Your Bonnaroo Moment 2015

MMJ's "Dondante". I had been looking at their previous set lists and thought there was such a low chance of them playing that song I didn't even bother to think about it. My jaw actually involuntarily opened when I heard those opening drums come in. First time that has ever happened at a show, or possibly just in my life in general.

1. Sitting on the roof of my car during the 8 hour wait to get into roo and singing the songs that my friend played at the top of my lungs. And the people walking by/cars around me joining in.

2. Cracking open the first beer of the weekend once I met up with the rest of my friends on Thursday at their and just having the biggest grin on my face and turning to my closest friend and I just shook my head and told him, "Man, we are gonna have a good weekend!" To which we toasted.

3. (Mac Demarco's entire show but more specifically...) The mosh pit during Mac's cover of "Enter the Sandman" and my friends and I getting so excited because Mac doesn't do encores at festivals often.

4. Finally making it to Brunch and dancing to Primal Scream in front of everyone. And meeting a certain ladyyy. And getting the best shirt EVER from Beebee

5. Hanging at The Districts with some inforoosters before meeting up with the rest of my friends for King Gizz. Seeing King Gizz was AMAZING, I loved those guys, one of top 5 shows.

6. Sunset during Alabama Shakes.

7. Singing along with all my friends at Tears for Fears

8. Most of our group met up got a pretty great spot Kendrick and a good portion of us were hanging with Lucy. Part way through. Right after He played "I", they realize somebody got separated from the group and decided they needed to go get him... Everyone started walking away WHILE HE STARTED PLAYING "THESE WALLS"!!! My friends (Ben and Mitch) and I were visibly upset because were the three biggest hip hop fans in our group and our other friends were fucking us over. So, I grabbed Mitch and Ben and asked them, "Hey, this is stupid right?! Like we are walking away from the first time a song has ever been performed live... With a guest... Y'all wanna just say bye and get a better spot?" They of course said yes, so the three of us got a decent spot for the rest of These Walls. But the real "moment" during Kendrick came right after we decided to make our way across the field so we'd have a head start for RTJ when Kendrick finished. Just as we started walking, the bass line for "King Kunta" came on... OH MY GOD, I danced and grooved my way across the crowd so god damn smooth and I was soooo into it. T was easily the hardest I've ever danced at a hip hop show and I'll never forget getting my trippy groove on.

9. After seeing RTJ, we miraculously ran into our friends as we got ready to go FlyLo. I did some (a lot) more L and we were on our way. We were on the left and the crowd slowly dwindled due to weirdness and people leaving for conflicting bands. We ended up much closer to the stage/center of the tent than we started. This guy (with his head shaved, in a grey suit jacket and matching shorts and hat) danced up to my friend and started to mess with him, just dancing weird and staring at him and getting extremely close to him while dancing (all in good fun, just being funny) My friend tried to keep up with him but couldn't take it cause he got weirded out, so I decided to start dancing on this random guy the way he was messing with my friend. I ended up dancing weird AF with this stranger for a solid 2 minutes, we were both completely straight faced, just staring into each other's eyes, half challenging/half admiring. Idk, it was fucking weird. But then, he stands up straight, smiles real big at me and nods his head in approval and high fives me and places his hand on my shoulder and leans in to tell me "You get it, man. Keep having a good time." No compliment has ever felt more genuine or loving in my life. Whoever that guy was, I love him.

10. I watched the sunrise EVERY morning, that was a goal of mine going into roo and it just happened natirally. I always had company as I watched the sunrise.

11. After Atomic Bomb, my friends and I all sat down at MMJ and everyone thanked and praised me profusely for talking them into going to that show instead of all of MMJ. Coming from a group of people who's musical taste I hold above almost all others, it meant a lot to me.

12. All of Slayer: A) Got my head stomped while watching the screen while taking a break from the pit. B) not long after getting my head stomped, a guy attempted to do what I can only describe as water board me. C) got punched in the nose in the pit and loved it.

13. Early Sunday afternoon, a few of us from our huge camp, got real hammered and through chairs around our campsite while listening to Choking Victim.

14. Singing along with all my drunk friends to Piano Man at Billy Joel (the closest most of us have ever been for headliner, the closest I've ever been for ANY What stage show.)

15. Leaving Centeroo after Billy Joel and everyone jumping the fence to walk out under the arch. We had discussed it all weekend because we hate not walking under the arch. So, to actually do it on our last chance to do so as we walked back to camp to finish off the beer we bought, it just felt right.

Man, THAT was an exceptional Bonnaroo, which is pretty funny considering my friends and I discussed how weak this lineup was compared to previous years. Anyway, can't wait for next year!!!!

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Fuck you.








That's a good one.

Seeing Sparklefart gather in the church parking lot beforehand, the breaking of the bread, and Camp Dad's first drinking quote. I immediately felt as if I had my family back.

Every show I saw this year had memorable moments, which is rare. bluegrass superjam stood out with covers of up on cripple creek and just what I needed. D'Angelo crowd was super hyped as well. Probably would have been my favorite if I caught all of it.

