understand is all luck--but they didn't send the water trucks to wet streets until the second day, and by then my nose-throat-lungs were caked. I missed 2 of the 4 bands I really wanted to see because my body couldn't hack it. I had maybe 4 beers all weekend and plenty of water, but the dustcloud beat me. My weekend was less about music than avoiding the medical tent, which is unfortunate. They should've wet the roads before and during arrival. That alone might've saved my weekend.
I try to stay positive, and there were a few random encounters I won't forget. To put a positive spin on the dust: even down into FL, every dustcovered car on I-75 flashed peace signs, thumbs up, honking horns--our cars wore the bonnaroo badge.
I think I'll consider 07 a grueling test run, and next year will be my first.
Post by thelesamalee on Jun 18, 2007 21:06:58 GMT -5
YUP! im sending one hell of an email to them once I sober up.. or maybe it would be better while being drunk.. either way im chewing thier ass out... who ever came up with that statement... it amazes me
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 augustwest on Jun 18, 2007 21:24:36 GMT -5
Just like the song "Shakedown Street" you just gotta look around. There were a lot of vendors, official and otherwise for a few blocks right by pod 9, about a 5 minute walk from 3rd street fakedown. There were several glass vendors, some with very good glasswork, and the usual other goodies. I did notice a lot less nO2 this year, while I like a balloon as much as the next guy, I feel that the shadiest stuff always occurs near the tanks, and did not miss them a bit. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember it in the past, what was up with the front area of the main stage being closed off for I assume VIP? That is going a little far, not allowing the same chance for all to get a good spot. I fear that the tents could have the same thing next year. I waited much (about 5 hours) longer to get to my campsite this year (though it was a great spot). We asked one of the traffic directors why everything was taking so long, he told us it was due to a long series of bad decisions, i appreciated his honesty, but you would think it would get more efficient every year. The heat and the dust really sucked, but I can't blame Bonnaroo for that, it appeared that they were doing what they could. I wasn't happy with the increased presence of armed police, poking around multiple times when they were not needed, but this may have been necessitated by the much larger number of shady and extremely effed up characters that seemed to be around this year. There was this one guy who was obviously trouble who was stumbling around our camp multiple times appearing to be staking it out, he was so messed up though, he was trying to take things from us while we were sitting there obviously looking at him. Despite some complaints, I saw many amazing, and a couple of mind blowing shows, met a lot of great people, and had a great time as usual. I may however, be considering a different fest for my big trip next year, possibly 10K lakes, but another stellar lineup could bring me back to Roo for #4.
Post by mynameismax on Jun 18, 2007 21:27:47 GMT -5
thelesamalee said:
way many boobs... and alot that i saw werent painted... but probably should have been... eck
I feel that there weren't enough.
Also, whoever said there are no drugs at bonnaroo is a tremendous liar!!! With the exception of me falling asleep there were always drugs of somesort within my view. I got offered many drugs that I didn't even know existed. What is DMT?
But I've heard voices not in the head Out in the air they called ahead Through ripped out speakers Through thick and thin They found a shelter Under my skin -Evgeny Aleksandrovitch Nikolaev
Post by thelesamalee on Jun 18, 2007 21:37:51 GMT -5
anyone encouter any big mean spiders who bite makes your skin rot off? we killed two in our camp. the program informed us of them upon arrival and said 2 people have been biten on the 10th.. anyone hear of any more bites? made sleeping very hard. i shook my blankets before retireing for bed
Post by augustwest on Jun 18, 2007 21:41:01 GMT -5
thelesamalee said:
anyone encouter any big mean spiders who bite makes your skin rot off? we killed two in our camp. the program informed us of them upon arrival and said 2 people have been biten on the 10th.. anyone hear of any more bites? made sleeping very hard. i shook my blankets before retireing for bed
I only saw little ones, and a few grasshoppers. Since I did not get bit, I am glad that I didn't hear that little advisory, I would have been afraid to go to sleep at nite.
Post by thelesamalee on Jun 18, 2007 21:46:04 GMT -5
i wish i hadnt of known about it myself.. it was apparantly a big prblem this year.. one of them i killed had a huge eggsack on its back.. gladit didnt procreate
anyone encouter any big mean spiders who bite makes your skin rot off? we killed two in our camp. the program informed us of them upon arrival and said 2 people have been biten on the 10th.. anyone hear of any more bites? made sleeping very hard. i shook my blankets before retireing for bed
I only saw little ones, and a few grasshoppers. Since I did not get bit, I am glad that I didn't hear that little advisory, I would have been afraid to go to sleep at nite.
Ditto.
Also, anyone else out there with an overwhelmingly great weekend like I had??
Bonnaroo was amazing!!!! The only real problem I had this year was with the safty guys at the Which stage on sunday popping all the balloons and beach balls-but other than that little mishap great time.
