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 misterroosterny on May 18, 2012 14:30:11 GMT -5
Dude from switchfoot held onto the one guys hand forever. I thought he was gonna pass out. Looks like a sweet festival though. Too bad no camping. Not that I couldnt get used to a condo. Innovative to use once wrecked area for such an event. Any personal reviews would be greatly appreciated. Might switch it up next year.
omg we got vip tix for $200 from our condo...sold regular pass for 100. Jack White was gotdamn amazing. I was right up front. drunk as shit right now. free alcohol all day. tomorrow we party even harder. this festival fuucking rules!
I've been digging the sets so far. I saw someone on the Hangout Forums bashing the sets and saying the artists are phoning it in, but I feel completely the opposite. Gogol, Jack White, Wilco, etc. have been nailing it and seem to be having a great time on stage as well. Great time so far and I should have an album up later with some shots I've taken so far over the past couple of days.
Post by 3post1jack1 on May 20, 2012 0:58:20 GMT -5
briefly:
ON FESTIVAL LOGISTICS, and improvement over last year:
Everything was better over last year. Traffic flow was much improved over last year due to the significantly wider grounds. Sound was substantially better at the two problem stages, the EDM tent and the secondary main stage. The EDM tent was also substantially larger, and you could still hear pretty well from outside the tent. The secondary beach stage sounded great close, and still pretty good even way down the beach. Actually it seemed to me the main stage was slightly quieter then last year, but my memory might be wrong. The bathroom situation was much improved, I never waited more then a minute or two for a portalet. Water refill stations worked well, there were only waits in the middle of the day when it was hottest. Food did seem more expensive this year, but I really enjoyed an awesome truck that had vegan curries. They'll be at bonnaroo as well so I'll be a repeat customer for sure. Three entrances greatly improved getting in, again there was only a wait once early in the day. Bag searches were pretty brutal this year though, and I saw people getting arrested.
We were only able to go friday at night after work, but Umphreys was amazing as was Jack White. Today we saw Heartless Bastards, Skrillex, SCI, and RHCP. All great shows, even RHCP impressed me. They certainly drew a humongous crowd. Skrillex was a bit sloppier then he was at Buku, but it was still an amazing experience. Got me really psyched for his late night Which set.
In short, Hangout fixed all the major issues I had with last year's fest. I am glad, because if they didn't, I wouldn't be returning in 2013. As it stands, I'll probably by my tickets before they drop the lineup again.
We won't be going tomorrow because I have work Monday, and there isn't anyone playing I am super interested in seeing.
I am very interested to hear about everyone else's experience.
I can tell you about the VIP stage. It's inside the VIP grove and it's just a small stage with various folks playing. Kind of like background music in a restaurant. No big names or secret shows really. At least the times I was in there that's what I saw. I'll try to get a picture this afternoon.
I had way too much fun at everything I saw yesterday.
The Devil Makes Three - vip shaded viewing - enjoyed
Julian Marley - condo balcony - missed most of it
Randy Newman - front row to the left middle area of stage - enoyed
Gary Clark Jr - about four rows from right center of stage in vip section. Gary killed. mind blown.
Gogol Bordello - about four rows back on left side of the stage - This set and intense heat destroyed me. They were really great though...I had a blast. I went back to the condo and collected myself for a while after that.
String Cheese Incident - i was all over the place during their first set. I got close to the stage early in the second set and was about 20-30 rows back from the very center. Very hetti.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - I left SCI during their last song to get a good spot. I think I made the right decision. I just decided that i really needed to see flee and chad go at it. It was packed the fuuu out. I don't know how I did it, but I snaked up to about 10rows of people back from the right center of the stage. Seriously, there were like 3x as many people in the vip area for RHCP than there was for Jack White. I have done my fair share of hating on RHCP, but this was a really fun show for me.
I just went and read a few post on the the Hangout site message board... frikin hilarious. There is a guy on there totaly bashing everybody associated w/ Hangout and somebody claiming the wristbands have chips in them that the FBI is tracking... made me laugh and figured yall would need a laugh as well.
I would take the guys comments that is bashing the fest with a grain of salt. Everything I have seen on the internet so far about the fest is that it has been the best yet.
