Just got back from Bonnaroo Music festival

[peteteacher2001]

Absolutely incredible!!!!!! Great music, great food, great vibes!!!!!

 

Here's a list of who I saw throughout the weekend!!

 

Thursday night: Soul Rebels Brass Band

 

Friday:

Umphreys McGee

Bluegrass Allstars (Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Luke Bulla, Bryan Sutton, Edgar Meyer)

Willie Nelson

Chris Rock (yes, the comedian and he killed!!!!!)

Metallica

 

Late Night: George Porter Jr and the New Orleans Allstars w/ Henry Butler, Walter Washington, and Johnny Vidacovich

 

Saturday:

Ozomatli

BB King

Jack Johnson

Pearl Jam (10 song encore

 

Late Night:

Phil Lesh and Friends

Chahli Tuna of Jurassic 5 w/ Galactic

 

Sunday:

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue

Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Truck Soul Stew Revival

 

 

WOW!!! What a weekend, I must say that the big name bands brought the heat!!! Pearl Jam was just relentless, a ten song encore!!!! They gave BB King the key to the city. So many nice people and great vibes all around. If you ever get a chance to go to this amazing festival do yourself a favor and get an RV and hit up Manchester Tennessee. Here are excerpts from the festival newspaper, The Bonnaroo Beacon:

 

From The Sunday Bonnaroo Beacon: Bright Lights Big City

 

 

That feeling that the world is, indeed, a small place, and we are all joined by some invisible connection, came into focused play on Saturday. For the second night in a row, the headliner appeared humbled by the occasion and the stature of the Bonnaroo Festival and delivered a career-defining performance which emphasized intensity, tight playing, and occasional improvisational elements. Alright, maybe guitarist Mike McCready playing his “Even Flow” solo behind his head may have been a bit studied, but it sure looked like he was having a good ole jam moment.

 

The international flavors on the Bonnaroo menu continued to expand. One minute, you’ve got an acoustic quartet playing a soft bluegrass piece with English lyrics, and the next, the foursome is waltzing through a wonderful Eastern landscape with Chinese lyrics. Abigal Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck played an exquisite performance at This Tent, one of those legendary Bonnaroo sets that initially appeared to be off the radar, but offered some of the most transcendent playing of the festival. In short, their set was a unique glance at ethereal Americana, and a nice bookend to a later set at the Other Tent featuring Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road, itself featuring guitarist Larry Campbell who pulled double duty during the day as he also closed the Which Stage with Phil Lesh & Friends, carrying the original jamband Bonnaroo trademarked torch.

 

Although the soul of the world is mysterious and hard to define, we have music to use as an oddly appropriate philosophical compass. As the day began, this language was spoken by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and there is nothing like hearing a sweet brass section early in the afternoon to welcome the day’s events. From there, Ozomatli offered Latino hip-hop on the Main Stage with occasional political snarls sent in the direction of the White House due to a lack of commitment to New Orleans, before tearing into a version of “Magnolia Soul,”…Gogol Bordello dispensed their cantankerous gypsy spirit…Cat Power added a little Memphis soul… Donavon Frankenreiter, prefaced another famous surfer and exalted cultural figurehead, Jack Johnson, with a mellow acoustic mood on the Sonic Stage…Mastodon pushed volume 11 to a new dimension…Zappa Plays Zappa defied chord changes and time signatures, shooting through alternate realities in “City of Tiny Lights”…B.B. King eased into a relaxed pure blues late afternoon 90-minute set, having not lost his touch or ability to rein in an attentive audience…Jack Johnson brought out Vedder on acoustic guitar and co-conspiratorial howlings on the beautiful “Constellations”—which also was a mere prelude to a luminous full moon sky during Pearl Jam’s set, and, strangely, somehow linked to Dweezil Zappa covering his father Frank’s consummate catalogue with an extraordinary group of musicians, with a version of “City of Tiny Lights”—that wondrous universe which is created when one…well…one squints and imagines a parallel dimension as only Zappa could…Much later, Sigur Ros created its own lexicon during a mesmerizing late night set.

