A sweaty day in the middle-of-nowhere Tennessee in early June. Music so loud I can feel the vibrations throughout my whole body; smells foreign and familiar: bacon, ice cream, pizza, beer, soda, fried food galore, and that herbal stench of people hopped up on happy leaves. What else could this occasion be but the Bonnaroo Music Festival of 2017?
My mom and I were driving down the road on my way home from college. She inhaled and flinched with such vigor it caught me off guard. Her excitement made me nervous. What could she be scheming? A squeal escaped her vocals as she voiced that U2 was headlining at Bonnaroo this year. She said she needed to think about buying tickets, but I immediately knew her mind was made up. She was going and she was taking the whole family with her.
Music festivals are not what one would think of as family fun, but nevertheless, I had fun with my family.
We parked our car at a fairgrounds in Nashville and took a one-hour bus ride to the festival site. Upon arrival, everyone had to go through a bag check, basically a lackluster version of the airport security line. It was hot, I was sweaty and hungry, but damn it, I was going to have fun.
As we walked into the festival, I could hear the Strumbellas finishing up their set on the secondary stage. In that moment I knew it was going to be one of the best days of my life thus far.
Where did I want to begin? Where did everyone else want to begin? Our noses led us to Baconland.
Ah, Baconland. Need I really say more? Well, I'm going to anyway. It was an oasis of pork. Four different food trucks lined up offering any concoctions of salty, hammy goodness one can conjure up. I had the Swamp Fries, a basket of cheesy, pulled-porky, spicy, sweet, crispy fried potato slices. That was definitely the way to start the day.
With our tummies full and our energies elevated, we mozied on to hear the Cold War Kids. Their live set was fantastic. My sister and I swayed to the radio-quality perfection of sounds as my parents sat on the grass and relaxed in the enveloping sunlight. We were each having a good time in our own ways.
After Cold War Kids came Kaleo, the XX, and Glass Animals, all of which were phenominal and sounded just as they did on the radio (which made my heart happy, no expectations failed to be met). Glass Animals was without a doubt my favorite, though. Their alternative flow and quirky lyrics wrapped around my heart and pulled me closer to the stage with every drum beat.
After the Glass Animals completed their set it was time for the event that gave us reason to attend this palooza: U2. My mother was so giddy, she skipped Glass Animals to save seats early. My sister and I meandered over to her after Glass Animals finished their last song (because I was not about to miss a minute of them).
U2 had started playing before my sister and I reunited with our parents. We danced our way across the field of happy hippies in search of our life-giver.
When we found her, she wore the largest grin I had ever seen, only comparable to the Joker's. The sun had set, the crowd had gathered, the drinks had been drunk, the songs were being sung. The culmination of the evening was commencing.
As I watched my father, mother, sister, and myself all standing, singing, cheering, dancing, and completely losing ourselves to the gravy-like voice of Bono, I knew I would remember this night forever. Family can be the best friends one ever has, will ever have.
After my revelation and the music had come to a close, the bus arrived to take us back to the parking grounds. I fell asleep on the ride home and woke up with a greater appreciation of music, of life, and of my family.
Sometimes family fun time is actually that, fun! Give it a try some time and see what could happen.