Man. It feels good to sleep in my own bed. It's been a pretty good while. However, now, almost a week after I have come home, I have succesfully mulled the whole week experience over in my mind, and I am ready to reveal my learnings. So here is my comprehensive review of the whole weekend.
If you want to read about a specific artist, I highlighted band's I saw and where I talk about them in bold green.
The trip started out pretty slowly. Me and my Roo' mate Jake had the bright idea to get there super early, so that we will have plenty of time to see shows that day. Right around two in the morning, we realized what a horrible idea this was. Me and Jake waited 6 FREAKIN' HOURS to inch 2 miles down the interstate shoulder, off the exit, and into the Bonnaroo campground. Now, we expected a wait, and we were alright with it until we found out that our friends who arrived at around 7 , the time we got in), managed to take a back-road and get in just before us. I was pretty pissed, but there was nothing I could do, so I just looked ahead at that massive iron structure called the What Stage, and marveled in the week I was about to partake in.
• Day 1
The very first moments of the day provided one of the strangest moments of the weekend. After driving through the night, and being undeniably worn out, The sun started to rise, while I felt as if it was setting. I guess its like jet-lag, but man, did it mess with me. Howeva, I shook it off, set off camp, and set off to explore. By the last day, I would have done everything in my power not to walk anywhere, but I was starry-eyed with visions of cheap greasy food and mud-riddled concert venues. So, I trekked into the middle of Bonnaroo no-where, before eventually running into the Manis/Trainor klan by chance. Centeroo, the home of all activity (concerts, booths, vendors) for the week, opened shortly after, and we all headed in, ready to start the week with a bang. A couple small acts played some small tents but the first real concert I saw was Fanfarlo at The Other Tent. Honestly, the only reason I went to see this band is because I saw that they made it on the new Twilight soundtrack, which is kind of prestigious for the alternative music world. I meandered to the sandy tent about an hour before the show started, so when the band came on stage, I was pretty much at the very front.
I can't tell you how great these guys were. The European group played an hour and a half of great folk rock, with brooding majestic ballads, accompanied with acordian, violin, and jangly bells galore. The band did a great job of keeping their set varied, playing songs with all kinds of tempos and emotional ranges. I honestly had only heard the band once on NPR, but I'm already a fan. It was the perfect way to get the weekend rolling.
Next up, I waited for Baroness, a heavy metal troupe with a Mastadon sense of creativity in their sludgey songs. I had gotten a hold of The Blue Album and really enjoyed it because it was so different from from the usual bland bang on a drum metal that is so associated with the genre. Unfortunately, they were about as interesting as a pile of rocks. I only stayed for three songs, all of which were miserably boring, and very un-Baroness sounding. They may have gotten better as their set rolled on, but they didn't pick it up in time for me to enjoy them. Besides, there were 150 acts going on this weekend. I couldn't waste my time with a boring set. That mind set was pretty different by the last day, but you'll see this for yourself.
I wandered around for a little while, stopping by on a very mediocre Here We Go Magic set. I don't know the band, and I didn't give them much time to grow on me, but they just didn't really sound all that great to me at the time, so it was on to the next one. Miike Snow. This was the surprise of the week. I have heard this name thrown around the internet, and I might have heard a song of two, but these guys blew my expectations out of the water. It's like they play hype techno, that is perfect for a live setting. The epic beats blended so well with the bands groovy band, that the whole crowd was jumping from the first song. The energy was ridiculous, and I had not experienced anything like it since Passion Pit a few months earlier. Not that it would be the last time of the week, but it was one of the highlights of the whole weekend. I wish so much now that I had stuck with the amazing band, instead of going to the remarkably un-funny J.B. Smoove.
J.B. Smoove was terrible. Most people know him as Leon on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I now know him as one of the worst comedians of all time. I mean this guy has a very impressive pedigree. He's written for SNL. He's been in many successful movies. He even won a freaking Writers Guild Of America award for best Comedy/Variety series in 2007. So why did he absolutely suck? He took everything funny about African American comedy, and chucked it out the window, leaving grungy sex jokes, and stupid "there's a lot of white people here tonight" quirps. His opener, Baron Vaughn, wasn't so hot either. Rob Cantrell was the only saving grace of the whole comedy show, and he wasn't exactly knocking em' out of the park. In fact, the best part of the night was when J.B. questioned some white dude about his rapping skills, and the little scrawny white dude spit as well as Jay-Z did later that week. Suck it J.B. It was a bad experience, and I left with about twenty minutes left. Why in the world I didn't just go see Neon Indian? I do not know.
