Bonnaroo 2007 official report

As I sit here with 18 hours of sleep under my belt and a new appreciation for plumbing and clean sheets I realize what a great experience I have just had. Bonnaroo is not just a concert. It is an experience, a journey, a community of like minded people who are looking for something more than the typical rock concert. I am sold on it, and will go back as long as the set-list is good and the tckets are the same price as a Stones show.

Thursday: We got to Manchester, Tennessee at about 4 a.m. in the morning and drove a little bit past the actual site and stopped behind a gas station and started drinking heineken's and playing spades waiting for the main gate to open at 7 a.m. Waited in line for about an hour and a half once the gates opened and got a really good camping spot next to the vendor's and about a 5 minute walk from centeROO. Most of the first day we just met up with people we knew down there and got stoned and drunk off Fat Tire and bubble gum hash sprinkled over some of the best buds I have smoked in a long time. Every substance you ever wanted to consume is in constant and ready supply. The only drug I was not offered on an almost half hour basis was H.

So we're drunk and stoned off our gourds and decide to go see some music, which is why we are here in the first place. First band we caught was Clutch. Awesome band, pretty damn good live, I only stayed for the first half hour because I want to check out Rodrigo y Gabriela who were simply ****ing amazing. They covered countless metal songs and did lots of originals. If you don't know them, they are an acoustic duo that plays flamenco type music, with a metal flavor. Brilliant is all I can say, the dude guitarist is amazing and the woman could play circles around a lot of cats. I am very interested to check out more of what they have to offer, I was hooked. After their set ended at about 2 a.m. I was tired so I walked back to camp and passed out.

Friday: Friday I was awakened at about 8:45 with a puddle of sweat under my head I could have bathed in. It was a hot ****er out there all weekend. Caught James Blood Ulmer at 1 p.m., he was awesome. Went back to camp to start drinking aftr that then walked back to centeROO to catch the Black Keys or the The Roots. I decided on the Black Keys who were good, but ended their set about 45 minutes esrly for some reason. So I walked over to The Roots and caught the last half hour of their set which was brilliant, they did a medley of like 10 different songs for the encore. They had an amazing lazer light show, and huge screens behind the band showing an ambiance of fire, water, light speed, etc. You could only see Maynard's silouhette which made it all the more great when he started walking around like the guys from the Lateralus video. Cannot say enough about the Tool show. After Tool I was still trippin' pretty hard so I walked over to Superjam(?uestlove, John Paul Jones, and Ben Harper) rolled a blunt and chilled out for awhile while I came down. It was a very intersting show and I am definatley glad that I caught that set.

Side note: When I was taking a piss before Tool came on I walked passed a tent where a band called Bang Bang Bang was playing, only caught two songs but was very intrigued and need to find more material from these guys.

Saturday: Saturday started same as friday except I slept outside so I was not drenched when I woke up. Took a shower with wet wipes and loaded up on Gold Bond and walked over to where Old Crow Medicine Show was playing. They took it back it home and really put on a great performance and had the crowd really involved, especially for a bluegrass band. After their set ended I waited around a bit and had an unexpected surprise when Gogol Bordello came on. Wierd band, great ****ing music, only at bonnaroo do you get this kind of variety of music and aritists. It went from a bluegrass band to an acid-rock type of act in about 30 minutes. You can walk from stage to stage and see everything from blues to trip-hop in about 100 yards. Walked around centeROO for awhile and smoked up with a friend of mine from highschool I had not seen in years who I just happend to walk past. Got a good spot in the tent for the Ween show which was awesome. I had never seen them before but they have been one of my favorite bands for years now. One of the best shows of the entire festival. They played EVERY single song I wanted to hear, even Johnny On the Spot, the first Ween song I ever heard. Great show. Saturday would prove to be an epic day at Bonnaroo.

After Ween we walked back to camp and started grilling out before the Police came on. We started walking over to the Lips show across the way with a group of about 80,000 crazed acid freaks and one by one our group started getting taken down, until it was just me and the sober guy standing about 50 yards from the stage with an awesome view. We stood around there for about an hour, played with some glow sticks, then I went to get a beer and saw one of our missing friends, and then slowly all five showed up in succesion and we regrouped just in time for the Lips to come on.

What can I say about a Flaming Lips concert. The only song I knew before hand was Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. I am a fan now though. The entire lighting system linerted and came down on the band then lifted up. Flashing lights and smoke and sounds that puts Close Encounters to shame. Then climbed down from the spaceship dressed as superheroes, I remember seeing Captain America signaling the band to come down. It was just an incredible show, no words can explain how amazing the show was. The music was damn good too. They played untill about 2 a.m. me and my buddy decided to go catch the end of the Gov't Mule set. Which was the greatest idea ever. I missed the first 2 hours of the show which were epic I am told with Lewis Black coming out for intermission. When I walked up they were jamming on some originals. They brought out Luther from North Mississippii Allstars, did an awesome version of 32-20 blues by Robert Johnson. Then they came out for like three encores, doing warpigs and sweet leaf by Sabbath. The music was amazing, as good as the Flaming Lips show was. I was told JPJ came out and they did an insane version of In My Time of Dying, but I have yet to hear the full report from the first half of the Mule set. Mule played the better part of 3 hours and 45 minutes, and by this time it was 4 a.m. so I walked back to camp after watching Sasha and John Digweed for a bit and my buddy and I rolled up blunts untill the sun started to peak out cause we still couldn't go to sleep and I climbed in the truck and passed out.

