Bonnaroo 2009

We made it back from Bonnaroo at 5 A.M. Monday morning after a 6 hour drive and an exciting weekend of music, camping, sun, and storms. It's always so bittersweet packing up and pulling away from your camp site because on one hand, you want a shower and a bed, but on the other, you want to stay and live this hippie lifestyle forever. The thought of work and routines seems unbearable after 4 days of complete freedom from "the man." For those of you who haven't been before, Bonnaroo is pretty much free of rules. I mean, there are rules, but let's just say they are a bit overlooked. The few cops that are there pretty much just enforce safety as they ride their horses around, letting them shit in the middle the walkways. (F.Y.I. Always watch the ground when you walk!)

Their were approximately 100,000 people there with miles and miles of campsites set around Centeroo ,which houses the stages and art tents. It's a setting that could easily turn into mass chaos, if not for the amazing sense of community and peace with music as the common factor. There are tons of vendors selling clothes, hemp, pipes, and posters with plenty of fried foods, funnel cakes, and lemonades in there too. The coolest part is that pretty much anyone can be a vendor! There were plenty of people selling blood mary's, cigarettes, and beers from there camp sites along with chocolates, heddies, and doses. I'm telling you...Bonnaroo is a complete step out of reality and totally worth the experience!

Shows I Saw (ones that I remember):
Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, T.V. On the Radio, Phish, Bon Iver, Of Montreal, Yeasayer, MGMT, Moe, Erika Badu, Snoop Dogg, Band of Horses

BEST:
Grizzly Bear
Their vocals and instrumentals are flawless. Amazing.

Yeasayer
I was blown away by this show. It's pretty crazy when you love a bands album already but think that they sound even better live.

WORST:
MGMT
I've seen them twice and both times they didn't bring it. Their sound is faint and weak....very very disappointing.

T.V. On the Radio:
Horrible live show! I love this band so I was pretty disappointed by their poor stage presence.

Right before I left for Bonnaroo, I saw on the ModCloth Blog that they would be hiding fun filled totes on 3 different days throughout Centerroo. It was set up like a scavenger hunt with clues given out on their twitter. I was only able to get twitter to work on one of the days because of the abundance of phones in the area. I ran to the mushroom fountain just 5 minutes after the clue was tweeted to look for the tote, but was unable to find it. I felt weird looking around and didn't want to grab someone elses stuff since I didn't know exactly what the tote looked like. I gave up pretty quick because I was missing too much of Bon Iver's incredible set.

Bonnaroo '09 was nothing short of amazing. It's always an unforgettable experience, and I always come home just a little bit closer to the ones that I left with. I'm praying that Bonnaroo '10 will have an equally amazing lineup and that the weather will be just a little bit better (I think a tornado touched down the first night). Until then it's back to reality.