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Bonnaroo Draws to a Close, McCartney Wows Crowd

Emily West for mtsusidelines.com

MURFREESBORO,

Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Bonnaroo 2013 came to a close Sunday night with many of the  festival’s 80,000 attendees heading home Monday morning.

There were reports of heavy traffic on I-24 in Coffee County Monday morning, but no major tie ups. Festival goers had good weather most of the weekend and local authorities report there were no major incidents.

Emily West spent the weekend at Bonnaroo for WMOT reporting partner Sidelines newspaper. She says the headlining performance by former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was definitely the show's highlight.

“I’ve never seen that many people stay for an entire set at the main stage as they did for Paul McCartney. People stayed the entire three hours. Hardly anybody left, even when he would say, ‘Oh, I’m leaving.’ Then he would do three encores.”

West says Bonnaroo is quite an experience. She says she’s always surprised at home upbeat the crowd stays in spite of the challenges of attending a four day, outdoor event.

“People are there to hang-out and be with their friends and listen to some really great music and they’re happy to be there even though they’re stinky and they haven’t had showers and they have to use port-a-potties. They’re still really happy to be there.”

Show organizers recently announced the results of new study highlighting Bonnaroo’s economic impact on Tennessee. The study indicates the festival generates $50 million in both direct and indirect revenue.

Next year's concert is tentatively planned for June 12 to 15.