Thursday June 12th
My first trip around the camp grounds made it even more clear that this festival was nothing like Lollapalooza. There were some of the most elaborate, crazy, and creative camp grounds I had ever seen in my life. Everyone was already having a blast and their was a large number of people who wouldn't even make into the festival today. However I wasn't about to do that. I had spent way to much time to get here not to go in, so I went in right away and spent over an hour exploring the different stages, shops, and food vendors, all before going to see the first band of the day.
The Preatures 3:00 PM That Tent
The Preatures had the unfortunate pleasure of drawing the first time slot of the first day. Somehow they were still able to draw quite the sizable crowd, and they made good use of it. They charmed over many passing concertgoers with their mix of alt rock and power house vocals from female lead singer Isabella Manfredi. The set moved a long quickly with not a lot said except thanking Bonnaroo and the crowd for the immense honor of kicking off the festival. After an hour of fun music they launched into their one hit, "Is This How You Feel?". They had the whole crowd clapping and singing along. After their set I caught part of The Wild Feathers, Jonathon Wilson, and some of a world cup game. After all of that I tried to get tickets to the Comedy Theater, that failed so I made my way back to camp for dinner.
Thao and The Get Down Stay Down 7:00 PM This Tent
After a lengthy stay at the RV eating and relaxing I made my way back to the grounds for a set I was very excited for. All I know about her was that she had worked with a lot of my favorite artists in the past like Andrew Bird, Sufjan Stevens, and even The Decemberists. They played with a mix of alt rock, folk rock, hip hop, and even world music. They have a tendency to bend genres, which is even more apparent live. The group is led by Thao Nguyen who is the lead singer and song writer, not only that but she is groups secret weapon live. She has boundless energy that she breaks out every song. They kicked the show off with last year's We the Common's tital track, and although they spent most of the show playing the album. It was the old songs that resonated the best with the audience. After playing the hit Holy Roller the audience really got into it on Know Better Learn Faster, and ended the set with Every Body.
Real Estate 7:30 PM That Tent
My plan was to walk over and catch half of Real Estate's set before making my way back for the act I considered Thursday's headliner Cloud Nothings, and I did do that. It worked at least in theory, Real Estate is a more intimate, clean, and organized live band while Cloud Nothings are a loud, off the rails, angsty in your face punk band. Both are good but my body had decided it was ready for the loud punk and not patient enough for the calm, pretty songwriting. I stuck around for at least 20 minutes to catch Primitive, Easy, Talking Backwards, and Green Aisles off of their albums Atlas and Days before letting my excitement get the best of me and I left to get a spot for Cloud Nothings.
Cloud Nothings 8:30 PM This Tent
Finally it was time for the most memorable performance of the night and one of the best of the whole weekend. Cloud Nothings are really just Dylan Baldi and band, in fact he started as a solo artist and still writes all the music himself. The crowd was ready to jump, dance, and mosh when they took the stage, and from the first chord Quieter Today the crowd was eating out of the palm of his hand. They were loosing their minds in one of most wild in your face shows of the weekend. For an entire hour the crowd bounced, moshed, and sang ever word from both Attack on Memory and Here and Nowhere Else. He played through all of the hits ending the night with the one-two punch of Wasted Days into No Future/No Past. The show was loud, agnsty, and it ended way too soon.
Omar Souleyman 10:30 PM That Tent
After Cloud Nothings I chilled and looked around for a while, because their was nothing I wanted to see until Omar Souleyman. He is a Syrian singer that performs in traditional Dabke dance music from his home country of Syria. He preforms singing in Arabic and preforming with a single synthesizer on stage that plays all the music combined with American dance music beats. The end result can almost be called Syrian Techno. At this point I had been on my feet for more than 7 hours so I started off sitting near the back, but that didn't last long. Something about the combination of his voice, the crowd, and just the sheer amount of fun drew me into the crowd, and what a blast that was. This show turned out to be one of the biggest dance parties of the entire weekend. I can't dance but that didn't matter even a little, everyone was just flailing about like idiots having too much fun to care about what other people where doing.