Sunday: After an epic saturday of music, I was ready to just stay high all day and see some good bands perform. I started off with a little John Butler Trio, then walked over to catch the Wolfmother set which was all right but not as good as when I saw them at a small venue in February. After Wolfmother I walked over to see Junior Brown who just blew me away. I have seen video's of him live, but he was on fire yesterday and just blew the roof off the tent, simply an amazing set. North Mississippi Allstars were due to come on next. So I worked my way up to the front and posted up and blazed down with some fellow Bonnarooian's until the show started. This might have been the best show of the entire weekend, and it was the last one I would see, I did not stick around for Widespread Panic. They jammed out HARD to every song, and just did a phenomenal job. The best part of the show was when Luther walked out with a giant doobie in his mouth and started a little chat with the audience, he set it down and before he started into his song I screamed out "Rip that joint" and he winked at me and laughed. Then went into an AMAZING ****ING INCREDIBLE version of Stay All Night and Hear My Train A Comin'. Just brilliant, you had to have been there. I am going to be searching for a bootleg of that and the Mule set, they were both just awesome, and I NEED to have a copy of those shows.

After NMA ended their set I walked back to the car where we had already packed everything up and in the words of Chrissie Hynde it was back to Ohio. All I can say is it was an amazing experience I will remember the rest of my life. The best shows I have seen before this couldn't hold a candle to the top 5 performances IMO at Bonnaroo. I will definatley be going back next year as long they keep the set list good and the festival as least commercialized as possible.

Anyone else go this year?

Sounds like you've got FESTY LOVE runnin' through your blood! Man I love that feeling...

Dude that's pretty cool you went, but shit, you missed a hell of a lot of good bands I would have died for. SCI!? Panic!? STS9!? Keller and the WMD's!? P-Groove!? More importantly PANIC! I saw some of their set webcasted last night, and it sounded awesome. I dunno that's just me though..bands like Tool and the Police (ha!) don't really belong at Bonnaroo...that was before it was so commercialized.

I would love to go next year if the tickets weren't so damn expensive, but that's the price you pay for selling out. I love smaller festivals a lot more, mainly because there's not 100,000 wookies trying to sell me bunk ingredients instead of watching the music. Was that your first time at a festival?? You should try and go to more man, and better ones lol...10KLF, Telluride for all your bluegrass, Summercamp, and the fest of all fests this summer....Big Summer Classic! Three nights of Cheese, Infected Mushroom latenight, YMSB, the Roots, Drew Emmitt Band.

Anyways glad you had a good time....it always sucks so much coming back to the real world. :jointsmile:

Idunno how to private message you, but why'd you move my thread to the music forum where it will sit in waller with nobody viewing it? This should be in the main forum as it is about Bonnaroo, not just music.

Tool was amazing, the neo-pink floyd. I don't see them as a commercial band at all. If you ever get a chance to view that performance it was just mind blowing. The people who drove me down where trying to get home because my buddy had to work this afternoon so we didn't stay for Widespread Panic who I really wanted to see.

You gotta pick and choose which shows you want to see the most and see those. There's no way you could be out there all day in that heat and then up all night, it's just not possible.

Haha dude, it's ALL about music....let it be...there's a redirect in the lounge don't worrrryyyyy...

I didn't even realize you edited what I wrote either. Jesus christ, this site is insane. I can talk about whatever the fuck I want on Ultimate-guitar.com. But on a site about an illegal drug, you cannot even mention another. RETARTED, no offense but the rules on this site are stupid. I know you didn't make 'em but c'mon. It is an internet message board about weed, you guys are all about liberation, free speech, so and on and so forth, but you censor people's posts.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bucknuts1870

I didn't even realize you edited what I wrote either. Jesus christ, this site is insane. I can talk about whatever the fuck I want on Ultimate-guitar.com. But on a site about an illegal drug, you cannot even mention another. RETARTED, no offense but the rules on this site are stupid. I know you didn't make 'em but c'mon. It is an internet message board about weed, you guys are all about liberation, free speech, so and on and so forth, but you censor people's posts.....

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Haha dude you act like this is a new rule, yet you still continued to tell your story, inappropriate parts and all...

It is in the best interest of us, the members, to stick to only cannabis-related talk here at CANNABIS.COM. Trust me man, I know what festivals are like haha...it's hard to tell the story without the necessary "elements," but save it for ultimate-guitar.com I suppose....

Rather than bag on the site time and time again, either make a decision one way or the other ya know?? Leave with all your c-words and tripping stories tucked under your arm, or stay, chill out, and just play nice. :jointsmile:

I'm trying, it's hard though...lol

Cool thanks for telling us about it! My bro in law got to go but he doesnt get home til tonight, so I hadnt heard about it yet. I woulda loved to have seen Michael Franti & Spearhead and Ween.
someday :0)

omfg i loved everything abt bonnaroo.
we drove from miami, abt 14 hr drive SOOOO worth it
for it being the 1st time i think we lucked out on our campin area, we were in between 9 and 10

since im into trance/dance/tecno my fav was on saturday with sasha and john digweed

played from 145am till 530 am and i was in front for every minute.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...f/PIC-0187.jpg
awesome awesome
cant wait till next yr

damn dude it sounded like it was alot of fun. I really regret not going now.