To all who just got back...how did it compare to last year? I went last year and had a blast but the Roo-lite lineup this year didn't do much for me. Tell me it was horrible so I feel better about missing out haha.
I can tell you about the VIP stage. It's inside the VIP grove and it's just a small stage with various folks playing. Kind of like background music in a restaurant. No big names or secret shows really. At least the times I was in there that's what I saw. I'll try to get a picture this afternoon.
Haha, OK about five hours after I posted this yesterday Gary Clark Jr shows up and plays a set in the grove. I only stuck around for a couple of songs though.
To all who just got back...how did it compare to last year? I went last year and had a blast but the Roo-lite lineup this year didn't do much for me. Tell me it was horrible so I feel better about missing out haha.
It was my first time at HO, but I thought it was really enjoyable.My thoughts:
Jack White blew my quacking mind (truly about a top 3 lifetime show for me... The fireworks going off behind the stage during Seven Nation Army gave me huge goosebumps and left me screaming my ass off in glee), Alabama Shakes were great (although the guy singing backup vocals made me cringe), Gary Clark Jr. was his usual amazing self, and Edward Sharpe on the beach was about as much fun as you can have with your clothes (mostly) on.
I feel like I got really close for a lot of normally desirable indie bands over at the Letting Go stage without any real effort, so that was cool even though I'd already seen several of them before.
All in all, it's not Roo or Coachella or even ACL, but I had a great time, got a great tan (read:burn), and got to see about 5 really good shows a day without stressing or running between sets. I went in figuring I'd dig the music, but also the beach setting, and that was certainly true. The combination of the two, plus the heavily southeastern fraternity/sorority crowd make this a "virgin friendly" festival, IMO, so I hope to be back again with some of my buddies who aren't quite as into the festival scene.
I can tell you about the VIP stage. It's inside the VIP grove and it's just a small stage with various folks playing. Kind of like background music in a restaurant. No big names or secret shows really. At least the times I was in there that's what I saw. I'll try to get a picture this afternoon.
Haha, OK about five hours after I posted this yesterday Gary Clark Jr shows up and plays a set in the grove. I only stuck around for a couple of songs though.
I hope some video of this surfaces. I was literally 3 feet away from Gary barefooted on that soft grass going nuts highlight of the festival
Despite the lineup looking fairly weak this year...I had waaaaay more fun this year than last year. I think it's because we got the cheap VIP hookup. I was able to easily get so close at the majority of the sets and just had a blast. I'd like to see the figures on how much alcohol they went through this weekend. Our crew of 7 destroyed some dranks over the course of three days.
Best sets for me: Gary Clark Jr. VIP set........was within two feet of him....face=dunzo Gogol Bordello- about 2nd row center......this show melted me hardcore..... very visceral experience. Steve Winwood- Off the bucketlist. Got to the front row.........pretty epic Shpongle- excellent as usual SCI- Not as good as the other SCI show I saw in ATL, but it was a ton of fun on the beach. Flaming Lips- DSOTM set.....way better than the Bonnaroo late night DSOTM in '10. Jack White- Rock ' n roll, straight up!
Disapointment- RHCP- Set seemed pretty phoned in. It was not loud enough! I felt like I needed to turn the radio up. Flea and Chad were badass, but Anthony was cheesy, and Frusciante is gone. The video displays were super lame....reminded me of that Muse show from Voodoo '10 that tried way too hard to be edgy. I did hear Soul to Squeeze.........this was the main song I wanted to hear.
Also, the logistics were def fixed very well. The "event group security" were dicks, as usual. They take themselves way too seriously. The fest was overly rule crazy but it wasn't a big deal. All the logistics people complained about last year were fixed very well. The raver tent was sick.
The dates for the fest next year is the weekend of May 17th, so book your condo now so you can get a good one. Island Winds FTW
Post by problem dog on May 21, 2012 17:23:12 GMT -5
Great weekend, I'd also agree that it was more fun than last year. Expanding the grounds made a huge difference. Crowds just seemed more manageable all weekend. Sound was also great at all of the stages, and the dance tent was much improved. It was a little intense watching cops grab people out of line at the entrance, but I didn't see anyone get hassled past the gates. Bag searches were serious business, but pat downs were non-existent.
