Seven days after Dave Matthews closed the ninth annual Bonnaroo music and Arts Festival, I’m still recovering from almost ten pounds of weight loss and the physical trauma inherent to working (or going to) Bonnaroo.
In its ninth year, Bonnaroo, for the most part, has lost its dreadlocks. Rumors buzz constantly, and last year, the rumor was that MTV bought it (not true), and hypercommercialism was inevitable. That commercialism didn’t materialize last year, but this year, I sensed a creak in the well oiled tendons of Bonnaroo, as sponsorship increased and breathing room shrank a bit. This was the most crowded Bonnaroo I’ve attended. It felt like the owners of Bonnaroo, having created their instrument, finally began tuning it for profit.
Fuse.Tv has a strong presence at ‘Roo, shooting interviews with various artists. One of their video production assistants is a local guy, so I was excited to check out their content. What a letdown. Visit Fuse.Tv, click on a video and find that the interviews are almost all short (a minute or less), and a lot of them mainly consist of the artists talking about how hot it was. Even that would be ok, if you didn’t have to watch the same inane commercial, over and over again between each video, with the commercial as long as or longer than the video.
According to AC Entertainment, ticket sales are cut off at 80k. I heard numbers ranging from 90 to 130k. I’m not sure what the real number was, but there didn’t seem to be as many places this year to escape the mob. Every year, people sneak into the festival and some come up with creative ways to get into Centeroo. I’m not sure anyone knows what the real number is.
I wanted to see Conan O’Brien in the comedy tent. He attended Bonnaroo on his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on TV” tour. Conan was all over the farm, sporting a black, ten gallon hat and shades. He acted as emcee from the big stage and spent a lot of time backstage hanging out and talking with people. Conan took the stage in the comedy tent twice, on Friday and Saturday. Both times, we found it impossible to attend, as even on Friday night at 1.30 am, we found the line fifty deep with people sleeping, waiting to attend his show the next day at 1:30 in the afternoon. These people wound up waiting in line for 12 hours, half of it in the blazing sun, and most of the people in the “around the block” line didn’t make it into the tent at all.
This year was the hottest ‘Roo in my experience except for the dusty drought of 2007. One person told me they saw a thermometer that showed 103 in the shade. David “Matt” Sloan, a frequent contributor to Bonnaroo message board Inforoo.org, and an enthusiastic Roo fan, collapsed and died feet from medical staff at a medical tent on festival grounds. According to published accounts, his core temperature was 108, and emergency personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive him. It’s not yet known, what, if anything, contributed to his death, but my guess is dehydration was probably the biggest factor. There’s water to be had at Bonnaroo, and people are expected to bring their own, but in my opinion, there could be more water stations in more places. When you invite that many people to come hang out in the blazing sun, I think it’s only logical to make sure that there’s free water on every corner.
One interesting change at Bonnaroo is that they’re starting to build permanent fixtures. From what I heard, they’ve recently tapped into a TVA line and are in the process of installing transformers, which will greatly reduce their reliance on diesel powered generators. From what I was told, Bonnaroo uses hundreds of thousands of gallons each year. Apparently, the largest stage, the What stage, now has grid power.
Drugs are usually the big topic of conversation when the subject of Bonnaroo comes up, and without a doubt, it’s all there, any drug you want, and of course, world class Cannabis. I slept a total of ten hours the entire four days, and one late night at the Disco Biscuits, I was approached by an aggressive patron of hallucinogens who demanded that I take LSD to improve my photography. I’m 44 years old. Even if I wanted to take LSD, it wouldn’t be when I’ve been awake for 22 hours. He ignored my first two firmly stated “No’s” so I made the sign of the cross with two fingers in front of his nose, which finally got to him. To quote “Chef” from South Park... “That’s what college is for.”
Bonnaroo is not a festival for the indecisive or the faint of heart. In a lot of ways, it’s like a wild horse. You may be the best Vaquero on the ranch, but it can still kick the grease out of you and should be approached with caution. It’s a world of its own with a labyrinth of choices, both large and small, some don’t matter much, and some are life and death.
The mantra this year was “stay hydrated” and it was the best possible advice. Nothing illegal is legal at Bonnaroo, but everyone from the mayor down knows what’s going on and chooses to endure it because the only other choice is to not have the festival at all. In this country, we have rights, and one of those rights is to not be searched unless we give probable cause. If indeed the numbers did top 100k, which I’m guessing they did, I’m surprised only one person died. People ask me repeatedly “Why do they have it during the hottest time of the year?” Good question. If you have an answer, please tell me, because I don’t know.
Thursday (the first day) at Bonnaroo, was deceptively slow as always. We arrived to overcast, and had to talk our way into a guest camping lot that was already full. The campsites were mired in mud a foot deep and multiple cars were sunk to their frames.