Thanks to everyone for making this year memorable and thanks to inforoo for helping a noob out!
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember it in the past, what was up with the front area of the main stage being closed off for I assume VIP? That is going a little far, not allowing the same chance for all to get a good spot. I fear that the tents could have the same thing next year.
There is a section in your guidebook about this. It was to prevent people from camping all day in front of the stage, that area is cleared out after every show and you have to queue up to get in before a show. It was not for VIP exclusively. Just whoever cared to queue up beforehand, or had read that little section in their guide book
All I saw was beetles and grasshoppers. I'm pretty sure those are the only bugs that would endure an apocalypse if it were to occur. all the other bugs must've gone in the heat. But when I was in camp M in '05 I saw some pretty freaky spiders that I didn't care to find out what they were.
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
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember it in the past, what was up with the front area of the main stage being closed off for I assume VIP? That is going a little far, not allowing the same chance for all to get a good spot. I fear that the tents could have the same thing next year.
There is a section in your guidebook about this. It was to prevent people from camping all day in front of the stage, that area is cleared out after every show and you have to queue up to get in before a show. It was not for VIP exclusively. Just whoever cared to queue up beforehand, or had read that little section in their guide book
I came upon the barrier before the Roots and made the same jump to thinking it was for VIP. A nice person the next day pointed me to the page in the guide that described this idea. Never really took the opportunity to see how it worked out. At the Roots I had pretty much talked myself into finally going VIP next year based on this assumption, but after hearing some of the "horror" stories of people in VIP I guess I'll stay a lowly GA peon.
Post by cajuninsaudi on Jun 18, 2007 21:58:13 GMT -5
mynameismax said:
Also, whoever said there are no drugs at bonnaroo is a tremendous liar!!! With the exception of me falling asleep there were always drugs of somesort within my view.I got offered many drugs that I didn't even know existed. What is DMT?
My new idea for next year ... bingo cards. Each time you hear the sales pitch for a particular illicit substance you color in its square. First Inforoo-er to get their card blacked in wins a prize.
I wouldn't rule out VIP entirely. I just think people were informed how things worked in past years, and something changed this year for some reason. Don't take it as though it's not worth it. The proximity alone and lack of having to worry too much about food was worth it for me.
If the lineup is as good next year as it was this year, I'd do VIP again. I'd also know not to expect anything to be set in stone.
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 strumntheguitar on Jun 18, 2007 21:59:39 GMT -5
So I didn't go through and read all these posts, but here's my two cents worth:
It seems like a lot of this complaining is out of people's control. Yeah, the dust was bad... that happens when there's 80,000 people on a farm in 90-100 degree temperatures for 4 days in a row. I saw several water trucks every day driving around, it's just by the time the truck got half a mile down the road it was already dry again.
Security was tight, but let's face it... it's security. If they're just gonna let you walk through without any searches then there'd be no reason to have them anyways. I stood in lines as well to get in, and had my cig packs searched and everything else, but I didn't care... they're just doing their job. I'd be pissed if I was stuck sitting out in the heat too all day just patting sweaty people down.
You couldn't find glass pieces on shakedown? Well shit, you mean you couldn't find any aide to your illegal habits? Man, what a drag... Roo must really suck, eh?
I must say, the music this year was phenominal. I think Bonnaroo did a great job handling the crowds and pretty much all these reasons posted are no reason to say you wouldn't go back next year. If the dust is your reason for not going, then bring an extra bandana to wear around your face. It solves all the problems.
Let me just say it, because I haven't seen it in my skimming of this thread:
Bonnaroo '07 will forever hold a place in my heart. Effin love this festival.
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 mikesworld420 on Jun 18, 2007 22:02:56 GMT -5
thelesamalee said:
ok i may be a bit drunk so please excuse my grammer.. (im usually a stickler on things like this)
Oh how excited I am to be comfortable at my home with my cats and my booze and AIR conditioning! My boyfriend had gone to bonnaroo in 06.. and Ive been hearing about how amazing it is for 6 months now. How the vibe of the people will turn you on and change your outlook on life.. Granted I met a few people who really made my week (shoutout to our nieghbors Gabrielle and Ryan you guys rocked.) Me and my boyfriend applied to volunteer back in feb. we sent in a 250 dollar money order and got a spot for prefest volunteer (completely siked!) we had to get there on sunday the 10th and check in and set up camp. which was allllll good everything worked out well that day and we were very excited. we were told to have an orientation at 8 o clock in an indisclosed location (thank god for a guy in our group who had good instict on these types of things) we didnt know where we were going and just kinda followed people around to find this orientation. upon arrival the volunteer orginazation informed us that they didnt have maps/showers/running water/and didnt know exactly where we were getting our food. THATS JUST GREAT! so when our shift came up at 10 am we wandered aimlessly for an hour in the heat looking for our jobsite and NO one on staff seemed to know where the access center (where we were working) was. that was pretty discouraging and i was ready to go back to camp. we finally found it and started our work. I enjoyed the people we worked for. nice people, kind of unorganized. On the site we applied for said we would have access to showers.. We didnt get a shower in our camp nor running water until wed. PISSED! no good man working in the dust for 3 days is hard without a shower. The volunteer program was very disorganized and kind of treated us like animals. the leader was a bitch and no one seemed to know what was going on.. Im sorry but you dont put 200 people in a field and tell them they have to walk a mile for showers and water. the boxed lunches were ok (sandwhiches and chips and such.. but you had to get your own drink) the lady at the catering was a bitch and i hope she dies a long and agonizeing death.
