Bad People Can't Spoil a Good Show - Bonnaroo
I just returned from Bonnaroo and I must say that it was an amazing weekend. This was my first return to Bonnaroo since 2002 and a LOT has changed since then. This post is kind of a rant/review rolled into one.
My day started at around 11am when my wife and I lined up outside of the What stage main entrance. It was rainy and chilly at the time, but the clouds soon rolled away and the blistering hot sun came out to greet us. It was 2:00 when they finally opened the gates and I made a mad dash, barefoot, across the field to secure my spot in line on Mikes side of the stage.
At this point, the day was just getting started. PJ was set to take the stage at 10:15 so we had a long wait ahead of us. Luckily, we met a lot of really cool people in line and had a lot of fun (but damn was it hot). The drama started about half way through B.B. King. The line to get into the pit for PJ was huge at that point and people started to freak out about others charging in when the gate opened and cutting line. If anyone here was in the first 75 people in line then you probably saw my feisty wife Brandi. Her and a couple of others in line took it upon themselves to try and organize a peaceful structured way of getting everyone into the pit. The security was no help at all however and basically told us that we just had to fend for ourselves. During Jack Johnson shit started to hit the fan. People started trying to cut in line, fights almost broke out, everyone was yelling......it was a horrible situation. When the gates finally did open, everyone just started pushing forward. A girl lost her footing and was almost trampled, and she lost it and started crying when we finally got inside the pit. It was seriously scary there for a bit. Once the show got started a fight broke out between two 6'6"ish guys and one of the dude's girlfriends right behind us.
Ok, enough ranting, but my point is that people are selfish inconsiderate assholes. I think PJ is the greatest band in the world but I would never say or do some of the things I saw to others just to get close to the fucking stage. We waited in the rain and hot sun for 12 fucking hours to get close and motherfuckers think they can just walk right up to the front of the line when the show starts. Ok....now I'll stop and get on with the review.
Even after all the drama we obtained 2nd row right in front of Mike. The setlist was unbelievable and the whole experience was kind of surreal. Due to the long wait in the sun, I was a little exhausted and had some bad back pains that kept me from really getting into it the way I wanted to. Looking back, I think I am more excited about the show now than I was when it was over. This was my 5th show and definitely the best musically, but the 'people' experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I really think PJ impressed a lot of people with this Bonnaroo performance. Hard to Imagine, WMA, Release, All Night, WTF!!
My Morning Jacket was my favorite show of the weekend. 4 hours of complete ass kicking in the rain. MMJ moved themselves into my top 3 favorite bands behind Zeppelin and PJ.
Well, this is definitely my longest message pit post ever.........FUCK KANYE!
My day started at around 11am when my wife and I lined up outside of the What stage main entrance. It was rainy and chilly at the time, but the clouds soon rolled away and the blistering hot sun came out to greet us. It was 2:00 when they finally opened the gates and I made a mad dash, barefoot, across the field to secure my spot in line on Mikes side of the stage.
At this point, the day was just getting started. PJ was set to take the stage at 10:15 so we had a long wait ahead of us. Luckily, we met a lot of really cool people in line and had a lot of fun (but damn was it hot). The drama started about half way through B.B. King. The line to get into the pit for PJ was huge at that point and people started to freak out about others charging in when the gate opened and cutting line. If anyone here was in the first 75 people in line then you probably saw my feisty wife Brandi. Her and a couple of others in line took it upon themselves to try and organize a peaceful structured way of getting everyone into the pit. The security was no help at all however and basically told us that we just had to fend for ourselves. During Jack Johnson shit started to hit the fan. People started trying to cut in line, fights almost broke out, everyone was yelling......it was a horrible situation. When the gates finally did open, everyone just started pushing forward. A girl lost her footing and was almost trampled, and she lost it and started crying when we finally got inside the pit. It was seriously scary there for a bit. Once the show got started a fight broke out between two 6'6"ish guys and one of the dude's girlfriends right behind us.
