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 cwatudidthere on Feb 24, 2013 15:38:21 GMT -5
Firefly is what you make it. Definitely a lot of broskis around but there aren't too many concerts or much of anything at all that isn't tainted by lax pinnies and bright way-farers (spelling?) I thought it was very well-run last year and for it to be a 15 minute ride from home, there's no way I'm missing out a second time.
I went and camped. They give you a 10x30 spot marked off=so there is no land grab like Bonnaroo. I was right along the road where everyone walked and it was fine. There was plenty of partying going on but nowhere near the level of Roo. The logistics weren't the greatest. Only one set of showers that were quite a walk for most campers. It is about a 10-15 minute walk and the walk out at night sucked because you have to fit over a bridge with the entire crowd exiting at once. However this year should be difffernt because of later sets. Alsothis year they are are offering up front camping for $50 more. Would definately be worth it. The location equals tent only at Roo. Remember when you are looking at the prices that the camping price is for one spot which includes 4 people. So split that cost up! The festival itself has a great set up and you don't have to walk a mile to get around. But make no mistake...it has NO WHERE NEAR the festival vibe of Bonnaroo. Way too many hotel folk and one-day ticket holders that are just there for the headliner. I had every intention of going back this year but the back to back weekend with Roo makes it impossible!
Thanks for the info. It just seems like splitting a hotel room might be a better deal than splitting a campsite.
Also, just as an FYI to anyone, I thought this was a very excellent overview and I agree with it all.
Does anyone think that there may be a third headliner added? I know it's kinda late for such a big announcement and there probably would have been rumors floating about, but after looking into the top 5's touring schedules I really don't know how they plan on scheduling this year.
Tom Petty has Friday and Saturday listed on his site and RHCP has all three days of the festival listed. Foster the People has all three days listed as well, Vampire Weekends website says Sunday and Yeah Yeah Yeahs have Saturday. I originally heard FTP and VW would co-headline a night, but I doubt they would plan for them to close out the fest on Sunday.
Me and my friend are planning on volunteering at this fest after Roo. Anyone have any experience with that?
Yeah I volunteered last year.. It can be fun depending on where they station you. Last year I just had to sit at the information tent and pass out schedules, tell ppl where the bathroom was, and collect lost and found items.. It was the easiest thing in the world and the tent was literally right next to the mainstage; so I didn't miss any headliners. My friend I volunteered with had to sign in volunteers which was off the festival grounds and over by the camping area.. He hated it. Totally boring and dead half the day and he missed a ton. So it's really all luck.
Does anyone think that there may be a third headliner added? I know it's kinda late for such a big announcement and there probably would have been rumors floating about, but after looking into the top 5's touring schedules I really don't know how they plan on scheduling this year.
Tom Petty has Friday and Saturday listed on his site and RHCP has all three days of the festival listed. Foster the People has all three days listed as well, Vampire Weekends website says Sunday and Yeah Yeah Yeahs have Saturday. I originally heard FTP and VW would co-headline a night, but I doubt they would plan for them to close out the fest on Sunday.
Last year they had some pretty big adds around late April. None of them headliners, but they added Silversun Pickups, Bassnectar, and Fitz and the Tantrums. So we might get some more mid level acts.. We'll see, the card is already pretty stacked if you ask me.
Me and my friend are planning on volunteering at this fest after Roo. Anyone have any experience with that?
Yeah I volunteered last year.. It can be fun depending on where they station you. Last year I just had to sit at the information tent and pass out schedules, tell ppl where the bathroom was, and collect lost and found items.. It was the easiest thing in the world and the tent was literally right next to the mainstage; so I didn't miss any headliners. My friend I volunteered with had to sign in volunteers which was off the festival grounds and over by the camping area.. He hated it. Totally boring and dead half the day and he missed a ton. So it's really all luck.
I consulted the all knowing Google and the website, to no avail. Does anybody have an idea if tickets are transferable? I have two and need to unload them, just want to charge what I paid for them. Any help would be appreciated. I am going to call them tomorrow anyway. Thanks!
So what's the deal with this festival? I heard nothing from it for weeks and now I'm seeing more activity. Undercard is stacked. So they're not doing three headliners, huh?
Nice. I opted to stay in a hotel again this year. I wish I chose to camp, but with it immediately following Roo, we planned it with the mindset that we'd appreciate the bed and plumbing.
I went last year and I really hope they properly planned for the increase in attendees this year. Ive heard they doubled sales from last year. It was so easy using the bathroom and getting water last year that I'd hate to wait in ridiculous lines.