After that travesty, I had to get the bad taste out of my mouth. We headed over to That Tent just to kill some time and see The Temper Trap, a band that sounded like a rip-off of U2 when I heard them online before Roo'. While the music had very Edge-esque qualities, the show was amazing. The show was the clappiest of the week, as almost every song had a very tribal drum beat rocking in the back-ground. There may have been two songs that the crowd didn't clap on, but it was alright, because the music beckoned for it. When the band had rolled into their big hit, "Sweet Disposition", the crowd went pretty wild and the Trap had That Tent dancing from front to back. Towards the end of the set, the band pulled out the old water on the drum kit trick, as the lead singer pounded away on his tom and cymbal set, much to the enjoyment of the front rows getting a light splash. The whole set was one of the most energetic of the weekend, and the band is just another in a long list of new-found talent for me.
The last show of the night was pretty dissapointing, but not just because of the music. The xx were playing a very late show, and to get good seats, we had scooted up and decided to wait the 45 minutes until they came on. During this time, a group of frat bro's, people I least expected to like The xx, decided to force their way up behind us to hit on some drunk hippy girls, pushing the space from really cramped, to being constantly elbowed in the back. It sucked. And this was all before the show even started. When The xx hit the stage, they sounded amazing, opening up the only way they should, with "Intro". It was really great, and a lot of fun live. Then it all went downhill. The frat boys decided to scream the words to every song The xx played, acting like they were at a Kid Rock concert, not one of the most sophisticated and proper alternative groups in recent years. About three songs in, the frats found it funny to spray me with water, and then act like it wasn't me, so about two songs later, I split. It wasn't fun at all. And while the frat bro's ruined it for the most part, The xx didn't help. I mean, they sounded great, but one of the things the band is known for is their building of great beats, and on the album, these beats only last for 10-15 seconds. The xx should have let the beats settle, and chill for a while. Instead, they spend just the same amount of time as they do on the recordings. It was good, but it was just like the album. There was no personal feeling of attachment with the band. I left about 6 songs in, kinda pissed that the show was ruined for me, kinda disapointed, and very tired. Despite the mediocre last show, they day was amazing. I could have left happy then, and the week had just started. I knew there were some special shows coming up, but I had no clue how epic the week would end up.
• Day 2
The sizzling Manchester heat came nice and early, waking me up around 8:30, leaving about 4 hours to do nothing but bask in the sun, and plan for the day. Interestingly enough, the more planning you do at Roo', the less you follow that plan. Little things happen. It starts to rain, you fall asleep, your feet get too tired to move. Therefore, by the third day, I just went with the flow. However, this was day 2, and I was still ready to stick to my intricate schedule. So I met back up with the Manis/Trainor's and we started the day off with the ever entertaining Punch Brothers. I've seen these guys three times now, and this was the group at it's best. I had seen them in a very small venue in the past, and the energy the significantly larger crowd gave off allowed the Punch Brothers to perform with peak energy. They flew through some of their classic bluegrass folk blends, highlighted perhaps by a fantastic version of "Dead Leaves And A Dirty Ground", originally by The White Stripes. The band is known for their fantastic cover of The Strokes "Heart In A Cage", but Chris Thile, also famous for his past group's (Nickel Creek) take on Britney Spears "Toxic", this time chose another Stroke's hit; "Reptilia". It's one of my favorite guitar licks in history, and it worked perfectly on the mandolin. These guys have some of my favorites covers of all time. Their take on "Ophelia" is even better than the original, but I've only heard it once. One of the funniest moments of the weekend came with the banjo player introducing a song from an earlier album, in which the band was under a different name; that being Chris Thile. Chris piped up and said, "Yea! That was a good name!" The chemistry continues to be one of the things that draws me back to this fantastic blue-grass group, and I'll undoubtedly be seeing them as soon as they come back to Knoxville.
