You're not getting sick of hearing about Bonnaroo yet, are you?  Well, there are many more Bonnaroo posts coming.  Now I give you the last two days of our fantastic music festival experience...
Part One
Part Two

Saturday
If you read part two, you know that we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning on Friday, which means that waking up to that oven-roasting sensation at 8am on Saturday was not pleasant.  I started the day with a pounding headache that even the magical powers of my Acai berry juice could not fix.
We were on day four of being shower-less and while I didn't feel ridiculously gross, thanks to baby wipes and sponge baths, my hair looked awesome {shaking head}.  By this point, we had heard about a little deal going on in Centeroo with a Garnier Fructis booth giving free hair shampoos and braidings.  We decided today was the day we would head straight for that booth to get our number and then hang out around that area until our number was up.  When we got our number, they were at 45...my number was 226.  It was going to be a while.  Lucky for us, there was a small shady stage across the way that I had wanted to check out.  We found some shade, parked our picnic blanket and spent the day listening to some cool small performances.

 One of these performances was a fiddler named Casey Dresden.  Not only did he play the fiddle amazingly, but he also had these cool pedal gadgets by his feet so that he could record his own music and play it in loops to create what sounded like an entire band playing.  It was mind-blowing.  He did a rendition of Billie Jean and then shared a song he wrote from his unborn child's heartbeat.  Seriously, so talented!

Our number was getting close and my headache was subsiding when I was able to catch a small set by Dawes at that same stage. Dawes played a bigger set on Friday but it was conflicting with St. Vincent so I missed it.  I liked Dawes before this day.  Now, I love Dawes.  The best part was that they didn't expect this small 30 minute set to draw a crowd at all, but that area became so packed when they came on.  Being a part of this amazing band's set in such an intimate setting was my #2 favorite moment of Bonnaroo.

Moments after singing When My Time Comes, my time came...for hair washing.
 You have no idea how pleasant this was.  Thank you Garnier Fructis. Thank you!!
They even braided it up nicely for us.
Nikee does NOT have a funky bun on her head.  That is just the top of someone else's head. :)
Unfortunately, my headache returned.  And this was also the moment when my weepy emotional'ness came to a head and I had to just lose it.  I knew I was going to miss my babies, but I really didn't think it would be that bad.  There is something about being so removed from your regular life, with no attachment or sight of the outside world that does something to you.  After my "moment", I felt much better.  I had to reassure Nicole that I really was having a fantastic time, but sometimes Moms just need a moment.


The rest of Saturday involved camping out at Which Stage for Punch Brothers, Childish Gambino, and then watching the sun set while listening to The Roots.  We called it an early night and fell asleep back at our camp to the sound of Red Hot Chili Peppers playing not too far away.

Sunday
Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of water falling on the tent.  It wasn't a pleasant way to wake up, considering how much we were looking forward to Sunday's lineup.  If you recall, I was terrified of it raining during Bonnaroo.  But what was I going to do? Just go home?  Of course not.  We shrugged it off, packed our ponchos and chose the shoes we cared least about.
 

First stop that day was Grouplove.  Again, the tent was packed but we still hung out around to hear them play.  This was also the day we decided it would be best to arm ourselves with a good beer buzz on account of the mud and wet everything.  So that was a fun start to the day.

After Grouplove, we headed over to What Stage together.  The sky behaved itself all day and held the rain at bay while also protecting us from the brutal sun.
 
Then it was time for The Beach Boys. 
The Beach Boys, people!
Kokomo, Surfin' USA, Good Vibrations, California Girls...
We heard them all.  Honestly, I didn't expect to enjoy The Beach Boys so much.  It was freaking fantastic!  We boogied our butts off for a good hour. 
  Then it was time to split up again.  This is when the major custer-F@#%  on the Bonnaroo schedule occurred.  Bon Iver, The Civil Wars, Fun., The Shins and Young the Giant all conflicted at this major time slot.  It was brutal.

My personal priority was Bon Iver.  From the get-go, I knew I had to see Bon Iver no matter what.  Nicole's priority was Fun..  I hated to split up like that, but there was no way around it.  So I hung around What Stage so I could move my way up and get a good spot to see my favorite band while Nikee claimed her spot at one of the tents to see her favorite band.
I had some time to kill up at the front of the crowd while we waited for the show to start so I made friends with my new neighbors.


Bon Iver was...ugh...amazing.  Just amazing.  I knew they were, but I was skeptical as to how they would sound live on such a big stage.  To my very pleased surprise, they sounded even better live than recorded.  It was pure bliss.  They played all my favorites and I chanted the lyrics to Skinny Love along with my new friends. The best part had to be when Justin Vernon asked the crowd to sing along to the refrain "what might have been lost" in the song Wolves.  He requested that we, and I quote, "bust a whole in the sky".  I'm pretty sure we did.  It was the #1 Bonnaroo moment for me. 


After Bon Iver finished playing, it was a mass exodus as everyone headed out to see one of three amazing bands: The Shins, Young the Giant, and Fun.. My first choice was The Shins.  However, since I was going it alone at that moment, I chose to wander around to all three and see how they all compared judging by their live performances.

Of course, The Shins are...well, The Shins.  They are one of my favorite bands of all time, and seeing James Mercer live was pretty incredible. Their tent was pretty full, but I was still able to get a good spot. Still, I only stuck around for a couple songs.  It was just that they were a little mellow, and I just finished listening to a whole hour of mellow, and I wanted something more so I headed out to see what Fun. was up to. 
 
The Shins at Which Stage
I wasn't getting anywhere near Fun..  Their tent was packed.  Most people that we talked to that weekend had expressed their excitement at seeing Fun., and since they are one of Nicole's favorite bands, we were really excited for them.  She was somewhere in that crowd, probably as close as one person can get, and I knew there was no way I was getting to her at that moment, so I headed over to see what Young the Giant had going on. 
The crowd around Fun.'s tent
I could hear Young the Giant's set from pretty far away, and I was immediately drawn to them.  I was majorly surprised by how much they were rocking their tent.  I think because they knew they were up against some big competitors, they had to show their stuff.  I was able to catch a few songs, and one of those songs happened to be my favorite on the album, My Body.  Oh man.  What a great job they did.  I was pretty proud of them, and I really think they are one of the next big bands on the scene.  Watch out for these guys.
Young the Giant moving the crowd
That would be the last song I would hear at Bonnaroo.  After Young the Giant's set, I had to go find Nikee.  She emerged from Fun.'s crowed covered in confetti with an ear-to-ear grin.  I'm so glad she got to see the band she wanted to.

We shared stories and pictures and then decided that we would prefer leaving that night rather than staying until morning.  Neither of us could stand the thought of another night in that tent, especially with the rain returning.

So, we walked through the Bonnaroo gateway for the last time.  It was a bittersweet goodbye.
Goodbye Bonnaroo!
Returning to civilization was pretty exciting.  Our first stop was Sonic for some much needed fried food goodness.  We ate a lot of granola and fruit all week.  I have never enjoyed cheesy tots so much as I did right then. 

I will give my final thoughts, share some tips and videos later this week.  But for now, that is the Bonnaroo 2012 story from start to finish!  Hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure.

Read my tips and final thoughts here. 

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