I remember being 14 or 15 years old and coming across something called Bonnaroo. The name itself evokes curiosity and a need to understand what it’s all about. This was when I began getting invested in the discovery of new music and wanted to experience the excitement of a big music festival, such as Bonnaroo (I was also fully aware that I would have to age a couple of years before getting to do this).

I finally got the chance to go to Bonnaroo for the first time in 2017. I have been attending every year since, making this summer my fourth time. This four-day fest takes place every June at “The Farm” in Manchester, Tennessee. I can truly say that Bonnaroo is my favorite music festival, so I’m going to go ahead and say that I will try and keep this post as concise as possible (there are so many things to talk about, I could write literal pages).

Huge shoutout to my wonderful parents who gifted me a pair of custom-painted Bonnaroo shoes for my birthday one year 🙂

Lineup

Bonnaroo has produced some of the best lineups I have seen. It’s always an event for my friends and I when the lineup drops because we are looking forward to it all year. I like to tell people that if you’re into music, you’re going to find SOMEONE you enjoy on this lineup. It is always a perfect mix of every music genre ranging from well-known to obscure artists. You can never go wrong with the headliners, as well as the lower-billed musicians. The only downside to having such a good lineup is that you’re bound to miss people you want to see due to lack of time. I’ve been very lucky and have gotten to see many of my favorites at this festival including Flume, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kacey Musgraves, King Princess, Space Jesus, Chance the Rapper, and so many more. Not only are the musicians top notch, but Roo is filled with other interactive events, comedy shows, etc.

Vendors

Bonnaroo is known for its countless choices of unique food options. The food vendors include iconic Bonnaroo favorites, such as Spicy Pie, foot-long corndogs, and Amish donuts. This festival is very eco-friendly and the majority of vendors offer gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options, as well. I can promise that whether you’re craving generic festival food or something that is completely out of the ordinary, Bonnaroo vendors will take care of it. The good thing about this festival is that guests can camp and bring food and drinks of their own. You are able to walk back to camp to eat throughout the day whenever desired so that you’re not forced to spend money on festival food. I do recommend buying at least one meal inside the festival though, especially if you don’t have time to walk back to camp before seeing a certain artist. Besides the food and drinks, vendors are set up that sell any kind of festival gear or handmade souvenirs that you can think of. A personal favorite: Jellykoe. I can’t give much of an explanation, you’ll just have to visit their website.

Logistics

I will say this again, the best thing about Bonnaroo is that it’s a camping festival. The initial thought of camping in a giant field in the hot, Tennessee sun for four days might sound overwhelming to say the least, but it’s totally worth it. Instead of having to drive back and forth to the venue each day or having to do all of this extra planning on what to wear or getting there on time, everything is at your fingertips. Feeling hungry and don’t want to buy expensive food? Walk to camp and eat. Feeling tired and just want to take a break from people? Walk to camp and take a nap. Feeling cold (or hot) and regret your outfit choice? Walk to camp and change clothes. Even if you’re one to not go a single day without taking a shower, that is not a problem either. You can pay around $10 to use the provided showers in the camping area. My friends and I prefer to save money and bring gallon water jugs to rinse off with in our bathing suits but to each his own! Personally, I enjoy the outdoors and think it’s almost exciting to not care as much about materialistic things and (I say this very lightly) live off of the land for a couple days. I have discovered that Bonnaroo is a learning experience and it gets better the more times you attend. There are also plenty tips and tricks provided on Reddit that can help make your experience easier, so do your research to prepare.

Crowd

The crowd at Bonnaroo is unlike any other. Imagine being surrounded by 80,000+ guests from different places who are all there for the same reason: to enjoy life on The Farm. This festival is filled with positivity where you make friends with people you have never seen before. Everybody is looking out for one another and no one hesitates to lend a helping hand. It seems as if once you’re at Bonnaroo, the worries of daily life disappear and everyone radiates the kindness that the whole world should exhibit on a regular basis. Not only are the guests always kind, but the vendors, volunteers, and employees are all just as caring. After every performance, there are people picking up trash to keep the area clean and workers checking on you to make sure that you’re properly hydrated and safe. Of course, music festivals are centered around music, but it’s the people who truly make Bonnaroo a special place.

