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My girlfriend Ashley and I are just back from our first Bonnaroo, and we really had an amazing time. Saw more bands than we thought possible, experienced a few minor problems but nothing that diminished 4 days of seeing awesome music, meeting great people, and being exposed to so many unique experiences.
This is going to be a bit longwinded, and a bit clunky unless I get a chance to rewrite it a bit. But I just got home after an extra day layover in Chicago after a cancelled flight, and wanted to get this all down while it was still fresh. Please excuse my typos and redundant adjectives, I don't have the energy to go back over this twice.
We went VIP, and although a tad disorganized and not quite as advertised, it still offered some huge advantages over ga.
We took the shuttle, was surprised to still sit in traffic for 2.5 hours waiting to get in. The cool driver was happy to let us all walk in. After all, we already had our bracelets, got them at the airport. But a dick security guy yelled at us and our driver, was really obnoxious. Probably the same guy everyone else here has horror stories about. His face was covered with heat blisters, an old prick.
But at last the bus dropped us off at the back of the what field. We were able to get a great spot 30 yards from the back of the fence there, with a great view of the entire What stage and video screens. Luckily, we were surrounded by tent only campers also on the shuttle, and the great view was never blocked by any rvs or big cars.
That was huge all weekend, we were able to watch sets from our camp, with great loud sound. Sometimes hanging out with some of the wonderful people around us, sometimes in our tent on our air mattress, catching short almost-naps during parts of widespread and the police.
(Next year, making an effort to keep tenters only in the front, cars in the middle, rvs in the back, would help a lot more people have the same great setup we did.)
We had a lot of great couples camped around us, a bunch of whom we plan to keep in touch with. That worked out great.
VIP food started out pretty bad, got a little better. Terrible for vegetarians. We ate almost all our meals in Centeroo, especially loving Bearly Edible's Pesto Quesadillas. Vegetarian options sucked in the VIP area. The first night only veg option was a crappy egg-based frittata, so a vegan is 100% out of luck. Wrong chocices for this crowd with the roast beef and pork dishes. Bad wedding catering, if that. Saw a decent looking tofu stir fry, but it was out everytime I was there.
Can't believe no free water in the vip tent, that's ridiculous in that heat.
Awfully long line for the VIP party, we left early when we saw what it was all about. Too bad we missed Dr. Dog, we liked what we saw of them a few days later on the This Stage.
Saw lots of police presence on Shakedown the first 3 days, which was effective, as there was very little action there earlier. Fakedown, indeed, as I saw another poster call it. But not a lot of arrests at least, I think they just seized a lot and let people go for the most part. We saw 2 cops on horses with a guy with over an elbow of green, which they took and let him stumble away - he was pretty drunk.
Our worst encounter occurred early on Thursday, we made the mistake of going in the regular entrance instead of the VIP (no search) entrance. I was ready for a patdown, but the fratboy security guard reaced in my pocket and pulled out a small bag of green. Wouldn't let me take it back. What a dick. Luckily I scored a new bag minutes later, but still took me a little while to shake that really irritating episode aside. I have seen hundreds of shows, know how to hide my stuff, but never expect anyone to reach into my pockets without asking. I complained to a security supervisor, but he was never there when I was in the area.
Now, onto the music. Being in a spot in VIP with easy entrance to Centeroo, and being an obsessive music nut, and having a tendency to get wired when I'm excited and not need a ton of sleep and the fact that I dont drink booze anymore, and the fact that I was good about drinking entire swimming pools of water over the course of the weeknd, all helped me to see a crazy amount of music over 4 days. It was fun circling everything on the schedule I saw. I didn't really circle anything I didn't see at least 5-10 minutes of, maybe 2 or 3 borderline inclusions. But most bands I saw at least 15-20 minutes of, most more like 20-45 minutes or more. Didn't see very many full sets. Full sets or close to it besides the headliners include Clutch (HOLY CRAP, I have to buy that set the second it is for sale), White Stripes, Black Keys, all the comedy sets.
So counting all the circles in the schedule in my water-weathered guide, the final tally is:
Final Tally: 50+ bands, 7+ comics, 5+ dj sets
Was able to catch a lot more than I expected. Think if I wasn't in VIP I would have seen a significant amount less, between the walk to Centeroo, the wait to get in, and the increased exhaustion from dealing with all that. We were able to exhaust ourselves running between stages, not out in the parking lot.
Here's a little on everyone I saw, from start to finish.
