Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Post by bamadancer on Jun 18, 2008 11:58:05 GMT -5
It did seem a lot less crowded, I was able to get to where I was going faster, the lines were always shorter (given we were vols and so we didnt use the entrance a lot) and it was definitely easier to get close at shows. It was really nice.
Like I said earlier, I think the biggest problem with security is a lack of communication. Nobody *really* knows what's going on except the supervisors, and even then they don't even know a lot of the time. My friends who worked security said they had the rules changed on them constantly, and kept having to change what they were doing. Not to mention the fact that there were like 5 different companies there, all with different standards about what should be searched.
Did anybody get searched by the Blue Shirts at the entrance to the What Stage by VIP? If so, they were my friends. I told them not to be mean, so let me know if they were lol
I saw a tank and lots of people buying purple balloons near the VIP food tent Thursday night. They weren't there long, though.
nice, for some reason the sale of nitrous really amuses me, I feel like those guys really got there shit together and would be really great business men. I mean they always manage to get away with it and they always sell it in the riskiest spots ever. I mean at starscape during the biscuits someone had a tank in the middle of the crowd right behind us. and now in NYC any show you go to as soon as u leave their is nitrous right on the fucking side walk.
I saw a tank and lots of people buying purple balloons near the VIP food tent Thursday night. They weren't there long, though.
nice, for some reason the sale of nitrous really amuses me, I feel like those guys really got there poop together and would be really great business men. I mean they always manage to get away with it and they always sell it in the riskiest spots ever. I mean at starscape during the biscuits someone had a tank in the middle of the crowd right behind us. and now in NYC any show you go to as soon as u leave their is nitrous right on the quacking side walk.
It really is amazing how well they handle all those 5's, 10's, and 20's, and always remember how many balloons everyone needs.
Post by neighborhooodcreep on Jun 18, 2008 15:00:36 GMT -5
the security i encountered was lazy, there wasnt a time where i didnt bring at least 5 beers in, i prob saved myself 200 dollars instead of paying 6 bucks a beer. so no complaints with security from me
Post by superstick on Jun 18, 2008 15:08:10 GMT -5
I'm not sure what actually happened to get the attention of security. We were just sitting in our camp and he went running by. A couple seconds later a security guard came sprinting by. Then a few seconds later a second and third security guards came running by. The "perp" was running around tents and vehicles to get away from them. He threw his stash under a van, which our neighbors found and sold (19 1/8's of mushrooms). Anyway, one of the security guards saw him cut back out of the vehicles and spear tackled him when he got into the open. They held him down for a minute or so and I guess the guy stopped fighting, so they left him to lay on the ground. What happens next? the guy gets up and tries to run again. Then they really layed his ass out. Here's another picture:
My first experience with Bonnaroo? "You! Pull over here, NOW!" Random car search. It started with the psych out. 1st they asked me if I had anything (listed every NO NO WORD!!!! i could ever think of). I lied and said no. Then he went to my friend/passenger seat. "What about you buddy? You look... nervous... You know if I find you lie I can take you all to jail. I don't care what it is. If I find one SEED in this car I will take you all to jail. No music. No fun. Your whole drive from... Massachusetts ruined. Or, you can admit you have weed (I know you do), and get off with a little ticket, and have fun all weekend. This isn't my 1st rodeo partner, I know you have something. The last guy, we had to tear off his fender, found a couple bags. He's on his way to jail right now. You wanna go to jail partner? Why do you look so nervous? Nothing? Ok, well, out of the car, I want ID from all of you." We all give our IDs, at which point he tells us that if he finds any alcohol we will go to jail unless we fess up. Again, we claim to have none (it was clear and in water bottles). Then the search began. The glove box contained cigars, my registration, and... my friend's EPIPEN. "Hey, what's this. An epi- what? For what? Allergies? Hey Frank, you ever hear of an 'epipen'? No? Thought not." At which point he began trying to take it apart. We had to call other people over to help explain to him that this was a life saving NO NO WORD!!!! that had to be with him at all times. He let it go. Reluctantly. Next the trunk. On the very top, our flag. "Don't Tread On Me", to go with our Ron Paul bumper sticker. "Whats with the flag kid? What's the snake, a joint? yea, you selling NO NO WORD!!!! here? I don't think so kid." At which point I gave a brief history lesson, and then even more brief, explained its connection to my Ron Paul bumper sticker and flyer collection. "Never heard of him". They then proceeded to go into our food. Opened our unopened pretzels, looked around in there, opened the box of Krispy Kremes (but, thankfully for us, never looked UNDER the donuts!). Looked in the crannies in the trunk. All this in about 5 minutes, but with 6 fully armed policemen. Finally, after seeing that our pretzels were all clear, he let us go. "Yea, most of that was just to psych you out". Absolutely freaking ridiculous. I can see a search, but trying to take an epipen and opening perishable foods without any reason to be suspicious? Over the freaking top.
