Martes 17 Jul 2007, 21:27
I know it's a little on the late side, but it's better late than never, right? :)
Well, this was my first year at Bonnaroo and my first year starting a new website, so I was very lucky and thankful to get the opportunity to cover the festival as part of the press this year. I wrote up a lengthy trip report on my site about how I was able to go on the trip, my experience doing a hotel instead of camping, mini-reviews on all 40+ bands I saw, and just how I felt about the experience in general. I also developed a new site design and style just for Bonnaroo and I think its pretty cool.
Here's the link for the Intro to the article and through the rest of the trip by days if you want to read it and see the pictures presented on the site: http://www.themilkcarton.com/forums/showthread.php?t=931
Here's the main page of my site if you have any additional interest to see what I do on the site: http://www.themilkcarton.com/
Int-Roo-Duction
Bonnaroo is for the lovers, the mind-alterers, the hipsters, the hippies, the wannabes, and the opportunists yet it all comes together mostly for the music, and the music and fans were all there in full relentless, unabashed force – 80,000 strong and selling out just in time for it all to begin. The festival showcased its most daring headliner so far with Tool, a monster reunion with The Police, and a grand old jam band favorite with Widespread Panic. There was something for everyone in between, old (Mavis Staples & the Staples Family, Ornette Coleman) and new (Elvis Perkins, The Little Ones, Rodrigo y Gabriela), and there were no limits to the diversity, amount of music, alternate activities you could find, and ways to experience them.
This would be my first time heading to Manchester, Tennessee for Bonnaroo and I was on the fence for awhile for a number of reasons, but I was hoping everything would magically fall into place to make it happen. I didn’t know who would go down with me, there weren’t many bands playing that I had a hardcore interest in at the time, and camping dirty with a few dozen thousand people didn’t seem like the most appealing idea for me as a grown-to-love-the-city boy. In short defense to the masses that will surely scoff at the last statement, I have a harmless medical issue where my heartbeat speeds up at times, which stays under constant control with medication. But in situations such as extreme heat, overly pushing myself, not getting enough sleep, or not eating right, it can act up - still not an issue – and I get nervous about it and can have a panic attack, which I didn’t want to ruin my time. In addition, the feeling of being potentially trapped in your car/site if you want to get out for any reason made me sense some sort of claustrophobia acting up. I’d rather throw those worries out the door and have the best time possible.
Anyway, lets get onto more fun stuff. Our little site here, TheMilkCarton.com, had only officially opened up a couple months ago and we were already getting thousands of hits a day, so I took a chance to see if we could get press passes to cover the event this year as that would be the catapult over the fence to get me down there. A few weeks went by and finally I saw an e-mail pop up on Google from Bonnaroo. My heart grabbed onto my throat as I clicked to read it. “We are happy to inform you” and “approved” were the first words I saw jump out at me on the page and I jumped out of my chair, quietly screamed inside as to not bother the neighbors, and called Charlie to relay the news we had been patiently waiting to hear.
“What would I do now?! I have the tickets, so I have to camp and get the full understanding of the Bonnaroo events, right? But would I enjoy it as much? Would I enjoy it more than a quiet, air-conditioned room where I can get a “free” shower? Who will go with me? Will they want to camp? Will they appreciate it and be up for all the walking, standing, heat, watching?” Many-a-past-Bonnarooer including Charlie told me I just had to camp or else I wouldn’t get it or appreciate all the aspects they’ve organized for us to do. Ultimately, after I pulled apart my head thinking about it and refit it back together, I decided the hotel route would be my best bet at least for this year and I would speak to Rooers during the weekend about how they’re doing with camping and feel out how I would enjoy it.
The closest room I could find was in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the Econo Lodge, which was a good half an hour from Manchester. That wasn’t going to be an issue at all as my hotel for Lollapalooza was the same distance and I was able to stay awake and travel that each day and night with complete ease. Of course, I was getting obsessed with the late show opportunities at Bonnaroo this year, which had the potential to last at least until 3:30 or 4 AM some mornings whereas Lollapalooza always pulled the plug pretty strictly by 11 each night when the headliners finished off. That could prove to be a slight bit trickier.
So I sent an invitation to my friend Dawn and her boyfriend Russ to join me for the festivities and they ultimately weren’t able to go, so I searched and searched for who would be all of the things I would want out of a Bonnaroo road tripper. My good friend Kierston fit the bill perfectly and was the person who exposed me to songs by bands playing such as Keller Williams, Widespread Panic, and Gov’t Mule and that there was a festival called Bonnaroo itself a few years ago. We went to school together through middle, high school, and still now in college and we sold the finest photos at Kings Island for three years together. She knew and was excited about going from the ground up and had dreamed of making it there one day. It was the perfect opportunity and we were right in line with our expectations and how we wanted to go about seeing everything. I think her excitement rivaled mine two fold, so I knew this would be the ultimate trip.
Day One – Thursday, June 14, 2007
Coming up on Bonnaroo, the forecast went from raining all weekend the week before to no rain at all leading to a severe drought for them. It was going to be a hot one with temperatures up in the 90s, so I tossed aside my rain gear, packed light clothes, got all the essentials, e-mail confirmations, the fun stuff, my trusty GPS (who we ended up naming on the ride down), picked up Kierston, then hit the road southbound on I-71 from Columbus for our 7 hour driving adventure.
