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Sunday was a bittersweet day. We were having such a fantastic time and knew we had some great acts to catch but we were also starting to get exhausted and looking forward to a shower and some air conditioning. (We hadn’t showered since Wednesday, just wiped down with baby wipes)

Normal morning routine, wake up, wipe down, cook breakfast/lunch, and head to Centeroo. This time we got a little distracted on the way in and decided to check out some of the vendors on Shakedown Street in a little more depth. We did a pretty thorough walk through admiring all of the wares and resisting the urge to buy anything, I have enough stuff as it is. Like I mentioned in the previous post, if you want it, you can find it. Outside of Centeroo there were more pipes for sale although I am not sure if they weren’t supposed to sell them or not because they were usually all the way in the back of the tents. Another popular ware was handmade hammocks, I know there were at least three or four different places selling them. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the vendor stands but I was so interested in looking that it just slipped my mind.

We made our way to Centeroo at around 12:45pm in order to score a good spot for “Ted Leo and the Pharmacists”. They have become another of my favorite bands as of late.  They are a rock/punk/indie band from D.C.  The band lineup has changed several times since it was formed but the front man, Ted Leo, has remained constant. Showing up early paid off, we were able to score a spot right on the rail to the right of the stage. It was right in front of the speaker stack so it was pretty loud, we decided to live with it.  When we got there Ted and the band were setting up their own stage, I would have thought they were big enough to have roadies to help or maybe they just like to do it themselves. They actually finishing setting up a couple minutes early and decided to get the show started.  The whole set was fantastic. Pulling songs from all (I believe) of their albums they can cover the gamut from pop rock, to punk, to indie rock, all of it very danceable. One of the funnier moments of the show was when someone knocked a giant beach ball on stage Ted head butted it right back into the crowd. That really shows how into the concert experience he is, all about making the fans happy. I also want to give them props for complimenting the tent staff, he mentioned how impressed the band was with the ability to make their festival experience a good one.

After the show, we decided to go ride the Ferris Wheel and check out the view from above.  If you ever go to Bonnaroo this is something you must do. You get a really good view of just how MASSIVE everything is from up there. It is a typical carnival type wheel so if those scare you, avoid it.  After the ride we strolled around and listened in on several other sets including Robert Earl Keen, and Andrew Bird.  From the time we were at both, they sounded pretty good.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists	Lookout Tower from Ferris Wheel	Campground from Ferris Wheel
Centeroo from Ferris Wheel	I have no idea, this guy was there for a couple hours though	The Dirty Guv’Nahs

The plan for the afternoon/evening was to catch Snoop Dogg’s first song and the jet over to The Dirty Guv’nahs.  About 15 minutes after Snoop was scheduled to come one someone came on stage and said he was in his car on the way to the site.  We stayed long enough to hear “The Next Episode” and then went over to the Budweiser Troo Music Lounge to see a band I have become very fond of.

My like of The Dirty Guv’Nahs started with a Twitter follow from the band. Before this I had never even heard of them. I decided to check out their MySpace page and instantly loved the music. They are a rock/southern rock band from Knoxville. I really think these guys should/will be big freakin huge. They have an infectious sound that just makes the body move and almost forces you to sing along. They are one of the most passionate bands I have ever seen play. Lead singer James Trimble is awesome to watch, you can tell he (and the whole band) is passionate about their music. If you get anything out of this blog, I suggest you check them out. They played most of the songs off their debut self titled album (buy it on itunes).  My favorite of the set was “Brown Little Bird”. They also did a great cover of one of my favorite songs, the Rolling Stone’s “Loving Cup”. This was a good a version as I have ever heard, which is awesome because sound-wise I compare these guys to the stones. The Troo Music Lounge isn’t one of the main stages so at this particular time-slot (Snoop Dogg, Band of Horses, Neko Case, and Coheed & Cambria also playing) there wasn’t a big crowd in the beginning. The thing that impressed me was almost everyone who wondered through the area stopped and listened to the rest of the set. I had at least three people ask me who they were and say they sounded awesome. Toward the end of the show James jumped off stage and ran like a madman through the crowd, this just shows the energy these guys have, especially since it was pretty hot outside. Seriously, check them out.

