Prepping the What Stage- photo by Dean Budnick

Planetary Alignment- photo by Dean Budnick

Today marks the twelfth official opening of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. It’s also the eleventh time that the event begins with music on Thursday. The inaugural year saw no Thursday performers and a fair share of chaos (trust us, we were there- this is the twelfth straight year that our editorial team will see the dawn each morning to produce the Beacon). In 2003 the first notes were sounded in the evening, with a grand total of four scheduled performances by Louque, Hackensaw Boys, The Machine and the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. By contrast, in 2013, over 50 acts will hit the various stages across the festival site, with much more than musical performances in the offing.

So with this in mind, as we walked the grounds on Wednesday, watching Bonnaroo come together, we solicited various folks’ recommendations for Thursday. Here we offer twelve takes on how to occupy yourself on what is shaping up to be a lovely day in Manchester, TN (after some severe weather earlier in the week, which caused the entire site to be shut down for a few hours at one point).

Discover your new favorite band Thursday is ideal for making lasting connections with emerging artists. So be sure to check out a group you’ve never seen before (and perhaps never even heard of before). Bonnaroo Thursday veterans include: The National (2007), Passion Pit (2009), Portgual. The Man (2009), Vampire Weekend (2008), MGMT (2008), Alabama Shakes (2012), Rodrigo Y Gabriela (2007), Temper Trap (2010), Zac Brown Band (2009) and many, many others.

Revisit your old favorite band You’re always there when your go-to group appears at home, so be sure to show them some Bonnaroo love as well. Whether that means Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, Father John Misty, Japandroids, Allen Stone, Futurebirds (see page 10), Paper Diamond (see page 3), Houndmouth (see page 3), Killer Mike, Alt-J , or whomever scratches that itch, don’t hesitate to make your move. Brushfire Records fans will no doubt want to check out ALO with Special Guests.

Talk Some Trash Visit one of the new Trash Talker stations and discuss composting and recycling with a member of Clean Vibes (see page 4 for more).

Savor some air-conditioned comedy Even though we gave Chris Gethard a Q & A designed for musicians (see page 5), this doesn’t mean we don ‘t fully appreciate the splendor that is the Bonnaroo Comedy Theatre Hosted by IFC.

Keep It Quiet The Silent Disco is back. Spinning on Thursday will be DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Logic, DJ Sam Spiegel of N.A.S.A., Jonny Santos and Vacationer.

Make your Follicles Sing Stop by the Garnier Fructis Salon in Centeroo for a hair wash and style from a professional Garnier stylist. Then take a photo and upload an image of the new you to share with folks at home.

Double Your Rocky Horror Pleasure Starting at 11PM in the Cinema Tent at (or after Game 4 of the NBA Finals concludes) the Polyphonic Spree will perform the music of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Afterwards, the original film will screen in its entirety.

Play Games Head over to the Apples to Apples Crazy Combination Lounge where a number of comedians appearing at the festival will host, judge and play Apples to Apples in a series of Quick Fire tournaments. VIP tickets to shows in the Bonnaroo Comedy Theater are among the prizes.

Get your University Degree Opening session of the Broo’ers University series will take place at 3:30 on Thursday, kicking off the 2013 Broo’ers Festival.

Take a test drive Actually, while we’re pretty sure you can’t tool around the grounds on one of the 2014 Ford Fiestas over at the Fiesta Garage, you can kick the tires and then score some free screen-printed t-shirts, charge your phone and enjoy some bonus performances, with DIIV slated to appear today (and other acts to follow over the course of the weekend).

Enjoy some pageantry Stop by Adult Swim’s Pageant of the Cosmos and take in the action at the Meatwad Planetarium. Now if something called the Meatwad Planetariurm isn’t motivation enough to get your butt over there then shame on you but we have four more words to share: Baloonicorn Blowout in Space (See page 11).

Make The Rounds As festival co-founder Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment told us on Wednesday, “Take some time to walk around and surprise yourself. You may even discover Christmas in June…”

See you out there.