Bands I saw at Bonnaroo '09

Later on, I'll do a quick snippet about each show. For now, a list will do:

THURSDAY

Passion Pit

FRIDAY

Gomez

Animal Collective

Grizzly Bear

TV on the Radio

Beastie Boys

Girl Talk

SATURDAY

Jimmy Buffett

(Lebowski Fest)

Of Montreal

Jenny Lewis

The Decemberists

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

NIN

SATURDAY at Bonnaroo 2009

By Saturday, David was feeling a little uncomfortable and I was getting a little grumpy from lack of sleep, but still intent on having a good time.

We got cleaned up in a trailer full of sinks, which felt incredibly nice. With no intention of putting shampoo in my hair and trying to rinse in such a small sink, I got as much of my head wet as possible and gave my hair a good rinse.

Saturday's weather was really nice. Hot, but nice.

We sat on the porch and played some WAR, or maybe that was Friday... anyway we ate some breakfast. Mine consisted of rice cakes and peanut butter. I noticed when putting them away that the ink on the bag got melty and stained my leg. Jealous of the other girls' body paint (which I am investing in for '10) I rubbed a peace sign on my shoulder, a faint hint of which is still present today.

Jimmy Buffett at Which Stage was our first show for the day. I really liked it, and I didn't think I would.

After the show we had a break and were trying to take it a bit easier after a busy day on Friday, so we ate at the waste-free Planet Roo cafe. I had veggie stir fry and tried tofu for the first time. Yum!

It looked like it was going to rain so we caught the end of "Beautiful Losers," a documentary about commercial artists from what I could gather, at the Bonnaroo Cinema Tent... then we caught the beginning of Lebowski Fest before heading out. (Dudemobile.)

The nearby line for the Daily Show Allstars at Comedy "Sweet" was loooong.

David chose Bon Iver for an afternoon nap, and I basked in the sun and kept us well-misted, which I can guess is the origin of my second layer of sunburn...

We tried to catch Of Montreal at This Tent, but I'm told it's a better live experience if you can see. I couldn't because everyone in front of me was 6 feet tall or taller it seemed, so I headed to Jenny Lewis where the crowd was much more laid back. I wanted to see her anyway.

Afterward, I bought an awesome tye-dyed skirt from TyeDye Mary and went back to Of Montreal to secure my place for The Decemberists. David had opted for Wilco, and despite the fact that both he and Justin told me they were no good live, I was adamant about seeing them play "Hazards of Love," a sort of rock-opera that I happen to be in love with.

They played the whole thing. IT. WAS. ORGASMIC. My favorite show throughout the whole festival. Unfortunately, I had to leave just as they came out for an encore consisting of older songs I probably would have liked, because David was waiting at What Stage with a great spot for The Boss.

I enjoyed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band although I feel embarrassed to say I wasn't familiar with most of his work. He played Santa Claus is Coming to Town as a request. In June, which I thought was funny.

I laid down during most of the show because I was so tired at that point, and became a little grumpy when David woke me up to keep me from getting kicked in the head from passersby in the dark. That made him grumpy, and no one was all that excited afterward. I did like The Boss by the way, and I'm proud to have seen an American legend live once in my lifetime.

The plan was to eat and catch Trent Reznor's last U.S. show (Nine Inch Nails). We did that, but David and I were in a pseudo-fight by that point and I was so upset I actually cried a little at Bonnaroo. It felt unnatural in such a happy place.

After a few songs we sensed the crowd was not something we wanted to be a part of, and David made it up to me by conquering his fear of heights and joining me on the ferris wheel. It was neat seeing the vast layout of the farm, which I now miss terribly. The people in our basket, or whatever you call it, seemed a little disappointed that we didn't smoke weed.

After that we called it a night.

FRIDAY at Bonnaroo 2009

Friday, we knew was going to be a loooonng day.

Just as I was told would happen, we woke up not long after the sun came up. It just got too hot in the tent, especially since it had rained all night, causing us to keep the vents closed.

In order to get a good spot for Animal Collective, David and I headed to the Which Stage to stake out a good place and decided to sit through Gomez in the process. I actually liked Gomez a lot, which David predicted would probably be the case.