After that show at That Tent wrapped up, me and the Manis brothers set off for the first rapper of the festival, Jay Electronica, a show that would prove to be pretty memorable. I didn't know anything about this guy, but Josh was praising him pretty hard, so I was glad to give him a spin. We ended up being just a few rows back, and I didn't think there were that many people there, but about two songs in, Jay said, "There is some real energy up here. I want ya'll to feel this energy. Get up here", and before you could say "drug induced college hipsters" about two hundred of the first few rows were on stage, including yours truly. There were a few more people than I thought there. The tent was full to the back, which is a good 7,000 people or so. But I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking, "HOLY WOW, I'M ON STAGE AT BONNAROO". It was pretty dang awesome. He played about a song and a half before we got kicked off stage by security, and luckily, we got back to about the same place as we were before. Jay had some great rhymes, and he was especially easy to understand because he rapped about 70% of the show a capela. His flow was intriguing, and his words passed Andy's rap test of having real meaning behind them. You probably don't know him, so go check him out right now. If he comes to town, be sure to hit the show up.
When Jay wrapped up his all too short set, I sailed over to Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, only to find it was the worst venue of all time for the band. These guys are pretty big in the indie world, and they easily could have fit on the Which Stage (The second biggest stage there), but instead they were placed in The Other Tent (The smallest venue) while absolutely no one played on any other stage. The result was a mass of people, flowing a good hundred feet outside of the tent in all directions, which I had no problem with during the rest of the week. It was a bit ridiculous, and not all that fun to hear. However, I did get to here there hit "Home", which is honestly the only song I know by the band. What I heard was pretty good. I heard from various others that the Edward was really cool about hanging out in the audience and walking around for a few songs, so that sounds pretty cool. When the show ended, there was a mass exodus out of the tent, so I moved up to some pretty good seats for Dr. Dog, a show I was really looking forward to. The 30 minute wait felt like 4 hours, and my legs were already starting to kill me, but I was eager to hear the band. When 4 o'clock hit, the band rolled on stage and opened with their newest hit "Stranger", which was a jolly time. The fun however, would stop growing with that, as the band dragged through song and song that sounded a lot like the one before it. It doesn't show on the album, but live, the songs just seemed to be one in the same. It was really dissapointing, as I really looked forward to this show as a highlight of the week. 6 tracks in, Dr. Dog hit my bucket. I trudged off, defeat and anguish glowing in my eyes. It was the first true dud of the week. But wait. This is Bonnaroo. A new creative thought was hiding right around the corner!
In perfect zen fashion, I stumbled upon a show I did not expect to enjoy, and much to my contrary, had a really good time. She and Him left a bad taste in my mouth with their last album, and it was kind of on the back-burner for the list of shows to see. In fact, my disdain had grown so much, that I planned to just look at Zooey Deschanel, who is beautiful, and take my pardon from their presence. I snuck up right before the show started, and a girl with her significant other thought out loud, "I didn't think any guys liked She and Him", to which I promptly retorted, "I like She". About that time, Zooey bounced on stage, with the giggly ferocity her voice projects. Her energy was astounding, as she had the same Innaugural Bonnaroo spirit I did. She jumped up and down to the mellow guitar licks and fun-spirited choruses. The very first song was a lot of fun, and she captured my attention for quite a while, and not off of her looks alone. Her band's surfer swagger resonated through the tent, while a chorus of down to earth girls and hipster M. Ward look-a-likes sang along to every word. I left after about ten songs to catch good seats for Tenacious D, rolling down the field with redemption fullfiling what Dr. Dog so heartlessly took from me.
