"Queen Defender of The Girl" - A Tale of Bonnaroo...... (pics)

[malta blue]

Hey loungers! :hi:

I have returned from my excellent adventure to the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, TN.

There were torrential rains on Thursday night when I arrived around 10 pm, but my SO was right there at the airport shuttle drop, and had miraculously set up our camp before the rains came. There were crazy howling winds, but we were snug in our tent. Some of the folks around us were not so lucky. Some had set up their tents in spots that got flooded, others suffered damage to their tents and campsites. The stay dry god smiled upon us, though. :D

We spent some time on Friday wandering about the festival checking out the grounds and artwork.

This is the official Bonnaroo post office:


Excellent woodworking:



Friday evening was the Beastie Boys performance, followed by Phish. It was a terrific show - and lucky me - Phish performed my favorite song so I was a happy girl.

Saturday we wandered in for Elvis Costello, but mostly stayed in camp. We truly enjoyed meeting the young couple camped next to us. They were from Macon, GA. He is rebellious "preacher's kid" with an amazing sense of humor. She told me she was glad she got to him before he could do "too much damage" as they have been together since they were 17. We had such a wonderful time with them! :pals:

Our friends packed up and left on Sunday, but we still had one big show to go to - Snoop Dogg followed by Phish. Unfortunately, we got soooo distracted playing in the art section that we got there just as Snoop left....





Sunday night's Phish show was awesome! Bruce Springsteen came out and joined the band for a couple of tunes. The highlight of my night was the glowstick party! :bounce::bounce:

We found a bare patch of grass and set up our spot which happened to be near the self proclaimed "most awesome of all partiers". He took one look at the SO and decided he NEEDED a picture with him



We enjoyed our time with him, and soon found out that he ahd a stockpile of thousands of glowsticks which were then converted into a neon dancefloor.....

Most amusing was when a young college-aged woman sat down in front of my blanket and then proceeded to lay down and fall asleep. So many people were tripping over her as they tried to avoid stepping on her. The "most awesome of all partiers" decided to encircle her with glowsticks to let people know she was there, which effectively started a "defend The Girl" mission. The Girl slept through the entire first set of the Phish show, completely surrounded by glowsticks, with a halo and an outline of her body. The "most awesome" and I took turns trying to steer people away from her, and for my troubles, I was named "Queen Defender of The Girl" by "most awesome"

:rofl::rofl:

The Girl sprang up just as the set ended, said thanks and skipped away. We maintained The Girl glowstick art for the rest of the show.

Throughout my travels yesterday, I met several Bonnaroo attendees who saw or heard about the glowstick dancefloor and The Girl. As soon as I mentioned that I was at the Phish show on Sunday night, it would be the first thing they asked about - if I had seen or heard about The Girl and the glowstick dancefloor.

All in all, it was great fun. We went with the primary objective being to see Phish and the Beastie Boys. We accomplished that and had a great time as well.

Oh, and before anyone caps on me for saying "The Girl" - please relax! And yes, we cleaned up glowsticks and trash on our way out of the venue.

[suninvited]

1. Sounds like a great trip !

Out of curiousity, what would be wrong with saying "the girl" ?

[malta blue]

2. Oh, you know some folks would have preferred

a reference to her as a woman or female - some interpret "girl" as insulting. Me, I am way to relaxed for that kind of thing!


And it was a great trip! I had forgotten how much fun Phish shows are since I have not seen them in 10 years.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear malta blue!

What a great time you obviously had! I'm so happy you did!

And your SO looks like a terrific guy...;) He's a keeper...

Thanks for posting, and all those wonderful pics too!

:bounce: :bounce:

[malta blue]

5. Thanks, Peggy!

:hug:

We really had a magical time, and SO was amazing. This trip was a "test" to see if we could tolerate each other through festival madness. I was just so happy to be with him, nothing could have made me grab the whiny or crabby pants.

[InternalDialogue]

4. Love it.

The best parts of festivals is the characters and story you create for your experience. It's awesome when you can weave it into a narrative and describe your experience kind of mythically like you have.

Great pictures, too. I love the art -- though I'm probably not the only one who looked at that wood trellis/gazebo and thought "Meet the Fockers."

[malta blue]

6. It was a spectacular time!

And thanks for the compliment :blush:. I don't consider myself a good writer at all, so I appreciate it.

[malta blue]

7. Shameless kick

:kick:

[Bennyboy]

8. Wow, good story...

man, I wish. My shit didn't come together on time to make it.

I watched the ATT feed and even though a lot of the acts I wished were on weren't, it was fabulous! Elvis Costello, Man oh man what a great set. From one man acoustic band to stadium rock riffs, the guy is a legend and one of the great performers in history.

Lucinda Williams blew the roof off, Easily the best performance I have ever seen by her (not many...natch).

And Grace Potter and the Nocturnals? This is the band that everyone needs to hear. Like the blues? This is your band. Like blistering rock with Flying Vees and hammond b3 organ? This is your band. like singers with amazing voices? This is you band.

Phish. Friday nights we watched on some guys iphone. Good too for what it was. Watched again on Sunday...when Bruce came out, a tear came to my eye. to see my heroes on stage together, crossing generations and music philosophy like that was something else again. The end of Glory days is pretty epic too.

The second set was sweet too. the new songs, 46 days and the jam were so good.

PHISH CAN SAVE THE WORLD!

[malta blue]

9. Elvis Costello was a great time to peek into the 'roo on Sat.

Like I said, we spent a lot of time in camp, but we were able to catch Elvis Costello while we noshed. He was great!

I am looking forward to seeing the DVD because we missed so many things.

I did hear that Animal Collective was great.

Also, that Trent Reznor of NIN announced retirement.

moe. Now that is where I should have been on Sat. night late night. They played well past their stop time. I think it was past 6am when they gave up the ghost :wow:

It had been so long for me since I had seen a show. I had forgotten what a magical place it is. Any other concerts, I feel like I have to watch my purse, look out for the jerk who is gonna spill his beer on me, etc. Here, it was like being in a playground without any mean kids. Pure bliss.

:hi:

[tigereye]

10. Elvis is an amazing performer - when we saw him he played for 3-4 hours!

He played like he was still playing in a club - hard, fast, fun, wild and great banter.


Thanks for sharing your experience! Sounds like a great time!

[hippywife]

11. Glad you had a great time and

it looks like you have one really cool SO, now. He might be a keeper, no? :hug:

[malta blue]

12. Thanks Hippywife

we had such a great time.... and yes, I would really like to keep this one :hug:

[Bennyboy]

13. The VIDEOS ARE UP! PHISH and BRUCE!

Glory Days http://jamtopia.com/blog/phish-bonnaroo-recap-2009/

This had to to be top ten moment in Phishtory. Love how Bruce and trey jam the tune out.

This one might be a bit better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWLMSpJlp1A

[malta blue]

14. Thanks bennyboy!

I actually skipped the Bruce set, and was really surprised how well Bruce and Trey jammed together..... It was a rough start to Glory Days, and Bruce had to egg on the band, but it was all worth it!

Our Sunday night friends started the glowstick frenzy on Friday night....check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-cXCifWKXI