For the first time this year I went to Bonnaroo. For all of those who are unsure about what this exactly is I'll explain. Bonnaroo is a 4 day music festival held in the middle-of-nowhere. In other words, Manchester Tennessee. This is a place of true magic. Believe me.
I had first heard about this magical place over dinner with my sister and her friend, Rachel. Rachel was telling us about a music festival she went to when she was younger and had "soooo much fun at!" Truthfully I wasn't very convinced that it would be fun at the time. Rachel liked artists like Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears...there was no way I wanted to go to a music festival that featured those two.
I let the whole festival idea slip by for months and around May my sister, Michelle, started talking about how awesome it would be to go to Bonnaroo. Seriously?!? What the hell had happened to the sister I knew and sometimes even liked? That sister wouldn't have wanted to travel down to Tennessee to listen to Lady Gaga talk about how she"s "gotta doo doo"
This called for some research. I whipped out my trusty laptop and googled it. :)
Sure enough a website came up. bonnaroo.com reassured me that my sister was the same sister who yesterday had sung Tom Petty songs with me.
It turns out Bonnaroo has hosted numerous AMAZING artists through the years. Artists such as Ben Harper, The Grateful Dead, MMJ, Jack Johnson, Widespread Panic, Radiohead, Tom Petty, The White Stripes, Ziggy Marley, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, Tool, Pearl Jam...etc...etc There are really too many to name.
I had to go!
I was hooked from that moment on. I roamed through the bonnaroo forums and talked to various festival goers. They were all extremely helpful and friendly. Then I found inforoo.com and my life changed forever. There I learned about press passes, volunteering, headliners, shopping lists and so much more. I was ready to leave that instant and I told Michelle as much.
Turns out though she wasn't. She wanted to go, but was scheduled for work the days of the festival. With no one else to share Bonnaroo with I wasn't sure what to do. I posted about it on inforoo debating whether to go alone or wait it out a year and get fully prepared.
Screw that. I went alone. The best thing about Bonnaroo though is that you're never really "alone"
80,000 people are on this 700 acre farm ready for the best weekend of the year.
Next I needed supplies. What are you suppose to bring to Bonnaroo?? The answer was on Inforoo of course. I got my list printed out and was planning to go. Nothing could stop me now. At least that's what I thought.
Then work told me I was laid off. Those bitches! Didn't they know I was trying to plan a solo trip into the unknown? This required money! I needed this job. Unfortunately the good people at my work didn't care too much about the plans, and I was out of a job. Now what??
Fortunately through random odd jobs and a very, VERY helpful member of inforoo I was able to go. The member of inforoo had just informed me about volunteering. This meant I would get my money back. He pmed the link to the application, which hadn't yet been released to the public and I was back in business. I applied for everything hoping to find a spot available. I was accepted for everything. I chose Clean Vibes. Clean Vibes is the organization Bonnaroo chose to clean up the mess afterwards. They recycle everything they can, and donate things that are still useable. Then the clean up the trash and compost.
I could do that. Plus it was AFTER the festival. I would be able to watch the whole festival without missing a single show that I wanted to see? SCORE! So I deposited my $250 hard earned dollars. Sure that I was going to be wishing I hadn't in a couple weeks when I had no cashflow, but determined to do it.
I was all set for Bonnaroo. Well....except for supplies. Shit.
Luckily my mom was generous enough to provide $50 to buy food with. I bought three cases of water with that money. Plus the food I needed for four days out in the hot Tennessee sun. Oh...and ice. LOTS of ice. Now I needed a tent and such. SO I borrowed one from my best friend. His family had a tent they used when they went camping, but they hadn't gone in years. I love that kid. I was all set. Food, tent, stakes, air mattress(borrowed from my friend Megan)...what else could I need? Then I looked at the shopping list I printed. Remember the one from inforoo?
That list had a LEAST 100 more items essential to Bonnaroo. Seriously? I just wanted to hear the live music!! I didn't need that much. I crossed off a few things I wish I hadn't. Who needs a hat anyway? That's silly. (let me tell you...you need a hat. No joke.)
After a few-or a lot- more subtractions from the list I had it down to about 25 more items to get. Baby wipes made sense, I didn't want to be super gross out there. Showers costed $7. No way I could afford that now. I needed a pump to air up the mattress. That made sense. So I eventually got all I needed--or all thought I needed--from the list and packed up Big Bertha, my buick. I was ready to go. I was able to even come up with $300 extra by getting a cash advance (don't try this at home kids!) which I would normally never do, but I was obsessed with Bonnaroo now.
The big day rolled around...well actually after staying up all night Wednesday, the night before, Thursday crept up rather slowly. At 4a.m. I departed from my brothers house. All of them wishing me luck and giving me advice. "Don't accept anything from anyone if it's already opened." "Be extremely careful!" "Make sure you keep anything valuable locked in the car."
At this point there was nothing they could tell me that I didn't already read about on inforoo. In fact I already felt like family with the members there. (even though I'd only posted 4 or 5 times) So I set out on my new adventure. My next stop Manchester Tennessee! (if I didn't get lost first!)
