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!!
yeah they found Portugals van and trailer but everything in both of them was gone. Sucks big time that people have to do that crap. sounds like some of the stuff they used was pretty hard to come by. hope they find the stuff very quickly.
Post by Laggy.RETURNS on Aug 9, 2011 20:08:48 GMT -5
Between the latenights, the camping, the people, and the vibe bonnaroo is the better festival, but I've just got to say Lolla has SO MUCH on Bonnaroo.
-MUCH cooler climate -MUCH more shade -Epic atmosphere (the skyline just makes everything look and feel so much more epic) -AMAZING food -Better logistics -it was MUCH cleaner
C3 clearly knows how to organize this festival. To be fair, the grounds their working with are just bigger than centeroo and easier to manage. I was really afraid with 90,000 people that it was going to be a clusterfuck, but it wasn't. It rarely felt too crowded except for a few instances at the smaller stages.(then again I wasn't at Eminem- which I heard was ridiculously crowded). The only show that was too crowded for me was Cage the Elephant, who drew a surprisingly big crowd at one of the secondary stages. And it was always easy to get through crowds between stage to stage. There were never any ridiculous human traffic jams, except for when everyone was leaving after the festival ended.
As for the cleanliness, lets start with the portapotties. Sure there was some gross ones, its a portapotty. But NEVER were they ever NEARLY as bad as the bonnaroo toilets get. And they had a great trash program. There were tons of attendees walking around picking up trash. In exchange for one bag of cans/bottles you got a really awesome lollapalooza T-shirt, which I actually liked better than any of the ones they had for sale. It had the lolla logo in front and the lineup in the back. And this program worked so well. I participated, and actually in some places I had trouble finding any garbage on the ground. (I quickly filled the bag full of people discarding their beer cans at Flogging Molly though)
I was planning on definitely doing bonnaroo again next year but now after having an epic weekend at Lolla, I've gotta say it's really going to depend on the line-ups of each. The line-up for this year just felt personally tailored to my musical taste, and it was probably the BEST festival experience I've had besides Bonnaroo 2009
Post by Longtime and Frequent Poster on Aug 9, 2011 20:55:49 GMT -5
^I think you probably got lucky in terms of weather. Last year it was mid 90's and humid when I was there, which is probably more normal than low 80's or whatever it was this weekend. Even still, being outside in that heat 10-12 hours a day is nothing like living in it for 100 consecutive hours like Bonnaroo.
I agree that it's cleaner as well, but that's probably at least partially because no one's in the park from 10:30ish til like noon the next day.
2009 had the first porto I had ever seen filled to the top with piss only. haha. Anyway, I do agree Lolla is a great festival and late night is totally made up for by all the after shows! Crowd at CTE doesn't surprise, it was crowded in '09 and they do a damn good live performance, always tons of energy.
Post by NotMitchelBade on Aug 10, 2011 0:14:49 GMT -5
Not to bring the hate, but did anyone check out Deadmau5? I'm curious about his new set up. I saw he couldn't bring all of it because of rain and junk, but I haven't been able to find a video yet, though I haven't actually looked today.
Post by Laggy.RETURNS on Aug 10, 2011 5:49:27 GMT -5
Yes. I was really enjoying Foo Fighters but I'd been getting pretty hyped up about Deadmau5's debut of his new setup, so I pried myself away from the Foos to rush over to the budlight stage for his set. I think it was mostly between technical errors and bad timing, but I stuck around for 15 minutes and was terribly dissapointed that I'd left Foos. His stage wasn't doing anything too crazy, and after a bit he took off the mau5 head and I gave up and ran back for the end of foo fighters.
However my friend who was there raved about it (no pun intended), and videos I've seen online did make it look pretty damn impressive
The rain, and rush to get the setup ready for lolla, caused alot of technical issues apparently
Post by champagne cory on Aug 10, 2011 18:10:23 GMT -5
I started at Foo in the middle of the field, I think I was just around crappy people, and the fact that it started POURING rain, so I said quack it and went to deadmau5. His new set is a disappointment for how much hype went around it. However, I did have a good time dancing.
