Infinity!
So there are different levels of passes for Bonnaroo. Everyone has something, including the general concertgoer. You either have a wristband or two or a lanyard. Wristbands are good, red gets you into the concert grounds, VIP, I think was blue, you get special camping, food, parking, though you pay for it. I had a guest pass so I got back stage camping and access to guest areas with “nicer†food and beer. Though the beer was the same price as everyone else and the food was not so nice. Or at least what Chris and I had for breakfast on Saturday morning. Runny scrambled eggs with limp bacon, a croissant, and a Coke (since there was no fucking coffee in the morning) for $9. Ouch.
Anyway, I’m off subject. I also had a Photo pass, which got me into the pit for the first 3 songs at the What and Which stages and most of the time at any 3 songs at the tents. It also counted as a media pass to get into the media area backstage which had Internet access for uploading my photos to Spinner/AOL Music and Retna, press conferences (I’ll have video soon) and most often free water.
Lanyards are much better passes, the “Why†pass is an all access pass. I saw a ton of these running around and people who probably didn’t need them with them. It’s all about who you know. The best pass is the “Infinity†pass. It’s all access, plus you can take anyone you want wherever you want with you. These highly regarded passes where pretty much only given to the publicity company for Bonnaroo. They need the passes to bring the photographers to and from the stage shows and various other duties. Pretty much the people that should have these passes had them, which is good. Security was pretty tight around the stages. But there was one woman who ran the gate to the “Which†stage, who each time we came in with our Infinity escort, would yell “ Where’s my INFINITY?†Every time. Once Steven, one the very nice publicists who I’ve gotten to know over the 5 years I’ve been shooting Bonnaroo was talking to another security person at the gate and this woman started yelling “Where’s my Infinity!†Steven, standing right next to her very calmly stated “right here†rolled his eyes and gave me a look. All the photographers started commenting on her and it really started to become a joke with us all.
So over all, it’s good to be a guest, better to be media or photo, great to be Why, but best to be Infinity when your trying to get to What, Which, This, That and The Other.
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on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 12:55 am and is filed under bonnaroo.
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