Saturday we all went down to the stages quite early and i wound up staying down there until the wee wee hours; about 17 hours down at the stage on Saturday. That’s fucking crazy.
Dr. Dog: This was a band that i hadn’t heard much of but most of my camp loves them. They were really good. Different sound but somehow reminded me a lot of Apollo Sunshine from a couple nights earlier. Just that “new band” feel i guess. Good though. Solid start to the day.
My brother and his girlfriend went back to the camp for a while after that and i stayed down at the stages with my friends going in and out of the fountain (i was even in there next to Billy Martin and one point) and almost seeing Hot Tuna and carrying on and having fun and watching some music that i would otherwise be completely oblivious to.
Regina Spektor: Really sweet, cute voice with some decent instrumental skills and a ver daffy russian charm that was all and all very feelgood and amusing. I don’t know how else to describe her but there was this really tall and loud wook that invaded our space during our set and was out of control and just so fucking tall.
Ziggy Marely: really didn’t plan on seeing this (if i was down there alone i would have for sure hit up Warren on the Sonic Stage but i didn’t feel like it was worth ditching my friends for). We went and watched a few Ziggy tunes. I don’t know much about him other than his last name but he was actually really good. A lot better than what i’ve heard of any of his brothers and he played a Bob tune when we were watching (i forget which one even but it was that really sweet one with love in the title, i don’t know i just cant think of which one it was right now) but it was really good. Had a lot of heart in it.
Damien Rice: that’s the guy’s name! Thank you Bonnaroo schedule! He was good i guess. I wasn’t really paying attention but i’ve heard some of his albums and i’ve never complained.
It was at this point that i deliberately seperated from my friends since none of them know about Keller and had plans of their own and dammit, i just don’t miss Keller. I was supposed to meet up with my brother and his girlfriend somewhere for Keller but i still had about a little under an hour to kill before that happened. I checked up on the Sonic Stage and was pleasently suprised.
North Mississippi Allstars on the Sonic Stage: Another one of those old school Bonnaroo bands that just kicked it all back in gear for me at the right time to remind me of where and who i was. And they might be my favorite Sonic Stage band. That’s just where they belong. They even covered an old Dylan tune (“Oxford Town”), the only Dylan cover i saw all weekend.
Keller Williams & The WMDs: I really didn’t know what to expect from Keller with a band. I’ve seen Keller about as much as i’ve seen MMW so i was interested to see him in a different light as well and that’s for sure what it was; different. If it was my first Keller show i’m not sure how i would feel about it but it was definately cool to hear some of those songs electric and what not, and he’s just the best at festivals. No fest is complete without Keller there. He dropped the best setlist call of the weekend in there with the Dead’s “Brown Eyed Women” (the bottle was DUSTY but the liqour was clean). It sure was.
Time to wrap our bandanas over our faces and meet up with the rest of the camp for the main event.
The Police: As i’ve stated before, the generational gap in my family completely skips the Police and i’ve never independently gotten into them or Sting. But man was this a lot of fun seeing them at Bonnaroo. They’ve really just got some great songs and that’s all you need to be a great Bonnaroo headliner; great singalongs. They weren’t as good as Petty last year but they were just a joy. For the first while we were all just chilling up high on the hill listening and laying down and singing along and syaing “what the fuck man? Sting at Bonnaroo? This is too much!” but then all of a sudden an army of tripping kids appeared in front of us in a meditating circle and issued out doses to each other and wearing glow sticks and everything. It was around this time that my brother’s girlfriend discovered that by cupping our ears we could hear the music a lot clearer. She told my brother who told me and i told one of my friends who told the rest of them and we went on watching the Police roll out the classics. About ten or twenty minutes rolled by (probably like an hour. There is no time at Bonnaroo) and my brother tapped me on the shoulder and said “holy shit man. look!” I looked in front of my to find all the tripping kids cupping their ears frontwards and backwards with huge smiles on their faces and laughing hysterically. We then saw our whole area cupping their ears and smiling. We had started the ear cupping revolution and soon we started the ear cupping dance revolution and the Police drove on and ended with all of us laughing as hard as we did all weekend.
