Bonnaroo: What you need to know about the farm

11. Electronics

-phones: buy a charger adapter at walamrt for $7. You can go to Centerroo and charge your phone. Charge your phone as much as you can, but if you’re charging in your car don’t run your battery down! I had mine on airplane mode the whole time unless I was trying to meet up with someone. Stay off social media and turn off iMessage. Save as much battery as you can.

– gopro: they’re going to tell you that you can’t bring it inside Centerroo. I don’t know if we just got lucky or what, but we always had ours with us and always were able to sneak it inside.

-laptops: don’t bother. some people steal and you really just don’t want to deal with it and worry about it.

10. Plan

Believe it or not, the bigger your group, the easier this will be. Have your whole group look at the lineup and listen to the Spotify playlist to see if there’s any bands you’ve never heard of that you may be interested in seeing. Write down everyone you want to see and go from there. You will have to leave shows early and maybe even miss them all together. Don’t let it ruin your day.

9. WHAT TO WEAR

males- swim trunks, light material shorts (anything that you would be comfortable on the lake or fishing in), tank tops, hats

females- bikinis, shorts, tanks, no bras. Chances are if you’re going to Roo you’re a free spirit that doesn’t care. But on the off chance that you do care what you look like you’re going to have to get used to some of the worst boob sweat you’ve ever experienced. I didn’t wear a bra once. The girls have to breathe! Bring a sun hat for the midday shows where the sun beats down on you like satan himself is on your shoulders.

8. FOOD

I didn’t even bring money for food to buy there. Unless you want a wonder waffle or an Amish doughnut it’s better to avoid buy the food there. It’s ridiculously expensive. Avoid salty snacks! bring fruit, veggie snack packs, lunch meat, canned beans, canned fruit, canned veggies. make sure all canned goods are pop-top. I brought green beans and backed beans thinking I was going to have to eat them cold (ew) but then I had the idea to put them on the hood of our car and 30 minutes later I had hot food. Your stomach will thank you.

7. SEARCH

When you first get to Bonnaroo EVERY car is stopped and searched. They just opened up our doors and the truck and that was it. The only thing we got taken away was our hammer (for the tent stakes). Just be nice and you’ll be set! When you get to Centerroo they’ll pat you down, search your bags, and will sometimes make you empty your camelbak. We didn’t have to empty ours at all and we learnt searched. But some people are seriously searched.

6. SLEEP

ahahaha good luck. the first night you might get a lot of sleep if your neighbors aren’t raging. Most people go to bed before 2 because we’ve all been traveling and just want to rest up. But once the sun starts to rise you’re going to know what everyone is talking about when they say the heat will get you. I was up by 7am every morning. Taking naps under your canopy or a shade tree- you have to be super lucky to find a spot, is essential.

5. DRUGS

Chances are you’re going to be offered drugs within the first 30 minutes of you being there. Be smart. Bring a drug test kit. If the person looks sketchy, just wait for someone else to come by your tent.

4. HYGINE

baby wipes are your new best friend. I have super thick curly hair so dry shampoo only helped a little. You’re better off having a jug or two specifically for washing your hair. bring shampoo and conditioner. While the rest of your body will get gross in a matter of minutes your hair is going to feel clean, at least for a couple of hours. Deodorant. Just buy men’s. and apply it regularly. Before you go to bed, when you get up, before you leave for centeroo. Trust me- everyone is going to be filthy and stink and nothing is worse than being able to smell yourself.

3. ICE

Duh. But it’s the one thing we forgot so the whole week we drank warm water and warm beer/liquor. They have places where you can buy ice, but depending on where your site is, it could be a long walk. Many people buy dry ice beforehand or even right before you get to the gate when you first arrive (there’s little stands while you’re waiting in your car).

2. CAMPING

here’s what you need:

– sun visor for your car: in the middle of the dar when you need some AC or to charge your phone you want your car as cool as possible.

– tarps: bring a tarp to connect top top of your tent to your canopy. We saw sites that had tarps over their tents to canopy and canopy to their cars. The more shade the better.

– canopy: it’s worth every penny and is an absolute necessity. Do not skip on this! You’ll rehanging out under here, eating, and taking naps.

– solar shower: fit it up at a water station or use water from jugs like we did. sit it out and it will get nice and hot during the day. when you come back at night you can take a heavenly shower. We actually did it during the day- the water warmed up in about an hour or two.

1. WATER

You absolutely 100% need cases and jugs of water. Do not under any circumstances skip this. PLEASE. It is so so so hot there I cannot stress this enough. If you’re going to be drinking alcohol then you need to make sure you are drinking even more water! Bring a camelbak and some water bottles. Take the time to fill up your camelback. Saturday I was so dehydrated that I ended up getting getting sick about an hour after Mumford & Sons. Thankfully I was with some people that I had met on Thursday and one of them bought me a water- pretty much saved my life. They have water stations throughout Centerroo and they will have one in your pod (campsite), but they’re crowded and the water tastes/smells like eggs. Yummy sulfer water!