Kierston shared some songs from past Bonnaroo artists that she had and some special radio compilations of great artists to listen to on the ride down. I made a playlist of every song by every artist I had in order that they were playing Bonnaroo on my iPod, so we listened to some of it to see who we’d both like seeing more at each slot. On the first bands Thursday night, I grabbed the last copy of The Little Ones' Sing Song EP from Borders a few weeks ago after hearing many comparisons to The Shins and Elephant Six bands. They’re very easy to listen to and sing along to, so I was hoping to see what else they would do with their hour set with only the EP available. I’ve been working on getting into Passover by The Black Angels, but their style hasn’t seeped into me yet. The music is well made, but quite dark and not exactly fitting to the mood I wanted to be in, so Sam Roberts Band won out on the option with both of us and seemed to be a worthy alternative as I was finding myself quickly diving into his release Chemical City.
First night was a little slow and messy trying to get through anything but everything improved greatly as the weekend progressed and Sunday was an absolute breeze although quite possibly the day most in need of one with few clouds in the sky and the sun bearing down pretty harshly early in the day. Sent across the entire length of the Bonnaroo camp site, told day parking wouldn’t be open until Friday due to the camping traffic coming through and we’d risk getting stuck if we lined up with the campers, a nice guy also with the media and staying off-site stopped and told us that there was a family who opened their land to day parkers
I called Charlie as soon as I got settled and stepped out of the car and he said he was waiting for Mute Math to play. As we were walking toward Centeroo, I heard them playing and they sounded as blissful and full of vigor as I saw them last year in Chicago. I was so pleased to hear them and the crowds were roaring, so even though I didn’t get a chance to arrive in time this year, I’m sure they took home some new fans this year with their noise-rock keytar-playing extravaganza. Definitely not your “Typical” live show at all, so don’t let their sudden appearance of MTV and other pop music outlets get you down. The hype is the real deal.
We were getting acquainted with our surroundings and decided to stop over at The Other Stage to find Apollo Sunshine playing. They continually came up in our conversation on the way down to Roo as we both felt we should know the band by their name alone. They were playing an incredible Blood Brothers cover when we got there and getting the masses pumped for the weekend. I heard a few comparisons to Pink Floyd from people who caught their full set and I could definitely hear the psychedelic rock, which truly isn’t that hard to come by here. I’ll be keeping an eye out for them and checking them out on record as soon as possible. There was a lot of noise going on at Bonna Rouge, so we checked out what all the fuss was about. Obviously it was going to be a rowdy, heel-kicking, partially nude charade by the name Miss Lolly Pop’s Burlesque Coterie & Sideshow Bennie Experience alone.
I found out The National started late due to technical difficulties, so that made me happy to not have to miss much of their set. When we walked up the crowd cheered into the band’s start of “Secret Meeting”, the first song from their album Alligator. Kierston was impressed by how cool his voice was and I was just in bliss overall. I loved how much more forceful his vocals, the music, and production was over the record. The National did several songs from their album released in May entitled Boxer including “Fake Empire” and “Squalor Victoria”, which got everyone riled up as well. There’s a deep stimulating stab of the lead singer’s vocals and I believe you truly can’t get the full feeling of everything this band has to offer unless you see their live show. I leaned over to Kierston and said “this may be one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen but I have a feeling I’ll say that a lot this weekend”. I knew two things though. 1) This was a band I would be obsessing about once I returned home and 2) Bonnaroo had really begun.
I honestly don’t think I heard a band mentioned more often as the favorite live show (or at least most surprising show) of the weekend than the acoustic guitar-rocking duo from Mexico City, Rodrigo y Gabriela. Their self-titled release has been selling well for them and was even advertised on a plane banner in the sky on Friday. I think there’s a sort of eroticism to the complex power and beauty of their playing that just gets the audience so involved and goes beyond just finding an appreciation for the band. You get emotionally involved in this instrumental experience and this comes from someone who has a closer relationship to lyrics and vocals and being pulled into music for that reason. Kierston is the same way and we were clearly blown away as that was one of our top answers through the rest of the weekend when anyone asked our favorite bands so far as well.
Stopping by to check out Clutch, you could tell the lead singer had some of the fullest and grandest vocals of anyone you’d ever see, but when you have hardcore and heavy rock influences, that’s going to be one of your base requirements. We didn’t stick around for too long so we could explore, but there seems to be no reason to scratch this band off your list and move on to the next big thing. I can sense they’re going to have some bigger things to come. One of the coolest and most unique things we saw for people to do at night was Silent Disco where people were given headphones to listen to music and dance along but nobody outside the dance floor could hear what was going on. It was hilarious to watch everyone jump up and down, cheer and get jiggy without outward noise to compliment it.
