Leave My Music Festival Alone!
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Leave My Music Festival Alone!

The proposed Bonnaroo changes sure aren't radiating positivity

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Leave My Music Festival Alone!

If you read my first article "Five Stages of Post-Bonnaroo Grief," you will know I’m a big fan of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. By big fan, I mean it’s the highlight of my entire summer… Okay, okay, it’s the highlight of my entire year, but don’t judge me. It’s a really awesome music festival, okay?

Or, more accurately, itwas. It was awesome and fun, a great escape from the outside world, a paradise in the randomest of places. But this once great festival, which I have happily and proudly attended for four years and vowed I would attend until the day I died, may make some major changes in the coming year. And Bonnaroovians are not happy about it.

In April, Live Nation Entertainment worked out a deal where they bought a “controlling stake” in Bonnaroo. This gave the company, which has ownership in over 60 music festivals around the world, a great deal of power over the beloved festival. But with great power comes great responsibility, and in this case Live Nation seems a little confused about what their responsibility is. They seem to believe their responsibility is making a bunch of unnecessary changes to the festival, instead of giving the people what they want and come back for year after year. Basically, instead of using their power to ensure the integrity and soul of the festival remains the same as it enters its fifteenth year, the people at Live Nation are only thinking of how they can best turn a profit.

On Monday, August 24th, Bonnaroo sent out an email to everyone on their mailing list asking them to complete a survey. The email stated they were planning to make some changes to the festival in 2016 and wanted input from people who had previously attended. Seemingly harmless, the survey first asked if you had attended and for how many years you had attended the festival. It then asked how you experienced camping (General Admission, VIP, Handicap Camping, etc.) and your level of satisfaction with the campgrounds and amenities provided. Sure, this doesn’t seem too bad; they’re just collecting date. And then it happens.

They ask if you would be interested in them adding amenities in the campgrounds such as permanent bathrooms, permanent showers, a campsite reservation system, and an interactive water feature (such as a lazy river). They then ask if you would attend Bonnaroo next year if these things were implemented and they charged $175 for a “campsite ticket.”

Yes, you read that right. Live Nation wants to charge an additional $175 just to camp at Bonnaroo (which has ALWAYS been free). This would be paid on top of the price of a four-day ticket, which saw a major price increase this past year to well over $300. The only reason they want to charge for camping is because they are a large, greedy corporation and it will make them more money. People who attend Bonnaroo are not requesting these changes to the campgrounds, and many can’t afford to pay this higher price. This is an outrage, but so you can understand where I’m coming from, let me explain further…

Some festivals, such as Coachella, currently charge an extra fee to camp on the campgrounds. When the majority of the people who attend the festival do elect to camp, it clearly is a great way to bring in extra money. However, unlike Coachella (which draws in a large number of celebrities and high-profile festival-goers), most people who attend Bonnaroo are not extremely wealthy and could not afford this higher cost. Live Nation needs to think about their location and the demographic it pulls. The majority of Bonnaroovians are broke college kids who worked hard to earn the money to buy their ticket to the festival. On top of this, the festival is held in a small town in south-central Tennessee, and while people come from all over the country to attend, this is not a particularly wealthy region. If you start charging more and more money for this festival, these people who already struggle to afford a ticket won’t be able to attend. Even people who can easily afford a ticket to the festival are going to find an extra cost off-putting and infuriating (trust me on this, as I am one of them).

As for the amenities this camping fee would cover, they just seem frivolous and unnecessary.

Permanent bathrooms? I get that port-a-potties are gross, yeah, especially after sitting in the hot June sun for four days. But is it the end of the world to use one? No, not at all. Besides, if permanent bathrooms are built in the campgrounds, are they really going to be that much better than a port-a-potty? Drunk or high people could still pee on the floor of a real bathroom, just as they do in a port-a-potty. A permanent bathroom can still smell, can get very dirty, and toilets can get clogged/overflow. Unless they are cleaned multiple times throughout the day for all four days of the festival, I doubt they will really be that much better.

Permanent showers? I have attended Bonnaroo for four years and I have never showered at Bonnaroo (because they do in fact provide showers already, although they are not permanent fixtures in the campgrounds). Now, before you get the wrong idea, I shower daily and take a great deal of pride in my personal cleanliness and hygiene normally. But when it comes to Bonnaroo, I know no matter what I’m going to get sweaty and dirty. A legitimate shower would just be a waste of time and money. Most people share this mentality and don’t shower during the festival; permanent showers within the campgrounds would be a waste.

Campsite reservations? This is a good idea in theory, I’ll admit that. But why would this require paying more? It would not cost the festival any additional money to implement. And while I did state it is a good idea in theory, it is a good idea in theory ONLY. Having attended Bonnaroo multiple times, I feel as if the implementation of this would be difficult and not even worth the trouble. If you really want to camp with people you know, that’s what “Groop Camping” is for. Or, do what I’ve done ever year, and have the separate cars follow one another into the festival and then just make sure to tell the people directing traffic that you’re together. They’ll happily accommodate.

It would be nice to know where you’d be camping ahead of time, so you have an idea of how close you are to Centeroo (the main part of the festival, where the stages and everything else is located), but I feel like having people arrive and have to be directed to specific locations would just make the entrance into the festival much more difficult and chaotic. Don’t fix what’s not broken—this entrance strategy currently in place works perfectly fine.

A lazy river? I honestly think this is one of the dumbest, most insane ideas I have ever heard. First of all, who really needs a lazy river at a music festival? Second of all, considering the festival is on a farm, it can get very muddy (if it rains) or dusty (if it’s really hot and dry), so a lazy river would get so dirty and gross so quickly. And, third of all, I don’t know how or where a lazy river would be built, but I can assume it would require a great deal of land modification (digging up dirt, laying concrete, pumping in running water, etc.). Bonnaroo prides itself on its environmentalism, so why put in a ridiculous and environmentally detrimental attraction?

Essentially, this attempt to “improve” Bonnaroo is nothing more than a pathetic attempt by Live Nation to make more money off of people who only want to enjoy good music and good times. None of these improvements would make the festival any better; it’s clear whoever came up with these ideas has never attended Bonnaroo, otherwise this wouldn’t be happening. Corporate greed shouldn’t ruin the positive atmosphere that surrounds this special festival. People aren’t drawn to Bonnaroo because of crazy attractions and top of the line amenities; they are drawn to Bonnaroo because of great music and awesome people. We can live happily without toilets and a lazy river, just give us a kick-ass music festival that actually focuses on the music.

Live Nation, instead of working to come up with “cool” new gimmicks to get people to pay money to come to the festival, focus on how you can continue bringing amazing artists (including finding the new up-and-comers) to the farm year after year.

Oh, and if you’re going to control Bonnaroo, maybe you should learn how to radiate positivity in everything you do, because this survey and the changes being presented to Bonnaroovians don’t really seem to be rooted in positivity and the best interest of all involved.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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