After the Guv’Nah’s set we rushed back over to What Stage to get a spot for Phish. We ended up in the same spot as Friday night and had a nice conversation with the taper that was set up there. We sat down and waited the hour plus before Phish took the stage. I am not going to review the whole show, but I will talk about three amazing songs. Toward the end of the first set Trey stopped playing and told a story about going to his first concert and how energetic the band was and how much he loved the experience. He then introduced his “boyhood and still hero” Bruce Springsteen. When Bruce came out the crowd went into an uproar, cheering “Bruuuuuce”. Phish and Bruce played “Mustang Sally”, “Glory Days”, and “Bobby Jean”. All three songs were a hit, Bruce took over the stage almost directing Phish when to solo Trey and Bruce traded several fantastic solo parts back and forth. It really was a great experience and one that likely wouldn’t have happened anywhere except Bonnaroo.  After the Bruce sit in, the band left the stage. They came back on stage some time later and played a great second set, closing the show with “Suzy Greenburg” and a reprise of “Tweezer”. (You can buy/listen to the show here) After that, the music at Bonnaroo was over.

After the Phish show, we picked up some of the trash people left around us, threw it away, and headed back to camp. We heard cars leaving and people partying well into the night as we drifted off to sleep. On Monday we woke up, broke down camp, said goodbye to the campground neighbors and headed back to Belleville. Its crazy how fast the whole experience went by, it seemed like we were planning forever and it was over in an instant. We will do it again, and besides a few minor packing changes, we won’t change a thing. Sometimes it is nice to just get away and leave everything behind for a while.

This guys was wow-ing the crowd with his ball	Sunset through the crowd
Phish on stage – Sunday Night	We saw a lot of this, random guy passed out

Saturday started off much the same as Friday morning.  We woke up to the sun on the tent (think oven), made some breakfast/lunch and headed back off to Centeroo to catch our first show.

Somehow in the last three posts I failed to mention what would become the staple of my diet for the weekend.  Bearly Edible’s grilled cheese sandwiches.  I have a hard time describing these delicious slices (pun intended) of heaven but trust me, they were amazing.  I believe I had 12 over the course of the weekend.  Almost every time I walked buy I would pick one up.  At only a dollar each they were the cheapest/most filling thing to eat at the festival.  The bread as perfectly grilled, whatever type of cheese they used was scrumptious, and the special seasoning they put on created what could be the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. If you are ever at a festival and see these guys, do yourself a favor and stop.  the staff was all super friendly, and the food was delicious.  I did not get a chance to try one but their pesto mozadillas also looked fantastic.

Back to the shows, the original line-up included a “Ilo and the Coral Reefer AllStars”.  The “Coral Reefers” being the name of Jimmy Buffett’s backing band.  I had no idea who Ilo was.  I can’t recall exactly when I heard the news, but at some point I heard Jimmy Buffett would be playing with these guys.  I am not a huge Buffett fan, but I had never seen him live and his simple, often whimsical songs have a way of growing on you so we decided to go.  I won’t go into all of the details of who Ilo is but the short version is that he was discovered by Buffett and several friends in a bar in Cape Verde and brought back to the states to record/play some music.

Buffett, as most people know, draws a certain kind of crowd.  His “parrotheads” all know and love his music.  I will go out on a limb and say that 97% of the people at the show were not parrotheads (myself included).  The show was enjoyable, although nothing particularly special for me.  He played several of his classics including “Margaritaville” and, “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.  A couple covers were thrown in “Scarlet Begonias” (Grateful Dead), and “Brown Eyed Girl” (most overplayed song ever?).  All of the songs seemed solid enough to me and most of the crowd got into them, dancing and doing the whole landshark thing when appropriate.  We didn’t have a great view of the stage because we wanted to stay in the shade but Ilo sounded good when he did his song(s).  Overall I am glad we stopped by to hear this set, although I doubt I will ever feel the need to see Buffett again (unless I don’t have to pay for tickets).

After the Buffett/Ilo/Coral Reefer show we decided to go do some more exploring. Did I mention there was a TON of other stuff to do besides see music?  We walked around and checked out all of the vendors.  The Superfly crew does an awesome job of pulling many different types/styles of vendors together.  There was everything you could think of.  You could make your own drum, buy jewelry made from guitar parts, buy pet clothes, check out a running store, look at and purchase concert posters and photos, and get a henna tattoo.  We spent around two hours just browsing through the different booths.  At 3pm we decided to walk by the Booker T and the DBT’s set and head back to camp to eat an early dinner and get back in time for the evening shows.  (Didn’t see enough of this show to say anything about it, show is here for streaming/downloading if you are interested.)