There seemed to be a number of devoted fans of Tea Leaf Green at the Inforoo message boards, so I was intrigued to see them, as was Kierston who had seen them listed on the line-up at earlier festivals. They were very chill and feel-good while we stayed, so no complaints, but they were pulling our excitement and energy down with how tired we already were, so we went to kick it back up with The Whigs at the Troo Music Lounge. Both of us felt like we had heard of them before and they were recognized by Rolling Stone as possibly “the best unsigned band in America” until they got signed by ATO records. They had a really nice flare of indie rock that got you moving and made you want to check out their album production. At a bigger stage with a better sound system, they would have been another huge highlight of the weekend and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
We made the long hike back to the car and were relieved to have an air-conditioned room to go to sleep and awaken to. The Econo Lodge wasn’t the most luxurious place to stay in the world yet still beyond acceptable, but we were so tired that as soon as we got back and hit the bed, we were out until wake-up call in the morning. And we had a nice, warm personal shower. Mmm.
Day Two – Friday, June 15, 2007
Getting into Bonnaroo from Friday on was an absolute breeze. The vehicle line was short to get inside, the security checks were efficient, they checked wristbands, and sent us on our way. I was trying to find the area for orientation for the media, but the staff at the media lounge seemed uninformed about a few things such as where the media area (which should have been marked on the map unless I missed it) was for artist interviews and other processes for guests of media. It’s all very minor in the broad spectrum of things, but the less confusion the better.
Uncle Earl was one of two bands this weekend that gave an oddball impression if you checked the names then witnessed the shows. They were a group of females while Brazilian Girls was a group of males. They were a sweet folky and bluegrass combination that were making very pretty music and gathering many curious spectators. John Paul Jones actually produced their latest album, Waterloo, Tennessee.
I’ve been itching to see Cold War Kids for the longest time and remember going to several stores trying to find a copy of their album Robbers & Cowards the week in came out. Borders Books & Music always seems to come to my rescue when I need them most, but now you can find them climbing the CD racks at stores everywhere thanks to their big single, “Hang Me Out to Dry”. Anyway, for this fine young band who never comes to Ohio, I was dead-set on getting there in time and staying through their entire set since I meticulously obsess over every song on the album. The Kids did not fail to impress me but the crowd was a little larger than I would have liked. They had a lot of oomph, the sound changes throughout the songs were flawless, and the vocals were soaring when they needed to be (“Hospital Beds”) and gently sparkling (“God Make Up Your Mind”) at the right times. I’m glad they’ve gained such a following, but I do hope I can see them in a local club soon as that atmosphere is perfect for them.
Kierston got a recommendation to see The Richard Thompson Band, so we took a gander at his arrangement over at The Other Tent. I found out that he scored the soundtrack for the documentary Grizzly Man, so it was impressive to see what a fine guitarist and songwriter he was. Tortoise was enveloping the crowd with their masterful post-rock sounds at This Tent as we walked by before making our full set destination for the next hour and fifteen minutes at That Tent.
Paolo Nutini seemed a little bit awkward and nervous at first into his first couple songs, but he really got into his set along the way and his band added a little spice to many of the songs from his debut album These Streets to kick some rock into it. The crowd seemed to have a smile on their face and gently danced along, so I feel like he was a crowd pleaser. Just a really nice, cool, mood-stabilizing set to escape the heat and keep it lighthearted. You have to appreciate his talent for a 20 year old and playing a tent at Bonnaroo. He performed a strong, upbeat, and charming cover of Moby’s “Natural Blues” and his pop single “New Shows”, but "Alloway Grove", the final non-hidden track on his album, was probably the highlight of his show. “I love you more and more” – that’s exactly how he’s been growing on me.
I have four Gillian Welch albums and just adore her voice and songwriting abilities. She’s full of sincerity, I feel like she’s real and uncompromising to herself, and she’s a timeless storyteller that doesn’t have to use clichés or sacrifice originality. She opened with “Orphan Girl” and everyone was clearly touched and in love with her music. It’s strange that some of the lightest music of the entire festival happened to be some of the most gripping. Several Rooers we talked to found themselves at her set and said they have massive amounts of adoration for this woman and there’s no questioning why at all. A highlight of the entire weekend was hearing her play “Look At Miss Ohio” with John Paul Jones with a nice handful of the audience singing along.
Michael Franti & Spearhead kept calling us over and over again as we were traversing to the What Stage to the This Tent and back again. Everyone was going wild and his music was so freaking infectious that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of him before then, especially with his prime spot on the Which Stage and holding a huge group of people with locals Kings of Leon cooking up a rock storm next door. Note to self: even if it leads to disastrous time conflicts, check out even more artists in preparation for the next festival you attend. P.S. – I know you’re insane and that’s just fine.
I hadn’t really placed Kings of Leon as a band of importance to me until I heard Because Of The Times. Even at first, I was curious as to how I felt about it with the first song on the album carrying on for 7 minutes followed by the unconventional screams in “Charmer”, but it slowly grew on me to the point that peaked with finally understanding and getting their music by seeing them live. “Knocked Up” was confidently gorgeous and I regret getting tickets for their show in Columbus the night before I left for Bonnaroo just to have another dose of them. They made a sizable impact on me and I have a lot of admiration for their songwriting and performance skills as it sounds like they’ve come a long way from their first album and for being the youngest performers on one of the two main stages this weekend.
I was told by a friend that Hot Chip would “break my legs” live and maybe I’m a little masochistic, but I was totally looking forward to that. We didn’t make it to their slot until they started their encore, so they weren’t performing the beef and climax of their tunes, so I’ll have to wait and give them any sort of review at a later date. The band seemed really into their music though and everyone was bobbing their heads and tapping their feet along with the beats. Their 2006 record The Warning was one of my favorites of the year and "Boy From School" was on repeat until my brain was sick of dancing along with it.