After setting up camp, we decided to take the easy road and listen to the comedy of Margaret Cho in the air conditioned bliss of the comedy tent. She’s worth seeing, raunchy, dead-pan, self deprecating and just plain funny. We spent the rest of the evening wandering from tent to tent, taking in random bands. The big show of the evening was a British band, The XX, in That tent.
We started out Friday watching Damian Marley and Nas on What stage, followed by She & Him in This tent. She & Him is made up of actress turned singer Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. I was impressed. They pulled off a delicate, sweet blend of indie-folk rock a bit reminiscent of 50’s music.
Next we caught Tori Amos in This tent. On stage, she’s dynamic and her music is vibrant. My favorite act of the day came next, in the form of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Being close to Steve Martin was surreal. He’s an unlikely bluegrass icon, but his music isn’t comical. He closed his set with a bluegrass version of his early hit, “King Tut.” The photograph I most remember of him was on the cover of his first comedy LP. It’s black and white and shows him on stage with an arrow through his head wearing a banjo. Arrow or not, Steve is a musician.
We also caught Jack Black and Kyle Gass’s frenetic rendition of rock and roll comedy when Tenacious D took What stage. Tenacious D was followed by the Kings of Leon, which we skipped.
One beef I had with Bonnaroo this year was scheduling. To me, the lineup was a bit uninspired. The only artist I really wanted to see was Stevie Wonder, but due to a range of circumstances, I wound up missing him completely. The Dave Mattews Band was a good reason for me to leave early. The rest of the festival had some acts I really did want to see, but they were often scheduled close together, or even simultaneously, making it impossible to enjoy all of either show. It seemed incongruous because sometimes acts were scheduled simultaneously, only to be followed by a lull.
On Friday, I ran headlong into this problem when one of my favorite festival acts, The Flaming Lips, were scheduled at the same time as Daryl Hall & Chromeo on opposite sides of the grounds. Daryl Hall wrote the soundtrack to my teenage years and there was no way I was going to miss seeing him live. On the other hand, The Flaming Lips have the best stage show of any band I’ve seen on the big stages at any of the festivals I’ve been to (except for Radiohead), and they’re not to be missed.
I tried hard to choose between them, but eventually wound up splitting my time to see parts of both shows. I went first to The Other tent to hear Daryl Hall and Chromeo who were fantastic. Daryl Hall’s enthusiasm for performing is contagious and his playing and singing undiminished. They seem an unlikely duo, but the music was basically flawless and it wound up being my favorite show. I caught the first half of their show, then made my way to the Which stage to watch The Flaming Lips perform Dark Side of the Moon with Stardeath and White Dwarfs. The Lips did a good job as always, but I had a few reservations.
The Flaming Lips have been compared to Pink Floyd, but to me, they’re as different as apples and apricots. Their music is good, but occupies a narrow niche compared to the broad swath hewn by Pink Floyd. By choosing to do “The Dark Side of The Moon” (which they have also recorded) in its entirety, they shouldered a big responsibility. The Dark Side is epic, a groundbreaking aural journey millions of people have taken and is also an album best heard the first time through headphones.
This was the third time I’ve seen the Flaming Lips at a Festival, and other than the video feed running in the background, and the absence of a spaceship on the stage, it was essentially the same show I saw at Bonnaroo four years ago. There are lots of lasers and stage lights, the show starts out with a big boom of confetti and balloons, dancers are on stage and Wayne Coyne rolls out into the crowd in a big plastic ball. It’s cool, but to me, their presence is largely defined by their stage show and as far as I can tell, it hasn’t changed much in five years. Don’t get me wrong, the Lips are consummate performers. I just feel that for any band to continue to grow, they have to keep reinventing themselves.
Most of the people at the show weren’t even born when Dark Side came out in 1973, and I don’t think a band as prominent as The Flaming Lips should treat The Dark Side lightly, especially if they’re using a recycled stage show. To me, there was nothing really unique about the Lips performance of Dark Side. They tried, but fell short of making it their own, really expressing its gravity to the uninitiated or treating it with reverence.
Saturday was crunch time, and it was also a day for checking “must see” artists off of my mental list. Back to back shows were the norm, with lots of strong, relatively unknown acts on the smaller stages and lots of big names on the big stages. I started out with Rock and Roll hall of Fame member Jimmy Cliff. Jimmy has been a cross-cultural reggae star for decades, successfully blending Island and Western music in a way similar to Bob Marley. His confidence and voice belie his 62 years. Next, I saw Norah Jones. Her voice is as beautiful in person as it is on her studio recordings and she was worth the wait. After that, we took in Jack White’s latest project, The Dead Weather, fronted by rocker Alison Mossheart who embodies rock character with her in-your-face vocal ability and persona. One of my favorite shows of the day was Weezer on the Which stage. This is another band I had never seen live, and I was surprised at the way singer Rivers Cuomo and the rest of the band grabbed the crowd and didn’t let go.
