Day One – The night before the festival I enjoyed the comfort and luxuries of LaQuinta hotel room. Air conditioning, TV, electrical outlets, a real bed, and (sigh) a shower. Little did I know how deeply I would appreciate all these commodities by the end of the week. Thursday morning I caught the Bonnaroo shuttle to the festival grounds. I’ll leave out the details that involved the great debacle that had to go through in order to receive my press pass. Let’s just say for now that Bonnaroo is as much about the people as it is the music.
I met up with my cousin and his friends at camp after about two hours of traffic. We were a little more than a half a mile away from the Centeroo, Bonnaroo’s main concert grounds. Let it be known that while these campgrounds are labeled on the map, they are not however labelled on the actual grounds. You kind of have to memorize where you camped, otherwise you’ll be wandering around aimlessly (to which I did a lot of). Anyway, we made our way to Centeroo to begin our Bonnaroo experience.
Centeroo consists of roughly 11 stages; the What stage, Which stage, This stage, That stage, Lunar stage, Other stage, Sonic stage, Solar stage, Cafe Where, Troo Music Lounge, and the Comedy Theatre. It’s begging to become an Abbott and Costello routine for anyone trying to meet up with a friend at a certain tent, “Meet us at the Other tent.” “Which tent?” “No the Other tent?” “Oh That tent!” “NO OTHER TENT!” I’d like to think that happened once or twice during the festival. Anyway, within Centeroo is your fair share of typical food and merch vendors as well as the Centeroo fountain, slip & slide, and ferris wheel. There’s a bunch more corporate sponsored crap going on around but I won’t bore you with that. I will say that the Centeroo fountain should have been renamed, Dirty Brown Fountain of Scum.
Here We Go Magic
Missing Fanfarlo wasn’t that big of a deal since I had seen them already, so I decided to catch Here We Go Magic at the This tent. The new material is as experimental as you’d expect from the band and the crowd seemed to dig it. Of course playing Fangula (their catchiest of songs) helped their cause.
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[mp3] Here We Go Magic – Collector from Pigeons (2010)
Miike Snow
Miike Snow
Next up was Miike Snow. I had heard enough good things about their live performances so I was excited to see what they had planned. The band took the stage in white expressionless masks and proceeded to properly rock the crowd. Playing a large majority off their debut record, they received a positive response from the audience and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed.
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[mp3] Miike Snow – Burial from Miike Snow (2009)
Neon Indian
Neon Indian
After Miike I made it over to the That tent to watch Neon Indian. This was my second time seeing them and they never disappoint. Always an energetic and entertaining band, Neon Indian are noticeably perfecting their live sound. In fact it’s safe to say they sound better live than on record. Oh and about four topless (ok they had body paint) ‘neon indians’ took the stage to dance around to one of their songs.
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[mp3] Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (BRAHMS) from Remix Chasms (2010)
Frank Turner
I decided against Temper Trap for singer songwriter Frank Turner over at the Troo Music Lounge. He had a surprisingly enormous crowd and it continued to grow as time went on. Frank’s genuine honesty and effortless charisma were probably factors in this. His hearfelt songs even brought some audience members to tears, which made the show even more emotional. About mid-set, he brought up a member of the audience to play the harmonica, to which he butchered. It didn’t matter though, the atmosphere of the show was fun and hopefully people left his set as new fans.
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[mp3] Frank Turner – The Outdoor Type (Lemonheads Cover) from Jonah Matranga / Frank Turner Split (2006)
The xx
The xx
After Frank, I made my way back to the That tent and caught the mighty xx. I have missed their shows for far too long and it was about time I caught this fantastic act. It was a very dramatic and dark performance mixed with the trademark sound the band is known for. The xx gracefully played their entire debut album to a sea of attentive fans. The real treat though was overhearing conversations with people that had never heard of them being extremely impressed with their show. For me, the xx are constantly proving to me that they are past being a ‘hype band’ and have entered the realm of respected artists.
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[mp3] The xx – Islands (Delorean Remix) (2010)
The night came to a satisfying close, getting me quite hyped up for tomorrow’s line-up of She & Him, The National, The Gossip, and The Black Keys.