 

Eddie Vedder, still bemused and humbled by the situation, name-checking a few of Saturday’s acts like B.B. King, Jack Johnson and Cat Power, encapsulated the entire day with his astute observation about the legions before him, in fact, the entire festival weekend, as he held that “City of Tiny Lights” in his hands for a three hours; a time frame that can appear like a lifetime if one has the imagination to think of all of those fabulous flavors on the international menu. Vedder’s words throughout the evening were another in a long series of welcome bookends to a strong Saturday of music as they echoed Abigal Washburn’s early comment to her audience in English and Chinese: “the further you go out, the more you see, and our language is music.” By Randy Ray

 

 

 

 

 

 

From The Saturday Bonnaroo Beacon: Homecoming Kings

 

 

In certain ways, no band has come to symbolize both the sound and spirit of Bonnaroo more than My Morning Jacket. Since their quiet Friday afternoon debut in That Tent way back in 2003, MMJ has slowly grown from a side stage attraction to the festival’s unofficial mascot, taking on a mammoth rainstorm (2004), jamming with oversized puppets, (2005) and squeezing a smorgasbord of covers into an all night two-set marathon (2007) sometime along the way. The group’s sound itself is something of an amalgamation of Bonnaroo’s core styles: a psychedelic fusion of country, folk, indie, jam and, of course, classic guitar rock that owes as much to Pearl Jam as it does to Harvest-era/Bonnaroo vet Neil Young. They’re also probably the only band that indie-rock bloggers, stoner metal freaks and Shakedown Street denizens all safely claim as their own. So when My Morning Jacket took Which Stage shortly before midnight for their biggest headlining performance yet—or at least until New Year’s Eve at Madison Square Garden —the quintet felt more like old friends heroically arriving home than rock-stars stopping by Manchester, TN on some cooker-cutter national tour.

 

For over the past seven years, Bonnaroo has not only grown into one of the country’s premiere live music events, but also as an incubator for some of the post-jam era’s best live acts. It’s no secret that Bonnaroo was dubbed “the new Woodstock” in its earliest incarnation, but since then, the festival has slowly come to represent the eclecticism and instant gratification of the modern iPod-era, where segueing from Willie Nelson to M.I.A. to Metallica feels natural, and it requires a social tour manager to cure your average case of Bonnaroo ADD.

 

But, as exciting as it is to watch Bonnaroo grow stylistically, it is also just as exciting to watch bands like Umphrey’s McGee, Les Claypool, Drive-By Truckers, Steel Train and the Disco Biscuits grow along with the festival over the past seven years. In 2002, Umphrey’s McGee had a few independent albums under its belt, but was still by and large a Midwest attraction. Since that time they’ve organically moved through the Bonnaroo ranks and this year drew a sprawling crowd---and special guest saxophonist Jeff Coffin of the Flecktones---to their marquee 90-minute set on the Which Stage. They also almost single-handedly bridged the worlds of metal and jam thanks to a colorful late night set in 2004 that found the group nodding, covering Metallica complete with a James Hetfield look-a-like (actually manager Vince Iwinski, who pulled a similar stunt late night this year with the Disco Biscuits). Likewise, Bela Fleck morphed his duo set with Edgar Meyer from year one into a full on SuperJam featuring the likes of Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas, the Disco Biscuits have grown from a humble afternoon set to a late night attraction and Steel Train has done things with the fro that no Jewish mother ever imagined (as well as aging into an airtight indie-rock band that comfortably maintains its organic roots).

 

And then there’re Les Claypool who felt like an alternative to the festival’s array of roots-rock and jazz/funk in 2002 and is now something of Bonnaroo’s official ambassador. In certain ways, the inaugural Bonnaroo felt like a culmination of modern jam-nation’s first decade and Claypool made sure to remember those he lost along the way, nodding to H.O.R.D.E. veteran and Morphine bandleader Mark Sandman during his mainstage set. In years past, he’s also nodded to his past lives over the years—the seminal funk/metal group Primus and the early jamband Oysterhead, as well as play with various incarnations of his solo band. During his set on the Which Stage yesterday he looked back on Primus’ lone Bonnaroo appearance, joking that he “was fried on mushrooms.” This year he reminded more than a few fans that Warren Haynes and Kirk Hammett are nothing but Facebook friends-in-law, jamming with Gov’t Mule in 2002 and anchoring a SuperJam last night that drew in Gogol Bordello.

