MANCHESTER, Tenn. - The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Coffee County has become a rite of passage for people of all ages and locations over its 16-year history.
"It's my 60th birthday," said Jeff Bennett from Memphis. "It's my first festival ever, and I expect to have the best time of my life."
Thursday on "The Farm," as Great Stage Park is known, is "move-in day." That's when the crowd, which is expected to be larger than the (unofficial) almost 50,000 people who attended last year, but not the 80,000 that would make it a sold-out event, drive in and get their campsites set up.
After that chore is done, veterans roam the main Centeroo area checking out what is different, and first-timers try to get the lay of the nearly 700-acre site.
Nineteen-year-old Natalie Gannon from St. Louis is attending her first Bonnaroo with friends who also recently graduated from high school. Her first order of business was lunch.
"These are the best [tater] tots of my life," she said. "I'm looking forward to hearing new music and meeting new people."
Her friend Ian Moodde, 18, said he is especially looking forward to seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday night.
Jenny and Chris Padgett, 50 and 54, respectively, are from California and along with friend Jeff Shaw, 49, from Denver, are attending their first Bonnaroo. They bought their tickets before the lineup was announced, but were thrilled to learn U2 would be playing. The legendary Irish band will be performing its album "The Joshua Tree" in its entirety tonight.
"We saw the 'The Joshua Tree' tour 30 years ago," Padgett said of he and Shaw.
Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said that by Thursday morning the traffic, which can overwhelm this small Middle Tennessee town on the first two days, was under control.
"It seemed like everyone showed up at the same time [Wednesday] night between 8 [p.m.] and 1 or 2 in the morning," he said. "But it's been pretty calm."
While there was music on the smaller stages Thursday, the festival gets underway in earnest today around 2 p.m. and likely will run well into Saturday morning.
Contact staff writer Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.