Preview: My Bonnaroo 2013 (Mis)adventures

I had a fascinating experience last week: an adventure – no, perhaps misadventure is a more apt descriptor – in which I traveled to the Bonnaroo Festival with six-to-eight fellow concertgoers. (With apologies to David Sedaris: “Six to eight, you say?!” But the fuzzy count was a function of the trip’s overall character.) The short-short story is that everything that could have possibly gone wrong, did. Flat tires, broken axles, tornado warnings, serious misunderstanding among friends, and – worst of all – missing my carefully-planned meeting with John McLaughlin by no more than fifteen minutes.

The funny part is that despite all the pitfalls and pratfalls, the trip was a helluva lot of fun. I’ll be writing more about it soon, once I come to terms with how to cover some of the, er, more delicate elements of the saga. In the meantime, here are a few photos from the trip.

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About the Author

Bill Kopp

With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day since 2018). The 4000-plus interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He regularly hosts lecture/discussions on artists and albums of historical importance (including monthly events Music to Your Ears and Music Movie Mondays), and is a frequent guest on music-focused radio programs and podcasts. In Spring 2023 he is co-teaching a history of Rock 'n' Roll at UNC Asheville's College for Seniors. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- more than 30 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, was published in 2021 by HoZac Books. His third book, What's the Big Idea: 40 Great Concept Albums will be published in 2024. Read even more about him here.