AND FESTIVAL SEASON APPROACHES; let's talk about BONNAROO!

Hello everyone! This blog is dedicated to all my fellow music lovers and festival goers!


This festival season I will be traveling with a company called "Clean Vibes", which manages on-site compost piles in an attempt to make these giant venues as green as possible. In exchange for my sifting through trash, I get to attend some of the most prestigious festivals in America.. FOR FREE! I will also be working with Shimons street team, and WET (Work Exchange Team) to attend other fests. These are all opportunities YOU CAN ALSO DO!! I will, throughout the festival season, be posting photos that will capture the REAL vibes of serious music festivals. I hope that, through my photos and stories, you will be encouraged to go out into the world and get your feet wet in the music industry...


Be sure to click the WAKARUSA LINK I ADDED BELOW so that you don't miss out on a great festival that is super close to us here in KS, at least read through the general info and find out if it is the right festival for you. It's a great fest for anyone, as people come from all over the world (not kidding) to attend it, now that they've changed from hired security to volunteers...which, by the way, is the secret to knowing if a fest is worth wile: ) If you're looking for a Bonnaroo-like fest, this is right up your alley.



I would like to make it clear that I do not use any drugs, I am against using them, and I am not promoting the use of them by any means! Having said that, it is essential that you leave your morals and beliefs at the gate, as you WILL see nearly every drug out there, and be offered to try it over and over again! People WILL be using drugs openly pretty much everywhere you go, and they WILL try and sell you drugs. If being offered drugs, or even if being around people using drugs bothers you then the music industry is simply not for you.  Everyone is non confrontational at these events and has different beliefs.. just accept that it is a part of the environment. These are real experiences from an avid music enthusiast, anything I write on this site is first, true, and second, ment to give you the most accurate information on what you can expect should you decide to attend a festival, and I DO ENCOURAGE YOU ATTEND ONE!

One out of every two people will be using marijuana openly
in the crowd. This is generally accepted by everyone,
though I did see one person have their pipe taken away
as they were using it.

I captured these photos at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN. I recommend this festival for the avid music lover, however, due to publicity (MTV, VH1, POLADIA, ETC...) and the growing popularity of this festival, the general open mindedness has decreased in the past few years, however, don't underestimate this festival, it is one of the most historic festivals of this era. Bonnarroo is, to anyone, a complete and total shock. This festival will ope your mind, expand your views, challenge your beleifs, and leave you with some of the best memories of your life.. You may find yourself a diferent person after you leave.


I will be posting photos of other fests as they happen this season and will take you through the environment of each fest. So far these include: Wakarusa, Bonnaroo, Suwannee Springfest, and All Good. I will undoubtedly be assigned more shifts at other festivals, and will keep you posted.

Anyone who has been to a SERIOUS festival will tell you that if you've yet trek out and see one, you've yet to dip your toes into the entire music world! It is worth the money, and if you can't seem to save up enough dough then just volunteer to help out during the event! Most festival venues will let you in free if you agree to spend a day/night or two helping out. The overall cost to attend this festival without any promoting, volunteering, or greening, is around $450. Ticket-285, then gas (you should carpool), groceries for the 4 days ahead, souvenirs at the venue, and miscellaneous things like beverages and food you will buy there. YOU WILL BUY A LITTLE OF BOTH, as it is usually a long walk back to your tent.  Advice; try and sleep in as long as possible each day, don't worry about sleeping in too long, the heat WILL wake you with plenty of time to spare. Plan on spending the majority of your day actually out at the venue as bands play all day and night on seven different stages.


It's always a great adventure! No matter who you are, you will look back and be happy with the memories. People on their LSD trips.. (man jumps out of a bush while walking down Shakedown street, "Where is Rocky Balboa Spaces Station number nine?!!"... the balloons filled with nitrous, the marijuana flowing through the crowd, people eating mushrooms out of baggies like potato chips, walks through the camping grounds where everyone is like your family and willing to share anything they can, strangers telling you they love you. It's nearly impossible to walk to the venues without having someone ask you to stay and talk, offering you drugs, or stopping to join a group of hippies singing along to old beatles covers.

SOMETHINGS SHAKING ON SHAKEDOWN STREET!

As you walk Shakedown street you will hear voices advertising their "merchandise.", "headies"..."nugs"..."keta" "doses"..."molly" etc... it's an endless walk through a drug flea market as you make your way to the main stages where, in the crowd, women and men will walk by offering mushroom chocolates from their fanny packs and nitrous balloons from small pressure canisters...people will be throwing glow sticks from the trees...  running through the mushroom fountains to cool off. I even saw a few washing their hair and cleaning off.. It goes on and on! If you're one of those people who only likes going to festivals where drugs are abundant and generally accepted, well then Bonnaroo is right up your alley. If you love a friendly crowd, good music, caring people, and the environment... Bonnoroo is right up your alley. This is a perfect festival for nearly any music lover.