I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said "I heart balls on my face" and another neon yellow one with Carlton's face on it. I couldn't resist posting it. That twitpic got the attention of Brian Shoemaker at wgem.com, who recommended me for Follow Friday. :) Proud moments.

As soon as the Gomez set was finished, there was no time to sit and rest - people started pushing and shoving their way to the front. I was kind of appalled, as I had expected the Roo crowd to be a bit more congenial. (And at every other show for the rest of the weekend, it was.)

We did at least have a good view. "My Girls" sounded nothing like it did on the CD, but I still kind of liked it. They fooled around with it a lot. I've been at shows where you "feel" the music, but this was in the most literal sense of the word. The sound was SO LOUD that I really and truly thought one of my eardrums was going to burst. After that feeling passed, I was numbed by the vibrations and really started to enjoy myself. At least two people passed out, but it's unknown at this time whether that was due to drug use or dehydration. I'm guessing both.

Grizzly Bear was up next at This Tent, and I was really starting to feel worn down. This alarmed me because I intended to go until 4 a.m. for Girl Talk, so I left the tent and laid down in the grass underneath a nearby tree.

I continued my rest back at Which during TV on the Radio. I stood for one or two songs, but the experience was the same lying down since I couldn't see much anyway. Dozing off during a show like this is a surreal experience that I'm not sure how to describe. Makes dreaming a lot more interesting, where you're not sure what's real and what's not. David stood most of the time, because TV on the Radio is one of his favorite bands.

Beastie Boys were next on the main stage (What Stage). We stayed for much of this, and I was delighted to hear "Body Moving." David was excited when Nas joined them on stage. We were sure Justin, who couldn't make it this year, would be incredibly jealous. As we walked away I heard "Intergalactic." If I could do it all over again, I would have stayed longer, but I was bound and determined to see Girl Talk if it killed me, especially after he sold out the Pageant before we got tix.

We took a several hour long nap, missing David Byrne, Phish (D*MNIT all to hell), Crystal Castles and Public Enemy and woke up just in time to hit Girl Talk at 2 a.m. at That Tent. Thank God he went on late because we would have missed the beginning.

We were positioned really close to a mud puddle that people kept falling in. One guy actually went diving into it, which I would have done too except that the fest had two days left to go, no showers and the mud smelled of poo. I only wish we would have been closer. SO jealous of those on stage. "You alright Bonnaroo!?"

After the show we at some NY pizza and then headed back for a few hours of sleep before daybreak... Twitter users warned of a really bad storm headed our way (the land hurricane that hit Memphis) but it completely missed us.

THURSDAY at Bonnaroo 2009

David and I got up at 5 a.m. all prepared to leave at 6. Andy, David and Justin left at 10 a.m. in 2007, so we wanted to make sure we left in enough time to catch some shows in the evening. How wrong were we?

The drive to Manchester wasn't bad at all except for the rain. We got some bomb @$$ pizza at some gas station just outside of Nashville, picked up a copy of the day's edition of The Tennesseean and got ourselves pumped up for a wonderful weekend festival. And it was wonderful, until we hit that line.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol directed us off I-24 past a town called Pelham. There, we waited for 8-and-a-half hours to backtrack to Manchester and get into the grounds. We moved about a mile an hour, or less at times - partially because every time we stopped people kept getting out of their cars to play frisbee, drink, or socialize. You can't blame them for wanting to get out, but some people should have been paying more attention and it might have saved an hour or so. I have to say, I thought it was funny that the coppers weren't too concerned about people peeing on the side of the road ;) Bonnaroo Radio 101.5 was the soundtrack to it all.

When we finally arrived, we had already missed Alberta Cross, MURS and White Rabbits. So much for those shows. We did get a chance to put up our tent (in the dark at Camp Andrew Clark a 'la "Breakfast Club") before it started raining again, and it went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would, probably because we practiced the night before ;) We didn't use the canopy, because there wasn't enough room. We didn't spend enough time at the campsite anyway I guess.

We packed up our bookbags, which I had already partially packed before we left the house, and headed for Centeroo for my first time EVER.

We were already kind of wet and it wasn't raining too hard, so we didn't worry about USING the umbrellas or ponchos we had packed.

