In the Details: Roo 2!

Bonnaroo X was just as great as last year (my first Roo), just in different ways.

This year we had a group. Roo'ing with friends is definitely a good idea, even if your music taste differs. We had someone to hold down a prime spot, a second cook, more supplies, beirut contenders and good company! Actually, GREAT company!

This year, the lineup included more new acts (or at least, new to me).  Three of my new favorite bands hit the stage on Friday. What a day it was! While someone held down our spot during Grace Potter and the Nocturnal's set, my boyfriend and I headed over to catch Matt and Kim, which was energy filled to say the least! We got back in time to catch a couple of Grace's last songs. She rocked it, as usual. Next on the main stage was the Decemberists. They played quite a few songs from their latest album, which is the album we're most familiar with. Loved it. Just before they ended, we snuck out again to catch Florence and the Machine. It was packed so we didn't get that great of a view, but still got to hear her belt it out. No complaints. Back to the main stage for My Morning Jacket which was incredible. Finally, the night ended with Arcade Fire completely blowing us away. Their set was on steroids. It was above and beyond what we had expected. The show ended and for the cherry on top, they came back on stage with a finale of "Wake Up" and "Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)." Couldn't have asked for more.

Needless to say, Friday was the best day of the weekend. Almost forgot about BASSNECTAR and Lil'Wayne late night...We slept hard that night. The rest of the weekend we spent resting, finding shade, eating burgs and catching some great shows. One of which was another highlight, Mumford and Sons. They were brilliant and surprised us with a few new songs, which we loved. That night, the Black Keys and Buffalo Springfield hit the What and Which Stages and Eminem closed out the What Stage with a compilation of old and new stuff. Only regret of Saturday was missing STS9 late night. Still, another amazing day was had by all.

Sunday, the final day, I was hoping to get in as many shows as possible since I knew our trip was coming to an end. We headed down to Centeroo after packing up the site. First stop was Railroad Earth. Loved the mandolin! The Head and The Heart was our next stop. It was my first time hearing them live and I was impressed! We took a break at the Planet Roo Cafe and got some lunch. Then we were back at it to catch Gregg Allman. We made it pretty close to the stage for Gregg, and I was in heaven when he sang "Melissa." Can't stop an Allman.

We then split our time at Cold War Kids and Robert Plant & The Band Of Joy. After a few songs, we crossed back over to see Explosions in the Sky tear it up. Then caught a little of The Strokes on our way back over to hear Robert Plant wrap it up with "Ramble On" and that was the end of musical adventure. Of course, there were a few other bands we were able to see throughout the weekend; however, the shows I mentioned were the most memorable.

A couple of things we've learned from this year's experience:

1. Day Naps are an ABSOLUTE MUST if you want to catch any late night shows. We really wanted to make it to Pretty Lights and STS9 and failed miserably due to total exhaustion.

2. Decide beforehand which shows are "Must Sees" and plan to camp out for a prime spot at least an hour or 2 before the start. Lastly, camelbacks are a necessity. I had one so I stayed pretty hydrated. Definitely well worth the 40-60 bucks.

I know it's crazy but we're already anticipating next year's Roo. I'm hoping we'll forget about it at least for a few months so it doesn't seem like such a long wait.