Summer is upon us, which means it is officially festival season! Last year I was lucky enough to travel down south to Manchester, Tennessee for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, and it was life-changing in the literal meaning of the phrase.
Bonnaroo is a place where anyone can enjoy the unique atmosphere of music, food, art and most of all, freedom. It is a mixture of 100,000 people, with every type of human represented. On the farm, you can meet people from all walks of life, and the feeling of togetherness between all of the "Bonnaroovians" makes those differences nearly invisible while you are there. It is a festival like no other, and when I've talked to experienced festival goers, they've all said that the main thing that sets Bonnaroo apart from other festivals is the atmosphere that cannot be duplicated.
After my first Bonnaroo last year, I knew that this would become an annual trip for me every year to come. This year we bumped up our "'Roo Croo" from three people to seven. We took two vehicles and went on the 16-hour drive from Syracuse, New York to Manchester, Tennessee. While I could write about the trip down for pages alone, I'll stick to the festival itself.
We managed to get parked side by side out in "Pod 9," the same pod that we were camping in last year. That meant that our walk to Center Roo was going to be the same mile walk that it was last year, past all of the same food vendors, head shops, and ice trucks. Talk about "Deja-Roo."
Wednesday night when we arrived there were no concerts going on yet, so we wandered around the area of the farm known as the grove. It's a spot in the woods where there are hammocks hung up all over, with light music and awesome festival lighting up in the trees meant to be relaxing. It did so well this year I passed out in one of the hammocks for a little bit that night.
The next day we woke up, prepped ourselves for the first day of concerts and took Center Roo by storm. The famous Bonnaroo Arch was finally open, this year with a rabbit coming out of a hat on the top, in the spirit of the "15 Years of Magic" that was being celebrated. After wandering around eating the various foods and shopping in the many little pop-up shops around Bonnaroo, we all went off to see the performers of the night that we were personally excited for. Just so you don't get too confused, Bonnaroo's stages and tents go by the names of "What Stage, Which Stage, This Tent, That Tent and The Other Tent," because why not?
My night of performances started off with Hermitude on the stage at That Tent. Hermitude put on a great performance and was one hell of a way to kick off Bonnaroo. It was music that was mildly heavy in the area of bass, but also focused a lot on having melodies that were easy to dance to. Throughout most of the performance, most of the crowd was dancing. It was a very fun concert all-in-all.
Following Hermitude, we stayed in That Tent for Lizzo, someone who I had never even heard of. That being said, she put on a decent concert. She was a rapper, which me being hugely into hip-hop was promising. I couldn't really get into her music throughout her performance, but the atmosphere was upbeat enough to catch on a bit, keeping That Tent energetic.
By the end of Lizzo, my friend Tyler and I had worked ourselves up to nearly the front of the stage, where we decided we couldn't leave. I had really been excited to go see the quickly growing rapper, Goldlink, but with another good performer about to come on the stage in That Tent where we were so close to the set, I had decided to stick to my spot.
The final performance of Thursday night that I was at was put on by Cashmere Cat. I was not overly into his music coming into Bonnaroo, but the live performance shocked me. He put on a great show. Cashmere Cat capped off my day one in a great way, and he gained a new fan in the process.
The next morning, we all woke up much too early because of the blistering Tennessee heat, did our best to shower with water bottles and travel shampoo and made our way back into the festival for day two of Roo. It was time to check out more things around the festival, such as the food truck oasis and charities such as Regular Hero, who work in a bunch of areas to help people around the world. There is plenty to keep occupied with waiting for the night's shows.
On paper, the concerts for Friday were going to be incredible. They didn't let down even in the slightest.
The first act I was really excited to see was Keys N' Krates at none other than That Tent. But in order to get front row for that concert, my friends and I decided to work our way to the front of the prior band, Fidlar. If you were to ask me how the music was, I couldn't tell you if I wanted to. They were a punk rock band in which the crowd constantly moshed. And lucky for me, being up front, I was right in the middle of the shoving. After having my fresh beer spilled all down the front of me, and fighting off bodies left and right for the length of the set, the crowd finally left and we were ready for Keys N' Krates. I was covered in beer, sweat and probably other things, but I was not going to miss the next performance, so I stood strong for one of the best performances at Bonnaroo this year.
When Keys N' Krates finally took the stage, it didn't take long for the bass to kick in along with the light show. Being directly in front of the sub woofers, we could feel every bump of the bass physically. We embodied the phrase "feel the music" and it just added to the experience. Of all of the songs they played, when they did their hit "Dum Dee Dum" the crowd went wild. I loved every second of this concert, and it was so very worth the struggles of being in the pit for Fidlar prior. And the following picture is from my iPhone— we were that close, and it was insane. Sorry for the poor quality.
Following Keys N' Krates, all of my friends stayed put for the Flosstradamus performance, but I split off separately to go see J. Cole perform on What Stage, the festival's main stage. That is the only downfall to so many shows fitting into a four day period. There is a lot of overlap and sometimes you have to choose between acts.