Feeling good about the world and all together and the Police ending a little early we figured we go and stake out a good spot for the Flaming Lips late night set. We walked up on the Lips playing already. They were playing War Pigs and everybody started scrambling to get closer when it stopped and Wayne Coyne said “oh shit, you guys were listening to that? We’re not playing yet folks, this is just a soundcheck but hold tight and we’ll be out in just a few and we’ll try and make it as good as you seem to be feeling right now and we’ll make this the best Bonnaroo ever” or something like that, we were all feeling too good to care about what his exact words were.
The whole vibe of waiting for the Lips was the best one of the weekend. We were all so excited but feeling too good to care about any performance at all. There were some kids from Nashville talking to us and saying funny shit and i looked at some friends of mine stading next to me looking straight ahead with disgusted looks on their faces and i followed their eyes. They were watching a guy right in front of us flagerantly making out with this girl. I mean it was totally unapologetic disgusting 3 days of filth, head full of rolls make out and then the guy grabbed another girl next to him and they started making out! There were hands going in pants and toungues everywhere and it was so gross. Us and the people around us made it awesome though throwing out all kinds of sarcastic remarks that the 3 “lovers?” completely ignored. Stuff like “hey man, should we be paying you for this?” and “Come on man, my mother’s still awake right now” It was classic shit. Wayne Coyne was onstage nearly the whole time getting shit ready and talking to the crowd. I love his approach. He just doesn’t hide shit from anybody. And then it happened.
The Flaming Lips: Like i stated in my Tool rant above, i normally don’t like a lot of big production stuff being brought to the festivals. But the way the Lips did it was just so right. It was a spectical but it was still human. They had a giant UFO come down and Captain America ushered them out of it and Wayne surfed the crowd in a giant beach ball before picking up guitars and blasting balloons and confettli and launching the crowd into that euphoric “moment.” Because the Lips were there with us. There was a lot of things happening on stage but they bring it so that we’re all right in the middle of it. They blur the line of artist and audience as well as anyone i’ve ever seen. Perfect for Bonnaroo, perfect for late night on the Which Stage. The music itself wasn’t nearly as important as the feeling and that was exactly the point. I’m not to into the Lips. I’ve only got one album (an old one, the one with She Don’t Use Jelly) and sure it would have been cool if they played “Be My Head” at some point in the show but really…who cares? They were incredible. They ended and i didn’t even care that i had missed most of Gov’t Mule; what i had anticipated as one of the prime sets of the weekend. But i just couldn’t leave the Lips.
Gov’t Mule: Luckily, Warren and the boys were still juiced when the Lips left the stage. I knew i had to see them. There’s no way i’m going 2 straight Bonnaroos without Warren Haynes. This festival was full o stuff i would never otherwise put together (SCI after Tool, Mule after Lips) but man i didn’t care once i got over there. Mule was kicking ass! Looking at the setlist Will just posted i’m bummed i missed all those guests (with the exception of Luther Dickenson). I knew that would be the case in choosing to watch the Lips with all my friends and stuff but luckily…i regret nothing. I stayed down there for the whole set and it was a good thing i did. I was ready to go to sleep after the Lips and was questionable about making it back to the camp without passing out somewhere on Shakedown Street. But Mule woke me the fuck up, that’s for sure. I even got up pretty close to Warren. And they closed with Soulshine. Awesome, didn’t see that one coming!
Saturday night has always proved to be the defining moment of every Bonnaroo i’ve been to and this one was no different.
Sunday we all went down early again but split up as soon as we got inside and dunked into the fountain once. I don’t know where everybody esle went but i went to see…
Mavis Staples: There’s no way i was missing once of the sweetest singers this world has ever heard. How else could i have started my Sunday than with some Staples singers goodness. I only caught the last few songs but man did i feel great about what i saw. She hasn’t lost a step since the Staples Singers heyday. I even ran into my brother and his girlfriend down there and we went back to the fountain and chilled out before our Grateful Ambassodor was to take the stage.