we didnt have to deal with security because we had staff wrist bands and could go through different entrances. the vibe of the crowd was kind of wishy washy.. cool people were there but we didnt seem to run into to many of them until the lips played. Tool fans were all around and you could blanetly tell who they were. (frat kids/meat heads/ doom goths/. all in all the volunteer program sucked and we mostly wandered around not knowing what we were suposse to be doin It was a f**king joke.
ive seen alot of complaints about shakedown and I never expierenced it in the years prior but it seemed to be dwindleing and there was no glass on sale.
and f**k those people who stand in front of you when youve been waiting on a show for 2 hours.. but thats concerts for ya! we left sunday morning and missed the stripes because a week in the dusty mess and the smell of sulfur puddles in our camp was too much I must say they took great care of the bathrooms! and they food was yummy but expensive as f**k.. everything ive ever heard about bonnaroo didnt reveal itself to me this year.. and i dont see it getting better next year.. I opt for a hotel and General admission. And the money orders we sent to volunteer didnt get back to us until friday when we couldnt find a way to cash them.. so we were broke for 3 days.. f**k karen and her volunteer program... get another person in there to clean that mess up.. i was extremely dissapointed in the way we were treated by them... and staff did suck. Bonnaroo may be dead.
She sounds like a bitch ,I almost worked for her last year, but got awarded a check from the VA, so I went VIP, last year. THis year, Iwent GA, and from the sound of things here, Im glad I did. I turned around in Monteagle to get in line for exit 112, and I had a spot in Camp Luke SkyWalker, all of my neighbors were very cool people, the shows were good, the kabob from ali babas in centeroo was out of this world, but I did notice a change from last year, and this was my second time, and that change is that it is becoming more corporate(ie security,fakedown,undercovers,rising prices, more mainsteam bands), and like my neighbor said all the little monkeys line up to scratch the big monkeys back.scratch scratch.
Post by jacktheripper on Jun 18, 2007 22:06:34 GMT -5
Personally, I could write an entire thesis statement about my first Bonnaroo experience. But I don't want to bore everyone. First, I really feel as though I got my moneys worth and then some. Seeing all the bands I saw seperately would be astronomically expensive. Also, the comedian performances by Lewis Black, Dave Attell, and Demetri Martin were pretty solid.
I did not have a problem with security for the most part. I came Wedsnday Nite around 9 waited in line for about half an hour and didn't even get the inside of my truck searched (aside from them rifling around my cooler.) Got a really good spot about 15 minutes from centeroo. Zero police presence and really cool neighbors. Getting into centeroo felt very routine and unimpeded. I never received anything more than a pat down with buds and a pipe on me.
The folks I ran into and met were random and colorful yet very engaging and subdued. I talked to people from all over the country about topics all across the board. Great way to pass the time waiting in a line. It felt like such a departure from societal norms. I didn't have any petty theft issues either and left my entire setup of chairs and cooler out in the open all weekend.
Downsides. The heat wouldn't have been anything without the ridiculous amount of dust in the air. I feel your pain tika^^ I missed alot of the Lips due to being flat out exhausted. A couple nights I felt like passing out at 10 p.m. Defiently had to stay away from the alchohol and substances to retain the little energy I had, pretty dissapointing to say the least. Those goofy looking SARS masks will be at the top of my list next year.
I could definetly do without the aforementioned white trash/wigger/gangster/greaseball population who are there to primarily party. Alot of those obnoxious pricks deprived me of sleeping in with there moronic banter and carrying on at 5 in the morning. Not all of us are "still totally rolling balls bra"!!
Speaking of which, finding any good glass/ganja was like trying to find a black jew at a KKK meeting. That guy that makes the $1 grilled cheese was a real douche bag too, reminiscent of the Soup Nazi. I heard alot of complaints from vets I talked too about the lack of choices and the sad state of Shakedown. Pretty depressing.
Despite the minor BS. This was a bad ass experience and I can't wait to come back next year.