In terms of best sets: 1. MMJ 2. Grace Potter (KILLED IT - I vote late night roo at some point) 3. Cool Kids 4/5 Ryan Bingham/Ween
I didn't see Skrillex at Lolla, but saw his after show with Pretty Lights. Kind of not impressed by that either. Skrillex was a huge let down, and Pretty Lights was worth the ticket price, but I don't think I would see him again.
Regarding comments about moving around easy... this is the second year where they moved everything onto Columbus Ave. Previously all of the food vendors were on the streets that ran east/west (Jackson, Balbo) and you would have to walk through the middle of the fest. Granted, it was only 70k then but it was at least a 45 minute walk from side to side.
So literally, this year they fixed EVERY single problem they have ever had in the past, this was my sixth in Grant Park. Next year will definitely be number seven. Also something to point out, after all the rain Grant Park was beyond tore up. C3 has agreed to pay for all of the damages.
Anybody know why they took half the ceiling off of Perry's Tent Saturday and Sunday? WTF?
Saw this on the Coachella boards:
"Because the first day there was a serious lack of air flow in there and dipshits were passing out left and right from the heat when the tent was slammed during Skrillex. The next day when we showed up, every other section of "siding" of the tent was gone."
Anybody know why they took half the ceiling off of Perry's Tent Saturday and Sunday? WTF?
Saw this on the Coachella boards:
"Because the first day there was a serious lack of air flow in there and dipshits were passing out left and right from the heat when the tent was slammed during Skrillex. The next day when we showed up, every other section of "siding" of the tent was gone."
Shit. it never seemed hot on fri when i was in there. seemed really well designed, there were even fans every couple of feet on the sides. Fuckin idiots passing out, ruining perrys for everyones else
Leno. it never seemed hot on fri when i was in there. seemed really well designed, there were even fans every couple of feet on the sides. quackin idiots passing out, ruining perrys for everyones else
Yeah but those fans weren't doing much other than pushing hot air around. They needed those big industrial fans if they wanted to create some real air flow.
To echo what others have said regarding production, C3 has really gotten their act together over the past couple years. In terms of logistics/planning, I thought they definitely were prepared for the sellout. Although a few of the Chow Town lines were pretty bad at times.
My only gripe, and it's not a new one, is the clientele. This year was especially bad since there were so many people. But, just too many young kids running around trying to score drugs, mixed in with dbags and assholes.
Great time though, especially since my ex-girlfriend was able to get us in and out of VIP/crew area all weekend ;D
Post by almostcrimes on Dec 21, 2011 17:37:15 GMT -5
I love Bonnaroo like my own child, but Lolla was better this year. C3 really hit the mark with all of the logistics and everything about it just flowed. The lines for the restrooms weren't bad at all, the food was delicious, the people that I met were pretty cool, and it closed out with a soon to be legendary set by the Foos in the pouring rain.
My favorite aspect was the scheduling though. Aside from the Coldplay/Muse conflict (which kept me up at night for months), everything worked out really well. The best part of the weekend was when Eminem drew an enormous crowd so that everyone at MMJ could have a good time. It was almost as good as their 'Roo set this year.
Post by Chris Major on Dec 23, 2011 6:26:23 GMT -5
I love the logistics of Lollapalooza. It seems like they just put more time and money into a lot of things that Bonnaroo overlooks. However, they do have more big name sponsors and I'm sure the city foots some of the bill.
F*ck the crowd though. I first went a few years ago and have gone each year since, and the crowd has steadily declined. It has gone from Chicago indie/hipsterfest to a bunch of teens and bros from the suburbs running around. That post above about a steady stream of young girls being stretchered out of Perry's all weekend was absolutely true. All around me I saw nothing but 14-18 year olds trying to get zonked out of their minds. I've never had to stop girls at a festival from dancing with me so I could ask them how old they are. I cant count how many times that awkward conversation happened that weekend.
