Friday the 13th (cont)

..We arrived at the covered stage for Minus the Bear, the shade felt pretty terrific after being under direct sunlight during Jose's set. During this time period we were missing bands left and right. Adele, Tegan & Sara and Umphrey's McGee were all going on at the same time. But the extra time allowed us to get right up close for:

Minus The Bear! I just wish I had brought a real camera with zoom, so you could actually see the band in the photo. It's hard to see anything, but we were pretty close to the front.

The crowd went absolutely NUTS when they came out on stage - this had to have been one of the largest crowds they've played for - and the band seemed almost taken aback by the sheer volume of bodies stretched out in front of them.

I don't remember their setlist exactly, but they played a lot of songs off their latest record, Planet of Ice (buy).

The newer songs sounded great live, better than they do on record. But my heart still remains with their older material, and they absolutely nailed those. Classics staples "The Fix" and "Pachuca Sunrise" were my favorite songs of the set.

Standing to watch bands is tiring, I have no clue how people make it the whole day, much less 4 straight days of standing and rocking out. I was pretty wiped out after watching Minus the Bear, so I decided to go to the autograph tent and get one of their records signed.

We had to wait in line for what seemed like forever (a flustered staff member said that the band was 'missing'!) But they eventually found their way to the autograph tent. I bought the re-issue of their 2004 Ep, They Make Beer Commericals Like This (buy).

The guys looked genuinely happy to be there and didn't seem to mind that people were snapping pictures of them every two seconds. Music helps define our identities and it's always amazing to meet of the artists behind it.

Missed out on The Raconteurs to get the autograph, but I think it was worth it. Especially because Steel Train was going on literally right next door to the autograph tent!

Steel Train is going to be absolutely huge someday. Their songwriting just gets better and better, right up to their latest release, Trampoline. (listen to them here). As you can see from the picture there was a good amount of people at the stage to catch their second set of the day. Personally I think EVERY band should play two sets so that people don't have to make hard choices about skipping bands.

From there we caught a few songs by State Radio. They sounded great live, I'll definitely check them out if they ever blow through town. Unfortunately I had to split next door to see Rilo Kiley!

Too bad this image is so small. We were on the rail up front, but unfortunately waay off to the side. In fact directly to our right were a set of speakers blasting a steady stream of bass into our skulls. To the right of the curtain you had an unobstructed view of the drummers, the kit was on an elevated platform.

I'm not embarrased to admit that I frequently listen to Rilo Kiley. I am more or less in love with Jenny Lewis, and having her standing some 50 feet away was unreal! She does a fantastic job making sure evey member of the audience feels loved, going out of her way to sing from all corners of the stage.

I was not a real fan of their newest album, Under the Black Light (buy), but the songs sounded pretty good and I might have to re-check it out. Suprising amount of dudes in the audience singing along; not just to the new stuff but also old songs like "It's a Hit", "Spectacular Views" and of course "Portions for Foxes".

So everything so far that day had been awesome. Unfortunately a little Friday the 13th karma kicked in with a heavy rainstorm. I was totally planning on catching My Morning Jacket's set rain or shine, but it was coming down so hard I just couldn't justify it. Even worse, our tent sprung a leak and its contents got drenched!

I slept in the car.

Bloggaroo Pt 2

Friday The 13th

Friday, June 13, 2008

I awoke this morning to a brilliant sunrise (not nearly as pleasant as it sounds). I thought I would sleep like a rock until at LEAST ten or so after a long Thursday. Obviously I didn't learn anything from last years experience. But yeah, I woke up at 6:30am, with six hours to kill until music of any sort started playing.

We sat around at the campsite for a while, but it was already hot as hell outside and we had no cold beverages. Centeroo is open 24 hrs., so we headed there. Began our day with a DELICIOUS breakfast and then browsed the usual mixed bag of vendors.

The problem with music festivals, especially the good ones, is set-time clutter. In other words, if you like enough of the artists, chances are that one or two (or 4 or 5!) will be scheduled to play at the same time.

This was certainly the case Friday. Right off the bat, Drive-By Truckers, Steel Train, and Jose Gonzalez were all playing around 12:30. I had to sacrifice DBT because they were playing halfway across the universe from the other two. Would have been nice to see them, maybe next time.

Steel Train sounded great, but they played twice so I'll talk about them later. I left after a few tunes and met up with my friend Michelle to see Jose Gonzalez.

Friday always makes for the most crowded festival experience. By then pretty much everyone and their grandmother has arrived in Manchester, and hasn't had enough time to exhaust themselves yet. Simply walking around felt like one giant game of frogger.