(part two will be up soon)
I had first heard about this magical place over dinner with my sister and her friend, Rachel. Rachel was telling us about a music festival she went to when she was younger and had "soooo much fun at!" Truthfully I wasn't very convinced that it would be fun at the time. Rachel liked artists like Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears...there was no way I wanted to go to a music festival that featured those two.
I let the whole festival idea slip by for months and around May my sister, Michelle, started talking about how awesome it would be to go to Bonnaroo. Seriously?!? What the hell had happened to the sister I knew and sometimes even liked? That sister wouldn't have wanted to travel down to Tennessee to listen to Lady Gaga talk about how she"s "gotta doo doo"
This called for some research. I whipped out my trusty laptop and googled it. :)
Sure enough a website came up. bonnaroo.com reassured me that my sister was the same sister who yesterday had sung Tom Petty songs with me.
It turns out Bonnaroo has hosted numerous AMAZING artists through the years. Artists such as Ben Harper, The Grateful Dead, MMJ, Jack Johnson, Widespread Panic, Radiohead, Tom Petty, The White Stripes, Ziggy Marley, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, Tool, Pearl Jam...etc...etc There are really too many to name.
I had to go!
I was hooked from that moment on. I roamed through the bonnaroo forums and talked to various festival goers. They were all extremely helpful and friendly. Then I found inforoo.com and my life changed forever. There I learned about press passes, volunteering, headliners, shopping lists and so much more. I was ready to leave that instant and I told Michelle as much.
Turns out though she wasn't. She wanted to go, but was scheduled for work the days of the festival. With no one else to share Bonnaroo with I wasn't sure what to do. I posted about it on inforoo debating whether to go alone or wait it out a year and get fully prepared.
Screw that. I went alone. The best thing about Bonnaroo though is that you're never really "alone"
80,000 people are on this 700 acre farm ready for the best weekend of the year.
Next I needed supplies. What are you suppose to bring to Bonnaroo?? The answer was on Inforoo of course. I got my list printed out and was planning to go. Nothing could stop me now. At least that's what I thought.
Then work told me I was laid off. Those bitches! Didn't they know I was trying to plan a solo trip into the unknown? This required money! I needed this job. Unfortunately the good people at my work didn't care too much about the plans, and I was out of a job. Now what??
Fortunately through random odd jobs and a very, VERY helpful member of inforoo I was able to go. The member of inforoo had just informed me about volunteering. This meant I would get my money back. He pmed the link to the application, which hadn't yet been released to the public and I was back in business. I applied for everything hoping to find a spot available. I was accepted for everything. I chose Clean Vibes. Clean Vibes is the organization Bonnaroo chose to clean up the mess afterwards. They recycle everything they can, and donate things that are still useable. Then the clean up the trash and compost.
I could do that. Plus it was AFTER the festival. I would be able to watch the whole festival without missing a single show that I wanted to see? SCORE! So I deposited my $250 hard earned dollars. Sure that I was going to be wishing I hadn't in a couple weeks when I had no cashflow, but determined to do it.
I was all set for Bonnaroo. Well....except for supplies. Shit.
Luckily my mom was generous enough to provide $50 to buy food with. I bought three cases of water with that money. Plus the food I needed for four days out in the hot Tennessee sun. Oh...and ice. LOTS of ice. Now I needed a tent and such. SO I borrowed one from my best friend. His family had a tent they used when they went camping, but they hadn't gone in years. I love that kid. I was all set. Food, tent, stakes, air mattress(borrowed from my friend Megan)...what else could I need? Then I looked at the shopping list I printed. Remember the one from inforoo?
That list had a LEAST 100 more items essential to Bonnaroo. Seriously? I just wanted to hear the live music!! I didn't need that much. I crossed off a few things I wish I hadn't. Who needs a hat anyway? That's silly. (let me tell you...you need a hat. No joke.)
After a few-or a lot- more subtractions from the list I had it down to about 25 more items to get. Baby wipes made sense, I didn't want to be super gross out there. Showers costed $7. No way I could afford that now. I needed a pump to air up the mattress. That made sense. So I eventually got all I needed--or all thought I needed--from the list and packed up Big Bertha, my buick. I was ready to go. I was able to even come up with $300 extra by getting a cash advance (don't try this at home kids!) which I would normally never do, but I was obsessed with Bonnaroo now.
The big day rolled around...well actually after staying up all night Wednesday, the night before, Thursday crept up rather slowly. At 4a.m. I departed from my brothers house. All of them wishing me luck and giving me advice. "Don't accept anything from anyone if it's already opened." "Be extremely careful!" "Make sure you keep anything valuable locked in the car."
At this point there was nothing they could tell me that I didn't already read about on inforoo. In fact I already felt like family with the members there. (even though I'd only posted 4 or 5 times) So I set out on my new adventure. My next stop Manchester Tennessee! (if I didn't get lost first!)
(part two will be up soon)