J. Roddy Walston and the Buisness 11:30 PM This Tent
J. Roddy Walston and the business was my next stop over at This Tent. I didn't know much about this band going into the show. I had listened to one song leading into this and read his basic bio on in my Bonnaroo book. So I knew that he had some sort of disease that caused him to shake that he channeled and used in his music and works that into punk rock energy. In fact when I was watching him he was raw and alive, a great front man, but I never noticed his shaking. What I did notice is how great he sounded, he sang rock, he sang the blues, he sang punk rock, he did it all. The music it self stuck closer to old school rock and blues. I may not have known much about this band going in, but I now have downloaded all of his albums and am planning to see him when he comes to Des Moines.
Ty Segall 1:00 AM This Tent
It was finally time for the last band of the night, the loud psychedelic rock band Ty Segall. I had planned to try and see part of White Denim's set, but it was all the way across the park and I was running out of steam. So instead I stuck around and watched a bouncing dubstep beetle until it was time for Ty. Ty came out blasting his combination of strange, loud psychedelic rock and it was the perfect way to end the night. I may not have known any of the songs going into it but I loved his sound and his weirdness. His show was also, by far, the loudest show of the night I was moshing to my hearts content. When he announced it was his last song I made eye contact with the guy next to me and we started one last epic mosh pit to end the night. A lot of others went on partying, but I was tired and done with day one.
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Friday June 13th
I learned a few things the hard way about Bonnaroo on the first night. The difference between lolla and roo is that when you throw all of your energy into lolla at the end of the day for me it was a quick two block walk to where I stayed. At Bonnaroo you still have to make your way back to your campsite, easier said then done. They all look the fricken same! I was staying in the RV section and thought that would be easy to find but it took me almost an hour after asking directions to find my way back. At that point I realized walking around, dancing, and moshing for 10 hours straight, on no sleep, and shoes with no padding may not have been my best plan. I woke up dead tired with sore everything and it was only day two. Oh well, drink more caffeine than you have since college, eat something and get going. Little did I know, but today was a giant costume party for Friday the 13th. My favorite is pictured above.
St. Paul and The Broken Bones 12:30 PM The Other Tent
This was the first thing of the day and by far the most soulful thing I saw all day. He brought back the sound of The Temptations and that era of soul, with the lead singer leading the way. He has an amazingly powerful voice, and amazing songs that back it up. This band is one of the most popular up in coming bands of this year and now I know why. They drew a pretty large sized crowd that grew as the band continued to play. The lead singer was almost as excited about this show as the crowd having been to Bonnaroo several times in the past. In fact he told a great story about getting peed on at a Jay Z show at Bonnaroo a few years ago. I'm not usually one to stereotype, but when I heard that voice the last thing I would have expected was it to be a bigger white guy with glasses. Safe to say this band will continue to rise as they win over crowd after crowd.
Roadkill Ghost Choir 2:40 PM New Music Tap Lounge
There wasn't anything that I desperately wanted to see at this time, so I used this time to check out one of the bands playing on the small venue stages. So we ended up at the Miller Lite New Music Tap Lounge to see a group called Roadkill Ghost Choir. Again, I had never heard them before, but I had heard good things. So I settled down in a beanbag chair in front of the small stage and waited. This band did not disappoint, they combine genres as they play. They have a very distorted alt rock sound kinda like Radiohead with more folk music sound thrown in. The singer even goes into some hard rock vocals when the music builds to a climax. I will definitely buy this debut album when it comes out.
Umphrey's Mcgee 3:30 PM What Stage
This was my first trip to the main stage during Bonnaroo, on the first day it had been closed. This is another case where being a music nut can kinda backfire. I have heard of this band a lot, they have a huge following and were one of the few jam bands playing a festival founded by jam bands, but I had never actually heard them before. They took the stage with incredible volume and instrumental skill. This band is a band that deserves a cult following, much like The Greatful Dead, Phish and every amazing jam band to come before them. I will download their albums, but as a jam band I get the feeling it won't be the same. Now it was time to take a break and go eat dinner in camp.
Andrew Bird and The Hands of Glory 6:00 PM This Tent
I had seen Andrew Bird before, right after the release of Break It Yourself, now he is touring the release of a new Handsome Family covers album due out this year. He started the show in the same way he always does solo. He comes out solo with a violin, a record petal system, a spinning record player, and sock monkeys. He started the show with Ethio Invention Number 1, Plasticities, and Hole in the Ocean Floor. The way he sings and records his own vocal and violin harmonies is truly incredible. I could watch a whole solo Andrew Bird show of just that, but his band came out and joined him for Dyin' Bedmaker. He played songs off of almost all of his albums including the early string quartet Bowl of Fire albums. Then there was his whistle. If you have never seen Andrew Bird live, then let me tell you he is the best whistler in the world. Most of the time when a singer whistles during the show it's campy, but with Andrew it's beautiful. His show lasted an hour and fifteen minutes and he closed with the crowd favorite Tables and Chairs and a few Handsome Family covers.