And now, it was time to rock. About an hour after She and Him, Conan jumped onstage to introduce the rock comedy strong-hold that is Tenacious D. I know these guys are a joke band, but they are the most talented Joke band on the planet. Jack and KG can shred with the best of em'; even on acoustic guitar. They head banged their way through their opening epic bro-certos (Bro-concertos) until they reached....."The Metal". Huge stomping sounds filled the What Stage field, while a giant metallic robot monster stared down the audience in a fury of dark hatred, as Jack Black ran through all of the genres that The Metal had conquered; New Age, Techno, Country, Soft Rock. He was.....The Metal. It was hilarious. The robot stayed stiff until about the last verse, where he break danced his away across the stage, and onto the next trembling genre. Jam Bands. The rest of the set included Jack Black getting a call confirming a sequel to the cinema flop about a year earlier as long as Kevin James replaces Kevin Glass, KG quitting the band, KG rejoining the band in guitar solo fashion, Jack Black playing toy sax (very well), the devil himself coming on stage to challenge the boys to a duel, ending with the devils defeat and the classic song "Tribute", and finally an awesome cover of "Pinball Wizard" that completely hit me in the face with shock and awe. The whole set ran as much like a story as it did an epic rock concert, and the tongue-in-cheek tied the whole set together perfectly.
After the D, I waited around for an hour for Kings Of Leon. I met some kids from Colorado who not only assured me that South Park is a real town, but that it's also just as poor as it looks in the show. Awesome! Some time around 9, the lights came up , the band hit the stage, and the crowd flipped its wig. KoL have an interesting Bonnaroo pedigree, as they have played in 2004, 2005, and 2007, making them the first band to ever graduate from the small tents to a headlining slot, as well as one of the most played artists in the festivals history. The band started out with "Crawl", one of the highlights of Only By The Night, and followed up with the equally great "Taper Jean Girl", but then the band went down-hill for me. The songs once again started to blend together for me, catching onto the Dr. Dog syndrome. After about five songs, I just headed towards the back of the field through an endless sea of dancing hippies and hula-hoopers and plopped down on the soft muddy ground right as "Sex On Fire" kicked off. The show wasn't bad, but it wasn't intriguing enough to keep me into it the whole time. I got up and walked off to get a good the for The Flaming Lips around the middle of the two hour set.
I trekked through a mud puddles the size of small lakes and ended up only about thirty feet or so from the stage. I knew that these guys put on a show to remember, and I was so excited to see what all the praise was about. In case you don't know, the Flaming Lips are the farthest thing from normal that you have ever seen, but honestly, normal gets thrown out the window right around the I-24 split, so no one really cared. The show started with a nude yellow woman dancing in front of a stark blue background for a good five minutes before she got down in the birthing position, vagina brightly censored by a glaring orb of light. Slowly, the shot centered right onto the lady's lady part until the bright light filled the circular backdrop where every one but lead singer Wayne Coyne walked out of the screen and on stage, shortly followed by Wayne's famous walk across the audience in his Zorb. The first song had all of the proper ingredients for the ultimate Flips experience; 100's of gallons of confetti, 40 side-stage dancers, a man dancing in a bear costume, and 100's of balloons. It was one of the most frenetic energy consuming sights I have ever seen in my life. There about as many lights as there were fans, and the set up alone put some earlier acts to shame. The Flaming Lips played a shortened best of set including some amazing versions of "She Don't Use Kelly", "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song", "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1", "Taps", "The W.A.N.D.", and "Do You Realize??", as well as an equally legendary set with Wayne's nephews band Stardeath and the White Dwarfs playing Pink Floyd's famous Dark Side Of The Moon in it's entirety. I'm not the world's biggest Pink Floyd fan, so I only stayed for about half of the second set, but it was just as good. I was just ready for whatever else Bonnaroo could dish out at me. Make no mistake, The Flaming Lips put on one of the best shows I have ever seen.
I wandered around pretty aimlessly for about an hour, trying to get past the searing pain shooting up and down my legs from two days of standing, and hoping they would get better. They wouldn't. Any who, I watched the crowd dancing to The Crystal Method for a song or two, until I ended up at LCD Soundsytem. I only stayed for about three songs of this set, because my legs got so bad that I couldn't stand, but what I heard was really fun, and I heard some crazy stuff about the show; mainly that a naked dude ran up on stage until security pummeled him into the ground and drug him into the depths of Bonnaroo security, which in all honesty, is probably a very fun place. The craziest thing I saw was a very hyped up Aziz Ansari dancing in the wings, which is pretty cool too. What I heard was great, but LCD was nearly the death of me. I sulked back to base camp, this time too tired to be angry for missing the show. I zombie stomped the ten minute walk to the tent, only to find that my poles had snapped in the wind the day brought, but did I care? Absolutely not! I was so tired I could have been stabbed in the foot, and as long as I had a sleeping bag, I'd be alright. Without thinking, I dragged my sleeping bag into the open night sky, wiped myself off with a baby wipe, and fell asleep as I was crouching down to get in the covers.
