Photos by Scott Walker
On a day in late May, exactly three weeks before Bonnaroo 2015 opens on June 11, the festival’s host property in Manchester remains relatively quiet and empty, with lots of work still to be done to prepare for the upcoming party anticipating the arrival of 80,000-plus guests.
A sea of hundreds of portable toilets, clean and pristine, were clustered together, waiting to be placed around the lot; a long row of tall generator lights was also grouped together, soon to be scattered around the property to shed a little light on the tents at night once the crowds arrive.
Surprisingly for one longtime Bonnaroo-goer, hardly any of the main Bonnaroo landmarks were anywhere to be seen. The mighty main stage towered above the large concert lot in all of its glory (though the stage was piled with picnic tables) and the famous Bonnaroo arch was standing tall, reflecting the sunlight, but there was no fencing, no Ferris wheel and no Which Stage, This Tent, That Tent or The Other Tent in place. They are all temporary, portable structures. However, the pole signs for the concert tents were standing firm, despite the absence of the tents the signs themselves proclaimed.
A crew was setting up the misting tent in the What Stage area, which provides a little shade and relief during the hot Bonnaroo days. A crew member said they would be staying in a Manchester hotel for the weeks leading up to Bonnaroo, building the structures during the day. On this day, the workers pulled a covering over the tent, sheathing its bare skeleton, creating a visually striking image against the clouds above.
Of course, the mushroom fountain was there, but it was totally whitewashed, ready for a new look for 2015.
A couple of members of the Murfreesboro media caught Queen Andrea (Andrea von Bujdoss) a graffiti, typography and paint artist out of New York City, as she and an assistant began work on the fountain’s updated look.
Queen Andrea won a contest for the right to design and paint the Bonnaroo mushroom, which refreshes sun-baked music fans annually at Bonnaroo with its gushing water. She shared her colorful geometric plans for the fountain’s 2015 design, explaining that it would include some fluorescent paint for a little nighttime pop under the black lights contained within the fountain. The finished product, she said, is expected to be “super funky and fun!” (Visit superfreshdesign.com for more of Andrea’s impressive, colorful work.)
The day was uncharacteristically cool, and most workers wore jackets while setting up for a weekend that traditionally sees temperatures close to 100 degrees.
Russ Barrett, a contractor out of Manchester, was checking out the top of the archway, the gateway to What Stage, repairing some of the broken pieces up top.
“This is the third year we’ve done stuff out here,” Barrett said, pointing to his crew in the distance, which was building a new structure in the VIP area: a gaming tent.
“They’ll have ping pong and other games in there,” he said.
Barrett said he enjoys working with the Bonnaroo festival, and his company has also gotten hooked up with the TomorrowWorld Festival; Barrett Construction has built a 15,000-square-foot butterfly at that festival’s Georgia site, he says proudly.
Back at Bonnaroo, his crew has also recently built some decks with coverings on them in the VIP campgrounds to be used by visitors this year.
While teams of other workers get the fencing, stages and other structures in place, with three weeks remaining the festival is nowhere near ready to host Mumford and Sons, Bassnectar, Billy Joel, Béla Fleck and Florence + the Machine, but we can expect come June 11, all will be ready and Bonnaroo will be cranking once again.
For more information on the festival, visit bonnaroo.com.
