If you've been to Bonnaroo, you know how addictive it can be. Regardless of the lineup, the weather, or how much it costs, some people just have to go. This year, 80,000 people showed up to grace "The Farm" in Manchester where four days of non-stop, sun-baked, dust-covered fun was happening.
The age of Woodstock has been paved over and gone are the days of overflowing outhouses and gridlock. If there's one thing AC Entertainment and Superfly do well, it's planning.
Bonnaroo is a clockwork mechanism where problems seem to be confronted on the drawing board. To be fair though, after 13 years, they've had plenty of practice.
We took advantage of early entry again this year to bypass long lines on I24, and breezed through check-in in under ten minutes. This might be one of the best changes to the fabric of the festival yet, spreading out entry over two days has the effect of reducing stress on an already amped Bonnaroo population.
Most serious Bonnaroo patrons put thought into their camp. Small details are the order of the day, as groups of people plan their experience and set up tent cities with electric lights, carpet and recreation areas. Camping is an art and you learn by watching others. You also learn over time what not to do. This year we spent an hour debating placement of our tent under a giant tarp to allow us to sleep as long as possible when the Manchester sun starts baking in the morning.
One of the biggest considerations at Bonnaroo has always been the weather, and in planning, that generally means come prepared of suffer the consequences. In this past weather has swung widely between flooding rains, and dust choking drought with high temps over 100, but this year the weather on Thursday was close to the sweet spot with light clouds and temps in the mid 80s. The only rain of consequence the entire weekend happened early Thursday, and it was just enough to wash the dust way.
Despite similarities to prior years, some details change. They bring in oddities to tease the brain. This year, the "Iron Throne" from the series Game of Thrones was on exhibit and how cool is it to get to sit on the Iron Throne? The former fire tower in general camping changes each year. Last year it was covered in LED lights. A couple of years ago it was a working cuckoo clock. This year it was topped by what looked like the worlds largest disco ball, bathing all of general camping in a constant stream of white dots.
One of the more interesting oddities this year was the Kalliope stage. It was the stage of last resort for wide-pupiled EDM addicts, grinding out music late into the night and providing dissonance between This tent and the Other tent by day. The stage itself is the trailer part of a tractor-trailer rig. It's a self-contained, folding DJ, lightshow and stage rig.
John Hamm from Mad Men and Zach Galifianakis showed up in the comedy tent doing sketch comedy. Hamm created a bit of a stir here in Chattanooga when he gave his Artist wrist band to Tupelo Honey waitress Abby Swartz. For the uninitiated, the bracelet gave her pretty much unlimited access to artist amenities and back stage areas mostly off limits to press.
This act of kindness reverberated, and goes hand in hand with the Bonnaroo mantra "Radiate Positivity", a phrase painted this year on the mushroom fountain by New York artist Queen Andrea. The mushroom fountain provides heat relief for Bonnaroovians and the paint design changes each year. The water is fresh and clean on Thursday but by Sunday is tinted the muddy brown of Tennessee farm dirt.
Another new addition was the Grove in general camping. Like guest camping, it's been planted with maple trees and filled with art exhibits, lighting and hammocks. Performance artists provided entertainment throughout the weekend.
The lineup at Bonnaroo is an unceasing source of debate. People spend months crafting a listening schedule, sometimes dropping one band to see another, a necessary evil in a venue running concurrent shows on 12 stages.
My personal favorites tend to run toward the headliners, and this year my list was topped by Earth Wind & Fire, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Alabama Shakes, Slayer, Tears for Fears, Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters and Billy Joel. I managed to see all of them except for Slayer.
I might be showing my age, but my favorite on that list was Earth Wind & Fire. Iíve always loved their music. They're an older band with a string of hits from the 70s and 80s. Their music is universally known, and there seemed to be no disconnect with the younger crowd at Bonnaroo. At one point, I think it was singer Philip Bailey who said "I think most of you were conceived to our music." He's probably right.
They played most of their hits including Boogie Wonderland, Shining Star, Serpentine Fire, September, and Lets Groove. Their stage show couldnít be tighter. I guess practice does make perfect.
