Bonnaroovin'

For those of you who do not live in the world of jam bands, Bonnaroo is a huge music festival held in Manchester, TN- just 60 miles away from Nashville. Neil and I attended the first ever Bonnaroo when we were dating way back in 2002, and he could not resist popping down the road one night to see Phish. So, off we went on Friday afternoon.

Another FYI- Phish is a band. An awesome band that went on a long hiatus. We had not seen them in about five years. Neil was excited. Like a schoolboy, actually.

You see, he was able to score "guest passes" for us through Coke connections. We arrived at the local Holiday Inn Express to discover that the people there CLEARLY thought we were a big deal. We got the armbands and a personal van showed up to take us in "the back way". Score, no waiting in line for hours to enter the gates.

We were taken to the "Super VIP tent" where we were offered the use of an RV for the night, shown into a Carousel Bar with free booze and food, and given a special map because this site wasn't on the "regular" maps. Neil looked at me with wide eyes which I read as "go with it." A gold cart with a driver took us to the guest viewing deck to see the end of Al Green's set.

Now we had a problem. We did not "acclimate" to the general population and experienced the shock of entering the guest area filled with people passed out on any surface imaginable- including inch-deep mud. Yuck. Now, we were in our element.

We had a hard time getting on the viewing deck because the area was small compared to the demand for good seats. Eventually, we were able to see the end of the Beastie Boys' set and all of Phish. It was awesome.

Now, to tease Neil a little. With surgery imminent, I think he felt the need to really enjoy himself. Heck, he wasn't driving. This desire equated to his normal pain pills (which are heavy freakin' duty) and about six beers. Neil was Drunky McDrunkerson. It would have been funnier if I wasn't worried every second that he would fall in the mud or trip on the stairs, which he did TWICE, and I'd have to ask the EMTs to evac. my hubs. It all ended well, however. Neil did fine, and around 3 am, after a great "greatest hits" set by Phish, I drove us back to Nashville and the CMAs. Excellent.

The rest of the CMA Festival was pretty on-par. We had a Saturday Vault party at a local bar, a good night of music (compared to Bruce Springsteen at Bonnaroo that night, I was bummed), and a great time with friends. We decided to drive home on Sunday and miss the last night, but be sure that Neil had an easy day before the surgery.