Bonnaroo Anyone?
 

Any other FTers heading to Bonnaroo in a couple weeks? I was surprised that, for such a huge music festival, there was no thread for it already save for one from last year.

Alright, take it easy guys!

I live in Murfreesboro, the closest big city to Bonnaroo. If anyone has any questions about directions, speed traps, or hotel locations (haha, yeah right) I may be able to answer.

mrsmicah and I are going. We were joking last night about how there's probably not a whole lot of overlap between the FT and Bonnaroo demographics, but I figured there must be some, so I did a search and found this thread.

We went twice before (2003 and 2004), but haven't been in the last few years and are really looking forward it!

FWIW, we're driving down from NYC, staying overnight Wednesday near TYS, and camping at the festival. Sunday we'll pack up during the day and roll out after Phish for a quick overnight near CHA (for only $20 thanks to the expedia.co.uk referral code I got here on FT!), then drive back up to NYC on Monday.

could check out Opryland (the indoor hotel/park) & show, and other things in Nashville TN afterwards...

My son is going. He and his buddies went last year after HS graduation and they are making this sort of a reunion.

I'd love to turn it into an extended tour of Tennessee, but we need to get back to work :td: and toddler ^.

I'm a huge music dork and would love to go, but I don't do traffic jams or camping :(

Arj barker is performing - a comedian ("dave" on flight of the conchords) and he cracked me up the 4 times I saw him this year. so if you need a change of pace from the tunes, i recommend checking out his set.

I travel to several music festivals every year, but Bonnaroo has always intimidated me. Maybe I'm just remembering the stories from year one, about overflowing portolets and 12 hour traffic jams.

The lineup always wows me, but how is Bonnaroo these days, logistically? I'm wondering about ease of getting in and out, bathroom cleanliness, shower availability, length of food and beverage lines, stuff like that.

i have friends attending, and friends performing. I've never been, but i hit a dozen or so other festivals a year. This one just seems too difficult, unless you're on someones guest list.

We had a really, really great time.

We went with regular tickets in '03 and '04 (the second and third years) and didn't really have any problems, although in '04 we waited overnight (about 5 hours) in traffic to get in. We used the portapotties and they were kept pretty clean (they emptied and cleaned them multiple times a day)--but they were still portapotties.

This year (our first time back since '04) we went for "VIP tickets," which I would definitely do again (this year it was about $700/person for VIP vs. around $300 for regular tickets).

With the VIP tickets, we had zero wait to get in (they sent the VIPs to an off-site checkin location, where they gave us special directions using back roads into the main site). We didn't have any special exit route at the end, but like in previous years (when we had non-VIP tickets), it only took about 20 minutes to get to the highway when we left right after Sunday night's final show, and once on the highway it was smooth sailing. All of this of course assumes that you are arriving at the beginning and staying to the end. I have no idea how easy it is to get in/out if you're staying off site at a hotel or something, but I believe they have shuttles available for some hotels and a day parking lot somewhere as well.

The VIP bathrooms (located in the VIP camping area and near the biggest stage) were "executive trailer" type bathrooms with air conditioning and full-time attendants and were kept very clean. Not the Four Seasons, but definitely nicer than portapotties.

Since '04 or so they've had showers available in all camping areas. They charge a fee in the regular areas but showers are free in the VIP areas. I used the VIP showers a couple times and they were basic (just a bunch of stall showers wedged into a shipping container), but clean and functional (they had hot water, which is all that really matters, right?).

Food and beverage lines were fine, although we mostly ate and drank what we brought along. We bought a couple bags of fresh ice each day to keep our coolers cold and there was no line for ice. The only problem we encountered was that the water spigots near the main stage had some problems so it was tough to refill our water bottles at that particular spigot. The sinks in the VIP area worked great, though, as did the water spigots near the smaller stages in the "Centeroo" area, and the water tasted fine (I heard last year it was very sulphuric and a little brown, but this year they apparently used some sort of filtering system).

The biggest issue with Bonnaroo is that weather plays such a big role. This year we got really lucky in that it wasn't too oppressively hot (it never got above 87) and there was only one really major rainstorm (Thursday night). The weather was perfect for all the nighttime shows, and the mud was minimal (it was only really an issue Friday morning). In past years, things haven't been so great weather-wise, and even in ideal weather, it can be tough to do the daytime shows at the biggest stages (where there's almost no shade) if you can't handle standing out in the sun for long stretches.

There are a variety of ways to "do" Bonnaroo, of course. If you want more private facilities, an RV is always an option (whether VIP or not). We went with a group that rented an RV in '03 and '04 and were able to get pretty nice ones from the Roanoke location of elmonterv.com for a little over $2k all-in. This year Bonnaroo offered pre-parked "on site" RVs for about $3k. They also offer hotel packages, although again I'm not sure how easy it is to get back and forth between the hotel and the site, and IMO hanging out in the campsites is half the fun. And of course the BEST way is to get on a band's guest list and get a pass, or buy one through the Amex Roll Like a Rockstar package (which I believe started at about $25k for four people). But if we can fit Bonnaroo into our schedule again next year, we'll probably stick with a simple tent, air mattress and sunshade in the VIP area.

Likewise, my buddy and I had a great time this year. Took about 19 hours driving straight through the night from Boston, and then about six hours to get in :td: Would have been only three hours, however, the kind state police officer at the temporary exit off i24 sent me and another 20 cars or so down to the next exit, and another three hour wait, after we had just waited three hours in the breakdown lane. Not fun.

We bought block ice for our coolers before we left, and the 5-day rated coleman I have lived up as advertised, so we made out well in the food for the grill and cold beer departments.

The music lineup was pretty amazing this year and so we definitely got our money's worth seeing a ton of shows.

Can't wait until next year!

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog had a good take on Bonnaroo for Conan, too (be sure to watch through the end of Part 2 for a nice cameo):

Part 1
Part 2

(Note these links are to Hulu, which FTers outside the US may not be able to view)