The best, and worst part about a good festival is that their are so many different stages and tents to choose from at any moment, with bands playing on each one from noon to sunrise. Often you will be forced to choose between two bands you love, as their are hundreds of bands at each fest. The first time Rooer finds themselves totally lost, as the stage and tent names are trickily named! I remember asking where Ben Harper was playing, "which stage" was the answer. I was freaking out a little as everyone I asked said the same thing, "Which Stage!", I thought people where playing some king of trick on me, little did I know that the name of the stage was indeed "which stage".. 

As night creeps in, the mood comes alive.

At any fest, things come alive as the sun goes down. As you spend a day or two among the other 40 to 120 thousand music lovers, depending on which fest you are at, everyone around you is doing hard drugs. Tabooed drugs like LSD, cocaine, mushrooms, ecstasy, and ketamine are all abundantly present and you will undoubtedly find yourself wondering, as you witness thousands of people using these drugs, "how dangerous can they be?".. I was blown away my first time at the Roo. As the temperature drops to a reasonable level in the evening the mood livens, people come out in costumes, and you will find yourself in the midst of one of the greatest evening of your life.

Dont forget to check out the lineup for Wakarusa, just click one of the links to their website on this blog page and read up on one of the newest, coolest festivals in the U.S. right now, you won't regret treking out to Ozark, it's well worth the money! I really hope to see some familiar faces out there this summer, the lineup really is something to be noticed.

HAVE A GOOD ATTITUDE FROM THE START....

It is essential to have the hippie attitude from the second you arrive! As someone might just throw a handful of paint at you, or spray cold water into the crowd(awesome). You will see all sorts of things that you NEVER thought actually existed at Bonnaroo. This even will change your life forever!

 Let me backtrack for a second. The real Bonnaroo experience starts far before you arrive. As you're making the 14 hour drive, when you get within a few hours of your destination, you begin to see cars like the one to the left.. you and all you're friends honk, roll the windows down, and the people in both cars yell out their windows at each other "BONNAROOOOO!!!" THAT is when the real festival begins. You and your friends make a quick stop to grab a bite to eat, and inside the McDonald's is a plethora of tie-dye shirts and dread locks.

What comes next is the line... When I say line I don't mean the ones you wait in at six flags, on their busiest day of the year.. The Bonnaroo line dwarfs that.. It's a 14 hour drive, then about fourteen miles of cars in line waiting to get in, some even camped out over night, and this line takes anywhere between 6 and eight hours to get through. But as you are waiting there are people playing Frisbee across the highway, people jumping from car to car selling drugs, people openly smoking marijuana, people meeting other like-minded music fans like themselves, they are all the most friendly people you'll ever meet. The line is where the party begins!


Then, once you've driven fourteen hours and waited in line for another six or eight, you arrive. Then it's a race to set up camp and make your spot as spacious as possible, which isn't ever the case. The camping area extends in all directions to each horizon. Don't expect to have your own personal space, people at bonnaroo treat this entire area as their unofficial party area. As you make your way through these tents toward the stages you will be asked to stay and hang out a lot, and half of the time, YOU WILL! The people are just that friendly and laid back. The distinct aroma of marijuana sets in from the afternoon of day one, and doesn't go away for the rest of the next four days, so don't come if that bothers you.

 At Bonnaroo in particular it is extremely hot during the day, try 110! So you need to bring water, as it is $100 for a 24 pack at the venue..    You are not allowed to leave once you have entered, so BE PREPARED! You can find a detailed list of items you should bring at their website. It generally rains throughout parts of the fest, which keeps you cool, but makes it very muddy.. which, depending on who you are, can be fun or dreadful. People will be wrestling in the mud, and having various contests for you to take part in during the day. They offer morning yoga (highly reccommended), an air conditioned comedy tent, an Internet cafe, a silent disco, greening tents, and SO much more. Although it is hot, there are plenty of ways to keep cool. The fountain above runs day and night and is a social hot spot throughout the long, hot days of the fest. There are also giant semi truck trailers that are laying around in various spots throughout the venue where you can cool off by letting the misters, which they have attached to the top, spray cold water down on you. This is where I personally go to cool off, you will most definitely be approached by tons of people during the fest who want to get to know you! It seems odd, but these are hippies at heart, and they will converse with you all day, invite you back to their tent, talk with you some more, and by the end of the fest you may find yourself among a group of friends that you didn't have when you arrived: )


There is soooo much that I did not cover because I have run out of space on this entry, so much I didn't tell you, but I suppose you'll have to check out Bonnaroo for yourself in order to fully understand the awesomeness that is BONNAROOO!


That's it for now: ) I'll update with another festival again soon!