After working my way up somewhat close to the stage in the middle of a crowd composed of nearly 80,000 people, I was ready to see one of the hottest names in hip-hop for the second time in a year.
J. Cole took the stage in a Charlotte Bobcats jersey ready to rock Roo. And that is just what he did. He did his double platinum album "2014 Forest Hills Drive" in its' entirety while throwing in all of his past hits from time to time. He had the audience jumping to club bangers like "No Role Modelz" and "G.O.M.D." while he had everyone in touch with their feelings with songs like "Love Yours." From front to back the concert was everything I was hoping for and then some. And being there without my friends that I had gone to Tennessee with, I was nervous about how good of a time I would have. But the people in the crowd were all prepared for a great time.
The best moment of the concert barely even involved J. Cole himself, though. J. Cole stepped aside for a surprise appearance by the fastest growing name in rap right now, Chance the Rapper. Lil' Chano from 79th came out and performed his biggest hit off of his Chance 3 project, "No Problem," and the crowd went ballistic. As soon as the intro music for the song came on I got chills down my spine because I knew how alive the crowd was about to become. This concert was one of the best I've ever been in attendance for.
J. Cole finished a little after 10 p.m. and until the Chainsmokers were to come on at 12:30 a.m., I figured I would just roam the festival. In that time, I missed a few shows such as Tyler, the Creator, and LCD Soundsystem. I was able to be front row for Tyler, the Creator down in Brooklyn last summer so I was okay with missing that show, and even though LCD Soundsystem was a headliner, I found myself struggling to get into their music.
At about midnight, my friends and I made our way to This Tent for the Chainsmokers. This concert ended up being my second favorite of the festival, a very close second to the concert I had just left. Not only was the music incredible at the show, but the light show the Chainsmokers put on was incredible also. They performed hits such as "Roses," "Kanye" and "Don't Let Me Down" in which the whole crowd danced and sang along. But the highlight of the show was when they brought out Halsey, the singer of the hit songs "New Americana" and "Colors," for the debut of a new song. While I do not know the name of the song, it is sure to be a hit whenever it hits the public. Bass drop after bass drop, the Chainsmokers were a highlight of the weekend.
This is my favorite picture I took at Bonnaroo this year.
I had planned to stay at the same stage for a performance by Zeds Dead after the Chainsmokers, but I was getting really tired from the combination of dancing and alcohol and I decided to try and get some sleep. After all, music festivals are marathons, not sprints. You have got to be able to hold up for the entire festival.
The next morning we woke up, again, much earlier than we had intended. That lack of sleep didn't help with trying to nurse my hangover. Lucky for me, we climbed into the van that we drove down and napped in the air conditioning until it was time to make the hike back into the festival.
The first performance that I went to on Saturday wasn't music, but an event in the Comedy Theater presented by TBS. The stand-up acts consisted of Judd Apatow, the director of movies such as "Trainwreck" and "Pineapple Express," Vanessa Bayer from Saturday Night Live and Pete Davidson, also from SNL.
Judd Apatow came out and knocked us on our backs with laughter with his stand-up routine, joking about everything from anxiety, to his daughters, to some of his movie projects. Not too shabby for a guy who took a 22-year hiatus from stand-up.
Following Judd was Vanessa Bayer. While her jokes weren't awfully funny, her approach to the act and her quirkiness made everyone laugh. Overall she did well at the main goal of making people laugh.
It was now time for Judd to come back out to the stage and blow everyone away with his surprise guest. He brought out the lead man of Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder, for a duet comedy jam with Judd himself. The performance that followed was both hilarious and heartfelt. It was awesome being in attendance for something that would never happen again. It was one of the highlights of the entire festival for me and the lucky few that were able to grab tickets to the show.
Following that incredible performance was Pete Davidson, who was not shy about letting everyone know his displeasure with following up an act like that. I personally thought Davidson was the funniest of everything I had witnessed. He had me constantly wiping tears from my eyes I was laughing so hard. He showed why he is rapidly becoming one of the shining stars on Saturday Night Live currently.
After the comedy performances, we made our way to What Stage for a performance by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The performance started off well, though the audio seemed a little quieter than I was expecting from the main stage. He did his biggest hit, "Thrift Shop," and then brought out Chance the Rapper for the song "Need to Know" off of Macklemore's latest album. That was my favorite part of the performance, but I'm biased to Chance for sure.
Towards the end of the emotional song, "Same Love," the festival managers came on stage to let Macklemore know that the show was to be stopped and the festival grounds were to be evacuated due to lightning strikes close to the area. Macklemore seemed choked up as he told us that he had to stop the show early. Everyone exited the festival grounds and went back to their vehicles. After about an hour and a half, the grounds were reopened and the schedules were adjusted to allow all performances to continue.
