deadhed

What an amazing festival! Here's the rundown It's too bad I've been gone for the past 3 weeks, because I would have liked to make plans to hook up with some of you guys.:

Music: Since that really is what it's all about... Trey was definately the pinnacle of the whole weekend. It would be impossible to talk about all the great thingsthat he did. He made me laugh ("I am... WILSON!"), he made me cry (his speech), but most of all, he made me boogie. Phil Lesh! Holy cow! Not Fade away! Cryptical Envelopment! What an absolutely great setString Cheese with Keller Williams dropped a big bomb. Galactic freakin blew me out of the water. WSP was pretty good, even if I'm not a fan. Robert Randolph and the North Mississippi Allstars were great too. Things that left me cold were: SCI afternoon set, Ween, the DJs (except J5), and, well, the rest rocked.

Atmosphere: What an incredible scene! People were so nice to each other! Everyone was recycling like mad, being respectful of others, and just enjoying themselves. Very kind souls were always spraying water on anyone that wanted it and giving away tons of cool stuff. I was helping direct traffic at the end of the show (You might have seen me if you went out the pseudo-gate at the far end of the park that led to the alternate route to I24... I was shirtless and I had short red shorts on.) There was no security presence whatsoever, all the staffers were "safety" personnell, and they were aptly named. They made sure everyone was safe and having a great time. The police were ultra-cool. (When leaving, I saw a few guys passing a J no more than 8 feet from a Coffee County sheriff's deputy, and the cop didn't say anything) All the prices for concessions were insanely reasonable. $2 for water, $3 for soda, $3 for pizza, $4 or 5 for bigger food items. The free medical attention rocked when I got blisters. The mist tents rocked. The nuggets for sale there rocked. People would just walk down the street with huge nuggets in their hand for advertisements! The porta-potty situation got sorta bad at times, but what would you expect. The traffic coming out was horrible (waited 7+ hours at the main entrance before heading over to the alternate exit that the police opened up, then I was out in 1/2 hour)

Well, I'm very tired now. I'll post an update if I forgot to say anything.

What were your impressions?

Herb Ninja

Sounds like fun dude! Would have been cool to be there, especially if I was still smoking bud. Peace-

Bailey1138

my thoughts.....


getting in was a little rough. I drove straight down, 7 and half hours from columbus, through thursday night and got there about a quarter to 5 friday morning. Then I hit traffic. Didn't get my tent set up until around 4 PM that afternoon. That's a long time to be stuck in traffic. BTW, I was in Camp Costanza in the seinfeld camping area.

I skipped panic on friday and caught the late night sets. Well I saw umphrey's and les earlier, but that was it. i ddin't get any sleep the night before and I've never been a huge panic fan, although I hadn't heard much of them, so it wasn't a big deal. I tried to get to the k-dub incident, but it was so crowded, I couldn't even get close enough to hear well. So I went over to check out Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. I think that was the place to be. He jammed the hell outta everything, even played Tighten Up. The sky was starting to brighten as he left the stage.

Next night I actually stayed up to dig panic, and I was glad I did! Stevie Winwood came out and jammed Low Spark, which was very unexpected. Well, I kinda expected a low spark when he came out with cheese earlier, which was probably the highlight of their set. I hadn't realized how mellow they usually are, like they need a good kick in the ass sometimes.

Late night saturday was the highlight of the weekend for me, moe.!!!!! This was only the second moe. show I'd seen, they blew me away last september in columbus, and they did it again here! I can't really recall many details...robert randolph sitting in on meat was definitely cool. As they left the stage, the sun was already starting to get pretty high in the sky. The feeling I got when I heard the huge roar come up from the crowd, and al wishing us all a good morning just made the whole ordeal much more than worth it.

I gotta say, I enjoyed ween's set, I'd never heard any of their stuff before, and I was impressed. Very weird...I like weird. Phil rocked, Help>Slip>Franklin's was great, and Cryptical>The Other One>some other stuff>Cryptical!!!!!!! I think we all saw the Tennesee Jed encore coming, but it was still sweet.

Trey was magnificent. Unfortunately, I was so incredilby tired by the beginning of the first set, I had to crash. I can't believe I did, but I could barely keep my eyes open in the arena. I'm so sad I missed that wilson. I'll get the tapes shortly though

i was a little dissapointed with the vendors, I thought everything was a little overpriced. Not outrageously so, but I'm used to paying $1 for a bottle of water, not $2. And what was up with Bearly Edible not making grilled cheese? That's a tradition! Grilled cheese in the afternoon and home fries in the morning, and they didn't have either! Nugs seems easy to comeby, I can't speak for the quality, as I brought some of Ohio's finest down with me, dumpster!!!

It seemed to me like all of the kindest people from all the kindest scenes came together in one place. Non of the tour rats, you didn't have to fight off people trying to sell you drugs every 2 steps. Everyone smiling and friendly and helping each other and working together. It really was beautiful thing. Can't wait until next year. Hopefully they'll get the camping situation figured out better. If not, I'll just come down earlier.

I was able to get out of their really really quick. There were some farmers in the back of our camping area who were charging $10 a car to let people go through their yard and out to the road. By about noon, their wasn't even a line anymore. We got on an exit south of 111, the manchester exit, got right on 24W and drove by the huge line of traffic waiting to get out. Probably the best $10 I spent all weekend.

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dmbtex

What a wonderful all-around experience. Every single persyn there made sure that everybody else was having a good time. The music was unbelievable. The traffic was horrible, but it was pretty fun walkin' around on the highway, just chillin'. I just hope this really does become an annual event, and that it is just as great next year as it was this year.
deadhed- I thought the DJ's were great for the most part...

weedzinger

I had a chance to smoke some of the Bonnaroo nugs and they were......GRaet!

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Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all of the people cant be right all of the time.

suede

I rushed back home for a few minutes,sunday night to start a thread on bonnaroo.....i guess i was so wired from the whole 5 day experience that I didnt make any sense out of what I was writing..... like that's unusual......N E way,i did post some references to the declaration of Tennessee's 6th.largest city,while it was still fresh in my mind,and I have pics of the concert and some interesting folks,i will be adding to my website this weekend.
And if we have it next year,it will be better!!!I will personally make sure of it......b.suede...........The only green shirt wearing a straw hat and Ray Bans'.Oh yeh! I was also the only safety officer who brought my bike

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End World Hunger

Bailey1138

Word is they just announced that there will indeed be a bonnaroo 2003. June 21-23, right back in manchester. I wonder how long before I can order tickets?

suede

You, or your brother, will need tickets?
b.suede

Bailey1138

hmm......your ideas intrigue me, and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.......

if you're saying what I think you're saying, I'm gonna owe you big time come next year........

How was it working at a place like that? Secruity seemed pretty cool for the most part, didn't seem like anyone was getting hassles. Getting searched on the way into the bigger venues kinda sucked, but it was also easy to get around.

schwadood

suede, you just made me smile on the inside

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peace and much love