• Day 3
Hello 8:00 sun beating down in my face. I've missed you. Here I was, literally sweating, despite not being completely on top of the covers, stripped to my boxers right next to the road. But no worries. Our female neighbor changed head to toe in front of us everyday, so I was dressing pretty modest. I got up and watched our neighbors cook breakfast on our hot plate without offering any, so I split pretty quick. Luckily, I actually had something to do this day, as I had to wait in line for tickets to see the comedy genius that is Conan O'Brien. The ticket system was great too because tickets were given out first come first serve so that people wouldn't wait two hours to get held back at the door. The tickets ran
1. 1,600 for the actual live air-conditioned Comedy tent. (the front row)
2. about 1,000 for the live feed in the air-conditioned Cinema Tent. (You're talking towards the back, but still on the floor)
3. 7,000-10,000 watching outside on the Lunar Stage (Front balcony to nosebleeds)
So I got there around 9:00 and chilled with some guy who played baseball at UTK, so we talked Rocky Top until the tickets got handed out. One of the greatest things people don't realize is the absolute hospitality everyone there has. It really is 80,000 of your closest friends. Now, it's probably because they are all stoned, but I was on my own most of the weekend (artistic differences with my Roo' mates), so I held casual conversation with a good 60 people, and they were all remarkably nice to the point that I would go out of my way to meet new people. If you go, don't be shy. You won't regret it. Anyways, I got my ticket, and wandered off to the first show over on the Which Stage.
First up was Rebolution, which was kind of like a a reggae-er Sublime with a touch of Indian sitar sounds, which was pretty nice for a wake-up call. I stayed with them longer than some of the bands I really liked, so they win my award for a good live show, even if the bass player wore a flat bill, Bulls jersey, and camo shorts. As long as I closed my eyes and pictured some dignity up on that stage, it was all good. Plus, it provided for some of the funniest looking people of the weekend. On a side note, it's astounding how many people were light up at 12:00. But, I'll let your imagination fill that one in, since it cannot do the answer justice. Rebolution closed out and I headed to Conan O'Brien, ready to laugh till I passed out.
To make a long story short, I did, but if you've read this far already, then you're going to want me to expel on this journey, so i'll try the best I can. The energy was turned up to 11 an hour before the show started, and it jumped off the amp from there. I think we went through some chants and a wave or two before the band even came out, and when The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On T.V Tour Band came on stage, they lit the place up. Late Night shows don't do the bands justice. This band was one of the best of the weekend, and they are simply the punch line on a few jokes. During the second song, a groovy jam from some old hit I loosely recognized, the trumpet player on tromboner (haha) ran through the audience and literally played into our faces. It was a lot of fun, and Conan honestly had a tough act to follow. Good thing he's Coco. Conan made me laugh as hard as I think I ever had. The very first thing was a video montage of Conan home life after his job loss, which included a lot of alcohol and about 250 extra pounds, and eventually his recovery and trip to the show. Once Conan hit the stage to a standing ovation, his first words were, "I've gone from hosting the Tonight Show to entertaining a refugee camp! Go U.S.A!". The rest of the show included his faithful sidekick Andy Richter, Triumph The Insult Dog declaring Miley Cyrus the state animal, the purple leather suit Eddie Murphy wore in Raw, a couple spins of the newly named for copyright issues "Chris Norris wheel of awesomeness", and the giant inflatable bat from Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell Tour. Conan talked mostly about his show, or lack thereof, but he also went into Bonnaroo life, and some stories from the road on tour, which made the show seem very personal, and that makes for a great time. The set included much more music than I would have expected, as he played a very strange fake account of his life "I Want My Show Again", and even a straight through run of "Seven Nation Army" in which Conan disappointed me beyond belief when he did not bring out Jack White. When the show was over, and half of the people left, he came out for a surprising encore. He and the band played "The Weight" in all of its many verses, which gave Conan the chance to run out in the crowd and get mobbed for two verses of greatness where I am proud to say I touched Conan O'Brien. Yes, you read right. I patted Conan O'Brien, and then got this incredible picture...
