Bonnaroo: “A Really Good Time”
Why would anyone want to go to the middle of a field in Tennessee on a sunny, 95°F day with no shade? Make it 4 days, add in 150+ musical acts and some of the most craveable pizza in the world, and that’s Bonnaroo. The festival has roots everywhere you look: New Orleans, Nashville, Woodstock, and more. The combination of these very unique places makes it what it is: “A Really Good Time”. In fact, that’s roughly what the word Bonnaroo means, coming from creole slang. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to pass up a really good time.
This is what I spent 6 days of my June doing: listening to some of the best musicians on world class stages during yet another heat wave in the American South. My shutter could not stop snapping photos. Everywhere I looked was just as photogenic as the last. It’s a brilliant move by the unique festival owned by music conglomerate Live Nation: the beauty adds to the energy. Natural landscapes combining with epic art installations, lights and lasers all night long, did I mention the world’s largest disco ball?
I hope you’re an early riser because once the sun comes up, everyone’s tents become an oven forcing out even the most hungover attendees. Not an early riser but a night owl instead? Lucky you, there’s live music all night long; even until the sun rises. So we sleep when we are dead of course, but sleep we must. Each year brings the impossible task of choosing which band to see over another, when to leave a show to get food, and what time to go to bed, leading to what I call “Bonna-regrets”. Inevitably you can’t see everything you want to see. There’s not enough time and there are too many conflicts. I personally saw at least part of 36 different sets and I still have bands I wish I could have made it to. Don’t worry: this is normal. You can’t do everything. I promise. But you can live the shit out of the things you do choose to do. Savor those moments and memories; the bands you missed will come back some other year in the future.
Every day is High Five Friday!
Taking inspiration from David Bruce (Instagram: @iamBonnaroo), I choose to not just take photos of my friends and the concerts, but of other festival attendees. Some of them shared stories with me and some only shared the ability to take their photo, but each is unique in their own way. You see, the music may sell tickets, but the experience and the people are what brings folks back year after year. So for those who let me capture a brief moment with them, thank you. I hope you enjoy my entire Bonnaroo collection of work, and Happy Roo.