Otherwise though, I had no trouble getting around. Just pick the fast line going in. I did see one guy in the comedy tent line who was drinking out of a can have a security guy walk up to him, take his can, and wordlessly walk off. The guy then chased him, and a fight almost broke out. Though, I was sitting near a guard while watching 2 guys do a line of coke during Lupe, and he didn't even move.
Go figure.
Whoa. This was before the security gate search? As in random cop search? These are the times you politely but assertively say"no, I am not consenting to a search of my private property. Am I free to go now?"
Yeah I was in camp hansel and never really got hassled. Coming in from exit 112 was a breeze. I wish i would have brought some bottles of wine, but the franzia came in handy. We brought corn and actually ended up giving some away to people and they were always nice by giving us food or hospitality in return. I knew security wasnt a problem because one time i was in a porttapotty and some one pounded on the door and yelled "headyz, shrooms?" Also coming into centroo each day was a breeze. I would bring a pint of whiskey, some plastic bottles full of wine and always plenty of corn along with some snacks and food. There was never a problem but I do thank everyone who contributed to inforoo to give me a heads up.
Post by wonderllama on Jun 18, 2008 18:20:09 GMT -5
This was our first Roo and we didn't really have any problems with security at all. At the car search, the dude looked through the console, glove box, a couple of our bags, and just looked in the trunk. We packed real tight and our cooler was pretty well wedged in there, so the guy told me not to even worry about taking it out. Kinda got lucky because all our confiscatables were just in this zippered perfume box out by itself in the back seat. It was visible, just crammed underneath a bunch of shit. We always went in the entrance over by the arcade/ferris wheel since that was close to camp. After I learned to put all the shit in my pockets into ziploc bags for easy removal, all they did was look at them and not even open them, give me a quick pat down and send me though. We always had our pockets empty/open and tried to make it easy for the security folks. My wife always carried anything of interest down her shirt, and all she ever got was maybe a quick glance through the zippered pockets of her camelback. They never even looked in the bigass pocket behind the water bladder. We brought in snacks and corn everyday, enjoyed them wherever we damn well pleased in full view of whoever, and nobody said shit to us. We also figured out that they obviously did not care about the type of chair you brought in, which saved us a lot of discomfort sitting on the ground all day (don't worry, we always set up way in back and made sure not to block people's view).
I guess it helped that we were slightly older (28) and looked more like a typical American tourist couple than typical stoner/hippie or fratboy/sorority chick. I have a feeling that if it were just me, or me with a group of male friends we'd have had a little more hassle though. I guess learning to blend in with the 9-5 cubicle scene has its advantages somewhere.
This was our first Roo and we didn't really have any problems with security at all. At the car search, the dude looked through the console, glove box, a couple of our bags, and just looked in the trunk. We packed real tight and our cooler was pretty well wedged in there, so the guy told me not to even worry about taking it out. Kinda got lucky because all our confiscatables were just in this zippered perfume box out by itself in the back seat. It was visible, just crammed underneath a bunch of poop. We always went in the entrance over by the arcade/ferris wheel since that was close to camp. After I learned to put all the poop in my pockets into ziploc bags for easy removal, all they did was look at them and not even open them, give me a quick pat down and send me though. We always had our pockets empty/open and tried to make it easy for the security folks. My wife always carried anything of interest down her shirt, and all she ever got was maybe a quick glance through the zippered pockets of her camelback. They never even looked in the bigass pocket behind the water bladder. We brought in snacks and corn everyday, enjoyed them wherever we damn well pleased in full view of whoever, and nobody said poop to us. We also figured out that they obviously did not care about the type of chair you brought in, which saved us a lot of discomfort sitting on the ground all day (don't worry, we always set up way in back and made sure not to block people's view).
I guess it helped that we were slightly older (28) and looked more like a typical American tourist couple than typical stoner/hippie or fratboy/sorority chick. I have a feeling that if it were just me, or me with a group of male friends we'd have had a little more hassle though. I guess learning to blend in with the 9-5 cubicle scene has its advantages somewhere.
ah, you would think so. my best friend, my boyfriend, and i are your age (my best friend is even older). we don't look like trouble. we drove a nice (rented) suv. and we still got searched by the police upon entrance last year. i seriously think that the only reason they chose us was because i made eye contact with one of the officers. i saw him, he pointed at me, and said "you, over here".
Post by melikecheese on Jun 19, 2008 11:46:56 GMT -5
Glad I didnt go back this year, it was all the undercover and extra cops last year (07) that made me say, just not worth it, plenty of other fests out there now, I don't need to deal with this.
Getting busted at campsites seems to happen more and more...thats no fun at all.