I know. I am now significantly cooler. Ladies, my number is 659-8042. I'll let you see the hand, if you will date me for at least five minutes. I expect literally no-one to answer that plea. Anyways, Conan was legit. Really funny dude, who really isn't scared to share his experience, which really did hurt him, with the world. I think it's therapeutic for him, and it's hilarious for us, so yay mutual relationships! I left with a hole in my heart filled. Thanks Coco.
I met up with my friend Zach and we went and watched the tail end of the apparently amazing U.S. England tie, and we walked around catching up on the weekend for a while. I caught a little bit of Norah Jones, and what I heard was really amazing. She sounded really great in live environment, and she looked pretty hot to boot. I really only listened to about two songs, but really, that's all you need for her. Her music makes you just stop and relax, so, I did. It was a nice little break from the sur-reality around me. Like I was riding in a mini-van with a middle aged soccer mom. Fun Fact: Norah Jones' dad is one of the best sitar players of all time. If you don't know what a sitar is, don't worry about that fun fact.
Me and Zach meandered towards the what stage, picking up a Dave Rawlings Machine song or two, before chilling in the shade of the massive What Stage for reggae legend Jimmy Cliff. He was a lot of fun, and another great gatherer of absolute don't-get-near-me-you-somehow-smell-like-clorox-and-apple-juice hippies. He played a good set filled with classics that I was to tired to remember, so use your imagination. We stayed with him until we started to see some supa black clouds in the sky, and remembering that i'm sleeping in the great wide open, decided to re-arrange the camp-site. Luckily, our Jewish hot-plate abusing neighbors were nice enough to let me crash in their epic 14 person tent. There was only like 6 of em, so I had plenty of room, but I did miss both The Avett Brothers and new favorites Mumford and Sons, which is still tearing at my heart (N.S.Y.N.C!), but I heard them both later on NPR, so that's a little compensation. A little. However, it did leave me plenty of time to catch all of an amazing Dead Weather set who are just as rugged in person as they sound at home. They clawed and ripped their way through a solid hour and a half set of epic blues rock, filled with everything I liked from both albums. Conan introduced too, so they got brownie points. Seeing my hero Jack White live was really the highlight of the show even though he was behind the drums for most of the set. The last three songs, he stepped up and shredded my face off, even on a song that was driven completely by a techno drum machine, which I wouldn't ever see coming. It was no White Stripes, but it wasn't to bad. The band turned out the lights with my favorite head banger, and even though they sped up the amazing interlude too much, it was still one of the best things I heard all weekend. I can't preach this show enough, and they're certainly another one to catch if they get anywhere near you.
I took a really pathetic lap around Centeroo, filled up my Osprey, and split with Zach because he's a pansy and didn't want to fight the crowd to get good seats for the best rap show of all time. Bad call, Zach. But there was another great show to be heard! So I worked towards the front gate for Jay-Z seats and caught tid-bits of Stevie Wonder through-out the night. He really put on a fantastic show, riddled with all kinds of his greatest hits. He didn't play "We Can Work It Out" (I think), but that's ok, because Stevie Wonder is blind, and that's cool. I really should have paid more attention, but I was hibernating all of my energy for Jay-Z, so I just sat next to the front gate and absorbed him as best as I could. "Superstition" was very good, as I expected, and "Signed Sealed Delivered" sounded great live too. Other than that, it all flew past me. But props to you Stevie Dubyah! You're a good man. Time for the boss battle.
