The days are starting to blend together in my mind; please forgive me if I mix them up a bit.
Day 3
My personal favorite day, though it did not start out great. We had decided that perhaps day 3 would be a good day for a shower. We gathered up our towels and such things and headed toward the water station. We quickly ascertained we needed tickets for the shower- we purchased them and then got in line. For three hours. Three fucking hours. For a shower. In the hot hot sun. At one point a guy walked by and yelled "why take a shower, it's going to be another 110 degree day." and then something about peace and love. At first I snickered, but three hours later, I was in complete agreement with him.
The wait became a battle. We had already paid for the shower, so we didn't want to be out the $7. There was a lot of "we've already waited this long" going on. Walking away made the wait seem completely futile. At one point I think the showers shut down so they could empty the tanks. The smell in the air was like that of a rotting corpse wrapped in sauerkraut soaked gym socks trapped inside a warm port-a-john on the hottest day of the year in death valley. It was awful. Still, we would not be defeated by the wait.
The showers themselves were not glamorous and it was clear a majority of the women weren't versed in the ways of quickie showers. I did my best to not touch the sides of the shower stalls for fear of contracting a disease. It was refreshing though. Meghan asked me if it was worth it. "Uhhhhhh. Not really." Especially since within the time it took to walk back to camp, my feet were already filthy again. No more showers!
The Music
The music on day 3 was amazing. We decided to settle in at Which Stage to see Old Crow Medicine Show, Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Mumford & Sons. I took my blanket over, which was apparently against the rules, but it was one of those rules that meant nothing. This is also the blanket that got sacrificed to the Bonnaroo gods. At the end of the day, I didn't want it back anyway. Plus, during the Eminem show, it helped me save Meg's life. (See, she wasn't really interested in the show, so she curled up on the blanket with the rest of us surrounding her. A photo of this exists, but I'll refrain from posting it. Then some drunk guy came barreling through our area and almost stepped on Meg's head. Luckily I stopped him and said "hey hey hey - watch it." Then he went around. Life saved.)
The Mumford & Sons show was transformative for me. At the end they brought out Old Crow Medicine Show and the most amazing dobro player to play Amazing Grace with them. It really was amazing.
I was convinced enough by the amazingness of that show to stick around for the rest of the night. I'm not a super Eminem fan, but felt a Michigan loyalty thing happening, so I went just to support him. Because I assume that's what he really wants: half-hearted support from a nearly middle-aged obedient white girl who actually find most of his lyrics disrespectful. Well, that's what I offered. The rest of the night is a bit of a haze, but I believe there were some dinosaurs, sleeping in the street, Scissor Sisters, and Gogol Bordello. Also, by now we had discovered the taxi system. Totally worth the $5.
Day 4
A slow morning; just what we needed to recover from teh day before. Showers were not happening, so we again sat in our filth. I claimed to "have a relationship with these wet-ones" and I stand by that. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I grilled up some dogs and warmed up chili and we enjoyed quasi-campfire chili dogs. It's a perfect food.
I visited the comedy tent once more for John Waters and Tig Notaro. I had figured out the system by then and line wasn't as unbearable. We saw Ryan Bingham and G. Love. WE saw Robert Plant and Patty Griffin came out as a special guest. That was my favorite moment of the day- the best kind of surprise. There must have been others, but the heat is affecting my memory.
Widespread Panic was an insane show. I hadn't listened to them before, at least not on purpose. I think all of their songs are 30 minutes long. There were a lot of things being thrown through the air: thousands of glow sticks, regular balloons, beach balls, and water balloons. Heads up was a good idea, but it got difficult to maintain after a couple of hours.
The walk out was bittersweet. It was exciting because of all the people, but also it meant Bonnaroo was over. Sad face. We collapsed back in our tents. We got up the next morning, packed up as quickly as possible, and hit the road- for about 50 miles until we stopped at a Cracker Barrel. I won at breakfast, throwing my fork down on the plate to prove it, we shopped the country store, and then loaded ourselves back in the car for the 11 hour journey.
The Aftermath
Waking up on Tuesday was difficult, in a really depressing way. I was at home, and there were no amazing bands playing in my living room or in my cubicle. It was nice to shower and sleep in a real bed, but at what cost? Oh Bonnaroo, until we meet again.
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