Vampire Weekend 7:30 PM What Stage
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Missing the Head and the Heart and the first half of Neutral Milk Hotel was going to suck, but Vampire Weekend's happy go lucky alt rock sound helped me quickly get over that. I sat back at the beginning to avoid a huge crowd and listened to them play a trio of songs one per album Diane Young, White Sky, and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. It was around that time that the crowd almost tripled in size and to even hear the band well anymore I was going to have to move up. The middle of the crowd was actually the place to be, everyone there was having a blast, but if you looked at the stage it would be hard to tell that. The band plays the songs like they are going through the motions, in fact Ezra actually looks bored on stage. Which is a little sad, but it didn't matter. The crowd was having so much fun that nothing could kill it. The band played hits from all three incredible albums, focusing on the new album mostly. The true fandom came during the older hits like A-Punk, Oxford Comma, and their final song Walcott. Fans danced their way back through the crowd during Walcott on their way to Phoenix and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Neutral Milk Hotel 8:00 PM This Tent
The decision to catch only the second half of Neutral Milk Hotel's set is something I never would have done if I hadn't already caught the amazing reunion tour once. I got to this tent right around Oh Comely which just happens to be my favorite Neutral Milk Hotel song, score for timing. They played around half an hour more of the amazing folky charming songs. Songs that we fell in love with years ago, including Song Against Sex, Ghost, and Two Headed Boy Part 2. The show itself is incredible in the fact that this reunion tour actually happened. They have a few more tour dates left on the reunion tour, so make sure to catch them before theses mountain men disappear for another ten years.
Phoenix 8:45 PM Which Stage
Since Neutral Milk Hotel finished up by a little after nine, I had plenty of time to catch the last hour of Phoenix. Phoenix is a great live band, and they have only gotten better with time. They have always had the songs, and front man for headlining, but they have recently gained an amazing energy about their live shows that couldn't be matched by most bands today. In my mind this falls under bands that should have headlined instead of, or against Kayne West. Don't worry you will hear much more about good old Kanye in this blog post. Another new addition to the Phoenix live show is the incredible light show. I made my way over to the stage to the sounds of Love Like a Sunset part 1 and 2, which have become absolutely incredible live staples. They were followed by If I Ever Feel Better off of Untitled, S.O.S. in Bel Air off of Bankrupt! and Armistice, 1901, and Rome from Wolfgang Amadeus to end the show. During Rome the front man spent most of the song crowd surfing across the entire crowd before ending back up on stage to end the show.
Kanye West 10:00 PM What Stage
This show had been built up all weekend long, but not for the reason you might think. In 2008 Kayne played Bonnaroo for the first time and showed up 3 hours late forcing A members of the Dead off the stage so he could perform his hour set half drunk. This year marked his return as one of the most hated performers to ever play a hippie fest. I showed for a couple of reasons, first and more importantly Bonnaroo hates him and so do I so I wanted to see if he actually showed up and how they received him. Secondly there was literally nothing for me till 11:30. After 15 minutes or so he finally took the stage, at least I think to be honest me and most of the crowd didn't think he was even there until his rant. The sound was quiet and sounded like a DJ just playing his music through the speakers. Once the started his," Where the press at", speech I knew it was him. He proceeded to bitch and moan about Fuck Kayne being written on the port a potties and call himself the biggest rock star in the world, that was met with a sea of boos and a large portion of the crowd leaving. The entire day had signs with gay fish written and drawn on them all over the place. This is from a South Park episode where Kayne's ego is too big to get a joke about how putting fish dicks in your mouth makes you a gay fish. The best moment of that show came when 10,000 people left the show chanting, Gay Fish. Right around that time a fellow metal head noticed my Mastodon shirt and dragged me out for Mastodon.
