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Thought some of the first-time attendees might be curious about how the stages and the schedules work. You could figure this out by cross-refrencing maps and schedules from years past but I thought I would just give a simple description in case people are curious.
The Stages: There have been four main stages each of the last two years:
-The Main stage is pretty much what you would expect: a huge stage (w/ video screens) with a huge field in front of it. I would assume that the whole 70,000-90,000 person population of Bonnaroo fits at this stage
-The second stage is the same sort of set-up, but considerably smaller. 10's of thousands of people can still fit in front of this stage. No video IIRC.
-Two large tents in the Centeroo area. Large covered tents areas (no walls). This is an environment about the size of a large theater. They are setup so that you are outside in the open air, but once night falls it a allows for a decent light show and can feel like you are in a theater. I am really bad at this sort of estimation but I would guess about 10,000-15,000 people fit under the tent itself (someone correct me here), but at the more crowded shows people spill out from under the tent (there are speakers facing out at the back of the tent).
-in 2003 there were 2 additional music venues:
-a third tent (fifth stage) that was considerably smaller than the other tents and housed the cover bands and some of the smaller bands during the day
-DJ's spun in the Arcade, which is another small tent
One thing that I haven't seen much comment on is the sound at Bonnaroo. With the exception of one situation the sound at Bonnaroo is IMACULATE. It is easily one of the most amazing and impressive things about Bonnaroo. The best outdoor sound I have ever heard in my life and better than most indoor sound I have heard. The coverage of the large fields and seperation between the stages is perfect. The one exception to this was that the DJ's in the arcade tent were too close to one of the other tents and there was significant sound bleed. I feel really confident that this will be addressed and will not be repeated since there were many complaints and the sound is so gourgeous in every other situation.
The Schedule: It wouldn't be to hard to look this up but I will just describe in case anyone is curious (and because I just feel like talking about Bonnaroo!).
Friday-Sunday, there is music on all four of the main stages simultaneously from ~noon to ~8:00. Then the two tents and the 2nd stage go silent, and the headliner plays two sets (until 11:30) on the main stage. From midnight to 4:00 am, there is one band playing two long sets in each of the two tents (late night Friday and late night Saturday only). That's the general idea. Last year there were a few surprise Thursday night sets and Particle has played a late-late set from 4 am to 8 or 9am on Sunday both years.
This was all pretty consistent the first two years, so I assume the structure will remain similar, but of course there is no guarantee. I think there are already significantly more bands on the bill (80 vs. 65?) so an additional stage seems quite likely.
Thanks for sharing some of your memories I definitely can't wait! I'm glad you spoke about the sound I was curious.... I hope it will be as great as or better than the first two years! ;D ;D ;D
thanks for sharing this ka mai. extremely helpful info. about when may we expect a pretty solid schedule to be released? i wouldn't expect til much later.
Thanks for sharing some of your memories I definitely can't wait! I'm glad you spoke about the sound I was curious.... I hope it will be as great as or better than the first two years! ;D ;D ;D
Makes for great audience recordings, I have some great sounding AUDs from Bonnaroo. Speaking of sound does anybody remember the bass at the Cypress Hill show last year, that had to be the lousest,cleanest, hardest hitting bass I ever heard at an outdoor concert. It was awesome.
Wait, I was under the impression that there were three tents. I've been three years, is my memory really that bad?? I distinctly remember running back and forth between praxis, umphrey's, and vida blue all in tents in '04 late night. Was this changed last year? As for sound, I'll never forget being at Mike and Leo in '03 and Leo talking about their backup band (some other band that was playing simultaneously while they were, you could hear it pretty well). Besides that, i've never had any qualms with the sound, always been impressed.
Sound bleed is always an issue at festivals, especially when you're trying to listen to a relatively quiet band and there's a DJ or a heavier set on next door. At Coachella last year, Editors even paused between songs so we could all listen to Madonna for a few seconds. A few seconds was enough.
Post by unplugdacusticaz on Apr 2, 2007 21:44:16 GMT -5
Can those tents really hold 10,000 people? I'm not sure if their that big, but I could be wrong. I was thinking more along the lines of 5,000 to 6,000. But what do I know?
Wait, I was under the impression that there were three tents. I've been three years, is my memory really that bad?? I distinctly remember running back and forth between praxis, umphrey's, and vida blue all in tents in '04 late night. Was this changed last year?
Please note that the initial post was from April 2004.
