I spent this past weekend in the middle of Tennessee. It took me 24 hours to get there via plane, and I spent the next 24 hours without any luggage. But I’m not going to talk about that here, I’ll save that for a future post about how American Airlines could have used Social Media to get my business again. I want to talk about Bonnaroo, the best music and arts festival in North America.

The music lineup was top notch. I have extremely eccentric tastes in music. My philosophy when someone asks me what I listen to comes from Duke Ellington, “there are only two kinds of music in this world, good and bad.” So yes, there was one band that made me buy a ticket to the festival, Phish. But it was the diverse and deep lineup that made it a great weekend. In just two hours on Sunday I bounced between Merle Haggard , Erykah Badu, Andrew Bird and Okkervil River. My ears are constantly open and Bonnaroo does not disappoint.

The highlights:

My name is Brad and I like Phish. I used to hide myself as a Phishhead, I was tired of being pigeonhold but since Phish has come back, I just don’t care anymore. I was awfully excited to see them on Friday night. I utilized my semi-secret way to get down to the front of the stage, ending up 40 feet back on Fishman’s side. These guys are hot right now. They had a 3 hours to play, so I assumed we would hear 2 sets with a short break in between. That turned out to not be the case. We we’re given 3.5 hours of both classic and new songs. The jams were contained to the right songs and the right places. When I would find my mind wandering, someone would always come through and bring my attention right back. This was a good show. The new songs, Kill Devil Falls and Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan are good tunes with lots of opportunity to grow into being classics. I had never been so close to the stage during Divided Sky, so it was neat to see the silent jam that close. I’d only heard that at the Gorge, while the sun was setting so I can’t exactly complain. Harry Hood, YEM, Silent in the Morning and Down with Disease all were awesome. They were hitting everything with authority and meaning. It sounded like Phish, it didn’t sound like they were trying to be a pop band or a funk band or a cover band. This is the band that I grew up on, and this is the band that I know. They’re going back to being themselves, and everybody should be happy about that.

I love Wilco (the band). Last time I saw them, I believe I said, “this is a band I’m looking forward to getting old with.” Everything they put out is great, and the new album is no different. I was lucky enough to be down in front for the show again. You could tell that everyone was having lots of fun. Nels Cline is one of my favorite guitar players, and did not disappoint. Jeff Tweedy was very chatty, at one point he said, “we’re pretty happy about playing before Bruce, because if you boo, we can’t tell a difference.”

Grizzly Bear translated their lovely new album to the stage perfectly. Wish I could have seen their whole set, but I was transitioning from seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, on my way to see King Sunny Ade and Santigold. All were excellent and they were all at the same time. That’s the wonderful and frustrating thing about these festivals, you can only see so much.

David Byrne brought the house down. I’m looking forward to seeing him again next week in Seattle. He had a number of interpretive dancers on stage with him, they were fun to watch. I wish the drunk assholes from Jersey next to me weren’t yelling every lyric. Then again, I think drunk assholes from Jersey make the world go round (yin ‘n yang?).

The last time at Bonnaroo, I neglected to go to the comedy tent. This year I opted to go to see the Daily Show cast; John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, Kristen Schaal and some others. All the standup sets were hilarious and a nice change of pace.

It would be wrong to neglect the excellent set from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I’ve never been a big fan of The Boss, but I’ve always respected him and his band. They’re hard working and lots of people are devout fans, so who am I to judge? That man knows how to put on a show. The only other person I’ve seen work so hard and fill such a big stage without any doubt of who is in charge is Mick Jagger. He puts performers half his age to shame. The other memorable part was watching Max Weinberg’s 18 year old son take over the kit half way through the set, this kid has a future.

The disappointments:

MGMT had the crowd at the tip of their fingertips. That Tent was as overflowed as I’ve ever seen in my two years of going to Bonnaroo. Everybody was asking for a dance party, but sadly, they didn’t deliver. Maybe I was too far away, and the sound wasn’t loud enough. I don’t think so though. These guys need to tour some more and work out their live show. Take a lesson from the jambands and pull the song out a little. The crowd was ready.

I’m bummed that I missed these shows; moe. (they played until 7am), MURS, Passion Pit, Public Enemy, Phoenix, Femi Kuti, Al Green, Galactic, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, David Grisman, Citizen Cope, Neko Case and Band of Horses.

The roundup:

I’ve been to a number of festivals, all around the country, some better than others. For the most part, I generally get discouraged by the organization. Having to sit in a line for hours on end to get anything is not the way that most people want to spend their time at a festival. The good folks that run Bonnaroo know what they’re doing. Everywhere you go, the lines are manageable, the food is good, the beer is reasonably priced and the stages offer good sight lines, even if you show up late. You can tell that the organizers think about the experience and not just how they can make money. They’re taking the bet on the long term, not the short term. If they continue doing what they’re doing, Bonnaroo is going to be around for a long time. In the middle of June, there is no city I’d rather be in than Manchester, Tennessee.