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Lily Allen. I’ve heard from some that she was positively luscious live and some that she’s an atrocious lush. Well, according to some of her off the wall and riotous statements the lush part is a good possibility, but this girl was an undeniable treat to watch. She opened up with the painfully poppy “LDN” and told great stories about a number of her songs including one called “Not Big” about an ex-boyfriend who had a small penis. I don’t know about any other times, but here she was pure joy. Better than alright, still.
We pulled up at the tail end of The Roots set right before they delivered an inventive and genius interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”. They also bit into a cover of The Police’s Roxanne, which was arguably better than the original, but I’m not entirely sure if it was done out of tribute or in some negative light to show up The Police. I’ll probably never know for sure. There was a lot of potential from them just hearing those few songs, so they’ll get a slot of higher importance on my next opportunity to see them. They’re still making hip-hop smart and craftily like it should be and I have endless amounts of respect for that.
Manu Chao was one of Saturday night’s headliners at Lollapalooza in 2006 and those of us who caught him even for a few songs were shocked at how mad he and the audience were – but in a good way. Everyone was dancing along and raving about him all day Sunday and onward, so it’s no surprise every other major festival has tried to book him since then. This latin world music is ready for its takeover and I was happy to see him bringing down the Roo this year.
The Black Keys sadly ended their set more than twenty minutes early, but I heard the band had already played for an hour then came back for a two song encore and just looked too exhausted to continue much further. I definitely didn’t want them to push themselves, but they were one of my top picks of the day during a very busy and diverse time slot, so I’ll be going to their concert on their next pass through the states. Their 2004 album Rubber Factory is a rock explosion for only having two band members, so I highly recommend picking it up.
I have never been a true fan or anything, but I had been getting into 10,000 Days in the weeks leading up to Bonnaroo, so I was getting more and more intrigued by Tool and was looking forward to them more than either of the other two headliners. We found seats on the bleachers and had a nice view of the stage and a good crowd of people around us. They launched into “Jambi” from the aforementioned record and I was a little disappointed to see that there wouldn’t be cameras on the band for the giant screens, but the light show and videos were well-crafted, so I couldn’t mind too much. Technically the music and vocals sounded phenomenal, crisp, and intense, but the lack of stage presence from the band in general while Maynard hung out toward the back of the stage left a bit to be desired.
Still, you can’t complain much when it comes off more biting than on the albums and they had Tom Morello from The Nightwatchman as a special guest. His smartass comments about drugs/LSD and about not getting showers amused me since we weren’t on anything and we were able to get showers. He also made an odd comment about David Cross referring to him with “Deputy Sheriff”, so I’m not sure if that was a mean-spirited jab or a friendly pat. I went back and forth contemplating how appropriate they were for Bonnaroo, but I think in the end they were good for ticket sales, good for the new people they brought in to see what everything else was like and to hopefully recommend the fest to their friends, and good to shake it up a little. It met my expectations and I would be willing to see them again when I know more of their songs outside of 10,000 Days and Lateralus. Many people will tell you this was a top show of the weekend and in ways it was for me, but this was likely one that was best taken down in the pit.
We were interested in catching at least one of the comedy shows this weekend, so we left Tool a bit early to catch David Cross with Aziz Ansari and Nick Kroll. They were snaking the line back and forth in front of the Yet Another (Comedy) Tent, which looked like a recipe for disaster in any other situation, but I had my hopes riding on the mature, carefree, high quality guests of Bonnaroo. I was dead wrong. As soon as the security guard called to let people inside, there was a mad rush to the front, no order, and in total chaos. We stayed in our spots for a few seconds, but it was going to be no use. I felt bad for one of the guards that got constant complaints for those who stayed in the line even after the rush hoping they would move the jumpers to the back, but no luck. This was easily the most annoying and frenzied part of the weekend, way over anything going on Thursday trying to get everyone on the grounds. I sincerely hope they had everything figured out for the rest of the weekend and I suggested just letting people come and sit down inside whenever they arrived, but I don’t know if that would have been the best idea either.
Anyway, onto the show! The tent was air-conditioned, tons of chairs were lined up neatly (I believe the capacity was around 1500), and I was really impressed with the set-up overall. The only issue during the show was the Aesop Rock set bleeding pretty severely into the routines. Nick Kroll came out dressed in drag as an absolutely hysterical character called Fabrese Fabrese who used a lot of ghetto attitude to few his jokes. The audience seemed to think he was a riot and I would love to see even more from him. Next up was Aziz Ansari from MTV’s Human Giant. He fit well with David Cross as he has a similar sort of awkward delivery and he stumbles into his jokes a lot of times. He didn’t make me laugh out loud often, but I did keep a pretty consistent smile on my face. I’m a huge fan of David Cross and adored him on Arrested Development and Mr. Show, so he was one of my top picks for comedians this weekend. He hates hippies, so it was entertaining that he was at the festival, seemed to be having a good time, and of course told jokes about them. His note about the way people were dancing at Bonnaroo looking like “people getting tasered” had me rolling. He did not disappoint in the slightest and I enjoyed that he used a lot of different methods to get jokes across including his ending song.