Bonnaroo is sort of like an addiction. You go once and you have to go again. It’s the only festival so far that I plan to attend every year that I can afford it. There are so many things to experience and it feels like you’re never there long enough to see it all.

Electric Daisy Carnival…. If you listen to EDM, you have most likely heard about this festival. And yes, I said Carnival (they have actual carnival rides throughout the venue). Otherwise known as EDC, it is the largest EDM festival in North America and is put on by the huge electronic music event promotor, Insomniac. Although the main event takes place in Las Vegas every year, it has a sister-festival in Orlando (EDCO).

There had been talk among my friends about going to EDCO for several years, but we finally decided to actually make the trip this past November. It’s a three-day festival that takes place in the outdoor baseball stadium, Tinker Field.

Lineup

The lineup release for 2019 is what solidified my ticket purchase. Because EDC is such a huge and well-known festival, it is always jam-packed with various legendary artists. I have noticed that this festival normally has a lot of “housy” artists (which is not my favorite sub-genre of EDM). What drew me to the lineup was that they also managed to include many “riddim” artists. I liked that the two main stages kind of split up the two sub-genres perfectly so you could move from one stage to the other, depending on your mood. Some of my favorites from the weekend include Blunts & Blondes, Excision (of course), Mystic Grizzly, and ATLiens. As one would imagine from EDC, the stages and decorations were AMAZING and nothing I had experienced before. They really know how to produce spectacular shows.

Vendors

EDCO is very similar to other large festivals where they have different vendor tents set up throughout the festival. It’s almost like a mini marketplace for guests to browse through when they need a break from dancing. There are also plenty of places to purchase food and drinks, no matter your craving. I’ve seen this vendor at various festivals in different states, but you can never go wrong with the famous Island Noodles. My friends and I tried to mostly eat big meals before and after the festival each day to save money, but I was glad I splurged a little on eating inside the venue. My favorite thing I ate was called carne asada fries. Unfortunately, I have no idea the actual name of the vendor, but they were SO GOOD.

Logistics

The one thing that could’ve made this festival better was the option to camp. Having to find a place to stay that is close enough to drive back and forth but within a reasonable price range was tricky. If you’re coming from out of town, I would advise you to start looking for places to stay months ahead of time so that you have plenty of options to choose from. My friends and I ended up renting from the Airbnb website because it was cheaper than finding a hotel closer to the venue. Our Airbnb was about a 30 minute drive to Tinker Field, which wasn’t ideal, but it was our best option since we waited until the last minute to book. We bought day parking passes for the weekend which ended up being cheaper than having to buy an Uber or Lyft there and back each day. I was also disappointed that there was no reentry into the venue. The weather was back and forth throughout the day, so it would’ve been nice to go back to the car when needed to add a layer of clothing for the cool fall nights.

Crowd

The vibe of EDCO was all-around positive. I never felt overwhelmed in the crowds and never encountered rude people. Whether I was at a stage, at a cool-off area, or just walking around the venue, I always felt very comfortable. I also loved the fact that they have ground-workers who walk around making sure that everyone is safe and hydrated. At several points in the weekend, I would sit down just to give my legs a break and every single time, an employee walked over to me and asked if I was okay. I think safety is a huge concern at music festivals, and EDCO goes above and beyond to create a happy and healthy environment for their guests. I hope to attend this festival again in the future, and maybe even take the next step and go to EDC Las Vegas.

If you go to school in or near the Atlanta area, you may have seen the aquatic-themed fliers posted around campus for Imagine. This was the first EDM-only music festival that I attended and I will say, I was not quite prepared for what I was going to experience.

Imagine takes place at the Atlanta Motor Speedway every year and is still fairly new. I went to all three days of this festival in 2017 and bought a one-day ticket in 2018. Although I did enjoy Imagine, I think that they have a lot of improving to do.

Lineup

The first year I decided to go to Imagine was when I was very new to the EDM scene and didn’t listen to that genre of music too often. Despite that, my days at Imagine were full of enjoyable artists, and it was the perfect way for me to discover new ones. Some of my favorites on the lineups from the two years that I attended were Liquid Stranger, Flux Pavilion, Bassnectar, and Leah Culver. They have a few returning artists that play every year (or almost every year) and a good variety of EDM sub-genres. I have noticed that the lineup gets better every year as the festival gains popularity. The two main stages were unlike anything I had ever seen before. They were huge with amazing lasers emerging into the crowd. That in itself was a sight to see.

