Don’t knock rain. It can actually add to the experience. I was in the crowd for My Morning Jacket show around 2:00 AM the second night of 2007’s Bonnaroo and I’d had a really stiff cocktail, the hippie next to me and my best friend was being free with her stash, and I was exhausted after being in the Tennessee sun for the two days, with two more days to go. It started raining about halfway through the set, and was just a light drizzle, but that combined with everything else just made the moment magical. It’s what I think of when I think of that year’s festival.
I got religion at 3 am on Sunday morning at Bonnaroo 2008.
The festival up to that point had been, shall we say, less than ideal. Of course the music was top notch, but my friend and I had run into numerous snags which were making the times between the shows almost unbearable: we had run out of food and ice Friday afternoon, so we were compelled to spend hilarious sums on stale pizza and overcooked beef served by smug looking concessioners; it had been raining on and off the entire festival so far, leaving us treading water in my 30 year old Wal-Mart tent; and to cap it all off my dear pal abandoned me for the comfort of home around noon on Saturday due to becoming violently ill, effectively preventing him from going to any shows. I was alone, wet, hungry, and nearly down to my last rupee.
I was not, in short, having a good time.
I halfheartedly attended a few shows Saturday evening and retired to my tent early with a heavy heart, preparing to wake up early Sunday morning, drive home, and put the whole miserable experience behind me.
I found it difficult to sleep for any meaningful length of time due to all the racket around the camp, so I swam out of my tent around 2 am and headed listlessly into Centeroo. I found my way to a stage where about 90% of the people close to the stage were sitting down. I decided to see what was going on, and took a seat beside 3 tie-dyed stoners.
The band was Sigur Ros, and they literally left me speechless. I’d never heard of them before and was caught entirely off guard by the experience. It was the most beautiful music I’d ever heard in a live show, and my disposition was transformed immediately from sulkiness to near religious ecstasy, without the aid of any pharmaceuticals whatsoever. I count it as one of the defining experiences of my life.
I’ve picked up some of their recorded stuff since I saw them, and while I do love it, it doesn’t quite capture the magic of what I experienced while watching them perform.
My SO’s childhood friend is a successful concert booking agent and when we visited her in Seattle, she got us backstage passes to the Sasquatch Festival. Beastie Boys, Bjork, Neko Case, and more were performing. The three of us were hanging in the food shack enjoying some free beer and snacks and chatting with a bunch of people. His friend left us to our own devices while she took care of business for awhile and we were approached by a musician and we ended up chatting with him for quite some time. He was in a reasonably large band before and had started up a new one. So after about 30 minutes or so, my SO and I go run off to the bathroom and my SO was talking about how nice that musician was and how we should mention his band to his friend.
There are moments of innocence that are so cute you can’t help but love someone more. I explained to my SO that the reason the guy was so friendly with us was because he saw us with the booking agent. A later confirmation from his friend who said that the musician had been bothering her for quite some time to get her to represent the band. My SO was incredulous for a bit and I just had to give him a big hug.
FALCON RIDGE!!! If you are a folkie you HAVE to come here.
It’s amazing…we camp at a huge farm, there’s all this amazing folk music…Arlo, Ani, Shawn Colvin, Janace Iain, and lots more. It is AWESOME!!! I met my girlfriend there, and also have some damn amazing friends there too.
It always rains, so I always end up a VERY dirty hippie.
There is some awesome music… Dar and Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams doing Peace Train, the Gospel Hour wake up call…everything…except for the porta potties…UGH (but I try to pee behind a car to give back to the earth)
They also have 'terps too!!! Forgot to mention that…wicked fun aspect for the dhh folks
Which isn’t so bad unless the venue makes you throw your umbrellas away… which is what happened at Field Day. Fortunately they were selling garbage bag ponchos for a price that I am sure was very reasonable and did not take advantage of the situation.
I’m okay with getting rained on. Anything’s better than the radio.
In the 60s and 70s there were a lots of free or cheap music fests. They had one thing in common, long dead periods between bands. You would have to wait while one group took off all their equipment after they performed. Then you would wait for the next group to set up their equipment. Waits were at least an hour ,if the next group was there and ready. If not ,you might have to distract yourself for a couple of hours. A music fest was a long, drawn out affair. That is why drinking and smoking were prevalent. Going to the toilet was another long affair. There were never enough porta jons and they filled and got stinky fast.
Reading this, I just realized I got my years mixed up and we’re talking about the same Bonnaroo. Raining off and on the entire festival? The half hour I spent getting drizzled on at My Morning Jacket (which played right before Sigur Ros, by the way) was the only significant rain I remember that year.
I’m glad it was amazing for you, though. Bonnaroo’s the closest I’ve ever come to religion, too.
Some random memories…
Sinead O’Connor at Lollapalooza in George,WA being very pregnant (she cancelled the rest of the dates IIRC) and still blowing away the audience with a killer performance.
They Might Be Giants spawning the goofiest mosh-pit I’ve seen during Particle Man
The booth that sold fresh-squeezed lemonade with a half of lemon in it? The whole festival all of the bands and audience were pelted continuosly with squishy lemon halves. Most surprising, it didn’t piss off anyone and many bands and roadies were throwing them back at the audience.
Literally running into Perry Farrel (Jane’s Addiction) around the tents and knocking him flat to the ground. He apologized 
said it was his fault, and we went our ways.
Rescuing a girl that had passed out and was getting trampled up near the front, dragging her out to the medics.
I went to several “Day on the Green” shows at the Oakland Coliseum. Many musical highlights, but the one memory that stands out is of a totally wasted (and very attractive) young lady sitting nearby at the Clash/Who show in 1982.
Over the course of an hour or so, she started dancing and shedding items of clothing, like a slow-motion striptease. As more and more flesh was revealed, a gallery of male “admirers” began to gather–many with cameras. The group she was with attempted to get her under control without success. She brushed them off and continued dancing and stripping. Finally, it got to the point where she was taking off her panties.
Of course, this got quite a rise (pun intended) out of the onlookers, but then…
(warning: possibly TMI !!)
She pulled out her tampon and began swinging it around over her head :eek:
That scattered the assembled group of onlookers pretty quickly, I can tell you! A few minutes after that, she passed out, and her friends finally were able to get her out of there and to the first aid station.