Absolutely nothing was different with the beginning of day three of my Bonnaroo experience:
1. Wake up at sunrise to ninety degrees of pure hell
2. Find my neighbors still partying from the night before
3. Chow down on some chips and peaches
4. Take the poor man’s version of a shower by cleaning myself with moist towelettes
5. Stumble around inside my tent attempting to change into a new pair of boxer shorts
6. And lastly, stuff the backpack with everything from a baggie full of batteries to about a dozen water bottles, which aren’t anywhere near cold
There wasn’t much going on music-wise right at the beginning of Bonnaroo day three that I was that excited for, so I spent much of the morning again hanging out in shaded areas in the press compound, recharging my batteries (literally this time) and find myself in awe every time a musician would walk by. If my memory serves me well, I believe that this was the day I met up with a couple of other Cincinnatians; Ric Hickey, who was doing some writing for several publications, including CityBeat and Each Note Secure and his photographer Chuck Madden. Check out Chuck’s pictures here.
It was also the day that I got to meet another member of the Dave Matthews Band, bassist Stefan Lessard. It was right after the one and only press conference I attended all weekend, which along with Lessard, also featured comedian Bo Burnham, Weezer’s Brian Bell, Brandi Carlile, Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes, Ulises Bella from Ozomatli and Pepe Mogt of the Nortec Collective’s Fussible. Going back to the encounter with DMB’s Lessard: I’m not even sure if I spent a minute next to him, but I did show him the DMB Fire Dancer logo tattoo on my lower leg and he said “Nice!” A short while later the thought popped into my head, to jokingly ask him if the tattoo artwork was any sort of copyright infrigement, but he was already gone by this point.
As for the press conference, it was just an all around wonderful experience to be sitting there right in front of so many different artists of different backgrounds and cultures, and hear their thoughts and feelings on a number of topics. Lessard, who as a part of the Dave Matthews Band was a returning ‘roo alumnist, talked about the growth of Bonnaroo and how it feels to stand up there onstage in front of 70,000 people. He also talked about how a festival performance like Bonnaroo is in a lot of ways just like a regular DMB show, but on steroids. To quote Lessard’s thoughts on looking out into the crowd from the stage, he stated “You’re really going to try to work hard to win those fans over. So when you see the outskirts packing in around the crowd, you feel good.” Weezer’s Brian Bell also mentioned how one of their festival shows is just like a regular show but on steroids, and also talked about the similarities between Bonnaroo and European music festivals, stating that ”In Germany, they drink a lot more.” The 29-year old singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, talked about several things, like her first Bonnaroo performance about five years ago, where she played to a crowd of about forty people at what she calls “the garbage can stage”, referring to one of the small cafe tents that was, you guessed it, surrounded by garbage cans. She also mentioned how festivals have shaped her as an artist, and that she also likes to attend music festivals (such as Sasquatch) as a fan. Both Ulises and Pepe from Ozomatli and the Nortec Collective (respectively) talked about the new addition of the Latin-themed tent this year, as well as the growth and diversity of Bonnaroo. The young, twenty-something Burnham, talked about the greatness of being able to perform in one of the few air-conditioned venues at Bonnaroo, and also mentioned a little bit about the music industry, despite the fact that he’s a comedian. To quote Burnham, he stated “You look around and see how interested kids are in live music and the music culture. I don’t think people should be too worried about that, I dunno, maybe multi-millionares will become millionares.”
Like I previously stated earlier, there wasn’t much I was too excited for musically at the beginning of the day, but this is Bonnaroo and it only comes once a year, so I figured I’d just wander around from stage to stage checking out some bands to see what they’re all about. First I saw California’s Rebelution, who provided some sic reggae dance vibes at 11:30 am; then over to a much more laid back show, with country-folk musician Langhorne Slim and his band, and following that up with indie-rock band, The Postelles, on the Sonic Stage. Although I previously was not what you would call a fan, I did want to make a point of checking out at least a little bit of the new Latin-themed tent, where I got to see the Mexican Institute of Sound from up close. While the general feel of most of their songs was electronica and dance, they did have a live drummer, who added more of a rock sound. They also threw in samples of Toni Basil’s “Mickey” and Los del Rio’s “Macarena” into their brand of dance-tronica.
Some of the sets I was really surprised and impressed with were the types of artists I never really listen to. I caught bits of both country/folk singer-songwriter, Brandi Carlile, and jazz/pop singer, Norah Jones. I wasn’t expecting quite as much rock from Carlile and her band, but I guess it pays to check out something you’re not at all familiar with. As for Norah, I think she has probably the most beautiful voice in music. I was expecting a lot more quieter piano tunes from her set, but just listening to the calmness in her voice was a great way to briefly spend an afternoon relaxing in the sun. I especially enjoyed her song “Come Away with Me” and covers of Johnny Cash’s “Cry, Cry, Cry” and Neil Young’s “Barstool Blues.” She also covered Tom Waits “Long Way Home” and The Kinks “Strangers” although I missed both of those.