Jay-Z. Hovva. The best rapper alive. Call him what you will; he deserves every title he's given himself. This was the one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was hell to get my place, but after enough pushing and shoving to feel like I was being born, I ended up being about 20 feet from the stage. This may have been the single best decision of my life. Jay-Z came out (on time) to step in a single spot-light rappng "A Dream" over "Dream On" and shortly busted into "Dirt Off Your Shoulders", which had the entire 70,000 people crowd doing the signature diamond bounce. He ran through soo many hits. "Big Pimpin", "Empire State Of Mind", "Show Me What You Got", "U Don't Know", "On To The Next One", "Heart Of The City (Over u2's Sunday Bloody Sunday)", "The Rulers Back", "D.O.A", "Empire State Of Mind", "Run This Town", "Swagger Like Us", "Forever Young", and I could go on. He played some deeper cuts that everyone around me knew every word to, and they were just as fun, just slightly awkward when I made eye-contact with the hard-cores. The band was pretty amazing too. I have always had a soft spot for rappers who rap behind a real drum kit, even when machines rule the beat. It adds a human musical touch, which a lot of the Auto-tuners have lost. The light show was unforgettable to. Giant triangular prisms rose to the sky at varying levels, projecting boom boxes stacked to the roof that would bounce with the beat, New York's skyline, and many famous clips from some of the classic videos. This show was complete. Nothing missing, except maybe a guest spot from Beyonce. I just drooled some. But seriously, this was one of the neatest experiences of my life. Jay-Z was down to earth, recognizing fans in the crowd for ten minutes and even bringing a girl up to sing happy birthday to her. I'm asking for the same gift. The show seemed over so quickly when he rolled into his Lincoln Park collaboration, "Encore". Jay-Z turned the doubters into believers. I haven't heard a single person dissing the show in any way, and I don't think I've ever heard that from any show ever. I feel blessed to be able to see this guy perform. It capped off one of the greatest musical nights of my life.
Or did it....... GWAR! Let me tell you about GWAR. GWAR is a super heavy metal band who dresses in intricate latex costumes, endorses murder, and sprays their audience with real animal blood and "alien junk". People go to these shows to get sprayed with blood and latex-liquid polymers. I don't understand it, but you better believe I wanted to see it. Alas, my legs were crying for the bed harder than ever, and when the band played a ten minute documentary before their show even started, I started to slip off. I stayed around for one normal song, followed by a song of spraying the first 30 rows with a blood cannon, literally soaking most people in some pretty rank warm lamb's blood. It was really fun to watch, but my body was telling me, "I'm about to put you to sleep in the middle of a heavy metal show. STOP MOVING NOW!" So I dragged it back to camp after a measly two songs, feeling the same disappointment of the first night, but this time I was starting to remember that this was almost over. Already. But, I had more time to say my proverbial good-byes tomorrow. My last day of camp was fast approaching. Until then....sleep.
- Day 4
Refreshing was the word of the day. The water was refreshing. The shade with the occasional breeze was refreshing. My power naps were friggin ridiculously refreshing. Perhaps most refreshing of all was Regina Spektor, who seems to play the same kind of music as She and Him but replaces the sunny warm feeling with a cool aquatic tone that is great for just sitting in a field and listening. This late in the festival, it was way to hard to find a place in the shade of the tree, so I settled for much slighter real estate and sat in the hot sun against the probably piss stained barrier wall, watching girls eat shrooms and guys rocking out to the pop sensations string stooped indie hits. Regina played with a drummer, a violin player, and her piano. I have never seen this setup, but man, it sounded incredible. She got a whole lot of sound out of her keys and band mates. I might be able to tell you the name of one of her songs, but that's about as far as it goes. She was a lot of fun though. She has a real knack for what she's doing.
Next off, I decided to check out good ole' John Fogerty, expecting a mellow Jimmy Buffet style of a bunch of classic CCR songs. So, I was a bit surprised when John came out in a cross checkered plaid shirt and skinny jeans, playing "Traveling Band" like Satan had just come for an early pickup of a good number of residents. The band was ripping this hits hard with greasy guitars and a killer drum solo or two. It was an outstanding twist for a live show of the classic Creedence. John's speaking voice sounds like the cross between a Col. Sanders, Patton Oswalt, and a pig, but it was all still there on greats like "Lookin' Out My Backdoor", "Born On The Bayou", and all of the other great rock hits. I don't know if I could have dealt with an hour and a half of him, but the forty minutes I saw were really great. I headed to see what else was playing and start saying my good-byes to Coffey County.
