Bonnaroo 2011 Rundown

Well, Bonnaroo 2011 is over, and I had a blast.  This was my first year going, but my brother had been before.  So I was warned of the wall of smelly, dirty hippies I would most certainly encounter.  And I did encounter them.  All eighty thousand of them.  That's right.....eighty thousand people at this thing.  It was fantastic though, and I thoroughly enjoyed becoming one of them for 4 days.

The first day we didn't see many bands, because there weren't many big bands playing.   We went into Centeroo and walked around through this huge welcoming entrance. 

We watched the Walkmen that night, but not much else was going on.  So we wandered around and listened to some bands we didn't really know and turned in for the night.

Day 2 was MUCH better after we got into Centeroo.  We stood in line for 2 hours to get in.....  The first band we saw was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  They were great.  Downside to 95 degree heat?  HUGE line at the water station.  So half of the concert was spent with my back to it filling water bottles.  Grace has a great voice though, so my back enjoyed the show.  Upset that I missed Matt and Kim, we walked over to "This Tent" (the dustiest stage on earth) to see Atmosphere.  It was a great show.  Everyone wasn't a fan of hip hop though, so some stood in the back out of the dust storm's way. 


The highlight of my day, though, was Ray LaMontagne.  He was absolutely amazing.  He played every song I wanted to hear, as well as a Pink Floyd cover that was very good.  The only downside was the geniuses who scheduled the acts for the week scheduled Ray and Florence and the Machine at the same time.  Here's a little bit of Ray for everyone

After Ray, we caught Florence and the Machine's last two songs: Heavy in Your Arms and Dog Days.  Both fantastic.  Everyone was tired and hungry so we walked back to the tents (about a ten minute walk) to eat.  We listened to My Morning Jacket from the tents and readied for the show of the night, Arcade Fire!  They were amazing.  My favorite performance of the weekend.  It was ridiculous how many people were there.  They walked off stage before playing "Wake Up", so I knew they had to play an encore.  We got as close as we could to hear this.......

I got chills.  It was a great show.  The rest of the night was Bassnectar and Pretty Lights.  I ended up not going to either.....but I heard they were amazing.

Day 3....Old Crow Medicine Show started at two, so I listened to them from the tent haha.  Too hot to stand in line again for an hour. Amos Lee and a couple other bands played as well, but the big show of the day for me was Mumford and Sons.  We got pretty close and they put on a fantastic show.  We didn't realize how many people were there until about half way through when we looked behind us.  It was nuts.  GREAT show.  They played a few news songs too that sounded great.  Can't wait for their new album. 

The Black Keys got a HUGE crowd....but not because they are awesome.  Eminem played after them, so everyone wanted to get there early to get close for Eminem.  For that very reason, we listened to half of the Black Keys set and went back to the tents.  I REGRET THIS DECISION.  We listened to Eminem from the tents and the show was the best of the entire weekend.  We really missed a great show.  After Eminem, we headed back into Centeroo for Scissor Sisters, Girl Talk and STS9.  All amazing shows. 


Final Day...I missed the Head and the Heart because of how late we were out the night before.  Disappointing.  The first show we caught was Neon Trees and they weren't as good as I expected.  Next was either Iron and Wine or Cold War Kids, we caught a little of both.  Cold War Kids were much better.  The big decision of the day was Strokes or Explosions in the Sky.  I made the wrong choice.  We went to the Strokes.  I'm sure if the sound crew hadn't messed them up, they would have been great, but the sound was terrible.  So terrible, in fact, that we moved over to Explosions.....FANTASTIC.  They were great.  Absolutely phenomenal.  We ended the weekend back at the tents listening to Widespread do their usual thing.

Now that I have said my peace about the music.....IT WAS SO HOT.  I was shirtless the entire time and sweated to death.  High 90's every day, dust everywhere and I mean everywhere.  It was a great weekend, though and I can not wait for next year.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  Lollapalooza is coming up in August and it looks pretty good.....