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 strumntheguitar on Jun 18, 2007 23:06:54 GMT -5
I get home tonight after driving home and after getting situated I log into Inforoo expecting to see people praising all the highlights and this is what I get: A bunch of people whining about the weather, security, and not being able to find shakedown street. Well, I personally think Bonnaroo '07 is in my top 5 weekends of my entire life. I loved every minute of it, and instead of everyone else listing all the negative (and mostly avoidable, in my opinion) aspect I would like everyone in this thread to mention what they ENJOYED about Roo, cause let's face it... it only happens once a year so let's gloat about how fortunate we were to see it.
Here's what I loved about it:
1) The shows. Holy crap I would've paid $1000 to see the caliber of shows I saw. I can honestly say I was only disappointed with one performance I saw all weekend, and instead of sitting around and whining about it I left and saw another stellar performance instead. Hooray superfly for bringing such a diverse set of rockers that really know how to get people groovin, even if it's 100 degrees outside.
2) The people. Everybody I met was phenomenal. The crowds at the shows helped keep the bands rockin, nobody was rude to me... even security personnel were pleasant since I was nice to them and didn't treat them like the enemy.
3) The fountain. I loved what they did to it. The new artwork around it was pretty sweet to look at, and let's face it... who can't enjoy a constant shower of ice cold water in the middle of the afternoon.
4) Vendors. I think all the food was pretty reasonably priced. Beverages were a bit high priced, but that comes with every festival. I can't help but laugh at anyone that paid $2.50 for bottled water though, didn't they know there were multiple spots with all the water you needed... for free??
5) The Flaming Lips. That's right, I don't even include this as a show because it was so epic. The UFO, the giant ball, the lights, the confetti, the laser pointers... THE EFFIN FLAMING LIPS!!! When people ask me what my favorite band I saw at Roo was, I don't even include the Lips in the answer, because to me it was more than just a concert... it was an experience.
Those are my highlights, not necessarily in that order... feel free to share your good vibes of Roo here, I'd love to hear other people say why they'll be back for Roo '08
OK, so this is my first 'Roo, so I guess I don't have a baseline, but why I'll be back in 2008 is the MUSIC, THE MUSIC and....THE MUSIC!!!! ;D
Yes, it was hot, hello, it's TN in summer....guess since I'm from around here that was no big surprise....no biggie. Bring cool clothes, stay in the shade as much as you can, drink a lot of water and wear sunscreen. The dust was bad, but there again, protect your face and stay hydrated and hope for the best. No one can do anything about mother nature. Prepare for and expect the worst, hope for the best, bring you best attitude and just have fun! If you are there for the right reasons (the music and the fun!) then you will find a way to have a good time. If you are looking to be entertained and pampered and have someone else do all the work for you, then go someplace else. This is not the place for you. Bonnaroo is as close to egalitarian as you can get in America anymore and that is the way we want to keep it. You want room service and AC, go to Lolly or Coach......
Post by sparklybecca on Jun 18, 2007 23:23:56 GMT -5
KARMA bamabelle ;D i did suffer a lil heatstrokish feeling but it didnt ruin anythin for me, thankfully i had an RV to cool off/shower in. i really had an excellent roo this year - and the best turkey corndog in my life!!! (did anyone have one of these???)
yes roo was a little bit unorganized this year, but im sure they will get there act together for next year ;D
It was great, as Roo always is. Every year I ask how are they going to top next year, and somehow they manage to do it. Friday Night will go down as one of my top nights at Bonnaroo ever, and I have spent 22 nights at Bonnaroo.
It was great, as Roo always is. Every year I ask how are they going to top next year, and somehow they manage to do it. Friday Night will go down as one of my top nights at Bonnaroo ever, and I have spent 22 nights at Bonnaroo.
Post by strumntheguitar on Jun 18, 2007 23:31:14 GMT -5
sparklybecca said:
and the best turkey corndog in my life!!! (did anyone have one of these???)
Oh man, those were quite delicious. and those pesto mozadillas... holy cow I could've eaten them all day. And nothing beats a delicious grilled cheese for a buck.
KARMA bamabelle ;D i did suffer a lil heatstrokish feeling but it didnt ruin anythin for me, thankfully i had an RV to cool off/shower in. i really had an excellent roo this year - and the best turkey corndog in my life!!! (did anyone have one of these???)
yes roo was a little bit unorganized this year, but im sure they will get there act together for next year ;D
Thanks Becca! Back attcha!! I had one of those and they were YUMMY! My friends and I were all on the lookout for anyone with wings to see if we could spot you, but we never did Next year for sure!!!