Matodon 11:30 PM This Tent
This show was the one that I was the most excited for all day. This Tent would serve as the weekend's metal head tent, following Mastodon, Deafheaven and Mushuhggah would take the stage. Mastodon poked their heads out from behind the amps at 11:25 so we baited them by chanting Fuck Kayne and out they came. They took the stage with, "Bonnaroo how do you do", before blasting into Hearts Alive from Leviathan. Right after that moment the crowd exploded into the biggest mosh pit I had seen in a long time. That continued for the entire hour and fifteen minute set. The band played music from all five albums including the upcoming Once More Around the Sun. I had heard that this bands live performances were hit or miss. After the show I heard from several fans who had seen them multiple times that all agreed this was the best one yet. They sincerely thanked the crowd for being the best crowd of the entire tour.
Deafheaven 1:15 AM This Tent
By this point in the night I was figuratively and literally falling apart. I had been exhausted all day and some sort of burning sore throat had set in hours earlier. After an hour in the dust bowl of a mosh pit I noticed that when I tried to talk my throat burned and my voice was an octave lower with out shouting. So I made my way to the med tent before this show. I felt like crap and sat back, until Deafheaven took the stage and absolutely killed it. They made my favorite album of last year with Sunbather, so I was sticking around for this show if it killed me. They only had 45 minutes so they only played four songs, all really long songs. They played three from Sunbather and the closer from Roads to Judah. The lead singer of this band is the metal version of David Lee Roth. He does stage dives, high kicks, flips, and high jumps all while screaming and commanding the crowd. The crowd was so captivated by their performance that they were in the palm of the singers hand. They spent their short 45 minutes dazzling and amazing the crowd with Dream House, Sunbather, The Pecan Tree, and Unrequited. I wanted to stick around and see Mushuggah but I felt like death, so I made my way back early to end day two. As Futurama would say, "the spirit was willing but the body was weak and spongy."
Saturday June 14th
The second day was the hardest one for me, so after some sleep, throat lozenges, allergy pills, and lots of caffeine I was back from the dead. A quick lunch and it was off to Seasick Steve to see them play with the bassist from Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones. On the way to the show I saw Jack Whites rolling record store and a couple of Australian girls wearing a Zeppelin shirts. I told them about John, new friends were made, and off to the show.
Seasick Steve 1:30 PM What Tent
We got to the stage and sure enough sitting in a chair with a bass across his lap was John Paul Jones. He is one of the most normal looking legendary rock stars I have ever seen. Seaside Steve plays old school blues with a bit of a modern rock or Jack White vibe thrown in. That makes sense considering he helped record and produce their album. The set was an hour of blistering blues, like B.B. King style blues. It was over quickly and soon after I picked up his album at Jack White's studio Third Man Records.
The Bouncing Souls 3:00 PM That Tent
I had some time to kill and some caffeine to consume, so I grabbed the largest coffee they sold and made my way to a table to drink coffee and watch The Bouncing Souls. I actually ended up sitting next to a guy from the same town as The Bouncing Souls, New Brunswick New Jersey. He said that they were a great middle of the day band to just sit back and jam to, and I had to agree. They played a very crowd friendly show taking requests, playing off of all of their albums, and even changing the final song based on the crowd's reaction to their first choice for the last song. "The last song is Comet, or maybe it's True Believers", the crowd screams, the band smiles, and the show ends the way it should with fun from the band and the crowd. They are a good punk band that has been around for way longer than you would expect, and if you like punk rock you will like them.
Cake 4:00 PM Which Stage
I got to Cake's show about 15 minutes into their set, right around the song Long Time. Cake is one of those bands that you know way more songs by than you thought you did. Personally I have been a fan since I first heard Comfort Eagle. Cake has a very crowd involvement kind of show. They love dividing the audience in half and having sides cheer against each other. It sounds kind of summer campy, but add some alcohol and rabid music fans, and it becomes a major battle to please Cake. Of course they ended the show with the best hits, Never There, Short Shirt/Long Jacket, and closed the show with The Distance.
