'Bonnagrannies' get rockstar treatment at Bonnaroo

Four surprise celebrities are stealing the social media show at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival this year: The Bonnagrannies.

They don't know how to use Twitter, but they have adult grandchildren to handle that. That's the platform where the four women, all from Middle Tennessee and over the age of 85, scored free tickets to the festival.

Mary Neiderhauser, 85, used to get tickets through her community involvement in Manchester for herself and pals Laddie Neil, 86, Alice Ann Barge, 88, and Nancy Lee Pitts, 90. The latter three all live in Nashville.

But this year, that freebie stream ran dry.

They began to worry.

And then their social media team (their grandkids) took to social media. They reached out to musical headliners and media begging for tickets. They wrote a poem to support their efforts.

Bonnaroo eventually offered the group of grandmas free VIP tickets, said Allison Oldacre, who is Barge's granddaughter.

"We were just tickled to death," Neiderhauser said.

It's their third festival together and their first in VIP, giving them access to perks like air-conditioned relaxation tents, a chauffeur and bathrooms with real toilets and running water.

Neiderhauser has been preparing for this trip a while, making meals ahead of time and stashing them in her fridge. Each of the grannies contributes to the potluck.

They sleep at Neiderhauser's house in Manchester each night, their version of "camping." They said they stayed up until 3 a.m. Saturday morning after returning from seeing Alabama Shakes on the festival's biggest stage.

By early Saturday afternoon they were fielding media interviews in a VIP tent. Natalie Labriola, who works for Superfly, which produces the festival, showed the grannies a cellphone picture of her own grandmother.

"This is my grandma Irene," she said. "Passed away at 92. You guys make me miss her."

Other festivalgoers came over to snap pictures of the women, clad in red T-shirts reading "#bonnagrannies" with red and blue sequin cowboy hats. Their fans proclaimed them a must-see at the festival, and declared their own goals to party at the festival into their 80s.

The women, who met each other while their children were together in public school in Nashville, like the festival for the music and the activity, Barge said. She had a hard time singling out the best parts.

"They get better and better," she said. But Pitts piped up, proclaiming Paul McCartney, who appeared on a Bonnaroo stage in 2013, the top show.

"I still think McCartney was the best," she said.

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.

Their poem:

The four "Bonnagrannies" are in a stew.

They don't have tickets to Bonnaroo.

They're all in their eighties, except for one.

Soon she will be ninety-one.

This may be the last year they're able to go,

So please can't you help them see the show?

Four tickets is all it takes to make them happy,

The time is near, so make it snappy!