To those asking, “who are you going to see?” Check out the rest of the post.

Thursday June 11th, 2009

• White RabbitsTHIS TENT6:45 PM – 7:45 PM
• MURSTHE OTHER TENT7:15 PM – 8:15 PM
• People Under the StairsTHE OTHER TENT10:15 PM – 11:15 PM
• Passion PitTHIS TENT11:15 PM – 12:15 AM

Friday June 12th, 2009

• Toubab KreweTHE OTHER TENT12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
• GomezWHICH STAGE12:45 PM – 2:00 PM
• Kaki KingTHIS TENT1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
• Vieux Farka TouréTHE OTHER TENT2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
• Animal CollectiveWHICH STAGE2:45 PM – 4:00 PM
• Béla Fleck & Toumani DiabateTHE OTHER TENT3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
• moe.SONIC STAGE4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
• Yeah Yeah YeahsWHICH STAGE4:45 PM – 6:00 PM
• King Sunny Adé & the African BeatsTHE OTHER TENT5:15 PM – 6:30 PM
• Al GreenWHAT STAGE6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
• TV on the RadioWHICH STAGE6:45 PM – 8:00 PM
• Mt St Helens Vietnam BandCAFÉ WHERE HOSTED BY AT&T7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
• Beastie BoysWHAT STAGE8:30 PM – 10:00 PM
• David ByrneWHICH STAGE8:45 PM – 10:45 PM
• PhishWHAT STAGE11:00 PM – 2:00 AM
• Femi Kuti and the Positive ForceTHE OTHER TENT12:00 AM – 1:30 AM

Saturday June 13th, 2009

• Alejandro EscovedoTHAT TENT12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
• Rodrigo y GabrielaWHAT STAGE3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
• Gov’t MuleWHICH STAGE5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
• WilcoWHAT STAGE6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
• The DecemberistsTHIS TENT7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street BandWHAT STAGE9:00 PM – 12:30 AM
• Nine Inch NailsWHICH STAGE1:00 AM – 3:00 AM
• moe.THIS TENT1:00 AM – 4:00 AM
• Ben Harper and Relentless7THE OTHER TENT1:00 AM – 3:30 AM
• MGMTTHAT TENT2:15 AM – 3:45 AM

Sunday June 14th, 2009

• Ted Leo and the PharmacistsTHE OTHER TENT1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
• Citizen CopeWHICH STAGE2:15 PM – 3:30 PM
• Brett DennenTHE OTHER TENT3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
• Erykah BaduWHAT STAGE3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
• Merle HaggardTHIS TENT5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
• Snoop DoggWHAT STAGE6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
• Band of HorsesWHICH STAGE6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
• Neko CaseTHIS TENT6:45 PM – 8:15 PM
• PhishWHAT STAGE8:30 PM – 12:00 AM

The lineup is below …

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (two shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7    
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
Of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Band of Horses
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

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.

Bonnaroo was awesome.

It really was. Everything in the beginning was kind of lame. I arrived at the festival tired and hungry. It all started out by taking a red eye flight to Dallas through a thunderstorm. Lightning from an airplane above is quite spectacular. I discovered that I don’t enjoy flying through the thunderstorm. We then spent a couple of hours in the Dallas Airport, where my Seattle compatriot, Pat, found an iPod vending machine to feed his credit card to at 5am. The vending machine returned a black 30gb iPod. One horrible sandwich and bottle of water later we were off to Nashville. After arriving at about 9am with the keys to a rented PT Cruiser we were off. The freeway to Manchester was ahead and we were stoked to be on our way. Pat (who prefers the moniker, Jerkface Jones) found some sunglasses en route that had a confederate flag on the side. The positively north westerners were trying to be hicks. Two days later, he scratched the flag off. Bonnaroo may have been in the Bible Belt, but it may as well have been half a world away.

After traversing some traffic and having an officer tell my compatriot to “GET BACK IN THE CAR”, we exited the freeway at the wrong point. We then drove through Manchester, mostly sticking to the center lane bypassing the fools sitting in traffic going nowhere on the side of the road. Eventually we found a WALMART. This was my second time in a WALMART and the first time entering a WALMART with the intention of purchasing anything. We left the WALMART $200 later with lots of beer, bread, peanut butter, jam, and lots of other boring things to keep us going through the unknown. The Holiday Inn was next to pick up the guest passes. After picking the passes up we sat in the parking lot for about an hour while the police officers ate donuts. Some people drove through a lovely old ladies front lawn. She was not too happy about it. After getting on our way we found ourselves in a campground 50 feet front the festival grounds between an RV filled with 20 year olds from New Jersey and a public radio DJ from Louisville, Kentucky.

The kids from New Jersey immediately offered us a beer, “from the oldest brewery in the world.”

… and we were off.