I just made a new thread about why I think superfly should go F$%# themselves due to the way they handled security, guess I coyuld have just posted here. Anyway here is my experience. I think there is a good chance I will go to a different festival next year due to principle. I walked in through the tollbooths and every inch of my body and bags were searched, my underwear and socks pulled out and thrown on the ground, had to empty my pants pockets. If I had anything at all they would have got it. I did have a advil bottle with advil, centrum, vit c and vit B, they kept telling me it was a felony to carry them that way, I kept laughing at them telling them they didn't know what they were talking about. They wouldn't give the bottle back to me unless I left though so I let them keep it. It took about 20 minutes before they let me in. Most ridiculous search I have ever been through, I felt truly violated. They broke my zipper on my backpack. It will be a factor in deciding if I go back to Bonnaroo next year. Had a great time this year but that search really angers me. I have lost respect for the organizers of Bonnaroo. It is a shame the people and music is great but superfly can go f$%# themselves.
Post by holdingmythirdeye on Jun 19, 2008 14:04:17 GMT -5
I found security to be very rough on Sunday. They were driving around on 4 wheelers through the camps. I was sitting with some of my neighbors who were smoking a bowl, on Sunday night right before I left. They came into the camp and searched everyone there, which I had a bowl and hardly anything on me .5 grams of green in my pockets and they gave me a citation. I figured they would let me off the hook as most cops would for such a small amount. They were total a-holes though and threated to throw me in jail and some guy walked right by us and was shouting sheets and mollies and they still busted me instead haha. Was totally shocked to be busted for green at Bonnaroo in my campsite.
it definitely seemed less crowded in centeroo this year, never that crush of people on fri and sat that just makes it take that much longer to get from point A to point B, and late-nights really seemed sparse compared to years past, the sprinkles on fri and an act on the main stage sat probably had a lot to do with that. i hope attendance stays put at this years level, and with increased gas prices and seemingly more competition every year they have their work cut out for them if want to build it back up.
i will say that the searches into centeroo are ridiculous, i was always able to get anything i wanted in but they still took forever to search everyone.
it seemed like in years past though it was even more inconsistent, like sometimes they were volunteers and didn't care and basically waved everybody in and other times it was hired help who gave everyone a really thorough going over, this year i always encountered hired help but they just weren't effective but still took way too long.
like others have said i just try to jedi mind-trick them - when i walk up i just greet them and smile have a few non-critical pockets/zippers open say i know the routine and i got nothing i'm not supposed to and it seems to work.
oh, and no car search this year on the way into the campgrounds fwiw...
personally. I had no issues at all. 90% of the time, I was in a line being manned by a great guy that looked to be around 50 with a straw hat and long grey hair. He was awesome. He just wanted everyone to have a good time.
Post by longliverocknroll on Jun 19, 2008 17:33:00 GMT -5
Never once did i get searched properly. I just held out my wallet, cigarettes and phone, had the obligitory slight pat down and that was it. Even my water bottle of full of Vodka made it in every night. I did hear some horror stories though.x
Post by nmichaels013 on Feb 26, 2010 18:03:48 GMT -5
everything was pretty much OK except for one instance where i got asked if i had anything illegal. Answering "never" was probably the reason i got searched extensively and had all my "belongings" taken. oh well. If you are polite to them and don't answer there simple questions in an A hole way like i did then you will be okay. At least i learned my lesson and wont repeat such mistakes. Haha. Just bought my ticket yesterday, can't wait.
Post by questionablesanity on Feb 28, 2010 13:49:33 GMT -5
Our car didn't even get touched. The security guys were miserable in the rainy weather on Thursday. They'd been there for 12 hours and could have cared less. We rolled the windows down and they looked inside and that was it.
Arch entrance was cool too. I always had my camelbak opened and ready and only once did they actually reach their hand inside it. They did take a 5 hour energy shot. But I got everything else in every day. For the posters on here that got stuff confiscated, there were tens of thousands who probably didn't. Just be nice and courteous. They are doing a job and receiving a pay check for it or have received a ticket. If I were in their position, I'd do a fairly thorough search, but I wouldn't actually find anything.
A Thieve's Parade 2/24 Conspirator 2/26 Kevin Smith 3/11 Keller 3/17 Papadosio 3/18 JJ Grey 3/25 Bela Fleck/Edgar Meyer 3/26 Toubab Krewe 3/27 O'Death 4/11 Budos Band 4/22 EOTO 4/28 Summer Camp 5/6-29 All Good
Post by ladyrach328 on Feb 28, 2010 22:37:45 GMT -5
Some of these searches sound awful!! Do they really just tear apart people's car's or strip search them at random? This will be my first trip to roo and I've never experienced a car search before. How long do they actually spend searching through your car?
Post by arizonalovesyou on Mar 1, 2010 2:55:42 GMT -5
i've been to 4 roos and this year will be my 5th... out of those four that i've been to... my car has never been searched extensively... nothing more than a quick look in the trunk, and the cooler and that's about all. they have always been really quick about it at least when i've gone.