One of the other band’s I was most excited about seeing on the trip was the indie pop band from Athens, GA called “Of Montreal“.  I don’t have mush exposure to this group other than through their latest album Skeletal Lamping which, to me, is absolutely insane.  I still do not know what half the songs on the album even mean, but damn are they catchy.  These guys could be categorized as indie pop, or just plain crazy.  The show started out with a little sound trouble but quickly picked up speed and turned into about what I was expecting.  Great pop music and even better happenings on the stage.  The show ended with what is not the most happy song in the world, “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”.  The set ended with one of the scantily clad performers on the stage crowd surfing clear out to the soundboard, various people in animal costumes fighting, guitars being destroyed, and general chaos.  Amazing energy, great songs, fun to watch.  I really dug this show.  I suspect they will be back at Bonnaroo at some point, maybe with late night set?

Crowd for Buffett, bobble heads in background

Drum Circle in Campground

Truck stuck in mud by camp, that’s me in the back.

After “Of Montreal” was done we booked it over to “What Stage” to see Wilco’s set.  If you have not seen Wilco live, you should.  Great band, and I am not just saying this because they started in Belleville.  Amazing guitar work and songs that are guaranteed to get your body moving.  If you aren’t familiar with them I suggest starting on either the album Sky Blue Sky or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, both are excellent albums and worth a listen or twenty.  Something pretty cool that happened during the set was the hot air balloon that floated overhead.  Having been in one I can say it would be awesome epic to see Bonnaroo from up there.

People still seem confused when I talk about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing Bonnaroo.  I sort of agree with them, it doesn’t seem like as natural a fit as Phish or Wilco does but they were there and for the most part, they were great.  They were scheduled for a three and a half hour slot on the main stage Saturday night.  They were on stage pretty close to on time (from what i remember) and played right up till the end.  The Boss is someone else I have never seen in concert but I am glad I finally got the chance.  I respect their music although I can’t say I am a huge fan so I don’t know their catalog very deeply.  For my money, almost no group of musicians is a talented, comfortable, and charismatic on stage as these guys.  There are plenty of reviews of this show out there and they all say the same thing I thought, it started out slow and finished with a bang.  If you take a look at the set list there were a couple new songs and a long version of “Outlaw Pete”, or at least it seemed long.  One of the coolest parts of the show was the playing of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, this was based on a request from a sign in the crowd and as soon as Bruce mentioned it the crowd went nuts yelling “Santa”, really cool stuff. Before that point in the show it seemed like people were losing interest (at least around us), after that point the show changed and the crowd was right back in it, dancing, singing, and being merry.  It really was an awesome experience.

Setlist:
1. Badlands
2. No Surrender
3. My Lucky Day
4. Outlaw Pete
5. Out In The Street
6. Working On A Dream
7. Seeds
8. Johnny 99
9. Youngstown
10. Raise Your Hand
11. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (sign request)
12. Growin’ Up (sign request)
13. Thunder Road (sign request)
14. Waitin’ On A Sunny Day
15. The Promised Land
16. The River
17. Kingdom of Days
18. Radio Nowhere (w/Jay Weinberg on drums)
19. Lonesome Day
20. The Rising
21. Born To Run

Encores:
22 Hard Times
23. 10th Ave Freeze Out
24. Land Of Hope & Dreams
25. American Land
26. Rosalita
27. Glory Days
28. Dancing In The Dark

After Bruce was done we walked across Centeroo to see Ben Harper and the Relentless7.  This is a fairly new band for Ben and I really enjoyed the album.  I don’t know if it was where we were listening from but I had major issues getting into this set.  I just wasn’t digging it at all.  We ended up leaving after the third song.

I am glad we left because it enabled us to go see the band 90% of my friends said we should go see, NIN.  As I said before, I am not into really heavy stuff but Trent and the band put on one hell of a show.  It was nice to see part of it on what he(Trent Reznor) said would be the band’s last North American show ever.  I don’t know if I believe that or not but it doesn’t really matter.

After NIN, we watched a couple songs from MGMT (not enough to comment on) and decided we were exhausted and went back to camp to pass out.

All in all Saturday was pretty awesome.  Some great bands, good vibes, and great weather.  This is the day I decided I would definitely come back to Bonnaroo again.

Fountain shooting way up in the air	Fans before Bruce	Air balloon during Wilco
Matt and Lauren	At an area called the Art of Such and Such	Guy in crazy mask at Such and Such
Fountain lit up	Guy who was dancing next to us at Bruce passed out at NIN	Other Tent at night