The as-yet-unannounced line-up is almost irrelevant.
If you’ve ever been to Bonnaroo you know that within thefirst few minutes on site one immediately starts mental preparations to returnnext year, and the year after that, and the year after that…
Four days of car camping in the summer sun does not soundappealing to many people. Even hardcore music lovers who acknowledge Bonnaroo’svast and perennially amazing itinerary of bands who perform morning, noon andnight on several stages sometimes find they lack the stamina and sustainedenthusiasm to get them through a 4-day weekend of living out of their car, 18-hourdays of trudging from stage to stage, with their only refuge the rare patch ofshade and a tent to collapse into at the end of each day.
But if you’ve attended Bonnaroo before then you know thatthe pros far outweigh the cons.
I am a person who lives the other 361 days of the yeardaydreaming about going back to Bonnaroo.
So you can imagine my delight when my favorite editor andgood friend Mike Breen gave me the green light to cover the festival again thisyear for Cincinnati CityBeat. There is a press credentials application processinvolved, but in years past when I enjoyed the good fortune and favor of CB’spatronage it was just a matter of a few hoops to jump through and press accesswas secured.
I count my Bonnaroo experiences as some of the most fun Ihave ever had. As musician and writer and shameless fanboy, I find that Iconnect with it, I “get” it, on every level. In my experience I have been awriter, performer, recording and live sound engineer, light board and spotlightoperator, soundman, van driver, promoter, poster artist, provider ofhospitality, doorman, etc. etc. So I understand almost every singleaspect involved with the mounting of a huge festival like Bonnaroo. The entireprocess and end result are transparent to these eyes, yet it remains the mostmagical entity in which I have ever participated. Without question it is the“sun” around which my life as a freelance writer revolves. I make contacts viaBonnaroo every year that expand exponentially in the wake of the festival andprovide me with freelance fodder throughout the year.
But of course it is the 96 hours I spend at the festival itselfwhere the sparks really fly. In the past I have gone whole hog gonzo atBonnaroo, spinning my perspective on the festival round and round in myslave-to-the-rush emulation of HST’s Fear And Loathing style, with varyingresults. But the truth is that Bonnaroo doesn’t need me to embellish its wildrainbow of colors and soul-pulsating sounds with my unschooled splatter ofverbiage.
On more than one occasion I have had the pleasure ofreviewing a recording or concert performance that I found so exhilarating Iwould later remark that the piece “wrote itself”. It is that sensation times athousand and then multiplied a thousand times again that best describes myfeelings about the actual writing involved with covering Bonnaroo: Straightreportage of the bare facts 100% free of embellishment would surely paint thepicture of a scene so amazing that it strains the limits of credulity.
And so, like I said, the line-up for this or any year’sBonnaroo Festival is almost irrelevant to me. The announcement of the line-up isimminent and I’m sure there will be dozens of bands on the schedule that I willbe very excited to see. But it’s icing on the cake. A mountainous cake, soon tobe slathered with an ocean-size layer of mind-numbingly sweet icing.
The largest measure of my deepest gratitude goes out to MikeBreen for once again making it possible for me to count myself proudly andexcitedly among the Bonnaroo press corps. I shall endeavor as always to do myvery best in hopes of providing CB with brag-worthy content.
Attached below you’ll find links to my coverage of Bonnaroofor CityBeat from 2006, 2007, 2010 & 2011, featuring some spectacularphotography by Keith Klenowski and Chuck Madden.
An epic account from Bonnaroo 2006:http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-1263-music-the-rhythms-of-the-roo.html
A sprawling 4-parter from 2007 starts here with part 1 & links to parts 2-4:
http://blogs.citybeat.com/spill_it/2007/06/road_to_rooin_d.html
Highlights of my experiences in 2010:
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-1356-bonnaroo-2010-getting-there.html
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-1367-bonnaroo-2010-the-final-wrap-up.html
And a 5-parter from 2011:
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2074-live-from-bonnaroo-rs11-part-1.html
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2075-live-from-bonnaroo-2011-part-2.html
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2077-live-from-bonnaroo-2011-part-3.html
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2079-live-from-bonnaroo-2011-part-4.html
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2081-live-from-bonnaroo-2011-part-5.html
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