Ok, enough ranting, but my point is that people are selfish inconsiderate assholes. I think PJ is the greatest band in the world but I would never say or do some of the things I saw to others just to get close to the fucking stage. We waited in the rain and hot sun for 12 fucking hours to get close and motherfuckers think they can just walk right up to the front of the line when the show starts. Ok....now I'll stop and get on with the review.
Even after all the drama we obtained 2nd row right in front of Mike. The setlist was unbelievable and the whole experience was kind of surreal. Due to the long wait in the sun, I was a little exhausted and had some bad back pains that kept me from really getting into it the way I wanted to. Looking back, I think I am more excited about the show now than I was when it was over. This was my 5th show and definitely the best musically, but the 'people' experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I really think PJ impressed a lot of people with this Bonnaroo performance. Hard to Imagine, WMA, Release, All Night, WTF!!
My Morning Jacket was my favorite show of the weekend. 4 hours of complete ass kicking in the rain. MMJ moved themselves into my top 3 favorite bands behind Zeppelin and PJ.
Well, this is definitely my longest message pit post ever.........FUCK KANYE!
"Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising."
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Comments
Was your wife the girl with the reddish tank top and the boots? Good for her taking a stand. People really did act like assholes, but I was more impressed by the unity of the PJ fans than i was disappointed with the actions of some others. It was great when people in line shined flashlights on and harassed the people trying to barge up into the front. The cutters then bitched out due to the pressure and harassment and went to the back every time! I loved every bit of it. The show was amazing, and I also didn't fully realize how amazing it was til long after. I think this is partly due to the festival atmosphere. So much is going on, that it's hard to realize the one thing you just saw was so special at first because you're off to see other bands right after.
I was about 5 people back on Mike's side so I got to see the same show you did. My pictures turned out to be shit but oh well, I got it all stored up in the head. Glad you enjoyed it.
Great weekend, sorry I missed MMJ, but was so tired after the long day (and witing for my daughter to see Masterkraft), we just headed back to camp at about 2am. The good thing was our camp was close enough that I could hear MMJ while drifting off to sleep :-)
Washington, D.C. - 2008
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Milwaukee, WI - 2014
Hampton, VA - 2016
~D.K.S.
BetterthanYou: Hell no, I saw tons of other bands over the weekend. Standing in line for Pearl Jam I got to see Ozomatli, B.B. King, and Jack Johnson. I saw a little of Phil Lesh and Ghostland Observatory later that night.
ok cool. i was about to rip you a new one for going to a 4 day event and only seeing 2 bands. i've been tempted a couple years to go to the 'roo, but i don't think i could handle a crowd that size. i don't have anything against festivals, but when there's that many people, i kind of get annoyed. i'm not really a people person. small festivals...i'm ok. large ones (like 'roo)....no thanks.
~D.K.S.
We got in line at about 3 or 3:30. We were about 10 people back from were the line bent at the bathrooms. During BB King the line got a lot thicker from a secondary line forming behind ours.
I was excited about seeing Jack Johnson as well and that was completely ruined by an asshole line jumper. First he shows up in line in front of me. Then he gets his buddy to join him. I call him out on it and he makes this bullshit story about waiting for hours. Then he gets these 3 drunk bitches that won't stop screaming for Pearl Jam when Jack was still on stage.
Then my wife freaks out because she's kind of claustrophobic and had to get out of line just before the big push into the pit. Luckily the woman with the boots who was helping control the line let us back in.
This was my first time going to a festival and the first time dealing with a line to the pit. Is this the norm? When we talked to security they told us that we had to police it ourselves. I thought it was a very bad environment and someone could have easily been hurt.
Love ya Punkinfur
The mad Aussie inspired me to be a flashlight spotter and a "PJ fans aren't cutters, go slice your wrists mother fuckers!" chant.
I LOVED the Jammer unity and we DID make a difference. As bad as it felt while we were getting sandwiched through the funnel, it would have been so much worse if it were really a free-for-all.