Thursday
BLACK ANGELS, Which Stage. I saw a little of this set while waiting for the comedy tent. Sounded really good. I had to leave the line to do some stuff, my girlfriend saw their whole set and was blown away, really loved it. From what I head, I'm with her. The funny thing is, we saw them open for the Black Keys at the Nokia a few months back, and they were quite boring. Here, they sounded like a different band.
Then we went into the Comedy Tent during the end of the Josh Bowman/Lynn Koplitz/Lewis Black set. Missed Josh, saw a little bit of LYNN KOPLITZ as we were getting in. She was ok, didn't see enough to really give her a fair review.
LEWIS BLACK sucked. He's pretty good on the Daily Show, not my favorite but he has his moments. But that stuff is written by the Daily Show writers, not Lewis Black. His stand up routine is all him, and it's basically Republicans are crooks/Democrats are pussies material. Pretty weak set.
Then we stayed for the next comedy show too.
NICK KROLL very funny. Clever, some really good stuff. Too bad he's going to be in the upcoming horrendous caveman show on ABC. Hope he's making big $$$ off it at least.
AZIS ANSARI also was excellent, enjoyed his set a lot.
I'm a huge David Cross fan, love Mr. Show and Arrested Development. To me, his set was very good, but not outstanding. David has a funny hatred of hippy culture in a way. I don't think it's all schtick, I think David is a little angrier and less patient than he used to be. He seems so tired of people interrupting his set, makes a lot of that funny, but still odd. He kind of lost the crowd for about 10 minutes too when told an amusing anecdote about his dog licking his balls while he napped, and letting the dog lick him to orgasm. Ah David, you rascally scalliwag!
CLUTCH fucking rocked! I wasn't familiar with them at all ,was blown away. High energy hard rock great frontman, intelligent lyrics and very driving and propulsive songs. Sounded like they were really playing up their bluesier side, they had a hot harp player on stage for a while.
We left them to check out the other stages, but came back pretty quick.
I thought TEA LEAF GREEN were going to be heavier, bluesier. They sounded pretty noodly, not my bag. Saw a couple songs, left.
Saw a little RODRIGO Y GABRRIELA, saw a bit more later when Clutch were done. Sounded very good, although every song we heard kind of sounded like the closing jam in a Gypsy Kings song. I guess that's a compliment, mostly. I love spanish influenced music, but it wasn't what I was in the mood for on a rocking first night. I think kind of a mellow late night pick, but the huge crowd seemed really into it.
The end of Clutch's set was as impressive as the beginning. Until late Sunday, this was clearly my favorite set of the fest, nothing came close for a couple days at least. Overall, one of my 2 or 3 favorite sets of the fest.
FRIDAY
COLD WAR KIDS - I had heard a few songs before Roo and liked them, was ready to like these guys. But didn't really do much for me, sounded a lot wimpier than I expected. Didn't see enough of their set to fairly judge, though.
JAMES BLOOD ULMER - saw a little bit, sounded like cool edgy blues. Wished I heard a bit more here.
RICHARD THOMPSON - Love him, have seen him probably 10 times acoustic solo or duo, but never with a band. Had really been looking forward to it. But kind of underwhelming, a pretty sleepy set. Opening with 5 new songs (at least, I left for a while) is never a good sign. His first single "Needle and Thread" is actually very catchy, but his homage to the soldiers in the Iraq war was a bit trite, and too topical. Not that they were bad, but nothing to make folks forget the heat and really get into it. The end of the set picked up a bit. We got back there for an acoustic Vincent Black Lightining, then the band returned for I want to see the Bright Lights Tonight, Read About Love, Wall of Death, Tear Stained Letter. I was really hoping for Shoot out the Lights to close, no luck. I expected a bit better from the fantastic Mr. Thompson.
At the other stages:
TORTOISE, boring prog rock.
BRAZILIAN GIRLS, fun dance club latin pop. Thought they might be a bit earthier, but they were a bit more cabaret. Their singer ( I think the only real "girl") sang and danced the stage with something that looked like a gigantic futuristic punch bowl stuck to her back.
The best music we saw that early afternoon were on two low-profile venues, the Troo Music Lounge, then the Sonic Stage.
SAM CHAMPION
APOLLO SUNSHINE
Both bands were great, loud, hard rocking, good frontmen, fun songs. and cool for me they are both NYC bands. I live an hour outside, and plan on seeing both these bands again. I believe they are friendly and play a lot of double bills. Too bad they were playing the same time, but we saw half of each their sets.
