Well, I went to Bonnaroo this year! Will I go back again? Probably, actually, if the lineup intrigues me as much as this year’s did.

Was it as iconic as other years? I mean, not really. Sure, Sofi Tukker, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama, the Pixies, Tyler Childers, Kendrick Lamar, and the Foo Fighters gave absolutely invigorating performances – as I fully expected them to – but did 2023 have a lineup along the lines of the early years, like 2006 (the year with Radiohead and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)? or 2007 (The Police, Tool, The White Strips, the Flaming Lips, Wilco, etc.)? or 2008 (Pearl Jam … Jesus, the whole fucking thing honestly)? or hell, even 2018’s set of Eminem, The Killers, Muse, Dua Lipa, etc.?

But who cares? I had an absolute blast.

I definitely learned a lot from my first experience, namely the need to plan my day out. I had a couple of things that I definitely wanted to do and/or see, but everything else was just kind of in the background. The next time I go, I’m going to have to do some prioritization, methinks, to make sure that I experience everything there is to offer. I missed out on a lot of things that I didn’t find out about until much later … and also things that I just didn’t plan well around, like the morning and early-afternoon yoga sessions that I even brought my yoga mat for!

Now a big part of me blames Karen the Kidney Stone – who has been out of my body for almost an entire week now! – for some of that; I was tired and in pain, which didn’t really make things super easy, but it’s not like I could have sold my ticket, since 1) it was like but a few days before the festival that I found out I needed the surgery (literally it was the Monday before) and 2) I had already activated my wristband and attached my Paypal account to it. And I wasn’t about to let that much money go to waste.

Karen aside, there’s other things I’d do differently, too:

1. rent/buy an RV for the A/C and easy, secure storage
2. have a good phone service bc good god I got shit coverage out on the Farm
3. buy dry ice so I’m not spending $10/bag to fill up my coolers
4. make a totem to make locating my group easier
5. pack more snacky things
6. pack more sandwichy things
7. plan outfits better
8. arrive earlier to avoid lines (we didn’t have to wait that long honestly and I think it was because of when we got there)
9. start hydrating weeks before so you’re body is used to the sheer amount of water you’re going to need
10. plan well ahead and come up with an editable spreadsheet/document for you and your festival partners to keep track of what you need/want to bring

There are probably plenty of things I missed, and at some point, I’ll probably create a beginner’s guide to Bonnaroo based on what I learned over my four-day period on the Farm. Hell, maybe I’ll even use some of these tips for my trip up to Louisville for Bourbon and Beyond … oh my god, am I becoming a music festival person???

I think I am!