Bonnaroo Photo Diary
By
June 17, 2009
Heading to Bonnaroo for the first time, I didn’t realize how big of a festival it is. I anticipated 8000 people—it was 80,000 people. And it was All Ages. We camped out in tents and had to buy tarps at Wal Mart. It was my first time camping. The photos I took there divide into two categories: candid portraits of the performers (above), and a document of the people in attendance and just how insane Tennessee can make them (below). The people in costumes are all Phish fans—in New York you don’t see them, but they’re there, following the band around the world. Brice Springsteen was a headliner, but everyone I met was a “Phishhead.” I even ran into two of my friends from high school who had been turned into “Phishheads,” which explains why I haven’t seen them in a while.
Some highlights: Passion Pit, Yeasayer, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I’ve seen the YYYs countless times; this was the first time Karen O wasn’t drunk (which is a great thing). Everyone was at the Al Green show, and everyone knew, all ages, all the songs. My favorite act was Erykah Badu. She was 30 minutes late, but like Marc Jacobs no one complained. She’s Erykah Badu.
