Welcome to America!- Manchester, TN

A small, seemingly innocuous town in the middle of Tennessee becomes one of the largest cities in the state for one weekend every summer. Hippies and music lovers from throughout the country descend upon Manchester for a music festival called Bonnaroo. Anywhere from 70-100 thousand people come to listen on multiple stages for what is now a 4 day event. There are hundreds of bands that play and a wide variety of activities outside music, including comedy shows, dance troops, and all kinds of visually pleasing artwork. I personally attended two of these events- in 2004 and 2005. The event has become much more mainstream since then, with even Kanye West performing (and getting thoroughly booed for his tardiness and general whiny attitude). However, legendary musicians like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Byrne, Tom Petty, Robert Plant, and the Dead have all played there. Newer mega-acts such as Radiohead, Widespread Panic, Trey Anastacio, Dave Matthews, and the White Stripes have performed. And, of course, all the jambands the festival was founded on including legendary sets from Galactic, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Gov’t Mule, String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams, Yonder Mountain String Band, Umphrey’s McGee and many, many others.