I arrived at the radio station shortly thereafter, and I kid you not, the second person I had met while in town also asked about the shirt and if it was Cincinnati-related, and it turns out that this middle-aged man was born in a small eastern Ohio town called Hillsboro. Now living in South Carolina, he was down here covering the festival for the classic rock radio station that he works for. We talked very briefly about Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center, and both shared a laugh when we discovered that we were at the very same Styx and REO Speedwagon concert back in 2001.
Not even half-an-hour later I was in and out of the radio station with my media wristband strapped on tight, and it was now time to head on over to the festival grounds. Before I had even left the parking lot, a young couple from Boston offered me $20 to drive them to the festival. On the way there, we listened to Fantasy Radio’s program called Radio Bonnaroo, talked about past Bonnaroo’s and the acts we were looking forward to the most this year. Being from Boston, the couple seemed very excited for the Dropkick Murphys, and told me about the infamous Dropkick St. Patty’s Day shows that they regularly attend.
I couldn’t believe it but somewhere around an hour later I was already inside the festival grounds! In my three previous Bonnaroo trips, the shortest amount of time I had ever waited in traffic was three hours and the longest was about eight hours. Just as I was pulling up to the tollbooths (the area where you stop to get your vehicle checked for illegal things like fireworks and weapons, among other things) it started to drizzle a little bit, and I immediately began praying that we would not get the same monsoon that we had on the first day of the festival last year. After just a few minutes, the rain was over with and would not appear again until Saturday, despite the fact that the forecast was calling for thunderstorms everyday.
Getting through the tollbooths was an extremely smooth and quick process, unlike previous years, because it seemed as though they weren’t even checking anyone’s belongings for illegal things. Whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing, I can almost guarantee that it is something that will be addressed next year.
From there I was directed with the rest of the traffic through five hundred acres of green fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, and would be led to what would become my home for the next four days. Even though I had been here three times before, the size of the grounds always amazes me. When it comes to camping at Bonnaroo, I feel like I’ve lucked out the past few years, because I’ve always managed to get located in an area that is typically a five or ten minute walk to the main concert areas. Such was the case this year, as I would be camping almost in the very middle of the entire camping grounds, in an area along West 3rd Street called Dr. Rumack, named after Leslie Nielsen’s character in Airplane.
I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of time at camp because I was so eager to get inside and check out all the sights, like the new design on the mushroom fountain and new attractions like the Lunar Stage, Splash-a-roo and the Beach. I unpacked my things, met my neighbors (who helped me set up my tent) and before I knew it, was drifting alone among a sea of people headed to the main concert area.
By the time I had made it inside Centeroo and the main concert areas, the second musical act of the day, Nashville’s Non-Commissioned Officers, had already taken the stage in the Troo Music Lounge, although I could just barely hear them from a distance.
In all, I saw ten different bands on the first day of the festival, most of whom are among the cream of the crop of the current buzzing indie acts. First there was London’s Fanfarlo, who needed no help in getting the crowd moving on their feet. They kicked things off with “The Walls Are Coming Down”, an anthemic piece made by the male and female vocal harmonies, the violin work of Cathy Lucas and the blasting trumpet of Leon Beckenham. The lead vocal style of Simon Balthazar brought a feeling of what you might get had the Talking Heads David Byrne been born in Generation Y and fronted the Arcade Fire. Most of their eleven song set came from their 2009 debut, Reservoir, although they did throw in a few new and unreleased songs like “Atlas”, which was featured on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack. They finished their set quite strong and I’m sure with at least a thousand new fans, ending their Bonnaroo debut with “Luna”, a song that, in my mind, features probably the best melodica solo ever written.
From there I walked a few hundred yards over to This Tent, where the psychedelic, stoner rock Entrance Band was putting the finishing touches on their set, with the shredding of lead guitarist and vocalist Guy Blakeslee. I quickly moved across the way, passing through all sorts of vendors and eco-conscious exhibits in Planet Roo to catch twenty-seven year old soul singer, Diane Birch. She kind of has a Norah Jones/Regina Spektor thing going on, but the highlight for me at her set had to be her cover of Hall and Oates “Rich Girl”, which I would later see again when she performed Friday on the Sonic Stage.
After catching just a few songs from Birch’s set, I wandered back over to This Tent to watch Brooklyn indie folk rockers, Here We Go Magic. They played a lot of new material from their recent release, Pigeons, and were clearly a bit heavier and more electric than I was expecting (not a bad thing by any means though).
But it wasn’t until the next set, where you could feel this sort of unexplainable energy from the crowd, which finally brought the festival to life. The band was L.A.’s Local Natives, an indie folk band with poppy guitar hooks, multi-part vocal harmonies and Jekyll and Hyde drumming. Their eleven-song set featured all but one of the tracks on their highly critically-acclaimed debut album, Gorilla Manor, which included a cover of the Talking Heads “Warning Sign”, just three songs into their set.
I had about half-an-hour to kill before Neon Indian would take the stage, so I wandered back over to This Tent to briefly catch some of the Swedish electronica/dance trio, Miike Snow. Although they only played an eight-song set, and I maybe saw two of those songs, they were clearly killing it, as one of the best grooves of the entire night.
Although I don’t consider myself a big Neon Indian fan by any means, I was very interested in seeing exactly how their songs from Psychic Chasms would translate in the live setting, if they would work and if this band could convert me in an hours time. They certainly did, because it was just an off the top, psychedelic-tripped out affair complete with a lot more distorted guitars and pounding drums than they have on record. But the best moments were just being able to stand on the side of the stage, swaying back and forth bobbing my head, looking out into the crowd and watching glowsticks fly all over the place.
In the weeks leading up to Bonnaroo, maybe even the past couple months, I knew that my favorite moment of the first day would be Australia’s Temper Trap. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be. One of the albums I’ve had on constant rotation over the past couple months is their debut Conditions, which has actually been around for just about a year now. They’re quite atmospheric, with huge guitars and pulsating dance rhythms, bringing to mind everything from Hall and Oates to the Talking Heads to Passion Pit. Their set was full of so many songs that should and might become hits (“Love Lost”, “Fader”, “Down River”, ”Soldier On”) and one that already is, “Sweet Disposition”, which peaked at number six on the UK singles charts. If there’s only one more band you see in concert the rest of the year, I would highly suggest making that band the Temper Trap.
Still high from the buzz I got from hearing and seeing the Temper Trap for the first time in my life, I headed over to catch a bit of soul singer Mayer Hawthorne and his backing band The County, before heading back to That Tent for The xx. While both of these bands were excellent in their own ways (the musical genius of the producer/arranger/singer Hawthorne with his soft R&B grooves, and The xx with their dark, psychedelic, melancholic electropop) neither band brought quite enough to the stage to completely blow me away. I ended up jetting out of The xx’s show a bit early to head back to camp and call it a night. The first day of Bonnaroo 2010 had come to an end for me, and while it was nice that the rain held off, it was even nicer to finally see a night full of some of the hottest up-and-coming acts in the indie music scene.
Top 3 Shows from Bonnaroo Day One:
1. The Temper Trap
2. Local Natives
3. Neon Indian