Bonnaroo 2011 aka Dustaroo

My 4 days on the farm this year were amazing. We learned many lessons last year which made for a much nicer experience this go round. We came at a much later time, took a totally different route and pulled right in the gate. No 8 hours of waiting in line like last year. There was no line whatsoever. Although our little camper is very, very vintage haha we have setting it up down to a science. We had our entire camp set up and were enjoying in a half hour.

Didn't see much musically Thursday night. We went to Centeroo for dinner and to have a look around but turned in kind of early. I wanted to be as prepared as possible for my Friday mission, which was to get up front for Mister. I was nervous about the day though. I knew it would be a task, and a task it was.

We got to the Which stage at about 11:00 a.m. and rooted to our spot which wasn't exactly where I had intended to be. But Ray didn't come on until 6:15 p.m. so I knew there was time to move up. My plan all along was to stay put the entire day and just see whatever shows were at the Which stage. We saw Sharon Van Etten which was a very nice surprise. She was great. Bela Fleck, which I was super excited about. That was a fun show, especially all the crazy dancing that was going on. The Warren Haynes Band was good and groovy but it lasted absolutely forever. After Warrens show it cleared out for a brief second, just long enough to snag the perfect spot before people started filing in for Ray.

It's hard to imagine what a feat it is to wait out in the blazing sun in those temperatures for 7 hours. After hour 1 I had doubts that I was going to make it. But we were so prepared. So very prepared it looked like we were moving in at the Which stage. We brought a mat to sit on, our squirt fans, our neck wraps, a cooler with 8 waters, 2 apples, an umbrella (which I could not and would not ever live without at bonnaroo), our backpack with the rest of our supplies. We looked like we were going on a safari in the jungle the way were were dressed with our big hats and all our stuff hanging off our necks and off our arms. It was a struggle at times, especially from 2:00 to 4:00 when it's the hottest part of the day. I thought about bailing a time or two but talked myself out of it. And when Ray and his lovely crew walked out on stage it was so worth it.

It's pretty neat how your body works, especially under extreme conditions, which I would absolutely define Bonnaroo as. It's a complete miracle that I didn't have to pee one time on Friday, even with all the water I drank. It's like my body just knew what was happening and did what it had to do. The only thing I regret about Friday is that we didn't go back up to Centeroo after Ray. We got dinner, went back to camp to shower and recoup after a day in the sun and had every intention of going back up to see My Morning Jacket, but just couldn't make ourselves do it.

I guess I should have mentioned in the beginning about my condition. The day before Bonnaroo I had blood work done. Several things have been going on with me and I got the results of my blood test Thursday night after we'd set up our camp. I have mono again. My white blood cells are pretty low and my platelets which is the cause for the fatigue. So that definitely played a part in our staying at camp on Friday night.

Saturday we decided to hang out at camp for a while and read, as none of the shows I was really interested in started until around 3:00. I missed Old Crow Medicine Show but we did make it to Alison Krauss. She's lovely. We got a lucky spot for Mumford and Sons which were so awesome. We had planned to leave their show a little early and catch the end of Loretta Lynn but they were just too good, we couldn't leave. Even if we had wanted to leave it got so unbelievably crowded for M&S I was a little shocked.

The craziest part of the weekend happened right afterwards. M&S were over at 7:45 and The Black Keys started at 8:00 over on the What Stage. Months ago when I found out they were gonna be on the big stage I was immediately stoked. Last year, my biggest heartbreak was not getting to see them at This Tent because every living soul attending Bonnaroo was crammed in there. But along with them being on the big stage also is the fact that it's quacking huge and getting a frontish spot is practically out of the question unless you're there super early, which obviously we weren't.

It was clear that everyone had the same plan. See Mumford & Sons and then run over to the What stage for the Keys. Not good.

this is the mumford and sons crowd. we were way up front in that mess.

80,000 + people all trying to hurry to the same exact spot at the same exact time does not work. I was bummed. I knew for sure that we were not only going to miss some of the show but that we would be way in the back. It was chaos. People were pushing and yelling and everyone was packed together so tight while the dust just engulfed us. People were choking and coughing and there was a buzzed kind of energy. I thought something bad was about to happen because people were climbing trees to get over the hoard and then all of the sudden we broke through and were some of the first there. We hurried over to the left side of the stage. It seemed like everyone was sticking to the right side when you first come in. The left side had considerably more room. I could not believe how close we got. We probably could have made our way to the front front, but I learned my lesson last year at a Black Keys show how crazy it gets, so we claimed our spot center stage awesomely close. I was beside myself excited. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in my entire life.

It was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. By far the best show I've ever seen at Bonnaroo. Dan was definitely feelin it and he sounded amazing. So good. There was a little something special about the entire show. It was so much fun I didn't want it to ever end. And just when I thought it was over that beautiful man of mine sang I'll Be Your Man, just for me. It was blissful.

our black keys happy faces!

There was an hour and a half break until Eminem came out so we had the bright idea that one of us would stay put and the other would go get dinner. Terrible idea. I sat there by myself for probably an hour getting more panicked by the second. It was impossible to find anybody in that mess of people. But she finally saw me jumping and flailing my arms. Another lesson learned, never split up in a hundred thousand people if you ever want to find eachother again. The food wasn't even good.

So Eminem came and went in the middle of a lightning storm. Fun show and fun glow stick war! I really wanted to make it to Girl Talk at 2:30 am but I just couldn't do it. I could barely hold my eyes open. So we trudged back to camp somewhere around 1 in the morning.

Sunday was super hot. We packed everything up before heading up to Centeroo which was the best thing we could have done. That way, whenever we were ready we could just walk back to camp and get in the truck and go. We saw G Love, Amos Lee and Iron and Wine. The sound was messed up and it was too quiet. I was a little bummed about that but it was still an awesome day.

It was dirty and grimey and hot and sticky and exhausting but it was amazing.