Sorry Hippies. Bonnaroo Isn’t Just For You Anymore.

With a change in music, a festival will also see their crowds differ greatly from year to year.  Bonnaroo 2007’s crowd was significantly different than 2010’s crowd.  In my opinion, I feel that gone are the days of calling Bonnaroo a purely “hippie festival.”  Sure, there are plenty of “hippie” types, but being a trust-fund hippie does not count as living the “hippie” lifestyle or wearing the “hippie” styles.

On Sunday evening, there was a man who looked very hippie-ish (dreads, a beard, very haggard looking) and was holding a sign saying that he had to bike back home a few hundred miles after the festival.  The sign said that “anything would help.”  One cannot avoid the very nomadic lifestyle that many true hippies decide to involve immerse themselves in, but he looked as though he had partaken in quite a few “recreational” activities throughout his weekend.  Those activities don’t come for free!  Is it really worth biking a few hundred miles to a festival where they spend more money being in an altered state than knowing how they’ll be getting home?  Those choices never made any sense to me.  Many would say that I’d understand if I lived that lifestyle, but I don’t.

As time progressed in the life of Bonnaroo, the bookers have brought in a more eclectic roster of bands, including a very heavy dose of college/indie rock.  Thus, Roo has been inundated with a flood of people that wouldn’t have necessarily attended the inaugural Bonnaroo.  Bands like Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, The Police, and even Metallica have headlined over the past few years.  There have been smatterings of jamminess with the likes of Phish, The Disco Biscuits, The Mars Volta, Widespread Panic and more, but they are becoming fewer and farther between these days.

“Recreational” activities have certainly made an about term with more and more college drinking games sprouting up all over the farm.  (We’re guilty as well.  We rock our pro beer pong setup every year.)  As a result, the General Stores at Roo have been charging 8 dollars for a pack of ping pong balls.  (Come the hell on.)  As we walked around the farm, we saw some great games and activities being enjoyed by walks of all life.  This fortified the fact that Roo is not just a music festival, but it is a living experience of what each person makes of it.

So what’s my verdict?

Sorry hippies… (or “hippies”)  Your scene has been overrun by a different generation of concert goers, and I definitely welcome the change.  If Bonnaroo would remain musically the same over the years, if would have no plan of growth.  I do feel as though Roo can use a bit of a Centeroo Facelift (the addition of the Lunar Stage was both genius and needed), but musically, Bonnaroo is making the right steps to a continuous musical progression.

Keep your fans on their toes, and they’ll be even more intrigued year after year;  no matter what social status they may fall within.  However, if there’s one thing for certain, the farm will always be saturated with the scent combination of patchouli, B.O. and dirt.