We salute you, citizens of the ‘Roo. To wrap-up our Bonnaroo 2007 coverage, we offer this Rock Daily montage of fan antics, featuring special appearances by the Ice Cream Man, Regina Spektor, hippie hula-hoopers, and assorted other good-natured freaky people.

Bonnaroo has started to fade in our memory, but the smells, the ringing in our ears, the vague nausea from heat, remain. One of the best memories is our chance encounter with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco at the festival’s batting cage: He talked about baseball, the response to his new album and why being called “mellow” might not be the worst thing in the world.

Nobody ever has a more bizarre experience at the Bonnaroo Festival than the Smoking Section. In just three days on site — at the seven-hundred acre, steaming-hot cow pasture in Tennessee — we hung out with Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy in the backstage batting cages, sat down with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, ripped a couple J’s with the Kings of Leon, ate paella prepared by world-music superstar Manu Chao, caught insane sets by The Police and Tool, and kissed the gospel-soul legend Mavis Staples (on the lips)!
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Saturday was another extraordinary day for the temporary residents of Planet Bonnaroo, thanks to standout performances by The Flaming Lips, Ween, Gogol Bordello, Franz Ferdinand and so many more. But one show towered above the rest: Hundreds of fans waited in line all day at the main stage or, “What Stage,” in ‘Roo parlance (as opposed to the Which Stage, That Tent, and This Tent), hoping to gain admission to the area closest to the feet of The Police. Finally, the gate was opened for these dedicated festival goers about 40 minutes before the legendary trio commenced their set. Rolling Stone talked with a few of these fans as the excitement was mounting… and mounting… and mounting. And, of course, we stuck around for the show as well.

Check back Monday for a full festival roundup.

What a crazy day at Bonnaroo. Though Friday was Day Two at the Tennessee festival, it marked the moment when Bonnaroo officially went off the hook. Lily Allen popped a Xanax (before her set) and drank half a bottle of Jagermeister (during her set) but neither pharmaceuticals nor excess quantity of alcohol could deter her from delivering one of the days hottest performances. (We caught up with her back at her bus, where Allen celebrated by plowing into a bag of Nacho Cheesier Doritos.) Elsewhere, Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett described to us how the kids at the ‘Roo lose their minds, and The Roots covered “Roxanne” in anticipation of The Police’s Saturday gig at Bonnaroo. Tool closed the main stage, unveiling an insane laser show, but the highlight of the day (in fact, it was the wee hours of Saturday morning) was the annual SuperJam, which this year featured Ben Harper, Led Zep bassist John Paul Jones and Roots drummer ?uestlove, who smoked out snippets of Zep classics like “Immigrant Song,” “When the Levee Breaks” and “Good Times, Bad Times.” Check out the highlights, and stay tuned to RollingStone.com for updates all weekend.

Yesterday Rolling Stone sent a crack squad down to a massive cow pasture in Tennessee to soak up the sixth annual Bonnaroo Festival, which kicked off yesterday, but is just beginning to heat up. So far, The National and the Cold War Kids, and Kings of Leon have delivered intense sets to throngs of sweaty fans.

The highlight so far: This morning we sat down with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, who kicked off Friday by joining the Nashville all-lady bluegrass group Uncle Earl and will play later tonight in the annual Super Jam alongside Ben Harper and Roots drummer ?uestlove. In true Bonnaroo fashion the trio has yet to rehearse. Said JPJ “I haven’t even met them yet.” Check back here every day for up-to-date Bonnaroo coverage.

We just watched our intrepid reporters gather their soon-to-be-muddy gear and head to the airport, on their way to Manchester, Tennessee for Bonnaroo 2007. Make sure you check back here over the weekend for their backstage antics on video, and catch our Monday monster wrap-up of the festivities.

In the meantime, commenters, thanks for all your memories from Bonnaroos past. Without a question the most awesome remembrance ever was from a dude named Aric: (more…)