Bonnaroo, 11/3/05, Anonymous
From MemoryArchive
Who: Anonymous What: Bonnaroo When: June 2005 Where: Manchester, TN
How does one describe the experience of Bonnaroo? This is somewhat impossible to put into words, but I will try my hardest. Bonnaroo is like a wonderland for the tripping hippy. You can tell how big Bonnaroo is before you even get there. I chose bus hop across the country to get there, and as early as Chicago, IL (my departing bus was in Milwaukee) I began to bump into other music lovers making the same journey that I was. It was obvious by the time we got to Tennesee that the Bonnaroo crowd was going to be as diverse and entertaining as the music they were trekking towards. By the time I got through the 20 hour bus ride, through the 10 hour line of cars on the highway waiting to get into the Bonnaroo campgrounds, I had already met more interesting characters than I had during my entire high school career. Entering the campgrounds was like entering a dream. In every direction, vendors had set up little tables next to their camps. Every thing was being sold from hand blown glass to hand made clothes to food to paraphenalia. During one stroll we came across a glass blower trying to sell a $5000 bong. Finding drugs was as easy as finding anything else, if not easier. One only had to wander through the crowds to hear the dealers advertising their various wares or sit outside of thier tent with a pipe in hand to signal to those who were selling that they could approach with their goods. (My friend had a 3 gram ball of opium literally tossed in his lap by a man who was carrying around a ziplock freezer bag full of them) All this combined with limited security (some apathetic mounties were the extent of it) made for fun people watching. But this was not the only entertainment. The main attraction was the world class music. From the Allman Brothers to Bela Fleck to Keller Williams to Partical to Les Claypool, the amount of and quality of the bands that I was able to see in the few days I was there was amazing to me. Aside from the music and the people, there were numerous other interesting sites. Some of these were a bamboo forest, enormous bobble heads, giant red flags, and an adult sized playground meant to trasport you back to your childhood. Bonnaroo rocks. I would suggest it to anybody; even if your not into drugs or alcohol, the music is amazing, the people are entertaining and friendly, and the atmosphere is like nothing else you will ever experience. If you don't mind being a little dirty for a few days, and you like good music, then you should give Bonnaroo a try. I know I'm going again next year. :)
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