I'm not even sure if anyone even got shut out of getting in the pit. I think that clearing the pit between acts is a GREAT thing. Like others mentioned, you didn't have to be in line for all that long unless you wanted the very first row or 2. I got there during B.B.'s set and wound up 7th row near Mike.
The next day, I walked up to the gate of the pit 15 minutes before the Plant/Krauss set and walked right up to a 5th row spot. You were able to walk in/out of the pit the entire set.
For some reason it did not occur to me at the time that people would be lining up so soon, so I ended up in line after B.B. finished.
Now with my position in line I knew I would make into the pit, judging from the Metallica line the night before. But just as other posters have said, it got real nasty after Jack Johnson ended. The line turned into just a big mass of people. As soon as they started letting people in, the mass surged forward and it became a tight squeeze.
When I finally made it up to the gate, I was stopped. My heart almost sunk in my chest, as I thought I was going to be the cut off point. Then a security guard said the count was at 630, and they were cutting it off at 700. So luckily I made it in, just barely.
I feel really bad for the people who were trying to do things the right way, and were lined up behind me. I'm sure a lot of people waited a long time and didn't make it in. Bonnaroo really needs to try to maintain some order next year, or at least do SOMETHING.
Houston '03
Dallas '03
Hopefully more to come in TX.......some day.
Bonnaroo '08
i had to scream 'dont kill my girlfriend!' and protect her.
it was hard waiting out JJ in a bonnaroo cow-pen. especially an hour and a half.
but so worth it.
Fuck Kayne
So why be satisfied?
Its not only festivals. It pretty much happens at any larger club show that has a general admission section. I've watched it many times. People use tricks to get in front of you once in the pit too. ('I'm trying to get to my friend', yeah right) You have to stand your ground. I've never done GA with PJ, so good for you guys for holding your ground and not letting the line jumpers through. That's a feat in and of itself.
R.i.p. My Dad - May 28, 2007
R.i.p. Black Tail (cat) - Sept. 20, 2008
I didn't freak out, but the guy next to me went apeshit. About 10 or so people pointed them out to security, and they were forced to return to their spot in the back. Since I was about 10 feet from Mike, it worked out very nice for me.
It usually doesn't work out that way. At the AIC reunion show in Seattle a few years back, a guy trying to protect his spot and girlfriend at the front complained to security about people shoving and being assholes. The security told him to stop being a pussy and if he couldn't handle the front then he should move out. Now that was a crazy show! I held on to the barrier for about 6 hours and it felt like a had just won the Royal Rumble by the time the show was over. But it was worth every bruise and drop of sweat!
We saw Against Me!, Ozomatli, Cat Power, and Zappa Plays Zappa before JJ and Pearl Jam. A quick camp break to fill the Camelback and out for the night.
I knew it was going to be epic..;)
Holy Porch!
Not to ignore everything else in your post, because I found it interesting to read, but I think this bit is certainly true. I almost couldn't believe how big that audience was...looking at the pictures it's almost scary. :eek:
yeah, there was quite a few of us that got shut out of the pit - including me :( . But then again, I'd only been in line since Jack Johnson came on - I couldn't miss Ben Folds!
And, for the record, I wasn't the Aussie starting that chant!
Maybe Pearl Jam was the only show with this sort of line to get in? Because I just walked into the Chris Rock show with no line & we were allowed to stay in the mosh for Metallica!
10/11/06 - Brisbane, QLD, Australia
14/6/08 - Manchester, TN, USA
16/6/08 - Columbia, SC, USA
20/11/09 - Melbourne, VIC, Australia
"Such a perfect Island, tucked away in the sea.
The real land of the free, do you hear me?"
