We can't stop here...this is bat country
So the trip started around 9pm on Wednesday June 11th. My friend Casey and I set out on this journey from Clendenin and started towards Princeton to pick up our other adventurer Jessica who we will lovingly call Dragon for the rest of the story. After picking her and all of her gear up nicely in the PT Loser (sorry Casey, its for the story) we were on our way to Manchester TN for the concert of our lives...Please click the read more link!
We arrived roughly 6 hours later around 4am to get in line in the
actual median of the interstate. They just stuck us all in the Batman
lane so that traffic could still pass. We fully expected to sit in this
line for HOURS but much to our surprise we were in line a mere hour and
a half before actually getting up to the Bonnaroo site. Here we were
asked kindly to get the fuck out of our vehicle while they 'searched'
for contraband. By 'they' I mean the early to mid 20's employees
(volunteers) who were given free tickets for their time and effort.
After just poking their heads in, we were given the all clear to drive
off into the middle of what I can only describe as a big cow pasture.
We pulled into our designated parking spot and hopped out to set up
camp. This was the result:
Thursday was a slow day. It was for acclamation, setting our bearings, getting ready for the weekend. It was also a great evening for seeing some bands to get into the spirit of freewheeling for 4 days straight. To dip our proverbial toes in the water we saw Superdrag, MGMT and Lez Zeppelin. After the long drive and LONG day, we turned in around midnight to get rested for Friday which was set to me monumentous.
This ended the days festivities around 5am and we were off back to the tent to get our lovely 2 hours of sleep. The next day started with some comedy. We saw Louis CK and he killed. After this I sat my happy ass down at the main stage for a full day of 'holding a spot' for Pearl Jam this fine Saturday evening. I saw Ozomatli, a cool band from LA and then I saw a true rock legend...Mr. BB KING!
The rest of the day was actually lackluster. I'm not sure if it was the actual shows or just fatigue setting in after a long Gonzo weekend. We saw OAR (ehh), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (which was great) and a bit of Death Cab for Cutie which I didnt care for. Here are a few more pics of randomness from the awesomeness that was Bonnaroo.
Thursday was a slow day. It was for acclamation, setting our bearings, getting ready for the weekend. It was also a great evening for seeing some bands to get into the spirit of freewheeling for 4 days straight. To dip our proverbial toes in the water we saw Superdrag, MGMT and Lez Zeppelin. After the long drive and LONG day, we turned in around midnight to get rested for Friday which was set to me monumentous.
Friday morning we were up bright and early around 8am. The tent was sweltering and my gentle redneck body couldn't handle the sauna like atomosphere. We headed out and found quick food and began walking to the gates. Along the way we ran into the self proclaimed President of Bonnaroo. This guy can only be described as amazingly esoteric and free spirited. He gave a rousing speech and then followed up with some really great off the wall improv noise.
Today was packed with a great day of new music for me. I got to see numerous bands that broadened my horizon and will soon broaden my iTunes library. I saw Drive-by Truckers, The Fiery Furnaces, Minus the bear, Les Claypool, The Raconteurs & Willie By God Nelson.
Next up was Chris Rock. I didn't get any pics of him becuase I was fighting my way forward through a crowd of 50,000. He did an amazing 55 minute set that touched every subject possible and proved that he is a quentisential comic in this day and age.
Next up though was what I had been preparing for for months. A logo tattooed on my shoulder, I was ready to thrash to Metallica LIVE for the first time in my life. I made my way down to the security barrier right behind the pit and had a wonderful view of this legendary band. All I can say is WOW. They knew what the crowd wanted, James did the talking and they only played songs from the first 5 albums. With St. Anger being the only album I'm not particularly fond of, this thrilled the shit out of me and I sang every word of every number along with Casey.
Next we headed off to My Morning Jacket who put on a great show followed up by the number 1, Ichiban if you will, DJ in the world...Tiesto!
Next up though was what I had been preparing for for months. A logo tattooed on my shoulder, I was ready to thrash to Metallica LIVE for the first time in my life. I made my way down to the security barrier right behind the pit and had a wonderful view of this legendary band. All I can say is WOW. They knew what the crowd wanted, James did the talking and they only played songs from the first 5 albums. With St. Anger being the only album I'm not particularly fond of, this thrilled the shit out of me and I sang every word of every number along with Casey.
Next we headed off to My Morning Jacket who put on a great show followed up by the number 1, Ichiban if you will, DJ in the world...Tiesto!
This ended the days festivities around 5am and we were off back to the tent to get our lovely 2 hours of sleep. The next day started with some comedy. We saw Louis CK and he killed. After this I sat my happy ass down at the main stage for a full day of 'holding a spot' for Pearl Jam this fine Saturday evening. I saw Ozomatli, a cool band from LA and then I saw a true rock legend...Mr. BB KING!
After HOURS of sitting in the hot sweltering sun, the kind that makes Ethopians pray for shade, the Jack Johnson show was set to begin. I like the guys music but even more so now because his show was really good. It surprised me as to how the crowd reacted to this Matthew Fox with pancreatic cancer look-a-like. Here is a photo of the highlight of his show...when he brought out Eddie Vedder to do a song.
Now for the life changing part of the trip. Seeing Pearl Jam play in front of 80,000 screaming fans was truly an out of this world experience. Even if I was roughly molested by a very large Icelandic man we affectionately called Olaf and/or Sven. He bawled through half of the songs and the other half was spend jumping up and down rubbing his big sweaty Swede body up against me. I think in his culture I was taken as his wife. He never called...
After seeing this amazing concert, we trodded off into the vastness of people and stumbled our way to the Phil Lesh & Friends show. It was an amazing collection of great long jam songs and was topped off with a fantastic 30 minute rendition of Truckin'. We also got to pick up a very late night show of Ghostland Observatory. On our way back to the camp at 4:30am Kayne West was JUST going on stage and I am going to refrane from commenting. He's an egotistacl prick douchebag and I feel if I reflect more I will be accused of some sort of racism.
Sunday started out well with a great show from Lil Jimmy Norton who killed during one of his four half hour sets during a two day period. We also got to see they great Brian Posehn.
Sunday started out well with a great show from Lil Jimmy Norton who killed during one of his four half hour sets during a two day period. We also got to see they great Brian Posehn.
The rest of the day was actually lackluster. I'm not sure if it was the actual shows or just fatigue setting in after a long Gonzo weekend. We saw OAR (ehh), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (which was great) and a bit of Death Cab for Cutie which I didnt care for. Here are a few more pics of randomness from the awesomeness that was Bonnaroo.
We ended up packing up and hitting the road by 9pm Sunday night to try to beat some traffic. It really wasnt that bad. Overall I must say that this was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I think this trip can easily be summed up with a memorable quote from the late great Hunter S. Thompson:
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Gonzo baby...Gonzo.
SS
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Gonzo baby...Gonzo.
SS
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