 

Not that Friday’s offerings didn’t look outside the Bonnaroo Box. Since 2006, especially, the festival’s promoters have made an effort to court some of the day’s best rock bands---to the point where Jack White feels synonymous with the Bonnaroo brand. And though he probably doesn’t know the difference between schwag and swag and probably hasn’t heard the word wookie since the last Star Wars, he does know a thing or too about blues-infused rock-and-roll guitar, one of Bonnaroo’s original calling cards. His What Stage performance with the Raconteurs not only helped cement his reputation as the indie-generation’s biggest rock star complete with a punk-style speaker dive that made me squirm. Elsewhere Big Sam’s Funky Nation brought New Orleans’ “second-line” sound to the New Orleans-themed Somethin’ Else tent, sisters Tegan & Sara meshed childhood stories with beautiful melodies and rising untz-stars !!! proved that silly names aren’t reserved just for hippies. Nodding to the day’s offerings, The Swell Season invoked the Bonnaroo spirit by “jamming” with special guest poets from the audience, State Radio injected a bit of Rage Against the Machine’s political ethos into their organic-pop and Willie Nelson reminded the tie-died sect that family isn’t always spelled with a PH. After being introduced by none other than Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett, Chris Rock also offered his take on diversity during what is likely the largest comedy performance of all time, but also tailored his set to the music-loving crowd.

 

A left-field addition to Bonnaroo’s lineup for sure, Metallica raised the bar on how fierce a show hippies can handle. But, like fellow headliners Pearl Jam (who have long outgrown their original grunge tag) and Widespread Panic (who transcend the boundaries of both jam and southern rock) Metallica is no longer simply a metal band. The group’s testosterone-heavy two hour performance included bona-fide American anthems like “Enter Sandman,” “Seek and Destroy” and “The Unforgiven,” as well a few semi-acoustic rockers that owed as much to original Woodstock performers The Who as they did to the heavier bands on Ozzfest. More cognizant of their crowd than past “guest headliners” like the Police, for the most part Metallica stuck to the chestnuts, though there is no question that Hetfield’s word evoked a decidedly different ethos: “For how many of you is this your first Metallica show?” he said early on in his show “We love playing live music and love killing it live. ” And a mosh pit under the Bonnaroo marquee probably turned a few heads, the crowd was still filled with the same glow toys, hula-hoops and flower dresses that have defined Bonnaroo since its inception.

 

Of course few have done more to breakdown the border between indie and jam than My Morning Jacket, who ascended to the stage before a Great Went-style glow stick war that would make Phish proud and proceeded to charge through covers ranging from Sly Stone to Erykah Badu to Kool & the Gang. In certain ways, the performance combined the most memorable moments from MMJ’s past Bonnaroo performances: offering an all-night, cover-heavy set in the middle of an almost theatrical rainstorm. The group also ran through most of Evil Urges, simultaneously channeling the spirits of past Bonnaroo performers the Flaming Lips and John Prine In the sit in department, Jim James brought out Kirk Hammett (and he hinted in yesterday’s issue of the Bonnaroo Beacon) for an energetic version of My Morning Jacket’s first signature song, “One Big Holiday.”

 

In the end, perhaps Chris Rock said it best. “It’s about the context in which the word is used,” he said during a rare moment of sincerity. And while he wasn’t talking specifically about music, Rock’s words seem to sum-up the Bonnaroo spirit. At a time when one-time fans have come through the ranks to the point where they are now buzz performers (let us here tip our hats to Vampire Weekend and MGMT), Bonnaroo is defined by its context, more than any specific style As Jim James once said, “I want to take you. For all that you are. Although our worlds seem far apart I want to see you- thru all that you do. I want to thank you.” Report by Mike Greenhaus

 

 

 

From The Friday Bonnaroo Beacon: Thursday Night Lights

 

 

To jam or not to jam, is that really the question anymore? Judging by Thursday’s lineup of vetted indie rockers, heavy metal, Latin funk rock, ragged Americana, singer/songwriters and homebrewed New Orleans’ music, it’s a moot point. They all jammed, man.

 

“I just want to do my part to desegregate the jamband community from the rest of everyone else,” said MGMT guitarist James Richardson, sporting a ragged Grateful Dead t-shirt, Steal Your Face sweatband and quipping that the band had thought about doing an extended take of the Dead’s “China Cat Sunflower.” “I feel like people should jam more.” Big words coming from a band riding atop the indie rock wave but sure enough the band did just that, coupling extended atmospheric rock excursions with precise synth dance numbers like “Electric Feel” and “Kids.” “We’re a jamband—we just play really short songs,” said lead singer and guitarist Ezra Hoenig of the evening’s other marquee indie rock act, Vampire Weekend who lightly transposed African rhythms and pithy melodies over whimsical lyrics about Cape Cod.