El-P was playing a jumpy set at That Tent as we were finding out way to check out the final Bonnaroo of The String Cheese Incident. Sadly they had just started a 45 minute intermission, so without wasting time, we knew we had to check out the SuperJam, which consisted of Ben Harper, John Paul Jones, and ?uestlove. We were only able to catch the last couple songs of the set, which sounded phenomenal and passionate. I really wish I had a chance to see more of this since it’s a once in a lifetime situation, but I was happy I got to have that much. Everyone started leaving, so we found our way out for the night. The group came back on stage 15 minutes or so later for an encore, so we got to listen to a little more on the walk to the car. Where else can you get ?uestlove drumming, John Paul Jones playing the bass, and Ben Harper slide guitaring and singing the soundtrack to your life at night? Only at Bonnaroo.
Day Three – Saturday, June 16, 2007
Usually at the beginning of every season I make new types of mixtapes for myself compiled from recommendations, what indie and alternative music stations are playing, and just to explore new artists and hopefully get into the rest of their new material. Dr. Dog’s “My Old Ways” made a lot of rounds on indie music blogs this spring, so I put the song on my spring mix and have been addicted to it. We were planning to go straight to the back of Centeroo for a show, but I requested to stop to see what they had to offer and we were both impressed at them having two lead singers that went back and forth every couple songs and what kind of variety that and the music offered. Their album We All Belong is very satisfying and the show precisely echoed all the talent involved.
Old Crow Medicine Show was one of the recommendations given to us to see this weekend, so we braved the elements and grabbed a seat on the bleachers. We agreed the Old Crow would have been a blast to see right up from in the crowd and the fans up there were moving about pretty crazily to the band’s old-time bluegrass spirits. I’d like to see their tightness in a small venue and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some form of moshing happening.
This time the guard running the seats told us Kierston needed a guest of media wristband and I asked where to find one and he didn’t know. He let us go ahead and sit down, but I told him I’d try to figure it out. I know they owe nothing to me as far as customer service goes over a four-day weekend since its not really a constant business establishment, but it would be nice if they could have called someone and asked or had a booklet with that that could help. They may have had phones or some other form of communication only for emergencies, but it felt slightly unsafe to feel like I could never get answers to any of my questions and there was no attempt at trying to help. I did get someone tell me to go to the information booth for more help, but I honestly didn’t want to walk across the entire site when there were back-to-back bands that I needed to see and we honestly didn’t have any issue just doing our thing anyway. So no big deal and that was left up to me.
There was a 30-minute wait for Regina Spektor to come on after Old Crow, which was seriously the longest time period we spent without hearing music the entire duration of being inside Centeroo. The sun was beating down on us but luckily there were some nice VIPers who sprayed us with water every now and then and some girls next to us who provided some solid conversation. Regina adorably staggered on stage and said hello to “the beautiful people of Bonnaroooo!” She played a few numbers by herself and seemed kind of nervous. At one point, she forgot the words and said something like “Fuck! I knew how to sing this in my bedroom”. It was cute and forgivable, but her guitar numbers were quite muddled. She tidied and built her confidence and vocals up once the full band came on and she was just gorgeous and pleasant from there on out. I can tell she would be best received on an indoor stage, but she did the best with her resources and will improve how she does things over time. Also playing in this slot was Gogol Bordello who we didn’t get to see, but he’s worth noting as one of the artists I heard the most about afterwards that I didn’t get to stop by for a few songs. He sang and crowd-surfed standing up on a drum, so you can’t deny love for that.
Here’s another one of my confessions, previous to attending Bonnaroo, I hadn’t come to any realization that Ziggy Marley was Bob’s son. I just quickly overlooked his name and formed my ideas of how I would see instead. Kierston clued me in on everything though and my goodness when he came on stage, I thought I was staring at the man himself. It’s bizarre how much he resembles his dad from the facial qualities to the hair to the singing and songwriting. I was really in love and bedazzled by his performance although I think I had a hard time convincing Kierston how much I was into it. I was so thankful for her coming with me, because I know I would have never come to see him if it wasn’t for her. He wouldn’t have even been within my radar of someone I might intend to see. He’s totally locked in right now.
I definitely wasn't a happy (non-)camper that my #5 (The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America), 6 (Manchester Orchestra’s I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child), and 7 (Damien Rice’s 9) album artists of 2006 were playing against each other at Bonnaroo, but I was so jittery and ecstatic about The Hold Steady that I really couldn’t contain myself. When they came to Columbus a few months ago, they did two encores and I was in disbelief at how much their music about partying, drugs, and drinking could hit me so hard that I was attached and emotionally drawn in with the characters and stories told down to the instrumentation and performances. Craig Finn was easily the best, most gracious, and most entertaining frontman I found this weekend and was constantly interacting and hysterically introducing their songs. The entire band in general just looked like they were having the best time of anyone on stage at Bonnaroo.You could tell this was going to be an eventful show from the moment they got everyone riled up at the start with “Stuck Between Stations”. The crowd dancing, pumping their fists, and singing the vocal effects during “Chips Ahoy!” and “Massive Nights” were stunning moments. This was the only band I saw take a fan request as well. You will probably not hear the end of me raving about The Hold Steady. The band ending with the three closers to their three albums in reverse chronological order – “Southtown Girls”, “How A Resurrection Really Feels”, and “Killer Parties” – was perfection. I had more fun here than at any point of the festival, but it was ever so closely followed by the sweetest accidental surprise of Sunday. “Walk on back!”