Macklemore came back to the stage with all of the pent up energy that had built up over the pause in his show. And the crowd caught on really quick. The second part of the show was much more alive, and performances of songs such as "And We Danced," "Dance Off" and "Can't Hold Us" got the crowd going crazy. For "And We Danced," Ben switched into his character from the song's music video and entertained everyone. Following that, he did a tribute to the legend, Prince. For "Dance Off," he called two fans on-stage for an actual dance-off that was highlighted by an incredible "Worm." To finish the concert up, Macklemore brought out Eric Nally for a great performance of "Downtown." All in all, Macklemore impressed and was incredibly entertaining despite adversity.
Due to overlapping schedules, my friend Tyler and I had to rush over to Which Stage to catch the last half of Ellie Goulding's performance, but were unable to catch Pearl Jam on the main stage. She put on a great show, really showing the power of her vocals with a less "pop" and more emotional performance of her song "Lights." She is one of the few vocalists that I can say sound better in person than they do on the radio. I was blessed to have been able to catch a good chunk of her show.
Following Goulding's awe-inspiring performance, I went to a performance by EDM artist RL Grime. We got right up front for that show too, and it was intense. It was a really bass-heavy show, which I loved. The highlight of that performance for me was RL Grime's song "Kingpin" featuring Big Sean. It was a great performance for an EDM artist, and was second in EDM performances for me at Roo this year behind the Chainsmokers incredible set.
Following RL Grime, I walked over to Kalliope, an EDM only stage famous for pop-up performances by some of the biggest names in EDM such as Skrillex, Flosstradamus, GRiZ and others. I was there for a half hour or so as Cherub was doing a set, and it was incredible. Between all of the bass, the light show, the remixes of hit songs and most importantly, the flames, the Kalliope stage was a rave like none other.
I left Kalliope to go see my final set of the night, Big Grams (Big Boi from OutKast, and the group Phantogram). The set was awesome. Intense lyricism from one of rap's greats, along with phenomenal beats produced by Phantogram. The highlight of this performance for me was the Big Grams cover of "Ms. Jackson," the OutKast hit. Everybody in the audience sang along and spread nothing but great vibes to each other.
Due to the weather delays from earlier in the night, the set finished at right about 3 a.m. When it was finally over, I decided it was time to call it a night.
We woke up Sunday morning ready to enjoy our last day of concerts for the year on the farm. The first event that I was excited for was a comedy theater performance by "Workaholics" star, Adam Devine. But as I was in line for his show, I got the Twitter notification that Chance the Rapper was going to do a surprise coloring book listening party at the Silent Disco. I hopped out of line and ran to the Silent Disco to wait for Chance.
The problem with a headline talent doing a pop-up show in a tiny tent is that it can be hard to manage. In order to properly dispense headphones, the management of Roo booted everyone from inside the tent to the back of the line, where I lost my opportunity to be a part of the Silent Disco.
At that point my Sunday was ruined. I had missed a comedy act I was excited for, and now I was kicked out of the Silent Disco with one of my idols. But things got better really fast following that.
I had my first ever "Fanboy" moment, as when Chance was leaving the tent that the Silent Disco was in, he was about 10 feet from me as he got onto his golf cart. It wasn't too much, but he waved to all of us outside and his crew shot us with a super-soaker. And you could see in his face that he was surprised with the huge amount of fans that were waiting outside just for a moment of interaction with Chano. It was such a short moment, but it made the day so much better. That was the closest I had ever been to an idol of mine. With all of his crowd commanding pop-up performances at Bonnaroo this year, he was given the nickname "Mayor of Bonnaroo."
Following all of the Chance-related business, I caught back up with my friends to catch Third-Eye Blind. While most of us were hanging out towards the back of the concert to just enjoy the vibes, two of my friends were right up against the stage for the show. To me, it was a good concert, but nothing special. To my friends who were right in the mix of things, it was a phenomenal show. Either way, it was a positive experience.
Following Third-Eye Blind, the only show remaining was Dead & Company with their two What Stage sets to end Roo 2016. We decided to skip the shows and just have fun wandering the grounds for our last few hours at the farm for the year. Oh, and we took pictures, like this:
We went back to the campsite and packed things up so we could head out at 6 a.m. Monday morning to return to everyday life. We had to come to the realization once again that our true freedom was only for the weekend. There would be no more dressing however without being judged, dancing like an idiot with no worries or instantly becoming friends with everyone you meet, at least until next summer.
Reminiscing upon Bonnaroo is always bittersweet. The time spent at the farm creates some of the best memories of a life. I know personally that it changes a person's perspective so dramatically in such a short time that it's impossible to look at life the same. Bonnaroo is how life should be all the time. But for now, I will just look forward to doing it all again next year.
To those who were at Bonnaroo 2016, thank you for making another year unforgettable. And to all, "radiate positivity" in everything you do.
