mdhugo.com – Living life in Bellevegas!

Part three of our trip to Bonnaroo.

I want to start by apologizing to @im4evergrateful for forgetting to mention him in the last post.  He was a volunteer this year and was feeding us information (via Twitter) on Wednesday night about what was going on at the farm.  He was the worker in part two that told us tent only was almost full.  Thanks for all your help, we will have to meet up next time!

Friday morning we woke up at around 9:30am, mainly due to the sun beating down on the tent (heats up pretty quickly in the morning).  It had rained for a good portion of the night from what we could tell.  The “roads” were extra muddy and the grass was wet.  Luckily the tent/tarp combination held up and we were mostly dry, aside from the humidity that accumulated inside the tent which made everything feel damp, all in all a good night’s sleep.

We followed what would become our morning routine for the next two days.  Wake up, rush over to the porta-potties, brush teeth, baby wipe bath (surprisingly refreshing), and eat breakfast.  For this particular “breakfast” we made hot dogs and ate a couple granola bars.  Wasn’t as bad a combination as it sounds.  We sat around camp for an hour or so and made our way over to Centeroo to catch the first set of the day, Gomez.

Gomez is your typical indie/blues rock band.  Solid sound, nothing too special but worth a listen.  They have been together since the mid 90’s and are from England.  For an idea of what they are similar to, if you create a Pandora station based on them it plays artists like Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Radiohead, and Wilco.  Gomez’s set was scheduled to start at 12:30pm on Which Stage (second largest stage).  When we got there around 12:15 a medium sized crowd had gathered to watch the show.  All in all they are a solid live band.  An excellent cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Bron-y-aur Stomp” and the band’s latest single “Airstream Driver”, and their first song “Revolutionary Kind” were the highlights of the show for me.  The music doesn’t induce crazy dancing but it is enough to get your body moving if you are so inclined.  There were quite a few tapers at the farm and this set was captured with good sound quality here.

The Gomez set was over at around 1:45.  After Gomez was over we did some more exploring of Centeroo before the next show Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate.  I was continuously amazed at how much other stuff there was to do besides music.  There was a Garneir Fructis tent where you could get your hair washed, and Xbox tent where you could listen to a DJ and play Xbox, a MLD area where you could test your pitching skills or use a batting cage, a comedy tent, a movie tent, the silent disco, and much much more.  I really envy the organizational people that have to deal with the logistics of coordinating the festival.  It must be quite the nightmare.

At 3:30pm we made our way over to see Bela Fleck and Toumani Diabate.  If you aren’t familiar with Bela Fleck, he is a very talented banjo player.  His most famous band is Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Most of Bela’s work is instrumental and this set was no different.  Toumani Diabate plays a kora.  It was pretty hot at this point in the day so we picked a spot crammed in with others looking for shade.  We didn’t have a great view of the stage from where we were sitting but it was entirely possible to enjoy this combination without seeing them play.  The banjo and kora together made for a fantastic sound blending world music and Bela’s own bluegrass/folk/jazz fusion musical styles.  Not something I listen to every day but a delicious treat nonetheless. Hearing the duo do the theme from Deliverance was a treat.

After the Bela/Toumani set we rushed back to Which Stage to hear one of my most anticipated bands of the weekend, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  They are one of my favorite groups as of late.  The lead singer Karen Orzolek (call her Karen O to be one of the cool kids) has a great stage presence.  She is known for crazy antics on stage and unique outfits.  For this particular show show she was wearing a white baggy graphic top and yellow zebra skin leggings.  In the center of the stage for their set was a giant eyeball, pretty cool.  Their show was energetic and made me dance quite a bit.  Highlights were an acoustic version of “Maps”, Gold Lion, and Zero.  I really enjoyed their entire set.

After the Yeah Yeah Yeahs we were tired, hot, and hungry.  We decided to skip TV on the Radio and head back to camp to relax before the evening shows.  We had about two hours before the Beastie Boys would take the stage.  We grilled a couple filets and took a quick nap.  At 8pm I got in touch with @chinacat to find out where they were watching the beasties and Phish from.  By the time we got back into Centeroo (long line to get searched) the What Stage field was already packed.  We bobbed and weaved through the crowd to where @chinacat and her crew were hanging out.  They had scored a pretty awesome spot right next to the soundboard and VIP area against the rail.

Around 8:30pm the Beasties took the stage.  I am not going to go into detail on them as most everyone has some clue who they are.  I had never seen them live before and I really enjoyed this show.  There were moments when they flubbed lyrics and had to restart a song a couple of times but the classics were mixed in with their (mediocre) instrument playing.  Rapper Nas made an appearance during the show and mixed in nicely with the Beasties.  The highlights of the show for me were Intergalactic, Paul Revere, and Sabotage (even though this was messed up pretty bad a couple of times).  The music was thumping and everyone around us was into it and dancing away.  Great vibes with great people.  I want to add, my first thought when they got on stage was how old they looked.  I was thinking Touch of Grey commercial whenever the screens showed them up close.

After the Beasties were done there was over an hour break before the highlight of my weekend, Phish, took the stage.  Everyone in the crowd pretty much sat down and mingled during the break.  There are some really interesting (and chemically enhanced) people at Bonnaroo.  We met people from as far away as Washington state and as close as Nashville.  The people alone might make the trip worthwhile.

Shortly after 11pm Phish took the stage.  I have been a Phish fan for a while but had never actually seen them live.  Anyone that tried to get tickets for the tour this year in St. Louis knows that it was almost impossible.  They were the main reason I wanted to make the trip down to the farm this year.  Phish had never played Bonnaroo before (even though the festival seems almost too natural a fit for them) and I was hoping they would make it special.  They did a pretty darn good job.

They opened their set with a classic “Chalk Dust Torture”.  This song has a way of pulling the audience in and making them start dancing.  I was happy to hear it live after listening to it on so many recordings.  The second song in the set was a new one called “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan”.  This fit well after “Chalk Dust Torture” and started the show off on a good path.

While the band sounded good, they didn’t seem to “jam” quite as much as in their earlier days.  Some good jams were present but they seemed more rehearsed/structured.  I was glad to hear “Harry Hood”, “Free” (heard a couple from the tour this year and liked this version the best), “Wolfman’s Brother” (which I started singing randomly again today), and the closer “You Enjoy Myself” > “Wilson” > “You Enjoy Myself”.

Bottom line is that these guys may not be where they were in the middle to late 90’s but damn do they sound good.  They seemed comfortable back on the stage.  Trey was his normal rocking back and forth, mouth open self.  Fishman was wearing a dress, Gordon still has some crazy hair.  They even busted out the trampolines during “You Enjoy Myself.”  Not only did they seem comfortable on the stage, they seemed like they felt at home.  The set is available for purchase here. Or just let me know and I will get you a copy of the show from a taper (completely legal).

Saturday review, including Springsteen should be up tomorrow.

Friday Afternoon Sun	Bonnaroo Arch	Hula Hoopers
Paiting on Graffiti wall	Random crowd shot	Phish – What Stage
Phish – What Stage	Beastie Boys – What Stage	Giant Bobblehead