Next I ran to This tent and That tent to see Jeff Beck and John Prine. Both were great shows. Hearing John Prine sing Angel From Montgomery gave me chills and I never expected to have the opportunity to see Jeff Beck live. The five time Grammy winner is known as one of rocks’ great guitarists and has been evolving and re-creating himself since he played with the Yardbirds.
Saturday was also home to Stevie Wonder and Jay Z. I thought about checking out Jay Z, but took one look at the crowd and decided to catch a little of it on closed circuit. I finished my evening with Thievery Corporation, whose performance was stellar, accented by a phenomenal light show, belly dancers, multiple vocalists and a sitar. This was my first time seeing them, and they’re worth the effort. Their sound is a brilliant mix of Middle Eastern, jazz and funk that makes your body move.
DJ Deadmau5, The Disco Biscuits and Gwar topped off Saturday night. Regrettably, I missed Gwar, who reportedly left the stage near the end of their show and led the crowd to the mushroom fountain, where they dumped their stage blood, turning the water from brown to red.
I saw the sun come up at the Disco Biscuits from That tent, and crawled back to my camp to get a few hours of sleep, before the sun drove me out of my tent at 9.30. Next, I spent a few hours hydrating myself, and then slept blissfully in the hammocks at the press area.
Recharged, I slow rolled the rest of Sunday, starting with Blues Traveler, once again, my first time seeing them, and a band I’ve always liked, followed by Jamey Johnson, Kris Kristofferson and Dropkick Murphys. Of these, Kris Kristofferson was my favorite for obvious reasons. He came out of his dressing room and was immediately bathed in sweat. His persona is palpable, his life etched in the lines of his face and storyteller lyrics. The moment he touched his guitar, it went out of tune, but he played on, hitting all of his favorites to a crowd young enough to be his grandchildren. The crowd was quiet during his one man, one guitar and harmonica show. He made reference to Janis during “Me and Bobbie Mcgee” drawing cheers. Jamey Johnson is a fairly new country artist, who put on a great show, and the Dropkick Murphys drove the crowd wild. So many crowd surfed over the barrier that they had to clear the photo pit.
As always, I missed a lot of good music. It’s impossible to take in everything at ‘Roo, at least for me. Some notable misses were John Fogerty, who I’ve seen before, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dawes, Ozomatli, Gwar, They Might Be Giants, and Phoenix. We left before Dave Matthews. I’ve never seen him, and I do like some of his songs, but it’s just not my bag and home was calling.
Writing about Bonnaroo is hard because it’s impossible to convey the experience clearly, just as it’s impossible to absorb so much good music and raw experience in four days. Riverbend probably has a larger headcount, but the flavor of the festivals couldn’t be more distinct. Bonnaroo is an experience that both attacks and excites all the senses.
At one point during the festival, my shoes were caked with mud and sand so I took them off and walked barefoot for miles. In a lot of my own reading about Bonnaroo 2010, I’ve heard complaints about the heat, the drugs and other things and declarations that “this is my last” or “I’ll never go again.” A lot of people say that, but then wind up going again, because it’s such a singular experience. It’s so far removed from the ho-hum experience of everyday life, that four days feels like a month long roller coaster ride, condensed, evaporated and ingested, leaving you thrilled, tired, sore and befuddled. Even now, a week later, I’m still processing all I saw and felt.
Bonnaroo is more than music. It’s a personal challenge, a marathon of the soul, and it forces us to push our physical, mental and spiritual boundaries. It shows us things we wouldn’t normally see and maybe wouldn’t want to, while at the same time, dissolving some of the starched shirt hypocrisy which can make western life feel like a mind numbing plod from one brass ring to the next.
Bonnaroo to me is lying in a tent at night, my feet throbbing in time with my heart, burned, sore and dirty, listening to the unwinding crescendo of some band that didn’t even start until 2am. It’s listening as the sound rolls back and forth in the hazy dark, my mind racing, wanting to sleep, but distracted by the voices around my camp, the feet passing by and the glare of sodium lamps. It’s listening, hearing the song end and anticipating the roar of the crowd, distant but close, and wishing I was there, just before I fall asleep.
Lots of people have lots of things to say about Bonnaroo but it can’t really be quantified with words, because in a lot of ways, it’s a mirror, looking back at you. It’s a reflection of who and what you are, and it changes every moment you’re there. Bonnaroo is what you take with you and it’s how you express yourself as you ride it.
It’s commercial, frenetic and ugly at times, but it’s also fascinating, engaging and supernatural.
Matt Sloan died this year at ‘Roo. His user name on inforoo.org was Carpedm01. “Seize the Day.” I can’t think of a more appropriate epitaph for someone who seemed to live with such anticipation and joy. I’m sure that his last moments were difficult, as it will probably be for all of us, but Carpedm01, finished his life as part of one of the worlds biggest celebrations and from what I’ve heard, he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Fil Manley
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