Here we are nine hours after arrival and I’ve found the people. Lots of them. They were out there all along, either coming late to the party or just stuck in traffic.

Since the first Bonnaroo in 2002 — which by all accounts was a traffic nightmare for a day and a half — traffic is a big topic whenever Bonnaroo is mentioned.

What many don’t understand is that people driving past the site here in Manchester experience very little delay. Folks attending the festival understand they need to get onto the right shoulder and commence waiting. Through-traffic continues pretty much unabated.

However, festivalgoers do experience delays.

Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves told me around 7:30 tonight that he expected to have everyone inside by noon tomorrow.

The music is just getting started. Newton Faulkner just finished on That Tent, which is near This Tent and around the way from The Other Tent. The crowd waiting for Back Door Slam, which will play at Nightfall next Friday, to begin has been chanting like a college football crowd trying to bring out the band for the last 15 minutes.

The heat has kept things fairly tame so far, with most people seeking out shade anywhere they can find it. Some have failed and will feel the sting of it tomorrow.

Now that it has cooled, Centeroo, around which all else revolves, is filling up with people heading the seven or eighth stages that will showcase bands in the next 20 minutes.

I’m off to join them. The bands I want to see — Weekend Vampire, Lez Zeppelin (an all-female band that reinterprets Zep classics) and Dark Star Orchestra — all begin around midnight.