I wasn't able to make Roo this year so this is my consolation and its 8 hours closer for me so it works out with the lineup being pretty stacked. And I have tickets for Paul Mccartney at Fenway in a few weeks so it all evens out in the long run.
I was hoping to go to Firefly this year since it's only a couple hours from me, but with it being moved up to weekend after Roo, I just couldn't request more time off work. There was no way in hell I was choosing Firefly over Bonnaroo, so, maybe next year! I hope anyone going has a fun time!
I don't know if anyone follows Firefly's facebook page, but they are having serious traffic issues. Now keep in mind, this is off a busy highway, it's Friday, it's the first day of summer. Also, Route 1 takes you to all the DE and MD beaches. And people are saying they have been waiting for 6+ hours (but by the times on their comments, the showed up at 2 in the afternoon). Do people really expect to just roll right in without any traffic?
I just find it humorous, though obviously it wouldn't be funny if you were stuck sitting on the highway while bands were playing.
edit: I also hope if any inforoo friends were going that you are already in there and not still sitting in your car!
Post by heartogold on Jun 24, 2013 12:05:54 GMT -5
So who went to firefly?? Did you have fun? What did you think of the atmosphere?
I live about an hour away and got handed some free tickets friday afternoon. Spent all day Saturday there and had a decent time.
they needed more water stations! the lines were soooo long.
I do love that all of the stages are on hills so you can stand so far back and still get a great view of the stage/screens. The crowd was actually pretty cool. THere were tons of bros (and whats the girl version of bros? Bishes) but they weren't the typical douchey type.. most of them were pretty nice. There was also a large crowd of middle-aged attendees, who are normally always nice and respectful. I liked their little light up forest they had. But it was all turned off before I left at like 12:30 AM.. It sucks they close down so early!!
So who went to firefly?? Did you have fun? What did you think of the atmosphere?
I live about an hour away and got handed some free tickets friday afternoon. Spent all day Saturday there and had a decent time.
they needed more water stations! the lines were soooo long.
I do love that all of the stages are on hills so you can stand so far back and still get a great view of the stage/screens. The crowd was actually pretty cool. THere were tons of bros (and whats the girl version of bros? Bishes) but they weren't the typical summers breezey type.. most of them were pretty nice. There was also a large crowd of middle-aged attendees, who are normally always nice and respectful. I liked their little light up forest they had. But it was all turned off before I left at like 12:30 AM.. It sucks they close down so early!!
My Girlfriend and I went, and we took my 12 year old for her first multi-day fest (wanted to make sure she could do this before attempting roo). Overall I was pretty pleased with this, the choke point between the two main stages is kind of an issue with the way they do the scheduling, (now i see why they dont fix the which ditch). Food was ok (it was no roo food) and they sure do need more water stations especially with security being so harsh about dumping out all bottles, sealed or not.
The vibe seemed great overall and i loved that all the stages were actual stages and all had at least one screen, i'd go again in the future if the lineup was good.
So who went to firefly?? Did you have fun? What did you think of the atmosphere?
I live about an hour away and got handed some free tickets friday afternoon. Spent all day Saturday there and had a decent time.
they needed more water stations! the lines were soooo long.
I do love that all of the stages are on hills so you can stand so far back and still get a great view of the stage/screens. The crowd was actually pretty cool. THere were tons of bros (and whats the girl version of bros? Bishes) but they weren't the typical summers breezey type.. most of them were pretty nice. There was also a large crowd of middle-aged attendees, who are normally always nice and respectful. I liked their little light up forest they had. But it was all turned off before I left at like 12:30 AM.. It sucks they close down so early!!
My Girlfriend and I went, and we took my 12 year old for her first multi-day fest (wanted to make sure she could do this before attempting roo). Overall I was pretty pleased with this, the choke point between the two main stages is kind of an issue with the way they do the scheduling, (now i see why they dont fix the which ditch). Food was ok (it was no roo food) and they sure do need more water stations especially with security being so harsh about dumping out all bottles, sealed or not.
The vibe seemed great overall and i loved that all the stages were actual stages and all had at least one screen, i'd go again in the future if the lineup was good.
I think quite a bit of the food was local. With Roo they pull places from all over. Since I live around the area I'm familiar with these foods, which for me going to a fest is trying new foods from other areas/regions. My water bottle got through, but it was rolled up in a towel. They didn't check bags too thoroughly.
Although they are allowed, we managed to sneak in like 400-500 glow sticks. (wasn't sure if they'd allow that much).
