Summer Camp '07 (the roo)

Going to Bonnaroo this year was like going back to summer camp. Sean and I met up with all the familiar faces from last year, minus a few and plus a coulpe others, only to work our asses off and enjoy some of the festival. This year was especially awesome because Widespread Panic was back at the roo closing it out so not only did we get to see tons of really good bands but we also were able to start out summer panic tour off with by far the biggest show we have ever seen them play.

We went out a few days earlier than last year and started work immediately Sunday afternoon. After non stop checkin for vendors and employees, monday evening we finally got to go up on site for a little golf cart ride. Sunset was beautiful and we got ot go experience the campground before it got filled up. This year I actually saw some of the PODS instead of just hearing about them. PODS are places where each campsite can go for water and medical attention. They provide a theme for the campsite and campers. I kinda think of them as doing the same thing the RAs did in the dorms. This POD was called Enchanted Stringdom. They told me they had spent over $500 in yarn by Thursday when the Festival officially opened.

here it is just getting started but here it is in full effect:



This year Bonnaroo changed the credentials around a little bit. They made it a little more strict so we weren't allowed to go on the main stage like last year, but we still had an amazing time. I missed the view of the site from way up high though and being able to see all the people gathering for the show. I still got a few good crowd shots though.





So the little bit of the festival we did get to see was incredible. One of m,y favorite things about festivals is being introduced to new music that you would never really get a chance to see otherwise. This year that was Dr. Dog for me. They remind me of a mix between The Band and The Beatles. All the members are really good musicians and I love that they switch up singing. Here is a clip from the show.




they played on Saturday afternoon and right after them Sean and I walked over to another tent to cath The Slip because our friend Tim Lanterman is their tour manager and we wanted to seem him. Right as we got there I asked some roadie to tap Tim on the shoulder for me so we could tell him that we were there and instead he just let me and Sean go up on stage and stand next to him. That was totally cool because even though we could get side stage and backstage, I had never been on the stage. Of course the sound isn't as good there but the view is incredible and looking out at the crowd is totally cool too. Here is some of The Slip from that view.



That's Tim in the blue shirt.

Back tracking a couple days, another really cool thing about this year was that music actually started Thursday and went late. Last year, Sean and I never made it up to the site on Thursday and this year we got to go see Rodrigo y Gabriella Thursday night. This is a short little clip of what the show looked like with their projections behind them. It was really cool.



Thursday night we also got to check out the Silent Disco which I missed last year and the new dicoteque arcade which was really cool. It had lcd dance floors. Right as we were leaving they started a mash up of Panic's Pleas with some electronic dance beats.






I'm really bummed I didn't get to see Wolfmother but I didn get to see Ween and they rocked out pretty hard to a packed tent Staurday afternoon.



That damn Shrek balloon was in every shot from where we were sitting. Sean had the bright idea to pull the golf cart up around the outside of the tent and just sit on it and listen to Ween because the sound outside the tent is so much better than the sound from side stage. It ended up being really nice out there but at first we were right next to a bunch of people passed out or just really old an d tired.

Speakin of passed out people, we ended up standing almost ontop of one during the Gov't Mule show. This show was definitley THE show of Bonnaroo. Everyone came out during the set and the mule rocked so hard. Sean and I only stayed for the first half of it because I wanted to catch the end of Flaming Lips because I had never seen them, but it was still amazing. We were there for Bob Weir's guest appearance and they did Sugaree then Loser. Sean is under the impression that he is a musical genious because he called the Loser from like the second note. It was impressive, but I think he might have only been yelling out what he wanted to hear. Through our awesome team work, Sean and I got 11 minutes of the Sugaree on video. My arm started to get really tired after about 7 minutes so Sean took over in an almost seamless camera hand over.



From here we jetted over to the Which Stage to catch the lips and it was quite a spectacle. I didn't really expect to see such a show with all the confetti and lasers and stuff. I think from where we were, way back in the bleachers, the stage looked incredible but it seemed to be morea bout the show than the music and personally I like to see the music rather than a huge preformance and tons of people shining their annying red lasers on a big white balloon. Anyway, it did look cool, here's a little clip.



What was really cool about the Flaming Lips though was their sound check that absolutley rocked. After the Police, I was exhausted and wanted tp go home, but instead I went out back behind the guest compound and foudn an empty hammock where i promptly fell asleep for the best 40 mintue nap of my life. Right before I fell asleep, Sean and I were lying in it together and all the sudden we hear a huge War Pigs coming from the second stage where no one was scheduled to be on yet. IT turned out to be The Flaming Lips sound check and it was incredible.

There were lots more fun shows and awesome times. By Sunday our work was basically done so we got to go up to the site pretty early in the day and run around. It was hot as hell so Sean decided he had to go in the Centeroo fountain which earlier in the weekend probably would have been an amazing idea, but by Sunday it just seemed gross.




We ended the weekedn just like we did last year with a huge golf cart caravan through the site. Because Sean and I had just come from an amazing Panic show where Schools was sporting the Independent shirt, we were yelling Golf Cart City, No Bad Rides the whole time. Apart from the dust and nearly killing ourselves by being thrown off from a golf cart, it was tons of fun. This year we made it back to the hotel room way before the sun came up which was really nice.



All the ladies of the Credentials department except for our fearless leader Ruth, got a nice shot together on one golf cart



We managed to get one pic together in front on Manu Chau


Bonnaroo was a blast and I can't wait till Summer Camp next year when I get to go back