Bonnaroo 2012: The Return of Mud City [Black Lips, Beach Boys, more]

The trouble with the back quarter of Bonnaroo — from about midnight Saturday until whenever you decide to halfheartedly jam your tent in the back of the car and speed off into the sunset — is that by the time you've reached the second headliner of the festival, your senses are murky at best. Bonnaroo is like some kind of crazy outdoor sensory immersion chamber, and being there is like the Ludovico brainwashing scene in A Clockwork Orange. The only difference is that instead of curbing violence with Beethoven, you're unconsciously buying a new Ford Focus every time you hear The Punch Brothers.

I awoke Sunday in the full throes of festival madness. Tired beyond description and still suffering total sensory meltdown from the overwhelming smell of patchouli, Reggie Watts scoring The Last Starfighter, Alice Cooper and whatever the deal was with that stupid clock tower, I had exactly one goal for the rest of Bonnaroo — escape with my life.

Oh and see The Beach Boys. Escape with my life and see The Beach Boys.