I landed back at the Which Stage to get really good seats for Phoenix. Ween had a huge strange following, but better yet, they have pretty chill music. So, for the second time today, I slept through most of their set. When I woke up, there were two topless women dancing beside me. I would like to think that I politely didn't check them out and paid attention to the end of the show, but looking back on how tired and disoriented I was, I probably stared them down for a solid three songs. Male tendencies start to kick in more and more when you are sleep deprived and disgusting looking. Like cavemen! As Ween kicked off their last song, I started to inch my way up. I eventually landed just about 20 feet from the stage, and really close to the middle sound booth aisle. I met a really jewish kid and his friend from Idaho or something up north. They were nice guys, and I shared my pack with them since it was sweltering and they needed a drink. 30 minutes of patient, chill fan waiting, Phoenix got on stage and projected an immediate warmth that spread through the audience. Just for heads up, this was one of the best shows of the week. Probably the best. It was amazing in every way. The show started with the original hit that struck the Phoenix match in America, "Lisztomania". After that high note, the band ran through most of their latest hit album, sprinkling deep favorites here and there throughout the night. "Armistice" and "Girlfriend" still stick out as highlights of the week, along with "Run Run Run" which I immediately really liked. There's something to be said about an audience of around 30,000 who pretty much screamed everything from the new album, and even some of the super dedicated who sang through stuff from It's Never Been Like That and Alphabetical. The energy was as high as any other show all week, which really translates to the most of the week when it is on the last day. At one point in the middle, lead singer Thomas Mars climbed up the steel siding and sang a verse from a good 40 feet in the air to check out the audience. The guy was one of the most humble people I have ever heard, thanking everyone repeatedly after every song, and genuinely living in the moment of the music. Towards the end of the set, the minimal light show of a few thin beams of colored LED's became un-describably effective. When the remarkably short hour and a half came to a close, the band bleeped through an outstanding version of "1901" that had the crowd euphorically on their feet the entire time. It was so great that for an encore, the band just played reflections on the song, as Thomas ran to the middle of the giant crowd to address fans one more time and have every one echo a few choruses to him. I'm not going to lie. I touched him too. My hand is now ultimately sacred. Anyways, I was mentally begging for more after the outstanding show, but the mass of people heading to Dave Matthews Band soon distracted me. Traffic was expectedly terrible and I didn't get to where I wanted to be (not very far away) for another 30 minutes. However, when I got situated next to a big group of 25-26ish party goers who talked up the show and gave me free glow sticks, I felt like I had reached Bonnaroo nirvana.
Dave came out to deafening praise as 20 lanterns floated up to the sky, a dark mysterious churn of music blowing them into the night sky. He immediately went into a song I didn't know, but that's ok. What was not ok was that Dave took about 12 minutes to play his first two songs. I felt a huge jam coming on. And I say that it's not ok, meaning for me, not the band. The band's a jam based rock band. I understand that they will be serving up solos galore for the hungry crowd. It's just not my thing. I don't listen to many songs that last longer than 5 minutes without any surprises to help me through. So I heard Dave slowly get through a couple songs I have heard from Groo Grux King and even a few from Under The Table And Dreaming, Crash, a few others. The band was top-notch fantastic, but the show itself was just a fun time waster for me. So, to conclude, total respect to Dave and all of his followers. It's just not my favorite. I walked to the tent with my last meal, a huge pile of Buffalo Chicken Nachos, listening to the band play into the last night of Bonnaroo 2010. I had a blast, but it was very much time to go. Me and my mates packed up my broken tent, and hastily through our crap in the cars. Well, except our trash, which we lovingly left with our stealing neighbors. We cleaned out and headed out while Dave still had a good 30 minutes to play. It was done.
I could have a big sentimental look back on the whole experience, but instead I'm just going to say GO! GET YOUR TICKETS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Next year will be the 10th anniversary, so it would be safe to go ahead and save fifty bucks by getting your ticket pre line-up. It's a once in a life-time experience, and an absolute must for music fans of all varieties. It's a great week of fun and new friends that you will never forget.
Thanks for sticking with me for all of that. If you did. If you just scrolled to the bottom of the page like I do some times, then screw you. Anyways, I might not have much up for a while as I will be leaving for the beach in the morning, coming back for 2 days, and leaving for San Francisco until the 16th. So, until then, I really appreciate your support by reading this, and my past posts. It means a lot to me, and your input in this would be greatly appreciated. Guh nye.
P.S.; If you want to see all of my pictures, and hopefully videos soon, go check out my face book. The album should be open to the public.