(Charlie's thoughts on the Damien Rice show: Charlie's thoughts on the Damien Rice show:
Damien Rice had always been at the top of my list of artists that I must see, and when I saw his name high on the Bonnaroo Bill, I couldn't have been more excited. I instantly knew that my entire experience that weekend would revolve around when he was playing. So with much anticipation, I set out to push my way forward through the massive crowd to get the best location that I could.
Damien's much shorter in stature than I had really imagined him to be, and when seeing so I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Regardless, his voice makes him seem ten feet tall. Danny had told me that Vyvienne was not at the show that Damien played in Columbus earlier in May, so I wasn't expecting to see her on stage. However, Vyvienne made a grand appearance with her cello, and it was Lisa Hannigan who was not present on stage, due to her recent departure with the Damien crew. After meandering out onstage, with band in tow, Damien opened the set with his powerful tune "The Professor & La Fille Danse" – immediately followed by a personal favorite "Older Chests." It was quite clear after the first two songs that the set was going to be different; a much more stripped down, raw, set. Honestly, I couldn't have been more pleased.
Steamrolling through 13 songs like a beautiful madman, he finished off his set with the sweet tune, "The Blower's Daughter." However, unknown to him he still had some time left in his slot. After a few minutes and neverending cheers from a stubborn crowd Damien and the band reappeared on stage. Not knowing what to play, he asked the crowd and received his answer almost unanimously: "Woman like a Man." After blasting through one of his most powerful songs in repertoire, he decided to finish the afternoon off with the softer "Accidental Babies. I could not have been more blown away with Damien. For the most part he played everything I was craving to hear live, and played each one brilliantly. I'm counting down the day until I can see him again.)
By mid-afternoon, everyone started to notice to huge dust and smoke clouds hovering over Manchester. Many Rooers came to referring to the event as Dustaroo and attaining the “Bonnaroo Cough”, which would of course lead to the “Bonnafloo”. I don’t know if there’s anything at all Bonnaroo could have done about the dust from planting more grass, spreading hay, just watering the whole place down or what, but if they have any ideas, I hope they take the precautions if there’s a severe drought again next year. It was unpleasant, obviously bothered a large group of people who were sneezing, coughing, and covering their mouths with their hands, their shirts, or bandanas. Still, we had more bands to see and we weren’t going to let this cover up our happiness.
“With my own two hands”, I must confess that I’m not fluent in my classic rock and pre-90s music knowledge, but Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals bringing out Ziggy Marley to sing his father’s “Get Up, Stand Up” and John Paul Jones playing Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” were really special treats and rarities to be able to witness ever. This was by far Kierston’s favorite show as she’s a huge fan of Ben Harper and the band’s covered. Fight for Your Mind and Both Sides of the Gun are the only albums by him I was familiar with previously, but I was thoroughly impressed and would love to see him at the future once I’m more familiar with all his material. He had a constant genuine sincerity to his voice, tone, and gestures that was rarely matched throughout any other performance I saw.
As soon as Ben ended, I ran over to see if I could catch anything from Franz Ferdinand and they were concluding a rowdy extended version of “This Fire” from their self-titled record. We returned to the delicious Planet Roo Café and Kierston had some spicy noodles and I had another peppermint iced tea. They were quite addictive. Waiting for The Police to begin, we stumbled into seeing singer-songwriter Jonah Smith at the Troo Music Lounge and found a pleasing surprise waiting for us. New discoveries is something that just makes Bonnaroo all the more a treasure you have to keep digging into and not just sticking with bands you’ve heard of and then not exposing yourself to something different.
The crowd laid out to see The Police was astronomical. I couldn’t believe not being able to see anything but heads for as far as I could see in any direction, all packed neck and neck and still people trying to inch just a little closer for this special reunion. I was instantly caught off guard and overjoyed to hear them open with “Message in a Bottle”. This was another moment where I was just in disbelief and so thankful I could be here. As the set went on, I grew a little less interested in listening to them although they were doing a decent job. All in all, it was worthwhile for them to be there, but the energy left a little bit to be desired. It was disappointing to see that they didn’t seem to be having much fun or changing it up on stage, but I know its been a long time for them and they need to get their hang of it all again. They were just doing their thing and surely satisfied many people there.
The Flaming Lips came out for a few minutes to do a “sound check” and covered “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, which was an explosive treat for anyone who wandered over there early. Once they began their set with “Race for the Prize”, they literally threw sparks in everyone’s faces and their music lit up everyone’s soul. They put out a visual feast that I have and probably never will see a band besides them do again. The girl next to me described it best when she said it was like “the world’s biggest birthday party”. They gave the audience laser pointers, they shot confetti in the air, they had dancers, balloons were all over the place, they were decked out in a crazy wardrobe, pool floats were traversing the audience, and Wayne Coyne rolled out of a mirrorball-and-lightshow-laced UFO in a giant bubble and walked on the crowd. Out of this world and anyone who came upon them unexpectedly had to have been blown away. This was easily the best visual and effects show of the weekend and the music was impressive as well from Wayne’s slightly worn but devotional vocals to the tasty, sometimes dancey instrumentation.
