I am starting to gett excited when I think back at all the fun times I've had Bonnaroo. When I go again this year(yes! I am!) it will be my 4th year it's always fun, to say the least!

If you've never gone to a large-scale music event this will be a shock in the face when you get to the grounds. It will be a shocker when you pull into the local Walmart(yuck!) or Walgreen's to get supplies and you can't even drive around or get a parking place because the "lot scene" that you would normally see at any festival or "jam band" show is happening here! Right in front of your face! It is really fun to take someone to either of these stores to get last minute things like ice, beers or food and you pull in and WHAM! You can't get help but feel the excitement in the air.... the approaching weekend hasn't even started yet and you already feel at home! Well this is the parking lot in Manchester, TN, the tiny, sleepy town that welcomes all the Bonnarooer's every year. Now that they know what to expect, they look forward to the mix of people and all the MONEY that comes their way during this huge event! 

 The very first year that Bonnaroo came to be, was in 2000 and I was there! The small town of Manchester had no idea what they were in store for and what to even think. When all the Hippies started rollin' in with their VW buses and tons of school buses and even some nice motor homes.. the looks on the locals faceswas of complete dis belief, and almost of horror! Dready, hippy types everywhere smokin', drinkin', dancin' and just plain "being free", all over their town.  Out in the open, forgetting that they are not in Bonnaroo yet, they are still in regular, old public! Some of the folks I saw hanging out in the parking lot set up a full- on operation, grilled cheese and drinks out the back of their van! This is fun to see and like I said before, weird for a "newbie" to experience. Going inside is a treat as well, have you ever had a conversation about a special kind of chocolate over the deli counter? well I have... And an even wierder thing happened when I saw someone set up their regular little one man tent, IN a parking space right next door to a big school bus, and they had everything they needed right there in their tent and on their back, as I came to realize they BIKED to the festival from across the country!

  The bathroom is constantly full in these stores for up to 3 days before the actual event, no places to pee, but a million people needing to do it! Not to mention, no showers.... I wont go there, you can talk about this all you want when you get back from your 1st Bonnaroo... Yay!! The showers(or lack of) and the "honey buckets" will be something you can't avoid but you won't miss them either!

When you are waiting in line to get into the event, you will begin to meet your fellow music lovers from around the country. License plates from everywhere; it's so fun to start conversations with these (non) strangers as you are hanging half way out of your vehicle. Everyone is yelling and commenting on everything from stickers on your vehicle, to I can't wait to see "fill in the blank", to where are we going to camp? Some people start the party too early if you know what I mean and they are hilarious to watch too!

I guess tomorrow at 9am they are announcing the initial line up.  So that is cool, but these rumors I am hearing is what I am interested in....

Have you heard the rumor about David Byrne? i am keeping up on this one, as I am a huge Talking Heads/David Byrne fan. I don't even know what I would do if he was there this year? Phish is also rumored to be there I bet they will too. they haven't toured since 2004, and this is kinda their scene so I am betting on them for sure! Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band that is a great and welcomed edition, I bet this will draw a different, older, more musically inclined kind of crowd,awesome! I LOVE THE DIVERSITY HERE! The Beastie Boys; I haven't heard of these guys doing anything lately so again this is a great editon to a line up of all kinds of different acts. These 3: NIN, Snoop Dogg and Al Green... all in one place? How do they expect anyone to choose which one to go to? And you know, they will be playing around the same time, at DRASTICALLY different ends of the field from one another, not fair!!

So tomorrow, we can lok on the website for Bonnaroo and see what the "haps" will really be. I will be looking and waiting to see what I will be able to enjoy in the coming months! I will be working a lot while I am at the Festival but I always make it a point to have a good time and see as much of this amazing music that I can! I think you should all do the same!

~~Melissa Magic~~