 

David Jack, drummer for the trio The Big Sleep who buzzed alive the Troo Music Lounge with fuzzy, largely instrumental rock early in the day, concurs in a similar vein: “I think over the last couple of years it’s gotten to a point where it’s taken more seriously as a summertime festival rather than just a hippie fest.” You can say that again.

 

Fans got their first taste of heavy metal for the weekend thanks to a visceral, driving set by the Austin-based quartet, The Sword. A twin-guitar attack with bass and drums, the set was cathartic in its heaving energy, fists pumping, bodies floating aloft the crowd and heads banging in unison (drummer Trivett Wingo’s visions of “hippies walking around with trash bags full of mushrooms” quickly dispelled). It was a nice warm up for tonight’s set from Metallica.

 

UK singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner opened up That Tent, tapping, strumming and beating his way through the solo acoustic set which included a rollicking cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Said Faulkner earlier of the festival dynamics like Bonnaroo, “You either have to be really dedicated to the people you want to see and make sure nothing stops you from getting there or you just give up completely and go with the flow and see where you end up.”

 

Perhaps you ended up seeing early ‘90s grunge veterans and Tennessee-natives Superdrag who offered a set of punchy numbers that saw lead singer and guitarist John Davs howling lyrics into the mic like his life depended on it. Looking out over This Tent’s crowd, he smiling remarked, “I really think this is a Kodak moment” before snapping a photo.

 

Or perhaps, after surrendering to the flow, you caught Grupo Fantasma, the 11-piece hyper-rhythmic Latin funk rock outfit that’s been personally tapped by Prince for ongoing collaborations. Or maybe you stumbled into Battles, an experimental quartet that delivered kinetic and assaulting music that proved hard-edged and angular, often crackling at the pace of a neon light on its way out. It was undoubtedly the most challenging music of the evening- and yes, it jammed- but that thousands hung in for deep exposure to such a sonic assault provided an unexpected sense of camaraderie.

 

And while you may have bounced between two “cover bands” whose music often transcends the label to deliver something more- Lez Zeppelin and Dark Star Orchestra- you might have paid the five dollars-for-charity to see the trio of Geroge Porter Jr., Brian Stoltz and Russell Batiste in the Somethin’ Else venue as they worked their way through covers and originals late into the night.

 

Meanwhile a number of artists like the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey’s McGee were seen onsite well before their sets, walking around the grounds and discussing what music they hoped to catch. Even Stoltz, who likely didn’t get to bed till the wee hours of this morning, was as excited as any fan we met: “I changed my flight so I could see The Raconteurs tomorrow. I won’t miss that for nothing.” Report by Josh Baron

[AtomicCEO]

Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Truck Soul Stew Revival

 

I would have paid good money to see them. Sweet.

[wildcat2334]

awesome lineup!!!

 

nice to see my Pearl Jam boys can still rock the house. Best live band I have ever seen by far

[yo mama]

How was Kanye West?

[peteteacher2001]

Pearl Jams extented encores pushed Kayne back. He was to play from 2:30-5 am but due to "conflicts" and diffuculties he didn't go on till well past 3:30ish. We were watching Chahli Tuna at that time and getting ready to head back for some much needed rest. I am guessing he was kind of a butthead because the chants of Eff Kayne flooded the grounds all day Sunday although it was the profanity.

Edited June 18, 2008 by peteteacher2001

[loaf]

Vampire Weekend who lightly transposed African rhythms and pithy melodies over whimsical lyrics about Cape Cod.

two lines for the best band of all time ?

[darin3]

Willie Nelson

Chris Rock (yes, the comedian and he killed!!!!!)

Metallica

Ozomatli

Jack Johnson

Pearl Jam (10 song encore

Seein' Willie & friends on 4th of July. Can't wait.

 

Saw Metallica about a month ago. Rocked.

 

Have seen Ozomatli a couple times. Awesome vibe.

 

I actually know Jack Johnson. Well, I went to college with him and saw him play hundreds of times with his college band. One of those guys you'd see on campus or at other parties and give the "head nod" to.

 

Man, I'd love to see Pearl Jam. Maybe one day.

[T_bone65]

Seein' Willie & friends on 4th of July. Can't wait.

 

Saw Metallica about a month ago. Rocked.

 

Have seen Ozomatli a couple times. Awesome vibe.

 

I actually know Jack Johnson. Well, I went to college with him and saw him play hundreds of times with his college band. One of those guys you'd see on campus or at other parties and give "head" to.

 

Man, I'd love to see Pearl Jam. Maybe one day.