It was within the first fifteen minutes that I was asked to buy drugs at Bonnaroo.
A shaggy-haired high school boy approached my tent donning a school bag full of marijuana. As soon as the boy left, it was less than five minutes before a second dealer trolled through my campsite; this time offering to sell me ecstasy, mushrooms, LSD and pot baked in a variety of food.
Every half-hour for the remaining four days, at least one dealer would stop by my tent looking to make a sale. The widespread sale and consumption of drugs were part of the equation that makes Bonnaroo a Disney World for hippies.
Bonnaroo, the four day music festival held in Manchester, Tennessee, is known to music lovers not only as a safe-haven for drug use, but also as the premier music festival for bands of every genre.
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All of the festival’s tickets sold out through online preorder on Bonnaroo’s Web site. And all 80,000 ticket holders surged into Manchester less than 24 hours after the gates opened Thursday. By the afternoon, cars flooded the 700-acre farmland and a temporary city of tents was erected.
Roads leading from campsites were lined with vendors selling everything from clothing, jewelry and art to drug paraphernalia.
Everything within the stage area was designed in a playful, or more likely, a drug-influenced state of mind. In the middle of the stage area, a glowing mushroom fountain painted in black and white checkers gushed water which concertgoers played in to take a break from the summer heat. Also adding to the euphoric feel of the festival’s set up was a full-sized ferris wheel.
During the day Saturday, I was lucky enough to elude lines at the artist signing tent. I was able to meet and get autographs from artists including Warren Haynes and Ziggy Marley.
When I met these artists, I asked what their favorite part about playing at Bonnaroo was. Haynes said he enjoyed playing with friends, while Marley looked at me with a beaming smile and in a seemingly stoned manner replied simply, “the people.”
—-Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected].