BonnaReview 2k10
Bonnaroo 2010 took place on a hot, sticky farm in the middle of Tennessee just last week. I went with 7 of my best friends, only 1 other and I had ever attended a ‘Roo before — the Bonnanoobs were in for a treat.
The Music
We arrived on Thursday and there were four bands I had really wanted to see: Miike Snow, Neon Indian, The Dodos and local natives. Unfortunately two of my friends who were driving instead of flying to Bonnaroo didn’t get into the festival until 7:00 at night! this totally ruined my Miike Snow/local natives plan. We made it in to Centeroo(where the music happens) for Neon Indian who threw down some sick beats for a badass dance party.
After Neon I couldn’t stay up any longer. I had gotten up at 3:30 in the morning to catch my flight there and my journey had taken its toll.
Friday I woke up with a vengeance. We arrived at ‘The Other Tent’ (bonnaroo stage names will mess with your mind, What Stage, Which Stage, This Tent, That Tent, etc.) a full hour before Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros preformed. This band is amazing. One of my favorites for 2010 without a doubt. After catching the tail end of Tokyo Police Club, Mr. Sharpe and crew emerged onstage. The lead singer decided he didn’t need a shirt in the 100 degree weather, but he needed a scarf. I’m fine with that, if you’re one who likes an overheated jugular…anyways they played an amazing set.
They didn’t have a set-list though, so half way through they couldn’t figure out a song to play and awkwardly stood on the stage few minutes. I liked it, added a bunch of character to the show. My friend Spencer and I decided to stick to The Other Tent for the long hall and we push up to the front railing for Dr.Dog who played next. They had a great show. I’ve never listened to them before, but I really enjoyed their music. We held our ground after Dr. Dog and stayed in front for OK GO. I have loved OK GO’s first two CD’s, but never listened to the latest one besides the song This Too Shall Pass. I had no idea they would throw such a great party. The lead singer was constantly jumping into the crowd, they played one of their songs strictly with handbells. That’s right, church handbells and voice. It was unbelievable. He even ran into the crowd with a guitar and played a solo song in the middle of the sea of people. Mad props to OK GO for exceeding expectations. From there we left Centeroo, grabbed a bite to eat and took a quick nap at the campsite before The Flaming Lips ft. Star Death & White Dwarfs preform Dark Side of the Moon!!!!!!!! To be honest I had never heard Dark Side of the Moon all the way through before. I was very excited because I knew it was going to blow my mind, but I didn’t know how great it would really be. The Flaming Lips preformed a shortened set of their music for an hour or so. Then after a 15 minute break they came out and did Dark Side, start to finish. Non-stop.
This was easily one of the best show I have ever been to. Massive ballons, constant confetti cannons, elaborate lasers and wonderful music created the perfect cocktail for Bonnaroo. During Money they even threw out huge balloons that had real dollar bills in them. It was so surreal and special I’m honored I could be a part of it.
Saturday was pretty laid back. After seeing Jonathan Tyler and the Northern lights at noon I went back to camp to nap it up. They are a true southern rock band, maybe the next Kings of Leon? hahaha. Jeff Beck played at 5 and after being raised on Blow by Blow, hearing Jeff jam for an hour was quite nostalgic. I saw a short bit of Stevie Wonder who was great of course, but Dan Deacon topped off that night with an amazing show. He made the crowd create a huge empty circle near the front of the stage and then he had some dude in the middle do some slow movements. Dan Deacon told everyone to imitate this dude, and everyone did. It was crazy, soon the crowd couldn’t deal with it anymore and we just had another big dance party.
Sunday was possibly the hottest day. With the humidity it must of felt around 105. Regina Spektor played a uniquely cute set despite the heat and Phoenix put on quite the show.
After seeing them last year at Bonnaroo and there not being very many people in the audience. This year everyone and their mom seemed to show up.
The Lifestyle
A day at ‘Roo for me consists of waking up in my tent around 8 in the morning because the tent heats up so much. The rest of my party would wake up within the hour and we would sit around and chill. Talk about our plan for the day, come 11 o’clock we would either make a PB&J or head to Shakedown Street for a meal. Shakedown Street is the main street in the camping area. It has tons of food venders, clothes, head shops, anything you could want you could get on Shakedown.
They had this one asian place that would hook you up. Everything on Shakedown food wise was about 8 bucks. This asian place would pile it high; I could never finish. There is also a place called Barely Edible. They have the world famous $1 grill cheese. I hit that up multiple times for a snack. Food is a necessity, but I’m not going to say a box of Cheez-its wasn’t a meal once or twice. Some neighbors we had at Bonnaroo, Terry and Mike, brought a canopy. They are true Rooers. They have been to every ‘Roo except the very first one. Luckily they let us chill under the canopy and everyday from 1-4 in the heat of the day was usually nap time. I’m from Texas, but I’m not going to say Bonnaroo isn’t hot. It must be hell for the canadians that come down for it. We met some cool people while waiting for Phoenix and Spencer recited 110 of the 150 original pokemon. I’m sure they were impressed. On Sunday night, Spencer and Jake, the people who drove, wanted to leave early to beat the traffic. While we helped take stuff up to their car, his neighbor who left already, left some beer they didn’t drink for someone to have. We took it off their hands but the funny thing was we thought it was called Beer. The 30 pack it came in just had “Beer 30 pack LIGHT” on the side. On the walk back to our camp people even asked us if that was a real beer called Beer. Once back to camp we decided the real name of the beer was Beer 30. So now whenever we ask what time it is, someone goes Beer:30. By the way, Beer 30 on a scale of 1 to Keystone is a 1.
“BONNAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
That word is shouted wherever you go in Bonnaroo. I’ve never been to a fest that people are so enthralled about. And although it is tough to see all the bands you’d like to, the ones you do make it to always make up for it. By the way, next year will be Bonnaroo’s 10th anniversary. It should be insane. I’m betting they will have one of the sickest line up of all time concerning music fests. I really hope to see more of y’all there next year, you won’t regret it and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
