The weirdest farm in Tennessee

MANCHESTER, Tenn. – There’s a 700-acre farm situated in Manchester, where for four days people gather for indulgences of every sort – music, dancing, food and drugs. This year a crowd of 90,000 people came to “the farm.”

Bonnaroo is a de facto state within a state – anything goes here. Like the modern equivalent of Woodstock, lots of people come for the music while others are just looking to get their weirds out for four days of the year.

Strange-looking men stride about muttering the names of drugs under their breath hoping to pander to potential customers.

The music blasts into the early hours of the morning, but that doesn’t prevent people from sleeping on the muddy ground only feet away from the stage during a performance.

And maybe those ground-sleepers have it right. After all, going back to your campsite means walking for what seems like miles, dodging wild-eyed people wearing masks and making way for small shuttle carts driven by a man in a green spandex body suit.

Trying to find your tent is a puzzle in itself when all the tents and cars are packed together so tightly.

Despite the long treks and potential hours spent looking for your campsite at night, you wake up in the morning and count the few futile hours you spent trying to rest and letting the sweat dry off your dirty skin, and you set off again to catch the first band of the day.

The decisions are tough because there are nine places to see live music, and many of the performances overlap.

The Beastie Boys and Phish played at the What Stage on Friday night and drew hordes of festivalgoers. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, played the next night on the same stage and had 3 1/2 hours scheduled during which he was the only performer.

While Springsteen was playing “Thunder Road” with the same gusto he had years ago, eager fans waited for hours to see Nine Inch Nails take the stage. If the crowd response was any indication, it was worth the long wait.

Even at 1 a.m., the crowd writhed like worms and bounced off each other like rubber bands during the upbeat songs.

Mike Epley was in the crowd and said he drove from Washington, D.C., with the sole intention of seeing Nine Inch Nails.

“I’ve seen them live before,” he said. “I’ve been waiting here for like three hours.”
The Mars Volta played as the sun went down earlier in the day. Their performance didn’t go flawlessly, but the music was intoxicating.

Fans sang along while thrusting their fists in the air and lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, employed his usual stage antics – crawling across the stage, gripping the microphone stand with his teeth and tossing and kicking the microphone in the air.

“The Mars Volta was sick,” said Jeff Episcola, an attendee from Virginia. “I really didn’t like them before I came here, but they blew my mind.”

Excellent performances aside, at Bonnaroo, the music is really only the start.

You can wake up early in the morning and take a yoga class, see movies at any hour of the day, see famous stand-up comedians, listen to panel discussions on music and activism, build a hand drum, meditate or get autographs from musicians who happen to be wandering the festival grounds.

Marrissa Thompson drove from Cincinnati to be at Bonnaroo. She said it was a long drive, but it was worth it.

“This is actually my first music festival ever,” she said. “I’ve loved every second of it.”