Over the last two weekends, I had the pleasure of almost dying from heatstroke at least three times at the Wakarusa and Bonnaroo music festivals. Doing this back-to-back was certainly a triumph of my circadian rhythm, and by the time I saw my fifth sunrise in eight days I began to question whether I would ever see home again. Mercifully, I am sitting in an air conditioned room as I type this, and reflecting back on everything I was able to do and see over the last two weeks.
This was my first year to visit Wakarusa, and as soon as I arrived, I couldn’t help but be happily blown away by how small the festival seemed. You don’t have to walk miles to get to a toilet or a music stage, and you don’t have wait in lines to get into anything. The main stage area is big but never more than 50 percent full. The attendance is only a quarter of the amount of people who attend our very own Norman Music Festival, but from a patron standpoint, these are all positive things. The music lineup was the best it’s ever been in 2015, and it was really easy to just walk up to the front of any stage at any given time. Nighttime at Wakarusa is an absolute party and holds up well against any other major festival. There were not a lot of people on Mulberry Mountain, but the ones who were there were mighty, and really doing it right.
This was my fifth time on The Farm in Tennessee for Bonnaroo, and quite possibly my favorite. The heat was too real, but I made the best of everything and managed to see some of the best shows of my life. I also was able to meet some of my personal heroes (Reggie Watts, Ed Helms, Maurice White, Ben Folds) and get some pretty great interviews recorded for my radio show. I also got rejected by a hundred girls and ate Spicy Pie six times a day. It was beautiful.
Bonnaroo is a much bigger festival on a much bigger budget than Waka, so obviously they were able to draw some bigger/better acts by default. But Waka put up a hell of a fight and landed a few acts pretty high on this list. Also, as with any festival, I couldn’t see everyone. I missed some pretty big names in lieu of seeing a few other things. I missed The Roots at Wakarusa, and Bleachers/MMJ/Hozier at Bonnaroo. I managed to miss Ben Harper at both festivals, and I also skipped Billy Joel to watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals because fuck Billy Joel.
Here we go.
