Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival

It's hard to describe Bonnaroo without sounding like you're exaggerating - it really is an over-the-top kind of amazing place. It's like everyone who attends it signs some unwritten contract that says "this weekend, we're gonna be positive and awesome to everyone, and we're gonna have a damn good time" and they really stick with it. The music is obviously amazing, but the community and atmosphere are unlike any other festival or event I have ever been to. You really do have to experience it to understand.

First time I have ever been to Bonnaroo. It was a great experience and saw and meet some wonderful people, but I don't plan on going back to another festival like this again. First the great parts. They had a huge line-up. With performances by Paul McCartney, Bjork, Tom Petty , ZZ Top and a few more legends in the music field, so you get to see many great performers in 4 days. I also enjoyed getting my picture taken with the guys from Reno 911 and getting to see some comedy at the comedy tent. I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of friendly people and seeing different things while there. Just seeing McCartney and Bjork perform on stage more than made it worth the money I spent . Now the bad part of Bonnaroo. The heat (which is to be expected in June in the south), The port-a-johns (which were the worst at the campsites) and the over crowded concerts. It's nice to have many different bands and comedy acts, but not good when there are so many people that space is limited to see them and either you wind up not be able to see or hear a band you want to see well or not be able to see them at all (this happened to most of the comedy acts after the first day, so that you had long lines and unless you waited in line for hours you couldn't see them at all). Also there were cancellations and certain people didn't show up for the shows. I know some of that can't be helped, but I went to see one comedian ,who was scheduled to appear 3 times that evening, and the staff had no idea if he was there or not. I did watch the final comedy show that night after i was told he would be there(he wasn't) and while i liked it alright, I wouldn't have waited in line for so long if I knew he wasn't going to be there. While most of the people I met there were friendly and nice there was jerks as well. I waited at one stage to see Billy Idol for over 2 and a half hours only to have some people show up at the last minute or much later and push there way in front of me and others there. Finally there was the scheduling conflict. For some reason they put certain artist that would appeal to the same type of people on at the same time,making you have to miss one act you really wanted to see (80's artist like Billy Idol and Weird Al were on at same time?) Overall it was an awesome experience for me and i would recommend someone to go to a festival at least once in their life, but it has it's downside as well.