Bonnaroo, Review Thursday

After getting our bearings in the campground it became evident to me that things were going to work out wonderfully. I was woefully tired due to my inability to sleep (or relax) on airplanes and subsequently kind of eager to get everything set up to relax. After setting up camp and taking a quick nap, I ran off to see some music. Due to the massive 8 hour traffic jams from Nashville, Thursday night is a bit of a wash for the crowd. The shows don’t start until evening, the main stage isn’t open, and none of the big bands are on the bills. However, in all the glory that bonnaroo is, the music does not disappoint. If anything, I was kind of looking forward to the first night because I had zero expectations from any of the bands due to my lack of knowledge about them. The first band I saw was the Black Angels. They have a ton of buzz in Seattle. KEXP and the Stranger are always writing rave reviews about this austin band. I must saw, I felt a little disappointed. I didn’t have the greatest view point, but I felt like the songs ran together. Plus the chord changes were entirely uninteresting (white blues changes, anyone?) and the vocals were boring. I bet they would rock the shit out of a small club, but on the big stage, it wasn’t happening.

Wandering is a big activity at the roo. With so many bands it is awfully important (and hard to avoid the need) to not catch an entire set. I think I only saw 3 or 4 whole sets out of the 30 or so bands I saw the entire weekend. It is sometimes too easy to pull the trigger on leaving a show. “Huh, maybe we should go get a beer?” and you’re off to the next stage. Often times you end up running into a great show from a band that you would never see if they came to your home town. Which is probably why so many bands play festivals, the exposure is priceless.

Which brings me to Mute Math. I wandered by This Tent (actual name) and saw a large gathering of people and a band going completely ape shit on stage. With so many good musicians in the world, it seems that the art of stagecraft can get lost in the mess of chord changes and rhythms. They had an upright bass, electronic beats, drummers, and multiple good front men. This band will be big someday. They have a very catchy, poppy sound, a great show, and decent songs. It’s exactly what I needed at the time, due to my 30+ hours of awakeness.

After Mute Math I wandered around and listened to The National and was duly disappointed. They are another band that I feel is really close to being interesting to me, but instead frustrate. Oh well, woe is me.

Tea Leaf Green has been getting a ton of great buzz in the jamband community. Well I feel that my allegiance as a jamband-er has been fading for a while, I still try to keep my ear to the scene. I must have caught the set at the wrong time because I wasn’t digging it and my patience was low. I tried for about 15 minutes and took off. Next time they come to Seattle I’ll check them out again, but not this time.

Rodrigo y Gabriela were set to play at midnight. I was starting to feel really tired, but knew that they would be completely worth it. I’ve been rocking out to them a lot lately seeing their virtuosity live was appealing. Unfortunately they were having some technical difficulties. I waited until about 12:30 and had to leave. I later heard they they started by about 12:45 and played an incredible show.

Thursday was fun, but it was definitely an overture. Bonnaroo is all about pacing yourself.