(Charlie's thoughts on STS9: Even upon my arrival to Bonnaroo, I had no clue who STS9 was. My friends told me they were going to be an excellent, high energy show, and that much dancing would ensue. Knowing me, where there's dancing, I am there. Considering I did not have any other bands that I particularly cared to see during their late-night time slot, I decided to go with the small group of people and check out Sound Tribe Sector 9.
First off, I'll say that the only time I've ever seen more glow sticks flying through the air was at Radiohead during the song "House of Cards", an experience from Bonaroo 06. But for a much smaller show, the amount of glowing goodness constantly flying through the air was astounding. The dancing? One of the best things about this concert was how spaced out the crowd, leaving plenty of room for individuals and groups to rave to their hearts-content. After experiencing their musical-euphoria live, STS9 is a band that I plan to spend some serious time with.)
Gov’t Mule was guestlist-packed out the ass with John Paul Jones, Michael Franti, Bob Weir, Jorma Kaukonen, Luther Dickinson, and Lewis Black. This is one time I really wish I could have seen the entire spectacle, but when the Lips were delivering their thing at the Which Stage, it’s hard to warrant leaving a rare other-worldly escapade like they were offering. Mule may be my favorite jam-based band though. They ended the 24-song set with fan favorite “Soulshine” and so superbly crossed the finish line of another night at Bonnaroo.
Day Four – Sunday, June 17, 2007
As soon as we got in the gates, we headed directly back to John Butler Trio for his 1:00 PM slot, the earliest performer of the weekend on the What Stage. We could only stay for a couple songs due to the sun beating straight down on us, which saddened me with how much I’ve grown into his 2007 album Grand National, his older albums, and how much my friend Frank raved about his live show. The little that we saw made a lasting effect and I can’t wait to see him locally next time he’s through the area. Watch out for this group. They were one of my four Bonnaroo artists to watch out for this weekend and the storm has just started to brew.
We slowly walked by Pete Yorn to see what he was playing and he sounded like he was giving a more rocking set than I imagined, but being at the other main stage, it wasn’t going to help our problem with getting burnt. Music For The Morning After is one of those albums that just had to hit you at a certain time and reminds you of everything at the time in your life, but it’s more of something I get involved with when I’m driving or in my room alone than I would feel with a huge audience. The heat was a blessing in disguise though as it led us all the way to The Other Tent near the entrance of Centeroo.
We were instantly thrust into the uproarious sound of Mavis Staples and the Staples Family. They were energetic, lively, heartwarming, and the entire audience seemed completely touched, clapping their hands, dancing along, and involved with the music and the performers. This was one of the highest, most joyous moments of Bonnaroo. There wasn't a soul anywhere near this tent that wasn't feeling the music and being moved by it with a huge, all-teeth showing smile on their face. So much soul, love, and life were held right here and I’m sure most of her audience chased that sort of feeling the rest of the day. I’m honored to have been able to see her and stand just feet from her and the family performing.
We breezed by the acoustic music of Sonya Kitchell on the way to the Which Stage and she seemed to have a lovely voice and sound similar to Gillian Welch and a folky style with some blues and jazz influences.
Wolfmother was probably the only band that could have distracted me enough on a main stage in the heat of the day to stay for most of their set. It was pure rocking out and vocal insanity plus we were able to get on the left side of the sound booth to block the sun a little bit. They howled right into “Dimension” at the start and played most of their self-titled record along with a new song, well-known rockers “Pyramind”, “White Unicorn”, and “Woman”, and a jam along the way. Any live show where the weather is that hot and I’m still able to keep moving that much has to be effective and they shook me up.
We scurried over to one of my four Bonnaroo Artists to Watch, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, to get out of the sun and enjoy his tunes and arrived during “While You Were Sleeping”, the opening number of his record Ash Wednesday. The song includes emotional and detailed lyrics about his mother, who was a passenger in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11. A lot of people were escaping the heat but they seemed drawn in by everything he had to say during the songs and was very thought-provoking for the crowd. He beautifully played a few other songs from his debut album with his band and some new songs including an upbeat tune called “Hey”.
Rocco Deluca was perhaps the most misplaced artist according to the number of people who showed up shoulder to shoulder inside the Troo Music Lounge tent and overflowing double outside, but it was completely appropriate for his stripped down acoustic set featuring many songs including his hit single, “Colourful”, from his debut album I Trust You to Kill Me. He was relaxing and charming and it was special to be able to see him perform without his backing band, The Burden, but I would expect a high energy show out of them, so he would be worthwhile seeing in both settings.
After a weekend already “made”, The Decemberists delivered a wonderful surprise to me performing their nearly twenty minute, five part song, “The Tain” as their second song of the set following the crowd interactive, whale-sized “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”. This was my second time seeing The Decemberists and boy, they must have been hot in their suit attire. Colin Meloy was hilarious and a true entertainer as usual. I always say he’s my favorite lead and he probably would have been right there with Craig Finn for the weekend if it weren’t for the heat. One of the most comical moments was when Colin tried a few times to get to crowd to help him point their fingers at the sun and get it to keep going down. It worked out pretty well – getting everyone involved that is. The sun stayed steadily stubborn, so we got some numbers and exclamation points by way of The Crane Wife 1, July! July!, and O Valencia!, and The Perfect Crime 2 before Kierston and I made our way to start up with the Wilco set. Evidently Mavis Staples joined the band to sing “The Weight” later in the set, so those who stuck around caught a sweet treat that few of us got the pure joy to have earlier in the day.
