Day three is here, and before the shows get started, the media are being treated to a special acoustic performance by Elvis Perkins and the Cold War Kids. Should be entertaining…
I wanted to try and describe the flavors of humanity here at Bonnaroo. First and foremost, you have the hippies. You’ve never seen more ink in your life, in just about every cliched tattoo imaginable: crosses, suns, dragons, whatever. You’d think if you were going to permanently ink your body, you’d at least be imaginative about it.

Hardly anyone here is wearing clothes, both because it’s blisteringly hot and, well, there’s an exhibitionist vibe going on here. The guys are all shirtless, and some of the women, too. Other women just walk around in bikinis, much to the whiplash delight of the guys.
And the smells. First of all, nearly everyone here (except us; we have a shower in the RV) smells to high heaven by now. We try not to stand to close to anyone (ha. bad Police joke there).
But hippies aren’t the only ones here. Lured by some older acts like Richard Thompson, there are a fair amount of folks here who are using AARP discounts at the Piccadilly. And surprisingly, there are numerous couples who’ve brought infants. That really shocked me. I couldn’t imagine bringing a two-year-old to Bonnaroo, but we’ve seen numerous kids so far. One little girl grinned through her sunburn when I asked if she was having a good time.
Overall, the reports of a mellow, “everyone-loves-everyone” vibe seems to be true, much to my surprise. I figured this many people packed this tightly would lead to a “get-outta-my-face” vibe. Instead, every time you get bumped, the person apologizes. Some stranger gave me an extra set of earplugs yesterday. And the druggies are even sharing their marijuana pipes. Speaking of marijuana, that’s the second most popular smell, after BO.
More later…

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