Best sets I saw:
Jack White (might be all time top 10 for me) Wilco (wonderful, killer setlist) Randy Newman Dr. Dog (saw them 2 weeks ago but this set was waaaay better) Steve Winwood Yelawolf (set mostly ignored the bad half of Radioactive) Mavis Staples Rich Aucoin Flogging Molly (did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did) Alabama Shakes (massive crowd for a 2:15 set)
Only outright bad thing I saw was Sleeper Agent. Oh, and the 5 minutes I caught of Skrillex, but that wasn't bad in the neon trainwreck kinda way I was expecting. Shpongle lost my attention after about 15 minutes, but I was really only there to check out the visuals anyway. Definitely not my genre of choice.
I'll be back next year, assuming nobody's getting married or something.
This was my 3rd festival, and by far the best experience. I liked all 3 for different reasons, but the first 2 I found myself saying "I wish I hadn't missed _____" or "I wish ____ was different". This weekend just seemed to line up perfectly, in every way.
First of all, the company. Audra, Bonnie, Morgan and Erik were great to hang with. Started with some late night drinking and swimming in the ocean on Thursday.
What we saw:
FRIDAY
Hey Rosetta!: fun show, they sounded good some of Switchfoot: Wasn't feeling it caught some of Rebeloution, but bailed bailed for Alabama Shakes: Great energy, TONS of people for a mid day set, and it got HOT, so we bailed on the 2nd half of that set to run back to the condo and rest (drink) Paul Oakenfold: Fun Wilco: INCREDIBLE. We saw them on Wednesday in St Augusine - COMPLETELY different energy. They rocked the FACK out of the stage. Much harder, edgier set. Owned it. Jack White: Im pretty sure the consensus is AWESOME. Straight up.
Saturday:
Devil Makes Three: WAY lot of fun. All 5 of us were dancing and foot stomping it up ...then... (I take 100% of the blame here...) Mac Miller: Saw the whole set. More fun than I want to admit. bailed for food, came back for Skrillex: I enjoyed it a lot, but we dipped early to get right up front for: GOGOL BORDELLO!!!!!!!! What a SICK effing show. This is easily my favorite of the weekend. It blew my DOORS off. Great energy, there was even a friendly "mosh pit" (I use that term very loosely) Bailed after that show (exhausted, couldn't do much more) and came back for the 2nd set of: String Cheese. It was ok. Good music, but I wasn't overly impressed. RHCP: Didn't really try/want to get close. It was PACKED OUT. Getting out of the bottleneck after the show was tight.
Sunday: This was our chill, take it easy day Lumineers: I liked it. They played cover of Bob Dylans "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and they did a great job of it chilled out for a while, then went to see Michael Franti (who we saw play a little bit in a vendor tent), then bailed to get a lot of rest, and dip in the pool so we could get a good spot for
FLAMING LIPS!!!!!! We were right up front. I know a lot of you have seen them multiple times, and all, but I would like to point out 2 highlights:
1) when they played money, they tossed out giant white balloons stuffed with 10,000$ donated by Dave Matthews and when they popped, they exploded with money. Very neat 2) He lined up starting "Eclipse" from Dark side with the exact second that the eclipse started on the beach that day (a real eclipse) (P.S. whoever called that early - GOOD CALL) It was a very cool touch.
Dave Matthews: Nice, chill, relaxing set. We made it to the front for that sick SICK rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" and the fireworks.
As for the rest of the "stuff" about Hangout, I was impressed. I got lightly searched every time I came in and out, and had no problem bringing in a fatty, my friend molly and a flask of gin pretty much every time I came in the gate. They asked me to pour out my camelback each time, and every time, they turned to search the next person, and I just walked right in with my pack full of water. Easy as pie.
I would rate this festival and the experience a 10 out of 10, with Bonnaroo and Wanee to compare it to.
Thank you again, Bonnie, for letting us stay. It wouldn't have been even close to as great as it was without you guys!
Hate to be that guy, but I was pretty bored by Jack White's set. I was way back near the gazebo/showers - maybe that had something to do with it - but I just wasn't engaged for most of the set. I probably should have gone to STS9, but White Stripes have been on my concert bucketlist for a long ass time, was hoping he might toss in Blue Orchid or Icky Thump for a festival crowd.
local'd.
