“Good times with good friends listening to good music,” is how Nathan Hewitt, a sophomore in political science, summed up his experience at the 9th Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival this past weekend. Headlining artists like Jay Z, Dave Matthews Band and Kings of Leon, represented a variety of music genres at this year’s festival, which attracted approximately 80,000 fans. The four day event held every June in Manchester, Tenn. took place on a 700 acre farm where fans pitched tents and endured the sweltering 90 degree heat for show after show of great music.

Bryan Hum, a sophomore in international studies and political science, attended the festival for the first time this year and said he went on a bit of a lark.

“A group of my friends told me about it and I needed something to do over the summer. It seemed like an exciting thing to do. I didn’t know a lot of the groups but that didn’t deter me from going. I went to a lot of the shows and grew to like a lot of the bands I saw,” Hum said.

Also a first time attendee, Kendall Brobst, a senior in psychology, said she had wanted to go for the past three years and that there were many bands she liked this year.

“When I was studying abroad, one of the other girls abroad wanted to go to it too, so we went together. The lineup this year was so good; a lot of people were there that I really wanted to see,” Brobst said.

Hum and Hewitt said Jay-Z was their favorite act and nearly everyone in attendance at the festival was present at his show.

“They had two big screens so everyone could see but from where I was I could see him clearly,” Hum said. “They had general seating for people and VIP seating, but from where I was I had a great view and I could hear really well.”

“The build up to it was awesome and he put on a great show. Being surrounded by 80,000 people chanting ‘HOVA’ – he came out for an encore – it was amazing. The whole open-air atmosphere really added to it,” Hewitt said.

Kings of Leon was Brobst’s favorite act, but said she really enjoyed several other shows as well.

“Kings of Leon was my favorite but a new favorite – something I didn’t know about before but I really enjoyed – was Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes. He was awesome in concert; he was one that I really liked,” Brobst said. “[For] KOL, the stage setup was great, the screens on the side were huge and they were the clearest screens ever, which really added to it so everyone could see. I wasn’t in the front row but it wasn’t a big deal. The Avett Brothers were really good too.”

So many great bands packed into four days meant there were multiple bands playing at all times of the day, which Brobst said made it difficult to catch all the shows people wanted to see.

“I had a whole schedule of the entire day of people I wanted to go see, but you need a break during the day. It sucks because you want to see everyone but you can’t go from noon to five in the morning, you have to go back and chill for a little bit. I definitely missed out on a few bands I wanted to see but it was still a great experience,” Brobst said.

Reminiscent of Woodstock, Bonnaroo has a bit of a hippie jam-band reputation, but Hum said there were a variety of people in attendance and things stayed under control.

“It was a majority of hippy, chill people, a lot of college kids who are partiers and even adults and little children were there. The staff had a good time keeping everything under control,” Hum said.

High temperatures were a constant discomfort. Brobst said she came prepared for the heat and it didn’t negatively impact her experience.

“It didn’t affect it so much; it almost added to it. Obviously it would have been more fun if it was really nice outside because you would be able to dance more and do other stuff without getting super disgusting,” Brobst said. “We had a Wal-Mart trip before we came and got spray fan water bottles, so those were really helpful as far as keeping cool because it was really hot.”

Hewitt said the best part of his experience was being with his best friends and hanging out with everyone. He also said it is something everyone in college should do.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, everyone should look into going,” Hewitt said. “I wouldn’t say it’s life changing, but it’s definitely one of those things you want to say you’ve done, to check off your bucket list.”