What can Bonnaroo do to improve in 2016?

Interesting. Yeah, I was GA, and the first time I went in, I was searched and only at the very end of the search did security tell me I had to empty my Camelbak. So I had to get out of the security line, empty it, and then get searched all over again. Other times I just went it with it empty since they were yelling on the megaphone to do so, but every time, they looked in to make sure it was empty.

Most of the security people I encountered were very thorough--much more than they've ever been. They were squeezing used Kleenexes to make sure nothing was in them (ugh, nothing was except black snot, lol), squeezing my sunblock bottle, checking under my Camelbak bladder, etc. Very odd, especially with my age and general appearance. (Not that searches should be inconsistent depending upon appearance--they shouldn't--but they usually are and last year the searches were cursory for me.)

Long time listener, first time caller

I want to address many of the "issues" people had with the festival this year. I attended in 2009, 2014, and 2015, this was my favorite year of the three.

Bonnaroo is what you make it plain and simple. If you are looking to find things that piss you off you will find them very easily. If you are unprepared the chances of you being uncomfortable or missing out on something will be significantly higher.

Keep in mind these are my opinions based on my experiences.

Security getting into the festival was the most lax I have seen it. It took me 50 minutes from the time I got in line to the time my vehicle was parked. This is compared to 3 hours in 2009 and 5 hours in 2014. Each year it was around 6 am on Thursday morning. Security getting into centeroo was the most lax I had seen it before. Not one was I asked to dump my water although others in my group were forced to. This was easily remedied since there were water stations right by both entrances. I brought some booze with me every time and never had it confiscated.

I am against totems, but I am understanding of them especially when they are high enough that they don't block people's views. In the pit I saw security make people take them down. This was great because those had the greatest opportunity to block views.

I had previously never been in the pit for a show. I don't even know if they had it in 2009 and 2014 I always figured I was too late. This year I got into pit for 4 shows without ever getting in line more than 20 minutes earlier. What pit was my favorite place I have seen a show at roo. Blocking the sun during the day was a huge plus. To the people that wait five plus hours to hold a pit spot you are a lunatic. That is the exact reason these acts have headlining tours where only they play.

I didn't attend a comedy show this year but from what my sister told me it was even easier than 2014 so I'll take her word for it.

To the people that got robbed I realize this is a shitty thing, but for the most part is preventable. I had a backpack taken from outside by tent in 2009 on Saturday during the day while I was taking a nap in the tent. I had a disposable camera with a bunch of pictures that was the only item I was upset about. First try to limit the amount of valuables you bring with. If it's not on the farm it can't be stolen. Next lock up as much as you can in your car. From what I've heard most items were outside that got swiped. At the very least put things away in your tent.

If you missed slayer because you relied on the printed schedule that is on you. There were Schedules setup throughout centeroo with the correct times of of each set and correct on the website. This was also beat to death in the schedule thread.

Getting upset over a mediocre billy Joel set makes you look like an entitled asshole. While not his best performance it was definitely in his range of quality. For me it went Bruce > Elton > Joel for the old guy headliners. If you left because you thought the set list was boring you really messed up because everyone should have known he would save the hits for the end. Overall the oldies headliners are a great part of the festival and put nice closure to the event.

Not being able to walk under the arch is such a non-issue. Security let my whole group take a shot under it so I had no problem there.

Water was abundant and cold. If you don't like the taste grow up or buy bottled water. I'll keep drinking and enjoying the free stuff.

I heard a girl say on Thursday that the vibez just went the same this year. Not sure how you make make that kind of conclusion after 6 hours.


There were tons of toilets that were well maintained. I never waited over 15 minutes in line. There was one place that had urinals and I think those should be included in every bathroom area.

I agree that which should be utilized on Thursday even if it's only for two shows. It would greatly spread out the action.

Overall attendance felt like it was significantly down. There looked be huge unused camping areas. The Kendrick and deadmau5 crowds were tiny. Joel was smaller than Elton. Mumford was large but was easy to navigate if you aren't allergic to bees. I was under the tent for almost every act which I can't say for the other two years. Getting in to the farm was shorter. Getting into centeroo was shorter. If we use 80k as the base level id put this year at 70k.

Now that I'm older I wouldn't mind having an age limit, but there are older people that can drag down the festival just as much as any kid.

Kalliope can be overbearing soundbleed, but I always went on the opposite side of the tent away from it. After the real acts were over I went there to end my Friday and Saturday staying until the sun was up. The cherub DJ set was cool and it is a nice option. If they just let tent acts go until 5 am the kalliope would be unnecessary.

Superjam. Last year I had a hard time seeing and hearing the superjam and left unsatisfied. This year started the exact same until I said screw it and waltz up to the front of the crowd. Upfront of the superjam was unbelievable and turned out to be my favorite set of the weekend. Dmc rapping with chali 2na was I hate to say it, magical. I had goosebumps.

Screens were a solid addition, but I'd like to see them take it a step further and put two on each tent and additional speaking pointing from outside the tent.

I didn't understand the grove. If you have been to electric forest/rothbury you know how that type of installation can be properly pulled off.

Complaining about the heat will get you nowhere. If it bothers you to the point of ruining a weekend then please take more advantage of the inside activities during the day and head outside later. You may miss a couple acts but in the long run you will see more because you won't be so exhausted.

Is there any reasoning behind not having late night comedy shows. This would be an easy way to divert a couple thousand people from the busier crowds.

A lot of festivals have late night folk/bluegrass/singer songwriter stuff for people not into electronic music. I think roo could pull it off by having the old cafe where stage host that.