Was overall a good time, even though I only stayed one day. If the lineup is good, I'll be back, as long as it's not too close to Roo again :/
Just got back earlier today and had a great time. I opted for "Front Row Camping" which was an extra $50 and you got to arrive Thursday which was a great investment for both proximity to the venue and missing out on traffic. I'd liken it to the same distance as tent only camping at bonnaroo except you have access to your car/RV. I felt overall it was well organize, pretty lax security-no car searches or over-enforcement of police but bag checks and metal detectors going in each day. As a matter of fact I read an article today that there were no arrests all weekend which is pretty amazing. I felt it was a good crowd- a lot of mid-twenties and some older folks mixed in as well. Great sets from Tom Petty, Kendrick Lamar, Calvin Harris, Vampire Weekend, The White Panda etc. For me this will be my go-to festival from here on out if they keep it up with good lineups just because its a 5 hour drive vs a 15 hour drive to Roo. Hope everyone else that went had a great time
Overall the logistics of the festival were much improved from last year, minus the traffic issues. Staying in a hotel we were able to work around the traffic by navigating through some back roads and past the traffic, but I met a lot of people that waited over 4 hrs to get into camping. With the proximity of the hotels, I couldnt find a reason why Id camp for this fest to be honest. The camp grounds aren't all easily connected and not nearly as expansive as Roo, so you lose that communal experience of Roo. It took me an extra five minutes to get from my hotel to the campgrounds.
They expanded on the festival grounds, spreading things out very nicely and adding some smaller cafe sized stages. I never had problems filling up my water, there were fill up stations by every stage and I would go either before or after the next scheduled show whichever point had the shorter line. Food and beer lines moved quickly and I never once waited for a porta potty. The crowd age shifted each day based on the acts. Noticeably skewed a little older on Saturday, where Sunday brought the young crowd in for Vampire Weekend and Foster the People.
I'll definitely return for another run given the lineup continues to improve, but it certainly took a lot out of me pulling the back to back. Although I would prefer seeing a third headliner, I enjoyed being able to leave early and drive back home to NJ at 930 after Vampire Weekend.
Already have dates for next year - June 20-22nd, 2014.
Music wise. RHCP played quite possibly the best show I've seen from them in a long time. Tom Petty was good but not great. He was definitely more amped for his Roo set, and understandably. Im actually pretty certain he was bombed to start the show. Vampire Weekend proved to me they will be headliners sooner than later. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ZZ Ward, Ben Harper and Charlie Musslewhite, Haim were all great. Alabama Shakes and Jim James commanded the main stage sets they were given. Capital Cities were my surprise set of the weekend, a lot of fun. Best, most energetic crowds belonged to Calvin Harris, Ed Sharpe and Matt and Kim. Ellie Goulding was worse than I expected, and MGMT were quite disappointing as well.
Definitely no Bonnaroo, but an improvement over last year! We showed up Thursday night so thankfully missed the dreaded traffic I was hearing so much about.
If you ask me Big Gigantic stole the whole festival. Since I had seen Petty the week before at Roo, I only watched a little bit of his set then made my way over to the stage Big G was playing and to my surprise their were a ton of people just chilling by that stage waiting. Met alot of cool people, a few who had done Bonnaroo as well. Great times.
What they need to improve:
-They need longer late nights! Going until 1 am was so lame. The partying at the Hub was a welcome addition but the music there was so lame.
-More water filling stations and food vendors. The lines were unbearable!
But all in all I enjoyed the fest and would recommend it to anyone if you are from the area. Driving long distances for this isn't really worth it.
If you ask me Big Gigantic stole the whole festival.
Couldn't agree more. Launched our left over glowsticks from 'Roo during that set. Every time the beat "dropped" there would be a cloud of sticks! It was awesome I just love to watch them and see people's reaction to them.. priceless.
Post by Roo'adelphia on Jun 25, 2013 12:58:58 GMT -5
Last year it was a few weeks after Roo. I was going to go but 1st year festival just seemed like it would be chaos. Apparently they got a little more land this year and decided to double the ammount of people who could attend. 5-6 hrs of traffic musta been terrible.
Now that they sort of got it going on, hired the right people, made some adjustments after 2 years it is defenitly a option for next year. Only downside is the curfew on music that barely any US festivals dont have. That and I just cant get off work back to back weekends like that. The distance differential is a matter of 11 1/2 hours and id still go to Bonnaroo over Firefly or any other US festival for that matter.
Post by sswright915 on Jun 25, 2013 15:34:58 GMT -5
Loved it so much. Only complaint is the proximity of the two main stages and the two small stages. But I think foster the people deserved their headlining slot. It was incredibly amazing. Somehow I stumbled my way into VIP on Sunday as well!