Hey man, we were up from Carthage, Ms about 45 miles north of jackson...was your wife the one in the purple shirt/blond hair, she was great. Me and my buddies got in line at the gate at 11 made the run across the field (which almost killed me) and ended up on the front freakin' row right in front of Mike. It did turn into a huge mess toward the end of the wait with the cutters (which seemed so appropriate to us since we had been listening to dane cook on the way to bonnaroo). At one point this dude just showed up and we all noticed immediately he didn't belong, everyone started shouting at him and we ended up chanting and pointing to him "GET HIM OUT! GET HIM OUT!" and security eventually came over and escorted him away. It was a mess. We had a rather large "regulator", as we started calling him, up front.
But the day was one of the most memorable I have ever spent. I met a lot of cool PJ fans and the feeling of community that we formed in that line was pretty special I think.
As for the show, I couldn't have asked for more. What a great setlist! I had not seen PJ since '95 so I really felt like it was my first time in a lot of ways, things were so different back then. Having such a low 10C number I will probably never have the opportunity to be on the front row of a PJ show again, so I am so glad we made the sacrifice to get there. Just one of the greatest days ever in my book.....plus, I got to see another one of my idols, BB King, again and they gave him the key to the city. I would wager that was the biggest crowd he had ever played to, but maybe not.
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
Yep, that was her. I'll post some pictures later we took of the line and you can point out who you were.
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
My boyfriend, a friend and myself were among those first people. We were sitting right where the line curved away from the wall. I have never seen such ignorance in my life. I really could not believe the nerve of the people cutting in line. As soon as we saw some one new sauntering up like it was cool, we immediately asked them how long they've been waiting in line and they bold faced lied and said since two o'clock. I couldn't believe it! I said to one girl, "boy it's funny how you've been standing next to me all day, yet i don't recognize you." I do believe however though that the people who were cutting line, were definitely not true pj fans. The whole scene has turned me off about going to festivals. Then once we were inside, it was cool for a while. Then when they played crazy mary, all the front rows moved forward in hopes of a drink, when that happened all the people that cut in line started pushing. Why? It's not like you're going to get to the front by pushing the people in front of you. We just turned around and asked them to stop pushing. The one dude looks at me and says "this is a Pearl jam show, this is going to be a mosh pit". I almost fell over! I went off on him about rokslide and told him that he was an idiot." Well, it just got worse. The dude behind my boyfriend just kept pushing and when he(my bf) was trying to jump around and dance a little, the dude pushed him again and he fell back against the dude. Then the two of them were locked together face to face and while i was trying to push them apart, another dude was pulling at my bf's hair. It was ridiculous! I had to slap the second dude in the face to get them off of him. Security saw what happened and he called me over, i told him that it was the idiots behind us and he just said to keep it cool that there were just 3 songs left. I've only been to a dozen PJ shows, but nothing like this has ever happened before. After the incident, my bf and i decided to scoot back a little, but when we did that, the dudes kept looking back at us, so we just walked back to camp. I don't think i will ever go to bonnaroo again. I'm going to stick to regular pj shows from now on.
The best part of the night besides the show, was how all the fans that waited all day joined together and made sure no one was hurt. It was awesome to be part of that group of individuals. Thanks for a great time to all the wonderful fans we waited in line with - Jules, Dan from NY, the nice guy form bristol, liesel, and all the others. It was a blast! And thanks to the band for a great show!
Peace and Love!
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
From what I saw, it was just going on during the PJ pit time. No order, no security. Other than that, I felt that Roo was very organized.
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
this is why I usually find a nice spot about halfway up with lots of room to get down!
but that's cool you got up there
Thanks reblfan. It was so scary! I hope that no one did get hurt because of the altercation. It did suck to leave early, but it's not worth fighting with assholes over, you know? I'm not a violent person, but i will defend the ones i love. The whole situation was sort of surreal. Sorry if you or anyone else was afraid. It took me about an hour to stop shaking afterwards. Thanks to everyone for sticking together and proving what PJ is really about. Again sorry for the drama! We will be in DC next week, and i predict a nice peaceful show!! Love to all!
Does he resemble this madman?
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl-rPplKiQM