Someone asked me, “You’re spending almost three hundred dollars to sleep in a tent for four days without showering and see some concerts?” To which I replied, “No, I’m spending almost three hundred dollars to sleep in a tent for four days without showering to party and see some concerts.”
When I first heard about Bonnaroo from a friend last summer, I blew it off as more or less one of those big concerts radio stations put on. When the lineup came out in February and I checked it out, I immediately recruited a few friends to embark on a journey to the unknown to experience this Bonnaroo thing firsthand.
It was not quite what I expected considering no one I’m especially close to had ever been, so I was going in blind. What we found resembled more of a fair than anything else with all kinds of tents and vendors and people wandering around aimlessly smoking pot and doing drugs wherever they felt like it. While drinking and drugs were a huge part of the atmosphere, which I was aware was going to be the case, the driving force of everything was most definitely the music.
Everywhere, for sixteen hours a day inside the Centeroo (area with stages, tents, etc.) music was being played. Rock, Hip Hop, Folk, Metal, Country—it didn’t matter, there was always music. It was a good thing I packed my big boy liver, and my eclectic ears, because 12 beers by 12:00 noon each day and 25 shows over four days with minimal sleep during June in Tennessee can wear anyone down. And some of the highlights I feel are probably worth mentioning…
Acts you probably never heard of but should check out:
Baroness - I'm not really huge into metal and could have done without some of the screaming, but their shit hit hard. The drummer was out of control good, and I’m pretty sure my heart beat to the rhythm he was pounding on the base drum. A girl got dragged out through the crowd, and I’m not sure if she was too f’d up for her own good or had an arrhythmia from the stuff he was playing.
Jay Electronica - this rapper from New Orleans is legit. He had some serious gravitas up on the stage and with flows like “I make the devil hit his knees and say the our father” he’ll blow your mind like John Wilkes Booth.
Monte Montgomery - saw this guy and his band front row at a jam session at this tiny little stage a couple hours after he played at one of the main tents. This guy killed it. You will be hard pressed to find a dude that rocks out harder on the acoustic guitar. Although I either freaked him out or made his day, when I chased down his golf cart later to shake his hand and tell him he is awesome.
Things I am disappointed about:
Missing The Dead Weather - my friend Mr. Leitch and I let our wanderlust get the best of us, and we roamed Centeroo while ending up catching Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Beck. The only thing was everyone that saw The Dead Weather (Jack White’s side band) said they were absolutely amazing.
Missing Steve Martin (yes actor/comedian Steve Martin) - He plays banjo for the Grammy award-winning bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers and is supposedly quite good. Even though I could have caught the last half of their show once Tenacious D finished rocking my socks off, my dumb ass just completely forgot they were playing. Fml
Bitching out on John Fogerty - while typing this just now I realized the last four letters of his name are in order on the keyboard, but I have known for a long time that the former lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival has the voice of an angel. After the better part of ten songs, we let the 93 degree heat bully us into the shade… none of which was within earshot of the great John Fogerty.
Top Five Shows:
5. Jamey Johnson - Country singer turned recluse turned country singer/songwriter has the best beard in music not counting anyone in ZZ Top. Not only that, he is a great performer who doesn’t sing all that stupid pop/country music on the radio today. His music has a certain soul that is missing from all these country artists who don’t even write their own stuff. A couple times I even got chills, but I'm not sure if that was from the music or a cool breeze hitting my sweat. It also didn’t hurt that I was second row!
4. Kings of Leon - Love their music to begin with but something about them was just so much better in person. They had great lighting effects, sounded great, and something about the singer’s voice just can’t be captured over audio/video recordings. The only complaint I have is with the Bonnaroo scheduling committee, who put an impossible decision on my shoulders and made me leave the show early.
3. Stevie Wonder - music like Stevie’s is timeless- and while you may not think you can name more than three of his songs off the top of your head if that many at all- once he sits at that piano and starts hitting the keys, you start feeling it all over… simply amazing.
2. Jay Z - while Jigga doesn’t seem like your typical hippie music festival headlining act, he completely vindicated the people who select the artists with his performance. Starting with the countdown on the jumbotrons to build anticipation and all the way to his final verse he had the crowd moving and into it the entire time. A great set list along with mashing up some of his best songs onto other tracks, like “Heart of the City” and U2’s “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” the only thing this show didn’t have was a Stevie Wonder duet.
1. The Black Keys - The only thing that was going to get me away from that Kings of Leon stage was this show. If you don’t know The Black Keys, well then you better get familiar. The blues-rock duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were everything I could have hope for, more, and then some. Carney’s unconventional use of maracas and tambourines instead of drum stick only compliment his already super ability. Auerbach plays guitar riffs that sound like stuff stolen from never released Jimi Hendrix recordings, and his voice sounds like a mixture of Fergie and Jesus. Simply put, if sex ended in a Black Keys concert instead of an orgasm that would be fine by me.
--Grey Area
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