One complaint I had was that I wish they played on the What stage instead of the Which stage. They weren't loud enough on Which and the acoustics are much better on What for a band with so many instruments and so many vocal harmonies.
Bonnaroo veteran Ben Harper showed up after reforming his band, the Innocent Criminals, playing the Which Stage on Friday night. They played a soulful and super-tight set including Burn To Shine, Steal My Kisses, Diamonds on the Inside, Burn One Down and Better Way. In my opinion, having seen them at least five or six times, they sound as good as or better than they ever have. They all seemed fresh and renewed in their approach to the music. It seems Ben's time working on his other projects did everyone some good.
Former Led Zeppelin front-man, Robert Plant took the Which Stage on Sunday and played a mix of songs from his current band and also a few Zeppelin songs, including Black Dog, Whole Lotta Love and Going to California. He seemed relaxed, and everyone in the audience a bit awed. He kept banter to a minimum, except at one point when he commented that Jack White had renewed his interest in the Lemon Song when he began covering it.
Tears for Fears time travelled from the 80s, landing in This tent on Friday night. The duo made up of Roland Orzabeal and Curt Smith started their set with Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Probably one of their most evocative songs, it's well known to the younger crowd from Lordes cover of it she recorded for The Hunger Games; Catching Fire. More people sang along to this song than any other I heard this year. They followed that with Shout, Head Over Heels and a cover of Radioheads' Creep.
Probably two of the most talked about and attended sets of the weekend happened on Saturday when My Morning Jacket played the What stage, followed by Mumford and Sons.
My Morning Jacket was the show to see this year for a lot of people. The last time I saw them was at Bonnaroo a few years ago, when they played on the Which stage in a drizzling rain. The show this year on the What stage was much better, with better acoustics and better mixing on the wide lawn in perfect weather. People danced until their feet bled, whipping up a cloud of dust that hovered behind the sound board.
The other "must see" band for a lot of people this year was Mumford and Sons, who followed My Morning Jacket on the What stage. In 2012 they scored with their hugely successful album Babel but had to cancel a Bonnaroo appearance in 2013 when bassist Ted Dwayne was forced to undergo emergency surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain. Iíve listened to them, and got to catch a few of their songs this year. They have switched from the ìunpluggedî version of their music to electric, and it serves them well.
Sunday brought an all day set in That tent, where actor Ed Helms and his Bluegrass Situation brought some Appalachian flare to Bonnaroo. Shakey Graves started the set out with his blues wailing, rock heavy brand of American music, followed by New Orleans group Hurray for the Riff Raff. By far the biggest crowd showed up for Shakey Graves, but the purists hung around for Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn.
I can't forget Superjam, the annual Bonnaroo institution known for mixing genres and crossing age barriers. It brings together a diverse mix of artists for a late night jam session that appeals to almost everyone.
The theme for the late night Superjam was Throwback Dance Party. Zach Galifianakis came out to wild applause and together with John Hamm of Madmen, started things off with a rousing crowd sing-along of We are the World.
Superjam included Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo who was at Bonnaroo promoting his documentary Jaco Into the Life of a Genius, about the life and music of bassist Jaco Pastorius. He mixed it up with Jack Antonoff, front man of the Bleachers. Rhiannon Giddens, singer of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, slammed out the best vocal of the jam with her cover of Roxanne by the Police. The evening was rounded out with appearances by D.M.C. (Darryl McDaniels) of Run-D.M.C. and Chance the Rapper.
SOJA played the only Reggae inspired set of the weekend early Friday on the What stage, where they played a diverse set including some songs from their newish album, ìmid the Noise and Haste.
They were followed up by Dawes and the The Alabama Shakes and The rest of the day included sets from Moon Taxi and Atmosphere.
One of the more interesting sets came early on the Which stage when Brownout Presents ìBrown Sabbathî played a strange but wonderful Latin interpretation of Black Sabbath covers complete with horn section and Beto Martinez guitar sauce.