There is one thing that would greatly help the farm that despite how much the festival stresses it they can't force people to do. Without sounding cheesy people just need to be more respectful. I learned how to handle myself by going to our city's music and fireworks on the 4th of July with my parents. They showed me to throw things out in the garbage cans, wait my turn in bathroom lines, not talk during performances, not taking up a spot bigger than you need, look down while walking through crowds so you don't kick people or drinks, not to yell on your walk back to your car, use low back chairs, and overall just be mindful of the people around you.


I have a lot more I could get into, but I need to do some work today despite my bonnaflu.

Good idea, but I'll provide this observation. The two shows I went to were the last shows of the day on Thursday and Friday, right before it got dark, and they were super duper thin crowds. Enough to feel the laughs and have a good time, but the floor seats weren't even full, with a scattering of people hanging out in the upper seats. This is because at this point its not hot outside anymore. The performers at both shows even commented on it, like "wow the show right before this one was sold out".

I think the primary reason people go to the comedy theater is to sit in A/C for 90 minutes. Once they get there they do enjoy comedy and are great crowds, in my experience, but love of comedy isn't the primary motivation.

So I think unless an after dark/LN name was a big name, attendance would be very poor.

The flipside of the bass from bassnectar ruining the superjam for some is that the bass from bassnectar made the bassnectar set awesome.

Fixing Kalliope soundbleed is easy, just nuke it from orbit (its the only way to be sure). But I don't know what can be done about Which soundbleed, specifically with bass heavy EDM. I was in the VIP pit at Bassnectar, about halfway up the pit, pretty damn close, and the sound was JUST loud enough. I could even have done with it being a decibel higher. I don't know a ton about audio but I know the wavelengths of bass are looooong, which is probably why bass heavy performers rumble throughout the whole farm. Hell for Skrillex 2012 you could hear that shit from day parking.

The best answer would've been to have the Superjam on Which after Bassnectar instead of in a tent, especially the worst tent on the farm for those who stand outside the tent.

So here we go...

1. BRING BACK CAFE WHERE. This would help with the sound bleed from The Who Stage everyone complained about. Would also allow for more smaller acts to be booked. Also a great place to sit and what the What Stage and then, after that show is done, catch an act at Cafe Where. HATED that Cafe Where was removed for 3 vendors and THE SHADE IT PROVIDED WAS GONE AS WELL!

2. Figure out something better for Kalliope. Still issues there.

3. Sound bleed continue to be an issue, especially on Which, but at least Miller Lite Stage had less of a bleed this year. Most shows overall seemed less crowded to me as well. I think they REALLY tried to put lesser known acts on Miller this year after the year before with The Orwells, Monster Truck and Animals as Leaders.

4. If you wanna continue to use The Who Stage (and just totally diss artist signings), make it covered SOMEWAY SOMEHOW. The artist signing was a cool way to feel connected and it also allowed up and coming acts a chance to move merch pretty easily. This could easily be brought back with little issue.

5. Improvements go a long way to getting people back but so does keeping the place clean. I saw VERY few people actually helping to pick the place up. This year was the worst for trash IMO. I know it was hot, I get that. Still, I do not know if they just lacked volunteers or people just weren't doing their job or what the case was.

6. Camping in Access was SUPER CRAMPED so all of you wonderful people who had tons of room...yeah...we had none. Literally gave us nothing in the way of space. Walking to Pod 2, I saw SPACIOUS places and was just amazed.

7. Last complaint, never do The Game of Thrones/only one tent/ fiasco again please.

One of the best suggestions I've heard for Bonnaroo came from a rambling motherfucker at 4:30am on Sunday. We were filling up our Camelbaks, and some guy comes up ranting about how we need lighting at the water stations. Trippy lights will attract all the people out of their minds and encourage them to drink more water. It can indeed be difficult to manage filling up with water in the dead of night, so I thought this was an excellent idea. Probably the most lucid and reasonable thing I heard at Bonnaroo all year.

I remember sleeping inside my locked SUV with the windows up and doors shut and I could hear Skrillex so clearly it could've been coming from my stereo. Misery.

After we left we tried to go back in another way to watch and they turned us away. I'm guessing they never showed it?

EDIT:  I see now they did show it, so how did you end up getting to it?

Re locate the Kalliope or have it run at the end of the last act till 5ish. From where I was the bass from the Kalliope destroyed the sound from the Superjam which kinda sucked cause I was really looking forward to that. Luckily EDM is alright with me and my buddy I was with so we jammed out to both. 

Put it at the back of What and just leave that field open.

I was pretty happy with how things went this year so my suggestions are minor. More shaded areas is always nice. Maybe at least where they know lines will be forming like the cinema and comedy tent areas. The Who Stage could probably be covered as well. Waiting for Elle King was rough, though very worth it.

I had to dump my water as well. That should be made clear from the beginning. I was lucky to have a refillable bottle in my car that I was too lazy to take out of it. Would have been in trouble otherwise though.

This is something that I'm sure Bonnaroo has no say over but must every exit to get to the Walmart be blocked off? That was super frustrating.

On the positive side, having screens at the tents was great!

Raury had a really nice crowd at the Who Stage as did Parlour Tricks (although they did go on Thurs. before any tent acts started).

This. With them officially opening the gates on Wednesday, the Thursday crowds are huge. It was the ladyfriend's first time at Bonnaroo, and I remember telling her multiple times during the course of the evening that it wasn't like this the whole time.

They do have a program at Bonnaroo where anyone can pick up trash and/or cigarette butts and turn them in for "points", which can then be redeemed for prizes. I don't really have any details other than that, but my neighbors participated in it.