Bob Weir & Ratdog: I like Bob Weir but i’ve never really dug too hard on Ratdog. I don’t know, they just seem a little empty to me, especially i’m used to the fire that Phil brings to the table. Still, he’s Bob Weir; an original member and if we didn’t go see his whole set, it would have been disrespectful to all we hold as true in the ideas of live music and festivals. Started with a soft jam that went into Hel>Slip>Minglewood. I was really excited because finally i was watching somebody play and i actually knew all the songs. But that wasn’t the case for long when they dove into what i understand as Ratdog originals that sounded cool before launching back into Dead songs. Sure, they aren’t as good as Phil & Friends but Ratdog is definately an interesting take on all that old material. They even played “Hell In A Bucket”; a song that i used to hate but now i love, especially when he squeals like a pig at the end. And then they satisfied the duty of diving back into Franklin’s Tower! This was most pleasing to me as it carried the torch. I have heard Franklin’s Tower at every Bonnaroo i’ve attended. The Dead played it in '04, the Allman Brothers played it in '05, Phil played it in '06 and Bobby in '07. I hope i hear it at every Bonnaroo i ever go to. Its the perfect song. Go Bobby! Samson closer!
The Decembrists: This is a real cool band that a lot of my friends are into and they make great albums but at Bonnaroo they proved to be not much more than an opportunity to get off our feets for a whiles.
Wilco: This was the first band i ever saw at Bonanroo back in 2004 and i enjoyed seeing them come back to full cirlce and play some of the songs i remember specifically from that day way back when. I really liked watching them but they made some weird setlist calls. I can’t really go into that much detail about it. My brother can though as he is the one that’s really into Wilco though. I just wanted to hear something from Mermaid Avenue but that didn’t happen. Sitll, i liked them that day. And i have a definate like/dislike relationship with them.
It was far too dusty and i don’t give a shit about the White Stripes and neither do my brother or his girlfriend so we seperated from the pack in search of shelter which we found in the mostly empty comedy tent with Dave Attell. That was some funny shit right there; mostly improv.
We walked out to Sunday night at Bonnaroo which as always, resembled the end of the world. All the stages were dark and the dust was everywhere, people were walking around trying to kill off the rest of their drug/alcohol supllies, fireworks are going off everywhere and we followed the sounds of Widespread Panic coming from the main stage. Same as it ever was and i wouldn’t trade it for anything (except Phil and/or Trey).
Widespread Panic: I was also skeptical about them closing since they catch a lot of shit for some reason but when i realized what was happening i realized that they are always a great call for Bonnaroo closer. Because not everybody’s paying full attention by Sunday night and they just like to hang out. And Panic is the perfect background groove to the Sunday night madness. They drew a much bigger crowd than i thought they would draw, and not even a predominantly Spreadneck crowd. People from all over were watching them. Their crowd looked about as big as Tool’s and that made me feel good. Bonnaroo still is Bonnaroo after all. They played great by the way. We watched them straight up for probably an hour and a half or so before enjoying the rest of the set form Shakedown Street. I don’t know a lot of their songs but a know some and i recall a great segue in the middle of the set while we were down there that was something like “From the Cradle > Chilly Water > Drums > Jam > some song > Chilly Water” that i remember as particualarly sweet and we grooved and shookdown like we hadn’t aged since our first year and maybe so, Bonnaroo is where we are forever young after all.
I don’t think it will ever top the nostalgia or significance of my first year (2004) or the lineup of 2006 but i’m convinced that Bonnaroo is always going to be worth the trip, especially if there are good friends and good music involved. Its becoming the difining annual even of what’s great in our generation and i’m not ashamed to embrace it. I just hope MTV never gets its dirty hands on it and as long as i see a solid population of Steal Your Face flags flying over the sounds of distant N2O tanks, we have nothing to worry about. There’s nothing wrong with the groove spreading to the masses.