Damon Albarn 5:45 PM What Stage
This was the start of what I now call the trio of music legends showing us why they are legends, title pending. Most people don't know who Damon Albarn is by name alone, but that just means more for me. Damon Albarn is the guy behind Blur, The Gorillaz, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, as well as many other projects. This was indeed a solo show behind his first solo album Everyday Robots, but that didn't stop him from playing music from all his past projects. Not only that but he brought along a string section, a brass ensemble, a soul choir of back up singers, and special guests. After dropping a couple Gorrillaz songs Tomorrow Comes Today, and Kids With Guns. He dropped the big guns and announced that De La Soul were here and launched into Feel Good Inc. It was a festival uniting moment were everyone lost it and sang every word. He ended the songg singing that famous laugh with De La Soul. The surprises weren't done there, after telling us that this was the best festival that he had ever played in America he brought out Del the Funky Homosapien to play Gorillaz hit Clint Eastwood. His set served as a mini Gorriaz reunion show with solo songs, blur songs, and others thrown in. It was one of surprise shows of the weekend, and Damon Albarn was a commanding front man who was hypnotizing to watch.
James Blake 8:45 PM That Tent
I had planned on getting some food and seeing Chromeo first but, in true Bonnaroo style I made some friends and chatted with them until they asked If I was going to James Blake, so I went with. The first time I listened to James Blake I had that same sensation I had listening to Radiohead and Animal Collective for the first time. This music is just to hip for me, and again like always I listened to it more and got it, sort of. When James finally took the stage the start of his show and was quickly sidelined by technical problems. He is an introvert, so his stalling methods during this time were awkward to say the least, but when the beat came back and he started singing the crowd was fully with him. He has the voice of a crooner, and the bass of Skrillex. He is has this coolness about him that isn't wanted or strived for but it's just there because it's needs to be. There will always be an act that has that coolness factor as a necessity like The Strokes, Interpol, and so many other acts before him. He will eventually pass the torch, but right now he is it. The strangest thing about his performance is that he doesn't ever move from behind his piano or hype up the crown. He is a true introvert performer that let's the music speak for itself, and it did. He sang songs from both of his albums and the crowd ate it up. The heartbreaking songs gave the crowd something to emote with.
Jack White 10:45 PM What Stage
Jack White is one of my favorite musicians ever, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and solo. His original set time was 10:30 to 12:30 a good two hour headlining set but was changed to 10:45 to 12:15 an hour and a half set felt slightly disappointing, but that would soon change. I got up as far up as I could before Jack came out with The White Stripes Icky Thump, what an opener! Unlike Kanye's polarizing speeches Jack White delivered rock star speeches starting with, "Come on Tennessee I know you " and later talking about how you and I make music, Rollingstone doesn't make music you and I do. This is what a headliner should be, charismatic, captivating, but most importantly feeding off of the audience's energy and attitude. Jack rocked and radiated positivity much later in to the night than planned.
Jack White performing Steady as She Goes, and Top Yourself.
The best part about this show wasn't even that he gave an amazing normal set, but he catered his set and show specifically for Bonnaroo. His show blew my mind right out of the gates with his showmanship and the amazing musicianship from everyone in his band, but when he blew past his curfew and kept going I knew we were in for something special. His encore alone lasted 10 songs and he went over his set time by 45 minutes. The show was so good that even though there were other shows starting up most people didn't care they just stayed to watch Jack slay two or three more White Stripes hits. It was the show that never ended and he let us know if we kept watching he would keep playing. Before he even started his last song the crowd was already chanting that famous base line. This show is the show all shows will be compared to for many in the crowd including myself, the best show of my life. Little did I know that just five minutes later he would be given a run for his money.
Here is the amazing Bonnaroo setlist for Jack White's show.
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds 12:30 AM That Tent
I got to Nick Cave's set a half hour late because of Jack White's monumental set. It was a very small crowd because of it's competition being The Flaming Lips, Skrillex Super jam, and Frank Ocean. The few who went to Nick Cave walked away with one of the best performances of the weekend. For days after this performance I couldn't put into words the kind of performance this actually was. Nick Cave makes you wait on his every word, he is a performer and a poet. Both he and his band play with the intensity and attention to detail that makes it so you can't look away. When Nick sings he goes up to the rail, balances him self on the audience, and sings right into your soul. He gives eye contact to the audience and one look from him could chill you to the bones. He has been compared to Bruce Springsteen as a front man, and maybe I could see that. Nick Cave could be the dark Gothic priest, version of Bruce Springsteen. This is the kinda guy who could start a cult if he wanted to.
Here is Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Stagger Lee live.