Vendors

Imagine has lines of food, drink, and merchandise vendors set up inside the speedway. It’s nice that you can walk around and look at all of the tents set up, even if you don’t buy anything. A lot of the tents sell festival gear, such as pashminas or masks. The only food I have actually tasted from the fest was a fruit smoothie and I’m not sure what the name of the vendor was. I will say, though, that was one of the best smoothies I’ve ever had. One of my favorite things about Imagine is that it has free water refill stations positioned throughout the venue, so you never have to worry about getting dehydrated.

Logistics

Most of my reasons for thinking there could be many improvements to Imagine lead back to logistics. Some of this though, I will admit, is my own fault. Even though guests are able to camp at this festival, I think that it’s very overpriced (about $100 extra if I’m remembering correctly). For this reason, my friends and I decided to buy day parking passes (that we later found out weren’t even checked) and drive to and from the festival (mind you, it ends at around 3 AM every night). This was completely exhausting and by the third day, I almost decided to skip out because I was so tired of making the trip. Besides the high price to camp, the line to enter the venue was always very long. I’m used to being patient in those sort of situations, but this seemed excessive. Every time we entered the festival, there was an enormous crowd of people waiting to get in, even after standing in line for at least an hour. It seemed as if by the time we got to the front of the line, security was just letting people through without checking bags or wristbands because it was taking so long. I’m hoping since the last time I attended, they might have added multiple entrances or more security members to solve this issue. I also didn’t like the fact that it was located inside a race track. There weren’t many places to explore and everything seemed in an almost too close proximity. A plus side to this, though, is that it didn’t take long at all to walk from one stage to another. I’m not even going to get started on the bathrooms and cleanliness because…… it was bad.

Crowd

I honestly can’t say too much about the crowd that Imagine attracts. Almost everyone I ended up meeting was very nice and it was pretty much how you would expect an EDM crowd to behave. Other than the occasional Chad, there were both old and new EDM fans who were very considerate and friendly.

No, Imagine isn’t my favorite festival, but it’s definitely worth the money if you enjoy the lineup. I don’t know if I would do another three days (unless I chose to camp), but I would definitely buy another one-day ticket in the future. I have faith that this festival will grow over time and figure out what improvements need to be made.

Shaky Beats is another multi-day festival native to Atlanta that was held at Central Park. You may be wondering why I am using the word was, and that’s because it will not be returning in 2020 (RIP). That is very unfortunate because it was one of my favorite festivals, even though I only had the chance to go one year.

I attended Shaky Beats in May of 2018 when I bought a one-day ticket due to lack of funds at the time. It became one of my favorite festivals after only being at the event for several hours. Although EDM-only festivals seem to drain me more quickly than multiple genre-based festivals, I definitely could have survived all three.

Lineup

Shaky Beats did a wonderful job at curating a solid lineup every year that it was open. I liked that the lineup was never overwhelmingly long or stacked with back to back top artists that you would disappointingly have to miss out on seeing due to timing. To me, it felt like the perfect amount of artists where you weren’t rushing around trying to hear every second of every set. A few of my favorites from 2018 include Borgore, San Holo, and Excision. If you know me, you know that Excision is my all-time favorite DJ so seeing him perform was a TREAT.

Vendors

Similar to Music Midtown and other Atlanta festivals, there were many local venders selling food and drinks. Although I didn’t purchase any food at this festival, I always appreciate the local aspect of it.

Logistics

The size of the park was also a plus because it seemed perfect for the amount of people attending. I never felt that it was overly crowded, but the walk from one stage to the other wasn’t too long either. There were plenty of cool-down spots to chill if you were feeling tired or overwhelmed from constantly being on your feet. My friends and I were able to easily find paid lot parking within walking distance of Central Park, which was a huge plus.

Crowd

Due to my past experiences with Atlanta-based festivals, I was a little hesitant in the beginning and was expecting a crowd ruled by rude high schoolers (refer back to my Music Midtown post). To my surprise, the guests attending were very nice and exceeded my standards. In case you have never been to an EDM festival before, the crowds they attract are normally very respectful and kind, so I was glad to know that this stayed the same for local fests, as well. I hope that they decide to bring back this festival so that I can return to Central Park once more for Shaky Beats.