See that picture up there? That's not from this year, but it gives you an idea of how many goddamn people were at that stage watching Jose Gonzalez. It was an odd mix of die-hard fans, casual fans, people who heard "that one song on the commercial", and spectators simply seeking refuge under the shaded roof.

As expected, Jose played by himself. Just imagine being a lone person onstage, armed with only a silver voice and an acoustic guitar, up against a sea of thousands. I think I would have passed out right away from stage-fright to be honest.

Against all odds, he put on a wonderful show. Even as louder sets adjacent to his stage threatened to overpower his mellow sound, he was in complete control of the spellbound audience.

First off, stage presence. You have it or you don't. Jose was SITTING DOWN, and still projected a powerful aura. So you couldn't look away while he was playing (even though it was crowded and I couldn't really see him too well).

Also, I didn't realize what a fantastic rhythm player he is. Watch him do his thing in a captivating rendition of "Down the Line", a song off his second full-length In Our Nature (buy).

No rest for the weary. After Jose's set we had just enough time to grab a quick lunch before scurrying over to get up close for Minus the Bear.

..to be continued..

Thursday

I will be posting little recaps of my Bonnaroo experience.

A Warm Up

Thursday, June 12, 2008

BonnaROO!

My friends and I arrived at the festival around 4 p.m., and the wait began. This was the first time we used GPS navigation, which led us to a different entrance via Hwy 55 (see map). The line moved sluggishly at times, but we made it past the checkpoint in under two hours. On to the campsite!

As we were herded like cattle to slaughter by hoards of yellow-shirted flag-wavers, I saw the perimeters of the festival area shrink in my rear-view mirror. We ended up roughly a 20 minute's walk from Centeroo. Not too shabby.

Modern art or just one big mess to clean up?

We were in camp zone 8...or as I heard one guy put it: the "chewbacca campgrounds". He was probably talking about our camp's artwork (see above), but could just as well have been referring to endless parade of shirtless cavemen running about!

Some of our neighbors' tents

In a hurry to get into the actual festival, we set up our modest campsite with much difficulty (don't ask). Met some nice girls who go to Harvard and a cool dude named Jeff who said he came down from Jersey by himself to see Metallica & Pearl Jam.

But you don't care about that, you want to hear about the MUSIC:

Let me tell you about Nicole Atkins. I wandered to her stage by accident - MGMT just wasn't doing it for me - in an attempt to meet up with some other friends who came down seperately, and she was playing.
Her music is kind of that post-Michelle Branch, folk-pop, vintage American sound. Martha Wainwright if she kicked more ass. (listen here) Excellent set, definitely one of the more energetic acts I saw Thursday. Maybe some of the performers had opening-night jitters.

You can't blame the weather, a cool breeze fanned our bodies as the hot Tennessee sun set slowly on the horizon. Meanwhile I was rocking out to Nicole's set. Immediately afterwards I ran over to the CD tent and picked up a copy of her debut record, Neptune City (buy).

Left the CD tent and half-sprinted accross the festival grounds to catch the opening notes of:

Vampire Weekend! You've probably heard of them, or sick of hearing about them, if you follow the music biz at all. Those silly Ivy-League kids who sing tunes about New England in the vein of The Strokes, all while drawing on musical influences from 3 continents.

If you haven't heard their debut record, shame on you (listen here). Live, they sounded a whole lot better than I expected, I've heard their live sets can be hit or miss. But the songs sounded extremely fresh. Great energy and vibe. They drew a massive and energetic crowd who came to sing & dance their asses off.

The thing about these big festivals is that where you stand might dictate how much you enjoy a band's set. For instance, when they opened with "Mansard Roof" I was at a horrible angle, and the mix sounded like shit. Fortunately, I found a great spot decently close where the sound came through 1,000 times better.

After being couped up in the car all day, and especially after a few drinks, Vampire Weekend really hit the spot. Their music is sickingly upbeat and happy, like Belle & Sebastian on crack and Red Bull.

They closed their set with "Walcott", one of my favorite cuts from their self-titled debut full-length (buy).

Caught the middle of Lez Zeppelin's show. They were OK, but you know they're just a glorified cover band, so really there's no big deal. I wasn't feeling it at all, so I went back to the campsite around 12:30 and just crashed till I passed out.

Thursday is usually the warm-up day for Bonnaroo, as only 75 percent of the people attending are actually there yet. So the food lines were a little shorter, the stages less crowded, the walkways more walkable. A good start to the weekend.

..Coming soon: Friday the 13th..