My favorite non-music Bonnaroo memory, in recent memory, was in 2023. I was tripping balls and started to feel everyone’s energy in an unpleasant way so decided I was better off finding refuge somewhere in attempt of bringing myself back to center. Generally, I find myself returning to nature when I need to calm down what could be turning into a bad trip. For a second there, I forgot where I was, and my vision tunneled straight towards what I perceived to be a beautiful sandy beach. I walked on over, dug all my feet and hands into the sand, put my scarf over my head and I was back to good ole me. I ended up finding a cabana and beach chair, getting comfy and taking a long and lovely nap. The sun eventually woke me up, and I realized that this beach I was on, surrounded by palm trees and beach volleyballers, was actually around 70,000 pounds of sand funded by Bacardi in the middle of Manchester, Tennessee. So there I was, brought back to center, chillin at Casa Bacardi. The rest of Bonnaroo, my thoughts fixated on trying to figure how much sand was there, how they got it there, what they were going to do with it after and how much the sand itself costed. As someone who suffers from sand-based-sensory-overload, I am shocked to say that the grains of sand in every crevice of my body and clothes, left me immensely grounded in an oddly comforting way for the remainder of the weekend. Please comment your guess on how much 70-100 thousand pounds of sand would cost, and haaaapppppppppy roooooooooooooooo!!!!
Happy Belated Halloween. Meet Witch, a Zamrock band that’s kind of jazzy, kind of blues-y, kind of jammy, kind of disco-y, kind of folky and super funky. Witch was popular in the 1970’s after Zambia gained independence from the UK. I don’t remember how I came upon this album but it’s one of those albums you keep wanting to go back to. It’s so many things all at once but somehow fits together just fine. “Witch: We Intend to Cause Havoc!”, linked below
When we consider that Noah Kahan was made famous primarily through TikTok (owned by a Chinese company), the potential for a conspiracy theory arises. It is plausible to think that the Chinese would push certain types of music with their algorithm.
If Noah Kahan is out there with a negative message, and he appeals to the most impressionable demographic of Americans, perhaps the opportunity arose to tweak the algorithms to favor the rise of this artist. So that he would become mega-famous and spread this kind of hateful message upon the American youth.
Getting really deep into it, you consider the name Noah Kahan, and its coincidental homophone with the word “Khan,” or king in Mongol & Turkic tribal language.
Noah Kahan is a Chinese plant, confirmed.
Kahan is a Jewish name. Lolz. People of tik tok made him famous because he’s a got a wilderness-y folk-y vibe and a man bun. The people love a left leaning nature loving guy from Vermont. Stick season has a catchy basic melody that people with little unique interests can get into.
Honestly, all the hubbub about the parking and whatnot is shocking. Any large event will have gridlock and agonizing parking/exit situations. If you ever go to an event the size of Highwater, and you get to your car and out in a matter of minutes, let me know. That being said, some shuttle systems to nearby parking lots or drop off points to like Bonnaroo does would be wise.
My friend made me stay for Briston Maroney and they kinda sucked. Maybe it was just the fact that I had sensory overload from my socks and underwear being wet, and I was cold as fuck. Babe Club was immaculate. Jenna really put on an awesome show and had great outfits. She must’ve had an awesome stylist for the show.
I think it would be way cooler if they shifted to a more art and music festival approach. That way vendors, food trucks and artists from Charleston and nearby states could come through and make things more local, and way more cool. Instead we got Cabot cheese and Josh wine.
Highlight for me were The Linda Linda’s. Got damn! What a show!! I was completely shocked their drummer was 12 years old which they revealed about halfway through their set. Awesome. I wish the vibe of Highwater leaned more towards interesting acts like The Linda Linda’s.
There are some really funky awesome musical artists in the Charleston area and it’s appalling that they don’t include more. Also, having a couple smaller stages with more lowkey bands would be a much more immersive and special experience. They could also throw in a silent disco and a couple face painters/henna artists and people selling festival-y accessories and it would really amp things up.
Still had a pretty good time and would go again. Killer venue and great to go chill by the water when people start weirding me out.