Also, part of the reason they took some of the panels off of Perry's was the condensation issue. Due to the humidity and heat inside the roof was literally sweating and creating rain. It got to the point where I couldn't even light up a smoke in there without it being put out by sweat/condensation droplets.
Well in my opinion Lolla is just a better run festival.. Cooler climate, more shade, better water filling stations, better vendors, easier crowd flow (getting out of the What stage after Arcade Fire last year was a nightmare.. I never had a problem at all getting from one stage to the next at Lolla no matter who was playing), ect.... But I do prefer roo more for two very big reasons; camping and all night sets.. Having to leave the party at 11 is a real bummer and paying for a hotel hurts like hell.
Post by Laggy.RETURNS on Dec 27, 2011 6:36:17 GMT -5
Some of it has to do with how it is run by management, but to be fair lollapalooza just has a better festival grounds to work with. Grant park is bigger than the farm, which means there's more room to spread out the stages, and more space for traffic flow Plus it's a frickin PARK. It has tons of trees and shade. And it's on the lake, in the windy city, in Aug- so the weather is just exponentially better.
Also they manage to keep the porta potties clean, and the entire grounds for that matter. But you also need to keep in mind the cleaning crews only have to worry about that 10 hours each day, rather than almost 24 hours each day like bonnaroo
Post by thisismyname on Dec 27, 2011 14:42:04 GMT -5
Yeah, Laggy raises a good point, a lot of the things you brought up were about the fest setting/location, rather than how it was run, but I digress.
I find it interesting you mention crowd control. I guess they made some big improvements last year, because in 08 and 10, trying to leave grant park at the very end of the fest with 80,000 other people created some of the worst clusterfucks I've seen at a festival, especially on the north field. Didn't go this year though, so maybe they made some imporvements.
Post by Chris Major on Dec 27, 2011 18:53:36 GMT -5
The end is always hell, every year, including this one. However it is generally easier to move from one end of Lolla to the other than it is to move around the stages at Bonnaroo. Centeroo is set up almost like a circle while Lollapalooza is set up like a very long rectangle due to the shape of the park. Instead of everyone clustering in the middle with all the stages facing in the same general directions ala Bonnaroo, the crowd is instead walking from one end of the park all the way to the other. I definitely move around a lot more and a lot faster at Lollapalooza especially with how it was set up this year.
However, I do hang out in Grant Park regularly and know downtown Chicago like the back of my hand so I'm sure that has something to do with it as well.
Well in my opinion Lolla is just a better run festival.. Cooler climate, more shade, better water filling stations, better vendors, easier crowd flow (getting out of the What stage after Arcade Fire last year was a nightmare.. I never had a problem at all getting from one stage to the next at Lolla no matter who was playing), ect.... But I do prefer roo more for two very big reasons; camping and all night sets.. Having to leave the party at 11 is a real bummer and paying for a hotel hurts like hell.
I don't think you're fully correct with cooler climate. Yes the past two years have been cooler, but I remember a couple years ago when Lolla was just as hot, if not hotter than 'roo. Yes there are more shadded areas, however up until they expanded west of Columbus, there wasn't much room at all. As far as foot traffic Lolla has been a NIGHTMARE up until this year when they added on even more land. It was ridiculous the year that Rage, Radiohead and NIN headlined. The main difference is that Lolla shuts down at 10pm, and gives the clean up crew a good twelve hours to clean the entire park to be ready for the next day.
Speaking of vendors, it really is in the eye of the customer on what is better. At Lolla you don't have a "sakedown" per se with people selling hand made merchandise, it is all corporate companies. Hell the F&B Director for Lolla is celebrity chef Graham Elliott.
The main reason why Lolla is so successful is because it is in a big city and can pool from the resources within the city. Lolla has an excellent working relationship with the city. Furthermore even after this year when it rained all day Sunday and Grant Park got destroy, C3 decided to pick the tab for any repairs that needed to be made to the park from Lolla, which I think is outstanding.
I'm not saying that one is better than the other, rather I am just pointing out that it is like comparing apples and oranges. IT's two completely different beasts.
