A Music Festival to Make Your Head Spin
By CARRIE JERRELL
NYT
Manchester, Tenn.
I’VE attended and loved music festivals of all sizes for nearly 20 years, but gargantuan ones like Bonnaroo, held each June since 2002 on a 700-acre farm in Tennessee, induce a music-fan identity crisis in me. I’m an eclectic listener. I’m also a ruminator. I hate choosing just one of anything. On the epic scale of Bonnaroo, these traits can result in bafflement. Add the remarkable accessibility to drugs, and the entire experience can become seriously discombobulating.
Around 200 bands appeared on nine stages over four days at Bonnaroo last weekend, and the artists covered many genres. When your must-see bands overlap (which is all the time), the decisions can be excruciating.
Eventually, exhausted by Bonnaroo’s too-muchness, I craved distraction. I could build drums, take Hula-Hoop lessons, dance at the Silent Disco or have my hair shampooed at the on-site salon. Or I could eat ice cream and do drugs.
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream carts dotted the grounds, and workers doled out samples of their festival flavor, Bonnaroo Buzz. Jerry Greenfield, one of the company’s founders, was on hand for photos. Eric Fredette, the flavor’s creator, explained to me the combination of coffee ice cream with whiskey caramel swirls: Bonnaroo is in Coffee County, and Tennessee is famous for its whiskey. And the name? He said it referred to fair-trade coffee, though he grinned when I suggested it was a wink at other buzzes.
(More here.)
NYT
Manchester, Tenn.
I’VE attended and loved music festivals of all sizes for nearly 20 years, but gargantuan ones like Bonnaroo, held each June since 2002 on a 700-acre farm in Tennessee, induce a music-fan identity crisis in me. I’m an eclectic listener. I’m also a ruminator. I hate choosing just one of anything. On the epic scale of Bonnaroo, these traits can result in bafflement. Add the remarkable accessibility to drugs, and the entire experience can become seriously discombobulating.
Around 200 bands appeared on nine stages over four days at Bonnaroo last weekend, and the artists covered many genres. When your must-see bands overlap (which is all the time), the decisions can be excruciating.
Eventually, exhausted by Bonnaroo’s too-muchness, I craved distraction. I could build drums, take Hula-Hoop lessons, dance at the Silent Disco or have my hair shampooed at the on-site salon. Or I could eat ice cream and do drugs.
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream carts dotted the grounds, and workers doled out samples of their festival flavor, Bonnaroo Buzz. Jerry Greenfield, one of the company’s founders, was on hand for photos. Eric Fredette, the flavor’s creator, explained to me the combination of coffee ice cream with whiskey caramel swirls: Bonnaroo is in Coffee County, and Tennessee is famous for its whiskey. And the name? He said it referred to fair-trade coffee, though he grinned when I suggested it was a wink at other buzzes.
(More here.)
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