As we approached the misting tent, which hadn't been activated yet, we SAW a line of heavy rain coming at us across the camp grounds. We ducked under the tent for cover along with some Bonnaroo staff. I put on my poncho and David, who had left his bookbag in the tent, got lucky and was given one by the staff members. It was covered in XBox logos, one of the event's sponsors.

As we approached Centeroo, the rain subsided. We arrived at This Tent in time for Passion Pit at 11:15 p.m.

I didn't know anything about Passion Pit but they did put on a good show. It set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

I took pictures around the grounds. The Centeroo archway, the fountain, etc.

When we headed back to camp, approximately a 20-minute walk down Main Street, it started pouring again. We took refuge inside the tent and tried to get relaxed for a long day on Friday.

I updated Twitter and hoped the tent wouldn't leak on us. It didn't.

I dreamt of getting David, who has a fear of heights, on the ferris wheel before the weekend was out.

I'm back! :(

And I've posted photos at The Telegraph online;

And a more extensive gallery on Facebook;

Comment away!

Be on the lookout for blog posts about my very first experience at 'Roo (which was AMAZING) that I will be posting throughout the next week or two or for however long until I run out of stuff to talk about, which I can say is not going to be soon. 

Until then, 

My favorite show was: The Decemberists. They played Hazards of Love, which I love, and then came out for an encore and played some more before Bruce. The crowd wasn't pushy and my neighbors were sweet people :)

My horror story was: The crazy rain on Thursday night after the 8 and a half hour wait to get in. Luckily, a bigger storm on Friday missed us completely.

The porto potties were: Not nearly as scary as I thought they would be, especially the ones at the campsite. 

The food was: Delicious, and healthy too! I even tried an energy smoothie made from hemp milk. Yummy.

My rookie mistake: Not reapplying sunscreen as needed. My shoulder is definitely going to bubble. 

Favorite photo from the entire weekend: At the What Stage before Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Saturday night. See above.

I'm at ROO! Updates (duplicate post)

This post used to contain a widget for people to follow my weekend tweets while I was away, outside of my actual Twitter page, http://twitter.com/lauranette

Since the weekend is over, visit my work blog for a re-tweet, so to speak - a rundown of all my Twitter and Twitpic posts throughout the weekend.

http://quarterlifecrisis.freedomblogging.com/2009/06/15/bonnaroo-weekend-re-tweet/

Twittering from Roo!

Here's the Twitter plan for Bonnaroo -

I've set up my phone, Twitter account and Twitpic account to update from Bonnaroo.

Follow me @

twitter.com/lauranette

Bonnaroo is 11 days away...

... and I'm not in the physical shape I wanted to be. :( Down only 3 pounds total from where I was at my high and not feeling good about it. I went to a wedding this past weekend and I have to say, I looked fairly frumpy in a dress I looked great in not a year ago.

My diet and fitness plans over the course of things have been nothing if not extremely erratic.

I tried Livestrong.com for awhile to track my exercise/eating ratio on a daily basis and did great for a few weeks. But then I started trying to eat more at home and it became harder to track accurately. This week I plan to restart that, now that I've been a member long enough to edit my own meals online, but a 2-week push before the actual event isn't going to get me far.

I was not eating meat for a while, but I started introducing it back into my diet with the advent of grilling season and in light of the fact that I ordered chicken for a wedding and didn't want it to go to waste. Not that eating meat is so horrible for you, but I have noticed a trend of excessive overeating when I have meat in my meals. (If I have a hot dog I have two, and some chips, etc.) Now that I have noted that, I need to do my best to avoid it moving forward.

I wasn't feeling well last week and pretty much stopped drinking water altogether, instead substituting it with flavored drinks. Sadly, many of those were soda or sugary others. Trying to hit the water and low calorie drinks hard this week. Hydrating up for the 'Roo. 

Work has been stressful, which adds to the overeating or eating of unhealthy foods. Plus everyone's getting sick here at work so I've been extra neurotic about getting sick before vacation :(. I think if I stick to exercising everyday and eating healthier, plus refilling my allergy meds, I should be OK.

Started attending Zumba classes last week at Metro. Meant to go to Zumba AND yoga but things came up and I didn't make it to yoga. Trying to do to both this week but I work late shifts on Thursday and Friday so I may not even get to make it to my first sand volleyball game of the year. I hope its at least early enough that I can take a break and go... anyway.