Bucket list: Bonnaroo

Bonnaroo is making its line-up announcements on its MySpace page today (people still use MySpace?), with one band announced every six minutes. They play this annoying music every time a band is named, but at least it gives me a heads-up to change tabs and wait for the announcement.

I've always wanted to go to Bonnaroo. When I lived in Memphis, I had the good fortune of being just four hours from Manchester. Now I'm eight hours, almost to the minute, from Manchester proper. ... Not that distance is really a consideration; a road trip would certainly add to the experience.

But every year, I talk myself out of going for two reasons: money (each ticket is about $250, plus the cost of food, camping, etc.) and agoraphobia. I hate to leave my apartment. I hate it. The funny thing is I love being on the open road, but I hate stopping. I've mellowed in the past couple of years — for a long time, I was unable to go into a grocery store or department store — but I much prefer the solace and comfort of home.

And going to Bonnaroo is the complete opposite of being at home. You spend four days squished up with people you don't know. Here's a picture of Bonnaroo 2009 for reference:



My stomach turns over just looking at it.

So on one hand, I've got two very good reasons why I don't want to go, but on the other hand, the lineup is always impressive. It's a chance to see a lot of bands I love, in one place at one time — bands I might otherwise never see by themselves. (That's a lot of expensive concert tickets!) I could sit here and run through the list of people on this year's roster that I'm dying to see, but I'll link (again) to the lineup instead.

The Beale Street Music Fest is nice — and there are always three or four bands I want to see — but it just doesn't measure up. Not by a long shot.

So I guess I'm going to add "Go to Bonnaroo" to my bucket list, bringing the grand total of things on the list to one item: "Go to Bonnaroo." Some day I'm going to make it there. I just hope all the bands I want to see aren't dead before then.

[Edit: I will move heaven and earth if Dresden Dolls RSVPs.]