"Convince yourself that everything is alright, 'cos it already is"
-Pete Yorn

So apparently Manchester, TN occasionally shares climate attributes with the desert - walking back from the Flaming Lips around 3am it was actually cold enough to see our breath! But of course the sun came up Sunday morning on another scorching 90 degree day. So we climbed out of our tents and made some damn fine scrambled eggs (who says camping actually has to be 'roughing it'?) and broke camp. I left a bit early to catch Pete Yorn (who was lovely and awesome, as always), leaving the other three to finish packing up the cars. I felt a bit guilty, until my early departure scored us one of the last remaining spots of shaded land, where we reclined and enjoyed Wolfmother (Sudhir and I did some requisite dancing and thrashing about towards the front of the crowd, but I had to call uncle pretty quickly and head back to the shade in an attempt to not turn completely pink. Alas, this meant no crowd surfing for Sudhir (he was counting on me to help launch him up)).

After that it was time to make the rounds at all the vendor booths, then put in appearances at Martha Wainwright (Rufus's sister; decent enough, but I'm not running out to buy her album or anything), The Decemberists (clearly talented, but too slow and nap inducing on a sunny afternoon for our tastes), Feist (awesome and funny - she got the crowd to do bird calls!), and the first few songs from the White Stripes before departing for home (still didn't get home until close to 1am). The White Stripes were good, but frankly I was more disappointed to miss Franz Ferdinand (though the Police were clearly worth it!).

Overall I have to say I'm most satisfied with this Bonnaroo experience (as compared to the last two). Each has had things that were better/more memorable, but I think my overall enjoyment of music peaked this year. It helped that the schedule was set up in such a way that I had few conflicts and really got to listen to nearly everyone I was interested in. I also slept remarkably well (considering) and so wasn't all that tired or sore to distract from my listening enjoyment. I'm sure it helped that I spent much more time near the front of crowds this year - that really does improve the experience. Only twice did I get nervous - once in the bottle neck moving between stages, just because the crowd had completely stopped moving and I feared someone might start pushing and again during the White Stripes, just because we were so tightly packed and being shorter than everyone else I couldn't really get any fresh air, and then the girl directly behind me didn't help when she exhaled a huge lungful of pot smoke directly around my neck. I guess really that time I was more annoyed than nervous. But yeah, definitely trouble breathing.

I didn't take as many pictures this year, not sure why. But the photo gallery over at bonnaroo.com is definitely worth checking out.

Next up, Mom's visit!