… And then there was the Roo
~ ~ Photos from Bonnaroo ~ ~
We left Shenandoah on Tuesday, late in the afternoon — to try to get a head start on some of the driving. From Shenandoah it’s about 12 hours to Manchester, TN — the annual site of Bonnaroo. We stayed overnight at a lovely Holiday Inn in Bristol, VA — that we took full advantage of all of the ammenties including the outdoor Hot Tub.
We departed bright and early on Wednesday morning to finish up our trip, and stop by Knoxville, TN for our annual Panera Lunch. It was about 5pm CST when we made it to the Best Western Hotel in McMinnville (15 minutes from Manchester). Later that evening, we heard on “Radio Bonnaroo” that the “Setup had taken less time than expected, and the gates were open early.” We had already put down my credit card at the BW, but said screw it — because the chance of getting in a full day early would be great to get everything set up. Not to mention the fact that we believed we’d be the closest ones to the venue.
We were dead-wrong about being close, but we were able to set up the night before. They fill from the back — forward.. so those that spend the least amount of time in Traffic to get in, get the worst spots. I guess this is only fair, and frankly we’d rather be settled on Wednesday night with a full day before any Music begins on Thursday at 9pm — than wait in traffic for 5+ hours on Thursday, just to get a closer spot.
There are only a few bands that play on Thursday night — but they open up the main venue area (Centeroo) to check them out and see the sites and art that surrounds the area. I think the main highligh was a band called “The Cat Empire” — which had a very interesting sound. A little Salsa, with some Hip Hop, Reggae, Jazz and Middle-eastern chant thrown in. Very interesting — and really enjoyed the set.
Friday is the first full day of music, and unfortunately this was our worst-planned day — despite having the schedule laid out in our favor. See, the difficult thing about the ‘Roo is that there are 5 bands playing at any one time, which makes the overlap sometimes difficult to see everyone you wanted to. Friday was our best day in terms of schedule, but because of this, we didn’t really take full advantage of it. We watched the entire Ben Folds set (which was fantastic) and most of Oysterhead, but missed a lot of G. Love and due to a late start by Robert Randolph — we only caught a song or two. Tom Petty was awesome, and brought out special guest Stevie Nicks to do a few tunes with him. The evening didn’t pan out much better, unfortunately, as the organization of the venues were askew. They put the band with the biggest draw at the smallest tent — which made it impossible to find a place to sit and listen to the music, and if you weren’t close enough you couldn’t hear anything. So we missed just about the entire set of Umphrey’s McGee, but checked out Lyrics Born as well as Common. We opted to go to bed slightly early to save ourselves for the late night that would come on Saturday.
Like most mornings at Bonnaroo, you end up waking up at 7am when the heat starts pounding down the door of your tent so you can’t sleep. Fortunately I think I managed to sleep in until 9am most days, but those last few hours aren’t very restful.
Knowing that Saturday was going to be a very full day, we made some breakfast, and backed our bags to head out for the entire day down at Centeroo — expecting to swing by before Radiohead went on at 8:30pm to grab some night gear and prepare for the evening’s festivities.
First on our Agenda was Rusted Root and Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley, son of Reggae Genuius Bob Marley. The 5pm - 7pm slot was the toughest, putting Beck, Medeski Martin & Wood, Les Claypool and Cypress Hill all on seperate stages at the same time. Somehow we managed our time well, and flowed with the “Late Starts” that most of the acts had, that allowed us to see part of each of these sets. Beck had the most interesting visual performance, playing out their entire set using puppets on the Large HD Screens while the band rocked on the stage. Halfway through, Beck did a few solo acoustic songs while the rest of the band opted to eat dine at a luxurious table right on stage.
Radiohead rocked. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan, but listening to their show blew my mind. Late night was just as good — with the musical stylings of Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon of Phish accompanied by the Benveneto Russo Duo at the Bonnaroo Superjam. The Balkan Beat Box, Dresden Dolls and the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus performed at the smaller tent that was now decorated with a HUGE chandalier. At the third stage the Rebirth Brass Band paraded around in the crowd for the Annual Mardi Gras parade, and finishing off the night was Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk which was phenominal.
Come Sunday, just about everyone is running on fumes — as were we. We opted to try to back for the full day and just come back at midnight — as not to waste energy coming back to the tent before the last show at 8pm. Some of the highlights of the day were moe., Matisyahu, Sonic Youth, and of course the 8pm Headliner — Phil Lesh & Friends.
Honorable Mentions:
Most Disappointing - The Streets. Horrible live performance, and really didn’t appreciate their sarcasm.
Most Interesting Small-Time Band - The Cat Empire. Great sound — something I’ve never heard before, and I highly recommend checking them out.
Our Favorite Set - Balkan Beat Box. Never seen ‘em before but their energy and enthusiasm was amazing.
Most Full-Sounding Set - Dresden Dolls. What I mean by this, is they were awesome, and sounded so rich and full, with only two members of the band (Drummer & Pianist). Truly a great time.
Worst Act - Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. We caught them on Sunday at the Preservation Hall, and the show seemed forced and too rehearsed. Not very good at all.
Set we wished we saw more of - Robert Randolph & The Family Band. These guys sounded great, but their late start and our tight schedule required us to only hear a song or two of theirs.
Craziest Set - Beck or Oysterhead. Both of which did some great stuff on stage and were very fun to watch.
Best Late Night Set - Ivan Neville, no doubt. They were rockin’ but came on at 3am — and just couldn’t stay up past 4 to hear the rest of ‘em.
Biggest Surprise - moe. Never really listened to them before, but we really enjoyed their show, and look forward to checking them out in the future.
That’s all she wrote folks.. a good time was had by all (except for that girl in the tent across the street as we were packing up) — but, this was probably our last Bonnaroo for a while.. but it was damn worth it.. If anyone is interested in any of the live sets, I’ve downloaded a bunch of them — and you can find the BitTorrent list here.
~ ~ Photos from Bonnaroo ~ ~