The next band I would catch would be the first real band of the day that I was really excited to see and also made me feel giddy. I couldn’t really give you a detailed history of the Avett Brothers sound transformation over time, (I know they’ve gone from mostly an acoustic and bluegrass style sound, to a fuller sound with drums and piano) but I will tell you that their most recent album (I and Love and You) is one of my favorite and most listened to albums of the past couple years. My favorite parts of the show were obviously the selection they played from I and Love and You, like “January Wedding”, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise”, “And It Spread” and “Laundry Room” but perhaps one of the finer moments of Bonnaroo 2010 was what I felt during their song “Perfect Space.” Maybe I’m getting more personal than I need to be, but I love “self-realization” and “discovery” moments during songs. Songs that really speak to you, make you think. At last year’s Bonnaroo, two of the bands that did this for me were Band of Horses and Bon Iver. Sure a big part of it was focusing on the lyrics in their music, but it also had to do with how the warm, relaxing sounds of the instruments come together make you feel something almost spiritual. Part of what did it to me at the Avetts show were the following lyrics:
“I wanna have friends that will let me be all alone when being alone is all that I need…And I wanna grow old without the pain, give my body back to the earth and not complain…I wanna have pride like my mother has, and not like the kind in the Bible that turns you bad”
I ended up staying for nearly all of the Avetts show, skipping out early to catch a band very similar to them, and missing out on their closer, the title track from I and Love and You, but was just in time to catch another song that would become another one of my top highlights from the weekend. Not to mention one of the most thrilling collaborations I’ve ever seen. Mumford and Sons are a British band, who in a lot of ways are just like the Avett Brothers, so when the schedule first came out and they were paired up next to each other, I couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. I arrived at That Tent to find a decent crowd and was able to scurry backstage to watch their final two numbers. Actually when I got there they were just ending with “After the Storm” before taking a very brief break. When they went back onstage, they said that they had some special guests that would be joining them for the next song. These guests actually turned out to be Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch, who played earlier in the day in Dave Rawlings Machine, and the members of Old Crow Medicine Show, who themselves were not even performing at the festival this year. Once all the musician’s were set, the frontman for Mumford and Sons said “I think you’re gonna know this one!” although I had no idea what song it would be. When the first notes hit, it finally hit me that they would be covering Bob Dylan’s “Wagon Wheel.” Watching this large group that was made up of three seperate bands was by far the happiest I’ve ever seen any artist play.
I actually stuck around after their set because in just thirty minutes John Prine would be taking the stage and I was certainly not about to lose my spot. When the time came, I watched the man himself walk right by me with that famous boyish grin of his and couldn’t help but feel the same. I stuck around for about 3/4 of his set, although I wasn’t familiar with many of the songs – I knew the opener “Spanish Pipedream”, “Souvenirs”, “Fish and Whistle”, “Glory of True Love” and “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore”, which was actually the song they began playing the moment I left to walk across Centeroo to catch Jeff Beck’s set. I guess I forgot to mention that shortly before Prine took the stage, Kris Kristofferson walked in to watch the show, standing just about ten or fifteen feet away from me. I guess I wasn’t thinking at the time, but as it turns out, Kristofferson and the members of Old Crow later joined Prine for “Angel from Montgomery.” Not only is that the most recognizable Prine song, but it’s also my favorite. They followed that up with “Lake Marie” (my second favorite) before closing out with “Paradise.”
Before settling in at the tent where Jeff Beck was playing, I took a quick nearby detour to use the restroom (well, port-a-pottie) that was close to the Which Stage, where Weezer were already well into their set. I was able to catch the last several songs of their regular set while waiting in line (“Say It Ain’t So”, “Why Bother?”, “My Name Is Jonas”, “Beverly Hills”) but Rivers Cuomo’s vocals honestly didn’t sound anything like the Weezer I remember from the 90′s. I know age takes a toll on your voice, but Rivers is still quite young and I thought maybe someone else was singing their songs. I’m not much of a Weezer fan, but after hearing these few songs which were the only ones I cared about hearing, I made my way about one-hundred yards in the other direction the catch the last few songs of Jeff Beck’s set. I’m not really familiar with his work (I only own one album!) but wasn’t going to let this festival pass by without seeing one of the best guitar gods of all time. I probably caught the last four of five songs, which included four covers: instrumental versions of Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher” and the Beatles “A Day in the Life” (which at the time actually sounded to me like “Hey Jude”), and James Shelton’s “Lilac Wine” and Pavarotti’s “Nessum Dorma”, in which Beck was joined onstage by Irish singer, Imelda May.
My Saturday ended earlier than most, when I headed back to camp late during Stevie Wonder’s set and officially called it a night. Sure I missed out on performances from Jay-Z (which I could actually hear from my tent), Thievery Corporation, Clutch, GWAR, Deadmau5, the Dan Deacon Ensemble and the Disco Biscuits (who were still playing when I awoke at 6 am), but I just wasn’t that interested in catching any of these bands.
I will say that it was a joy and a treat (to say the least) to see such a legend like Wonder perform songs like “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”, “Higher Ground”, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”, “Superstition” and even John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”, I couldn’t help feeling just a little bit seperated from the show itself. It was by far the biggest draw I’ve ever seen at Bonnarooo (my guess is that at least 95% of the Bonnaroo attendees were watching this show) but I just felt like I was about a mile back from the stage. Maybe this is the sort of thing that most people don’t let bother them, but (and one of the things I really don’t like about Bonnaroo) is that it’s just so easy to get distracted and lose interest in a show when you’re surrounded by so many people who don’t appear to take a “real” interest in the music. For me, to really enjoy a show and be drawn in by the performance, I have to feel close to the stage and able to tell what’s going on. Often at Bonnaroo, my least favorite shows of the entire weekend tend to be the one’s that are going on at the main stage, just because there’s always so many people wandering around and mingling. I’m not saying that’s wrong or you’re not allowed to do that, but in my mind there’s actually too many people and it makes it hard for some of us (I know there’s many more out there who feel the same way), it makes it hard for us to really enjoy the music. That’s just the way things are, and we cannot change them. The large crowds at Bonnaroo are certainly something I’ll never feel comfortable with (sometimes you feel trapped) and year after year I will always have to force myself to get used to it.