Post by sparklybecca on Jun 18, 2007 23:42:05 GMT -5
bamabelle said:
sparklybecca said:
KARMA bamabelle ;D i did suffer a lil heatstrokish feeling but it didnt ruin anythin for me, thankfully i had an RV to cool off/shower in. i really had an excellent roo this year - and the best turkey corndog in my life!!! (did anyone have one of these???)
yes roo was a little bit unorganized this year, but im sure they will get there act together for next year ;D
Thanks Becca! Back attcha!! I had one of those and they were YUMMY! My friends and I were all on the lookout for anyone with wings to see if we could spot you, but we never did Next year for sure!!!
aw, i only wore my wings saturday evening - s0ooo i was pretty much wingless for most of roo - next year for sure ;D
Kudos to you for starting this thread. I for one am tired of everyone complaining about factors of Bonnaroo that were 100% avoidable, if planned correctly and this is coming from someone who just went to his first Bonnaroo. Get over it people. Bonnaroo is not one of those places where you can just walk right into and just assume everything is going to be suited to your needs.
The positives for the festival were this
1. The shows were amazing. If I had spent the amount of money to see every artist I saw separately, it would have been 3-4x of what I spent to go to Bonnaroo. Didn't catch a bad show at all at Bonnaroo.
2.As much as so many people complained about it, I LOVED Shakedown St. I loved waking up each morning and walking down Shakedown to go to Centeroo and just look around and breath in the awesome atmosphere of it.
And for those who wanted to find glass, all you had to do was to go to the mini-shakedown on Plantation St. and there was glass everywhere. But there is a reason I called it the mini-shakedown, because it paled in comparison to 3rd Avenue.
3. I thought security did a marvelous job from what I saw. I didn't have any problems with going through Centeroo. If you had any drugs on you(which I did not have, because I had no need for them to have a good time at Roo.), hide them. Really its not that hard. If you thought you could have your pipe and bag of weed in your pocket and not get hassled for it, then you have alot to learn. Plus the longest time I ever had to wait to get through Centeroo through the big arch was on Sunday, and that was for about 15-20 minutes, which was managable.
4. The food was AMAZING, I was so surprised at the selection and quality of the food. The prices weren't bad, because I assumed the prices to be high at any festival. The water was not a problem at all. I am used to going to Phillips Arena in Atlanta and paying 3-4 bucks a bottle for water, so paying just 2.50 was fine by me. I'd rather have bottled than going to the water stations.
5.Discothèque arcade next to The Other Tent was awesome. I loved the dance floor that made rainbow ripples when you walked on it, plus who can beat playing Gears of War for hours on end before going to a show? That was probably the best non-musical aspect of my entire Bonnaroo experience.
In other words, I HAD A BLAST AT BONNAROO. And I am sorry for the ones who didnt.
Post by oleander124 on Jun 19, 2007 10:07:29 GMT -5
I had a great time other than what I posted about my neighbors and security and the "snafu" that included us trying to get off the highway Thursday morning. (I heard there was a snafu on the Bonnaroo radio and I assumed that involved what was done to us by having to bypass all of the exits that we were in line for only to have to turn around and drive back 10 miles and do it all over again. )
All in all I had a blast, but I seriously can't handle the heat and had to miss all of the late night sets because I was too tired to do anything. (I'm not blaming Roo at all!!! It's mother nature.)
We had a great spot up on the hill near the fence in camp R2D2. We had plenty of room around us to set up the EZup, tent, tarp shade tied to ez up and car top.
We had great neighbors who helped me figure out the rain fly and set it up in the campsite after my 2 left to find another friend who got stuck in camp Mortimer Duke. Sorry guys, I know if I had left that rainfly off it would have rained.... it became a dust fly I guess~~
Since we were so close to Centeroo, I had no real idea of the magnitude of the hugeness of the campsites all the way out and on the other side of Bushy Branch Rd. until we were leaving on Sun and went to find our friend's car out at Mortimer Duke. WOW I was blown away at how far out some of the folks I saw in Centeroo lived. Man, I never would have made it to Centeroo the first time. No, really, I wouldn't have even if I carried a gallon of water on my head like I saw one guy do.
I had the absolutely best gyro sandwich of my life when we went out there, too. I parked right next to the road by the stand about 100 yds into the Mortimer Duke road so my dd could go see if the car was still there and I got one of their gyros. As the little greek man was piling meat, grilled onions and tatziki sauce on my gyro, he said this is so good you will feel like a queen. Indeed, I did feel like a queen for the whole time I was eating that delicious meal. The best meal of the weekend.
I am so glad you posted this thread, I really did want to share some of the best things that happened to me and not be bummed about the toll the heat took on me and my blood sugar that sent me to the Manchester Medical Center, a 26 bed hospital, for the night. Well, who can complain about getting to use a flush toilet several times, take a shower, and be told I am okay to come back to the 'roo by noonish.
Every time I thought I was having a black cloud, the silver lining came out of nowhere. At the hospital, there was no shuttle service as there had been in previous years to get back to the farm. Lucky the farm is so close to Manchester-- The nurses told me to just go right to the stoplight, turn right and I would see where they were directing everyone to go. Just about the time I was literally in tears because it was so hot and it seemed so far to walk, a lady stopped to pick me up. She had driven over from M'boro by herself and needed to get her car in and parked. They never would have let her in if I hadn't had my obvious hospital band on my wrist because she didn't have a sticker or mark on her car. She was able to drive me all the way back to my campsite on the hill and park her car there so close to the entrance. We were each other's angel for sure.