But my funny moment was at the LN superjam during the Metallica portion. I was near the back right. Some random dude behind me asked his friend "dude is that guy fieri up there" and his friend responded "yeah I think it is". I was too busy laughing but I have so many questions now. Who were they referring to, cause nobody on stage looked like him? What would fieri bring to a superjam other than type 2 diabetes? What are u guys on because I would like to avoid hallucinations of that guy

In hindsight I'm thinking someone had a sign with his face on it, but that's just a guess. May always remain a mystery

Having a heart to heart with one of my best friends right before Ben Harper. Candy flippin at earth wind and fire. Dancing at atomic bombs show.

I repped one of my Kanye shirts so hard on Friday this year at brunch and in the Kendrick pit line. The only person who said anything to me about it was a woman selling me a bottle of water at one of the vendors. She's like the water smelled like rotten eggs or I would have told her to fuck off.

hahahaha i've so been there. i've said this around here before but the first (and only time) i saw Ministry live i thought we were all going to die. Meshuggah opened, and at some point during that I became convinced the venue was going to get hit by a nuclear missile and we were all going to die. Ministry and Uncle Al did not help to assuage my fears.

Ministry is still the most relentless band I've seen live.

My Moment for 2015 was at Odesza. It was beyond the greatness i knew it would be. I was by myself, i danced through the crowd and i was there.

Also, i posted a pretty cool story about Bonnaroo magic at the Facebook page, but if you dont go there, or didnt see it, this was probably #2

"Thursday morning at camp, I was trying to make bacon. We were in an RV, and brought a plug in Griddle to cook bacon and eggs using the outside outlet. I plugged the Griddle in to a couple different outlets and it would not work, and figured it was broken, and I still needed my bacon. I brought lots of bacon. So I started trekking to the General Store under the tower with the hopes they sold frying pans! The walk was about 12 minutes, and when I got there I looked around and didn't see any for sale, so I asked the person at the register and she pointed me over to the gentleman sitting over at that tent set up inside the store with camp equipment. I went over and asked if he had a pan, but he said he did not, however he kept my hopes alive and sent me to the other General Store and told me to talk to 'Rita?' because she may have a (1) pan. So I continued on to the arch General Store. When I first got there I looked around to see if it was just sitting on the shelf, and it was just the same selection as the other store. So now I am looking around for someone who may be Rita, and I see this important looking woman sitting at a table with her phone in her ear and writing a lot of stuff down. I politely wait for her to get off the phone, and said, "Excuse me, are you Rita?" She gave me this weird look and a reluctant 'yes'. I told her the gentleman from the other General Store sent me over to see about a Pan. She asked, "You mean like a Frying pan, skillet?" I said "Yes, thats exactly what I need." She gave me another oddish look and said, "I have One", and asked if i would like it. I said of course, so she went back to her camp behind the store to get it and as I waited, the guy working with her told me that a few people came in looking for a pan but he didn't know Rita had the one. So she came back with this brand new frying pan and sold it to me for $8!! I couldn't believe that I actually walked out of there with a pan, and the only one for sale at Bonnaroo! At this point I was so far away from RV General that my new pan and I grabbed my one and only cab for the weekend and rode back. I get back to the RV with this pan only to find that the guys woke up and tried the electric griddle on even more outlets than I did and it was actually working, so it turns out my journey of accomplishment could have been a big waste of time, but I was so proud of myself how I acquired the pan that the story itself was worth it. Also, we ended up using the pan for Grilled Cheese at night and Scrambled Eggs Sunday, AND I used it every day at Firefly and it made me some great bacon, as this is one great camp pan."

You weren't the guy screaming "I got a bone to pick" a bunch....were you? 

ok not 2015, but I was just listening to the Jackson Five and I was thinking about Roo 2012. I was dead set on staying up for the whole Umphreys set, but I was super tired and they were playing something slower and I decided to wander to see this Flying Lotus everyone was talking about.

I Want You Back > Intergalactic. MCA had passed about a month before IIRC. Probably the only time I'll be able to say I'm so glad I left the Umphrey's show, just so I could experience that moment.

Do you remember when in the UM set you left? Very important, I'm trying to see if it coincides with my arrival for my moment

It had happened at that point already, worth a try

My friends couldnt handle the Kendrick pit line, so they (foolishly) bailed for comfort about 10 minutes before they started letting people in.

Right before the set, I text my friends "meet at camp after KDot" so that we could regroup before the late nights.

After Kendrick I got back to camp, and they were absent. I sat in a chair and drank a beer while waiting for them. After my beer, they still hadn't gotten there, so I decided to go on with my night. I restocked my backpack, went to take a shit in the beautiful new flushing toilets that were totally worth the $50 price increase, and went back into Centeroo.

I went to a little Earth, Wind, And Fire, a little Deadmau5, and the bulk of Flying Lotus.

After FlyLo, I figured STS9 would be playing forever, so I intended in walking back through the arch, to my camp at Tent Only, and hang out for a bit to grab a bite and drink a beer or two before going back into Centeroo.

On my way through the crowds, trying to avoid bumping into the various late night bonnaroovians, i see a young man in an orange shirt with the 2015 bandana hung around his neck, cupped his shoulder firmly, and when the young man turned around, it was my friend, standing right next to the 3rd member of our party. As soon as he turns to me he smiles, embraces me, and says "Bonnaroo magic". I looked at him, laughed, and said the same thing back.