Bonnaroo 2011, Day #1

On the first day of Bonnaroo, my good friend Blazer (you may remember her from past Bonnaroos or from our cross-country trip last summer) and I loaded up to head in around noon.  In previous years, we have had to head in at the crack of dawn to join the never-ending line of traffic to reach our campsite.  The decision not to camp was the best decision we have EVER made:)

The powers that be at Bonnaroo had made the wise decision to open the campgrounds on Wednesday evening, rather than Thursday morning.  So the line to get in was pretty short and moving fairly fast.  And after boasting for year after year that I could smuggle anything at all into Bonnaroo since I had never been searched, my vehicle was searched!

My sister-in-law, Crafty, claimed that the searches were because I changed hats.  I have my usual 'Roo hat that I wear year after year.  However, this year I chose to wear my new cowboy hat that I purchased in Arizona last summer.  Crafty called it my 'Bret Michaels' hat.  She said it made me look like a party girl.  I guess she was right because my vehicle and my backpack got searched every day.  Except for Sunday....when I switched back to my regular 'Roo hat:)

Our first show was Hayes Carll.  He is a singer-songwriter - country but not mainstream, more honky-tonk.  I loved his set!  He did a great cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" as well as lots of songs from his two latest albums.  If you like Americana, he is well worth a spot on the iPod:)

Next up was Karen Elson aka Mrs. Jack White.  They announced that they were divorcing the weekend following her show!  But Jack was in the wings watching the set and many in the audience probably went to this show hoping he would perform with her.  But she proved that she is a wonderful artist in her own right.  I can't really put her style in a box but still probably more Americana than anything.  My favorite song by her is "The Truth Is In The Dirt".  She was fantastic!

Next was Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.  I had never heard of them before walking up to their show.  They were awesome!  A folk-rock band from Wisconsin.  He included his very appropriate song "Tennessee" in his set but my favorite was "So Wrong For Me".

Then it was time for Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.  How can you go wrong with a name like that?!?  Plus they play a washboard!  Well, go wrong we did.  They are probably a fantastic band for a drunken frat party but not really what we were looking for.   Honestly, every song sounded just like the last song and I was looking for a little more depth.

That was when Blazer decided to call it a night and I headed to see Civil Twilight.  They were pretty good, reminded me of a mixture of U2 and The Police.  But their music is pretty low key, so they were putting this old girl to sleep!  So I headed to The Other Tent to hear Sleigh Bells.  They are described as a "noise pop duo"  and that is pretty much what they are.  But they were entertaining.

All in all, a good start!

And then I headed home.  For a shower.  Then my own bed.  In the A/C.  Take that, camping suckers!