My air conditioned home has allowed me to see things more clearly and be greatful for the smallest of treasures I had at Bonnaroo.
Megan, the idea bout the frozen fruit cups ~~ They were the best, most refreshing thing I ate at camp. I ate one that made its way back home. Not the same taste at all. It must have been that little slushy still frozen part in the center or just being on the farm that did it.
Regardless of what others have said, I enjoyed the Police immensely. Those guys haven't played together in what, 25 years! The sound system might not have been adequate, but hey, that wasn't their fault at all. My dd got a shot of me dancin' with my hands in the air. I was lovin' it.
I saw a super comedy act with Lewis Black and Friends. I was near the back of the line and we waited maybe 30 minutes. Not bad for a 1000 person tent. The cattle bars I navigated at a fast pace made me dizzy!!
I know there were plenty of other positive things on my first 'roo, will post more later.
I was really surprised at all the negative posts, really happy I read this thread. As I said in another thread, this was my 5th time and my favorite time at Bonnaroo. I did not see a bad show the whole weekend, the music was just incredible top to bottom. I came into this roo thinking it was the worst lineup and really, now that it's over, I can't think of a Bonnaroo where I saw better music overall.
The crowd was, in my opinion, as good as those crowds back in 03 and 04, much better than last year's crowd and also better than in 05. Our neighbors were really nice and wanted to get to know the people around them, I talked to so many great people while waiting for shows, shared a few smokes and food/drinks. And I can't remember a crowd being as into EVERY show as the people were this year. The energy was fantastic.
The security never gave me a single problem. Checking our car on the way in the guy was really nice and basically just checked our coolers for glass bottles. On the way into Centeroo, we emptied our pockets prior to getting up to the gate and the most we ever had was a quick pat before moving on in. And I thought that the lines moved pretty quickly for the amount of people converging at once. Only one time was it so long we used the smaller gate, and there was no line whatsoever there.
As for the dust, it didn't bug me too much. Nothing they could do about that. I thought the weather was great, though. I mean, sure it was hot, but there was a constant breeze most of the weekend and it was dry heat so it didn't bug me at all. I drank more water and less beer than I would if it had been cooler, but that's not really a big sacrifice.
This was the first year I didn't buy a cheap shirt, mainly due to laziness Sunday night since I didn't feel like walking to the real Shakedown. But everything I would have wanted to buy and a whole lot I didn't want to was available if you just poked around a little.
But yeah, my 5th Bonnaroo, one I considered not even going to, turned out to be my favorite. Only regret I have is not moseying on over to camp Inforoo to meet some of you. Hopefully I'll see you all next year!
My air conditioned home has allowed me to see things more clearly and be greatful for the smallest of treasures I had at Bonnaroo.
Karma for staying positive through a difficult situation laura... I think it may take some time for some people, but over the next few weeks the small annoyances of this year's Roo(dust, VIP traffic clusterf&$k,etc.) will fade away and everyone will be left with the glowing memories of all the great live music they saw and all the great people they met this past weekend.
Glad it didn't take that long for you. Amazing what AC, a long hot shower, and a night in your own bed can do for your perspective. ;D
I don't even know where to begin. I got in to NYC this morning at 6am after a 16 hour drive. I have just been on an amazing high all day. Why am I home? Best weekend of my life!!!! So much to tell. I need to let it sit in for a minute. I'm already making plans for next year!!
Off the top of my head with out really getting into the details, the music, the people, all the fun trippy things to look at, the beautiful sunrises and sun sets, all so sweet~~~~
This was my second Bonnaroo and it was amazing. The Mute Math show on Thursday night was worth the entire price of admission - the rest of the weekend was just a bonus. AND WHAT A BONUS IT WAS. Flaming Lips, STS9, Gov't Mule, Sasha and Digweed, Gogol Bordello, Hot Chip, I could go on and on.
We had a fantastic camping spot, only waited about 2 hours in line, had fun/silly/entertaining neighbors and met amazing people everywhere we went. Sure, there were a couple of negatives, but nothing is perfect, and none of them are worth mentioning.
Favorite moment? Stumbling into my tent on Saturday night to find it illuminated... after debating with my husband about the source of the light (I thought someone had turned on their car's headlights) I popped my head back out of the tent and realized that it was the sun. I didn't even realize it was morning. Unreal.
Kudos for this thread. I loved the fact that my wife finally went this year. She was such a trooper all weekend. She didn't complain once, and finally put my cowboy hat on to keep the sun off her face. I love her all the more for wanting to experience this great event with me. The music was second to none. Everywhere we went there were choice tunes to dance to. Couldn't ask for a better lineup. The greek sampler near the main Centeroo entrance was kick ass. Sure it was $12, but three people ate off ours. Can't forget the gyros and arepas. I also loved the people around us all the time. The crowd was fantastic. YOU people are fantastic.
Next year for sure!!! 
)
I do whatever my Rice Krispies tell me to...