Even though it pained me to rip myself away from The Decemberists, Wilco have become an important part of music to me over the last few years and Kierston was a huge fan of them too. We needed to keep ourselves well hydrated even late into the afternoon, so we grabbed a couple of the delicious Strawberry Fields fruit smoothies, some bottled water, and made it extremely close to the front of the What Stage right as they were hitting the first notes to “You Are My Face”, the second song from their new album Sky Blue Sky. They played many of the fan favorites including a beautiful “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, a truly reason-Wilco-needs-to-be-seen-live “Via Chicago”, “Jesus Etc.”, and an encore with “Heavy Metal Drummer”. Along with John Paul Jones, seeing Jeff Tweedy look happy, smile, interact some with the audience, and have fun was part of the best rare moments you only see at Bonnaroo. I think the band really loved being there and so did we. This was easily a top five performance and it just grew stronger as it went along. I couldn’t tear myself away.
I did end up going near the end to get through the port-a-potty lines before The White Stripes took the stage. It went through fairly quickly, so I got a chicken and veggie wrap and sat down in front of Feist for her last three songs. She has a really soothing voice and her band sounded forward enough to justify the importance of seeing her life since her albums are fairly light. The Reminder is another solid album from her, so I plan on seeing a full show whenever touring takes her through Ohio. Ornette Coleman was on our to-see list, but with how thickly dusty it was getting and the heat staying closed in, I didn’t want to walk too far to get back to the Which Stage and to meet Kierston. Sadly Ornette collapsed from heatstroke halfway through his set, but I heard what he had done so far was remarkable, so I hope he’ll make a full recovery very soon and I’ll be able to see him before he retires.
Jack White is truly the soul of The White Stripes. He’s a thrilling guitarist, motivating speaker, and hooks your down with his sweet vocals and witty lyrics. That said, it was a joy to hear Meg sing “In the Cold, Cold Night” and still work her heart out at drumming even if she seemed to shy away from the audience most of the time. “Icky Thump”, “Ball & Biscuit”, and “Seven Nation Army” were powerful live and better than I expected to hear from them. They didn’t play a number of their singles, but who really noticed with how charged the entire set was along with a wicked cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. They ended their show a bit earlier than schedule, but it was still one of the most fulfilling points of the weekend as it was closing in on us.
Next to any members of The Dead and Trey Anastasio, Widespread Panic seem to be one of the token Bonnaroo jam artists that are headlining every year and most of the community keep their dancing shoes on right through the end, holding up tearing down the tent and heading home until later and just hanging onto the last second for rocking out with the last night of the festival. We stuck around for the first couple songs, which lasted over half an hour. I was having a good time dancing around to them and I appreciate that they can keep the music up like they do. They were still rocking out without missing a beat or slowing down as we made the walk out to day parking and they went on to do about a two-dozen song set.
The cars were already backed up to get off the premises, so Kierston threw on The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife and we were already reminiscing about the magical weekend. We only moved one car length through the entire record, but it finally opened up once we got some Cold War Kids on. They sent us in the other direction from the main entrance and it was constantly moving and we were out of the lot by the time we had been waiting an hour to leave. Honestly, that’s not too bad and was to be expected, but we didn’t anticipate it leading us straight onto the shoulder of the interstate to merge into traffic. This set us in the right direction and we were back to the hotel in good time.
Some recommendations I would have for Bonnaroo to improve for the future would include setting aside a piece of land for Thursday day parking that wouldn’t interrupt traffic flow nor hurt campers the rest of the weekend. Perhaps late campers could take up that area on Friday or something, but don’t disappoint and disregard that segment of your audience even for a day no matter how small they may be. More mist/water trailers were needed throughout the site as I only saw two and heard a number of times that there were “several scattered” around the area. There was a third one rumored around the What Stage, but I didn’t see it and heard it was removed or never there to begin with. A few more trees or shaded areas around the What Stage would be much appreciated as well. Setting up a tighter and longer queue for the comedy tent or working out a different method so it’s not so chaotic with a stampede of fans should be solidified eventually. There seemed to be a number of communication problems among the staff, but I know they’ll be continuing to work on things for the future of the festival and truly value all the efforts involved.
There were so many highs this weekend (not counting the temperature) that it totally tears apart and tosses away any lows that could have happened. My favorite shows of the weekend would be The Hold Steady, Mavis Staples, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Wilco, Gillian Welch, and The National. I would unquestionably return to Bonnaroo in a heartbeat although I believe I would stick with my hotel routine again or else I would be too exhausted and stressed about things otherwise. I loved the variety of food options such as the Planet Roo Café, the port-o-potties were kept fairly clean all weekend, there was generally excellent organization overall, the line-up was spectacular, the sound systems were top-notch and little sound bleed in general, and I was thrilled to be there. The camping is a great opportunity though and it makes me happy so many people come together to create this community and have one of the ultimate music experiences in the world through doing it. Bonnarooooooo!