Tips!

With the Rothbury date nearing (2 DAYS!!), you may want to start your packing list. It sounds silly, but seriously, there are some items you do NOT want to be with out. I found a pretty comprehensive list from a guy who is clearly a festival veteran...here's a link to his list:
http://www.detroitcity.com/blogs/viewblog.php?id=1519

The only correction I would make to the list is to make the grill optional... after a long (and hot) day of concerts, activities, events, etc. there was no way you were going to get me to cook on a hot grill. Then there's the trouble of keeping any meat or dairy cold, which is not only annoying, but expensive ($7 per bag of ice at Bonnaroo). Pack sandwiches or splurge on pricier meals from vendors if you're not into the whole grilling thing.

Also, if you like camping but you're not so into the roughin' it stuff...Waterless shampoo is available at most drugstores. We tried it for the first time at Roo and it worked like a charm.

Oh and take the man seriously when he says bring tent stakes. You really don't want to go chase after your flying tent when a big gust of wind comes.

Here's good general information I found on the Rothbury site and on various blogs...its good, useful tidbits about the festival:

With each festival, different rules apply...According to the Muskegon Chronicle, the folks at Rothbury are only allowing one sealed water bottle per person (up to a gallon in size) into the concert area.
You can find that and more info here: http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/02/rothbury_will_have_it_all_rule.html

Or you can just find it on the Rothbury website:
http://www.rothburyfestival.com/

There's some other useful tidbits here as well: http://www.ecopop.com/music/columns/340/RothburyFestivalMashesUpMusicArtAction.php

As the cliche says...know before you go!
=)

Bonnaroo Day 1.5: Wednesday Night/Thursday

Ah, Bonnaroo, Bonnaroo...where to start....

I guess I'll begin by saying that this year's Bonnaroo was my first major music festival. I've been to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and Warped Tour a few times but that's about it. So this was my "test run" before Rothbury and Lollapalooza. Those of you with more festival experience will have to bear with me here...

I was lucky enough to go with a group of people in a Minivan...and luckier still that one of the guys in our group volunteered to drive for 8 hours through the night.

At sunrise we stopped to stock up the cooler with $300 worth of food and camping supplies (way way too much for the record). We drove another few hours to Manchester, Tenn. As we neared the area, traffic began getting thicker and thicker along the highway. We soon discovered that it was backed up over 17 miles...and I had to go to the bathroom. I'll spare you those details however.

Finally, two or so hours of bumper to bumper traffic later, we were inside the campgrounds. We hit the ground running in the thick of the Tennessee heat and began setting up camp. Oh, a bit of tent advice: make sure your tent works BEFORE arriving. A group of my friends ended up with a makeshift tarp-and-stick style shelter after realizing that all of the tent's poles were broken. Sounds okay? Try it in the rain.

In the refugee-like campsite, space is extremely limited. We ended up having plenty of space, but rumors were spreading about girls literally beating each other up over camp space. I'll chalk it up to the heat.

There weren't many shows to be seen on the first day when we arrived (Thursday) but we headed down to the main festival area, Centeroo, to check it out anyway. The border of Centeroo is made of plywood walls which is basically a graffiti free-for-all. The walls become more and more decorated as the weekend wears on.

We checked out some of the stages (whoever named the stages "Which", "What", "This", "That "and "The Other" is a sadistic, chaos inducing jerk) and watched people at the Silent Disco. The Silent Disco, for those who don't know, is a dance/club style tent where all participants wear noise canceling headphones--including the DJ. Its quite a sight to see--everyone dancing to the same music that no one else can hear. Actually, my biggest Bonnaroo regret is not participating.

We saw the Centeroo market, which is essentially hippie venders selling various hemp-made clothes, tie-dye t-shirts and organic goods.

We then left, hoping to get some sleep in before Bonnaroo kicked into high gear.