There was some great late-night EDM at Bonnaroo this year including Deadmau5 on What stage Friday and Bassnectar on Which stage Saturday.
Headliner Billy Joel closed Bonnaroo on Sunday with a cross-spectrum set of his 80s pop hits. The average age of the average Bonnarooer is probably half that of most Billy Joel fans but that didn't seem to dampen anyoneís enthusiasm. They danced to songs like Pressure, My Life, Zanzibar, We Didn't Start the Fire, The Entertainer and It's Still Rock N Roll to Me.
Some other bands worth mentioning were Catfish and the Bottlemen, Trampled by Turtles, The War on Drugs, Childish Gambino, Mac Demarco, Jungle and Gramatik.
In the past few years, the people at AC Entertainment and Superfly, the producers of Bonnaroo have diversified the entertainment. The comedy tent has become more of an institution, filled with well known comedians doing full sets all four days.
The Theatre tent runs movies and documentaries all weekend. There were showings of Birdman with a live drum score by Antonio Sanchez and Salad Days ñ A Decade of Punk in Washington DC. I also caught part of The Ultimate Corey Feldman Party, where he did Q&A before the Goonies 30th anniversary Quote-Along screening.
Feldman was camped in guest camping with the rest of us where he apparently told a friend of mine how hot she is in Spanish which made her day.
This year, as with most years, some the love was held out for bands on the smaller stages. Lots of new bands got exposure on the new Who stage and in the Miller Lite Music on Tap stage.
One of the underlying facts that keep people coming back is a love of the overall experience, not just the music. No matter whoís booked at Bonnaroo, someone is going to be unhappy about it but given the genre crossing nature of the Bonnaroo lineup, there tends to be something for everyone.
Bonnaroo, in its 13th year, has gotten better and smarter at creating the carnival environment thatís proven to be so addictive. New facilities, strong lineups and diverse entertainment have given Bonnaroo staying power and appeal unmatched by any other festival.
This year marks the acquisition of a controlling interest in Bonnaroo by Live Nation, and it should be interesting to see what changes come about next year.
Until Then,
Fil Manley
filmanley@gmail.com
"Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find"
~Mumford & Sons ñ Roll Away Your Stone
The Bonnaroo 2015 lineup was:
Billy Joel, Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5, Earth Wind & Fire, Kendrick Lamar, Florence and The Machine, Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, My Morning Jacket, Bassnectar, Alabama Shakes, Childish Gambino, Flume, Hozier, Slayer, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Belle and Sebastian, Spoon, The War On Drugs, STS9, Ben Folds, SuperJam, Atmosphere, Atomic Bomb!, Who Is William Onyeabor?, Tears for Fears, Brandi Carlile, Twenty|One Pilots, The Bluegrass Situation SuperJam featuring Ed Helms & Special Guests, Flying Lotus, Earth Wind & Fire, Caribou, Gary Clark Jr., SBTRKT, Punch Brothers, Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood, Tove Lo, Run the Jewels, Dawes, G-Eazy, Trampled By Turtles, Sturgill Simpson, Moon Taxi, AWOLNATION, Sylvan, Esso, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Guster, Jamie XX, Against Me!, Odesza, SOJA, Jerry Douglas Presents Earls of Leicester, Bleachers, Rudimental, Mac DeMarco, Tycho, The Very Best, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Shakey Graves, Shabazz Palaces, Gramatik, M¯, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Jungle, Benjamin Booker, Houndmouth, The Growlers, Glass Animals, Ana Tijoux, SZA, Courtney Barnett, Rhiannon Giddens, Royal Blood, Tanya Tagaq, Woods, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Iceage, Temples, Between The Buried & Me, Rustie, Ryn Weaver, Dopapod, Pokey LaFarge, Priory, Bahamas, Strand of Oaks, Phox, Gregory Alan Isakov, Brownout Presents BROWN SABBATH, The Districts, Madisen Ward & Mama Bear, DMAís, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Pallbearer, Dej Loaf, Christopher Denny, Hiss Golden Messenger, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Unlocking the Truth