Best Campsite seen:
Here is Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Stagger Lee live.
The Bad Seeds have gone through many line up changes and different styles in music, but I like to think of them as the Gothic hard rock church band, and Nick Cave is the pastor. Never is that more evident then on Murder Ballads Stagger Lee. That song is hands down the best single song live performance I have ever seen in my entire life. It wasn't just me, looking around the crowd you could see so many looks of disbelief as minds were collectively blown during this performance. My favorite being the stoned teenager that turned to me in between songs and said, "Is this real life?" He played a lot off of his newest masterpiece Push the Sky Away, but in truth he was so good that it didn't matter what he played. After this show I couldn't get past how amazing the one two punch of Jack Whit and Nick Cave was. I could have just gone home and been completely happy, but of course I didn't. This wasn't even my last show of the night.
Darkside 2:30 AM That Tent
It was only by pure will and love for this record that I was able to make it through this show. This band is a crazy mix of electronic, psychedelic, and dark rock. This band is the two piece, one DJ and a rock guitarist who also sings. This band serves as the most hardcore rock dance party of the night. It was already trippy music, but the back
drop, fog machine, and all of the costumes and props the audience brought along make it even worse. This was a wonderful way to dance until your energy was gone, that was until one person collapsed due to a diabetic blood sugar problem. The show kept going but the audience was visually shaken. Eventually with the help of some drunk fans dressed in togas the crowd got back into it. I even tried to dance, which is kinda like the dance the goth kids in south park do, minus the cigarettes. After this show I was done, ready to crash. Others partied on all night, but I made my way back to the RV and passed out.
drop, fog machine, and all of the costumes and props the audience brought along make it even worse. This was a wonderful way to dance until your energy was gone, that was until one person collapsed due to a diabetic blood sugar problem. The show kept going but the audience was visually shaken. Eventually with the help of some drunk fans dressed in togas the crowd got back into it. I even tried to dance, which is kinda like the dance the goth kids in south park do, minus the cigarettes. After this show I was done, ready to crash. Others partied on all night, but I made my way back to the RV and passed out.
Sunday June 15th
I must have slept in till at least 12:30 or 1pm, because when I woke up I finally felt rested sort of. I ate a quick lunch and was happy to see that I didn't want to see anything until 2:30. I made my way one last time through the camp grounds here is one of my favorites.
Okkervil River 2:30 PM This Tent
This is one of those indie bands with a huge cult following that I am now a part of. I saw them earlier on this tour and they blew me away, this show was even better. The key to a great live show aside from good music and being expert musicians is energy. The most energetic and lively shows that are also great musically are the ones people talk about and remember. These guys have that in spades. This alt rock/ folk band has real chops and songs to back them up. The lead singer is the key to this band, he has boundless energy and real commanding front man charisma. They played songs off of all their albums focusing on last years masterpiece The Silver Gymnasium. They opened the show with It Was My Season, and On a Balcony, and closed the show with Unless It's Kicks. For me personally this was the best show of all of Sunday.
Arctic Monkeys 4:45 PM What Stage
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This one is tougher for me because I like AM and the new Arctic Monkeys, but I fell in love with them when they were ansty British teenagers with quick paced and quick witted songs. They are now more like the modern rock band version of Elvis, and with every album they move farther and farther away from the first sound. They only played four songs total from their first two albums and eight from the new one. I will say that they are way better live performers now than when they were in the anxious British teenager days. Everything that comes out of singer Alex Turner's mouth is unbelievably cool, things that would make you squirm if said by anyone else. They opened with the infectious Do I Wanna Know?, and of course closed the show with the amazing R U Mine? I love the new cool swagger that they perform with, and they are amazing musicians. I just wish they would cut a few new ones and add in a few old favorites. In truth though they could charm the pants off of the most hard core music critic, my self included.
Broken Bells 6:15 PM Which Stage
Arctic Monkeys into Broken Bells feels like my most played on I tunes was turned into a music festival, but Broken Bells are better suited for an intimate club than a large festival crowd. I love their music so much it isn't healthy and when they toured on the first album I was there. It was intimate, powerful an amazing overall experience. That magic is sort of lost at the festival crowd. The fans aren't here just to see just them so they won't sit quietly mesmerized, and the large open field isn't exactly a dark club. The magic is sort of lost. Good thing the new music is more suited for this sort of environment. The added disco flair from After the Disco makes the crowd dance and that makes up for the lack of intimate magic. James Mercers's voice was enough for me. I got as close as I could and just listened pretending all these drunk hooligans were just a part of a Broken Bells Music Video. They opened the show with Perfect World into The Ghost Inside, and ended it with The High Road. Now time to run to The Avett Brothers.
