Bonnaroo: Not Just a Festival, But a Lifestyle

This blog isn’t just about sports, (i.e. Sports AND Entertainment). This weekend Manchester, Tennessee will be swarmed with 80,000 or more hippies, music-lovers and thrill-seekers. The Bonnaroo Festival started last night, and all hell has broke lose. Last year, I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in this insanity, not only with an amazing crew and VIP passes but with the knowledge to stay at a hotel.

My buddy and I drove into Manchester around midnight, decided we weren’t tired and wanted to check the scene of Bonnaroo. We really had no idea what kind of experience we were in for, or how we were going to get in. We ran into some drunk roadies for a band, and by blending in, snuck onto there bus which took us through the backdoor of the festival. After escaping the confused roadies and event security, we eventually found our way to where the party was. This scene will forever remain branded in my mind.

Upon walking toward a stage, we saw numerous people passed out face first in piles of mud, hippies passed out in the middle of a field sitting up straight, while Wale was performing and blaring from the speakers. Walking further we saw a tent packed with people dancing like a Jersey Shore club. Normally this wouldn’t faze me, but considering there was no music being played, I was a little freaked out. We later found out that each person was given headphones with the music and danced to the music that way. Needless to say this weekend was going to open my eyes to a whole new experience.

We saw so many bands and artists that weekend and the music was phenomenal to say the least. There were five major stages throughout the thousands of acres and smaller stages for lesser known bands as well. There was “trippy”, bright and colorful art placed throughout the festival. The regular Bonnaroo-er would camp out in various interesting ways, (some in campers, tents or even just under a towel hung from cars), keeping in mind that it was uncomfortably hot 24/7 and there was no bathrooms, just Porter Potties, people could never have seemed more happy, (possibly due to the drugs).

If you are a music fan, or even if you aren’t, Bonnaroo is something I wish everyone could experience. You would think that with so many people gathered together there would be numerous fights or security problems. Not once did I ever witness a problem, the people there were all friendly and seemed to be just happy to be in the presence of great music. Though I wasn’t able to attend Bonnaroo this weekend, I’m excited to follow any coverage I can coming out of it. Some could say that Bonnaroo is this generation’s Woodstock. Well, I’m just glad I’m able to say I attended it even once.