The Avett Brothers 7:00 PM What Stage
This show had already started but I wasn't going to miss a minute of Broken Bells, so we got there a half an hour in and just sat back an listened. I hadn't really listened to The Avett Brothers much outside of The Carpenter which I really liked. So this was going to be a sit back and just chill show. They played a couple of songs before I recognized one, it happened to be a George Jones cover. They also played a great cover of Just a Closer Walk with Thee the traditional church hymn. Also a few off of The Carpenter but mostly focused on their entire catalog. This is a folk band is more the traditional sense, and less in the Mumford and Sons sense. This is actually a great thing because are plenty of modern folk bands and not as many old school folk bands. They sound great and all play multiple instruments. Definitely a band I'm going to have to look more into.
Bluegrass Superjam Featuring Ed Helms 8:00 PM That Tent
Last year was the first annual Bluegrass Superjam hosted by Ed Helms. I guess he enjoyed so much that he is doing it again this year. His set was at the same time as The Avett Brothers but I had enough time to catch part of it. I got there right around the time that he was acting more as the host letting his guest musicians do their thing. They played some absolutely incredible covers of great songs, adding in some bluegrass flair. The best moment of the show came when the singer from the Black Lillies came up and led a bluegrass cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. A few more star studded covers followed, including a Llevon Helm cover. Next Ed Helms brought out his blue grass band and played some original material, but it was time for Elton John, so we had to go.
Elton John 9:30 PM What Stage
We got to the field a few minutes early and got a spot in the back to sit and watch Elton. He came out with Funeral For a Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding, but we realized right a way that there was a problem with the speakers near the middle and back of the crowd. It was bad enough that's tons of people starting leaving, but that left the perfect gap to move up and save the last show. It was a big enough downer that one member of the audience stood up and shouted, "Come on people this is it, after this show we all have to go home. Come on It's Elton John let's have one last singalong."Everyone cheered and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as Elton John started Candle in the Wind.
Here is Elton John playing Candle in the Wind live.
Bonnaroo wanted a giant group singalong that lasted late into the night to end the festival and Elton John didn't disappoint. His set was almost all hits, except for Grey Seal with featured Ben Folds a surprise guest. Ben Folds quickly reminds us why he is one of best modern day piano players around. He played Bennie and the Jets, Candle in the Wind, Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Sad Songs (Say So Much), All the Girls Love Alive, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, I'm Still Standing, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Your Song, Crocodile Rock, and many others. There couldn't have been a better way to end the festival. After that the crowd all funneled out of the festival singing along together to a song I didn't know, all while climbing the arch grabbing the shiny things off of the arch and handing them to us bonnarovians.
Fun Facts Learned at Bonnaroo
Number of Southpark Themed Bonnaroo signs: 7
Best Kayne insult at Bonnaroo:
Number of People too drunk to attend the festival on the first night: Probably about 25%.
Best Successful pick up line used at Bonnaroo: I don't think it's fair that Skrillex get a spaceship when Kanye can't find a gay fish lover. Would you be my gay fish lover?
Number of Lanterns almost starting fires: Not many, at least until Elton John.
Best Photo Bomb in my Pictures: Kayne West Gay Fish sign.
New age hippie bat-mobile:
Number of exercise equipment seen at Bonnaroo: Several free weights, tons of hula hoops, and one trampoline.
Places acceptable to take a nap or sleep: literally anywhere on the grounds.
Number of Dub step Vehicles at Bonnaroo: Just one dub step beetle.
Number of High fives given: Over 100 on the first day, and my last day my hand was sore.
Number of people leaving the festival with lifelong memories: Everyone.
Wow! Full on soundtrip! You've got Nick Cave in there playing with the rest, so there's bound to be some bit of pertinence there, as far as music is concerned. Anyway, RVs should not get in the way of that. If their klinks have to be dealt with, then have them done so quickly. All the best to you!
ReplyDeleteLiza Pilon @ Prairie City RV Center