KINGS OF LEON were really good, we saw about 40 minutes I think. I like their older stuff more than their new album. I want them to be a rootsy rocking band like the Black Crowes or White Stripes, it seems like they are trying to be the Arcade Fire or Modest Mouse sometimes, and it doesn't suit them. I might be in the minority on that, though, as they are more popular than ever right now.
The sound went out for a little while, that was the only tech mistake I think we saw all Roo.
HOT CHIP I saw a little of, liked them, don't remember them that well to be honest. Remember I figured out that Hot Chip meant Hardship, If I deciphered those lyrics correctly.
TOM MORELLO was pretty boring, I hate to say. I have lost all patience for anyone who does "This land is your land" Dig deeper into the fucking Guthrie catalog, I don't care if you do the missing verse of the song. (Anyone ever hear Dylan and the Band do Grand Coulee Dam, I ain't got no home and Mrs. Roosevelt at some late sixites NYC benefit show? That's how you cover Guthrie. Listen to Grand Coulee Dam especially, it's probably on itunes, what a great wobbly raveup of a song, one of my favorite slabs of Dylan ever. But I digress.)
SPEARHEAD, whom I have heard before and kind of like sometimes, was at his hippy-dippiest in the 10 minutes we caught. Like those actors on Sesame Street who interact with the muppets, and who have that odd Stepford Wives happiness at all times. Pretty lame.
THE WHIGS - saw a bit on the Sonic stage, sounded very good.
ROBERT GLASPER TRIO - in the Jazz Tent. Great room, very dim and dark, they really nailed the NYC high end club vibe. Pinpoint lighting, and large repros of classic Jazz Albums on the walls. Robert Glasper were good, we saw a couple songs, including a Radiohead cover. Not one I recognized. Sadly, the only thing we saw at the Jazz Tent all weekend, never made it back there.
ROOTS - I have seen the Roots a couple times, really like them, and admire QuestLove. Saw them at a Dylan Tribute show a couple months back, and they did an incredible arrangement of Masters of War, and stole the show from bigger names like Warren and Phil. (the night's other highlight was Ryan Adams doing an angry feedback version of Isis>Lovesick>Isis)
But the first 20 minutes of the Root's set was kind of generic indie hip hop, I hate to say. We left, and meant to come back, but didn't manage to. Wonder if that set picked up, I would imagine it probably did. Will have to see if anyone wrote that one up.
THE BLACK KEYS - I like this band a lot, my girl Ashley loves them. We saw almost their entire set, and it rocked. Black Keys are eclectic, driving blues rockers, with almost a mississippi hill country blues drone like RL Burnside or Junior Kimbrough, both big influences on them. The Black Keys carry on that musical legacy more than the jambandier North Miss. Allstars, who have actual blood ties to those innovators in the band. Next to Clutch, the best set we have seen so far.
BANG BANG BANG
Saw a bit of this band as we walked back to camp to get ready for TOOL. They were loud, quirky, fun, seemed pretty good. We kept seeing them around Centeroo all weekend, clearly they have no primadonna "we must be backstage all the time" thing going on.
We went back to our camp to change, and watched the beginning of the set from our campsite. As mentioned, great view and sound. For most of the set, we took our folding chairs and set up toward the back of the What Field.
TOOL - Great set. Fantastic lights, good energy. I wasn't familiar with Tool, but knew they would be good. I actually thought I might be blown away by them, but I wasn't that overboard crazy for them. Great set though, and nice to sit and chill after running around all day. The song with Tom Morello was good, I was worried I was going to hear this land is your land again. No collaboration with John Paul Jones on No Quarter, as heavily anticipated. Would have been hot, but wait one more day if you want a sick No Quarter...
(Actually, speaking of No Quarter. I think it was during this set a poster guy came up with his wares, and we ended up buying a couple. He had really cool color posters of Zep, Dead, Beatles, with 100+ song titles hidden in each one. (This wasn't the famous Dead picture in black and white with all the hidden songs, by the way, this is a new one.)
We were debating buying his $3 answer key(the poster was $10), and he said "I'll see if you need it. What's this" He pointed at an image of a dime, penny, and nickel. Without a second's delay, Ashley said "No Quarter" and the guy said "You don't need the key." That's why I love her. She should know her Zep, though, she does have the ZOSO symbols tattooed on her back. (and yes, a kid did ask her over the weekend at one point, "what's zoso mean?")
So anyway, Tool, hot but not supernova hot.
Late Night.
SUPERJAM - Obviously, from reading the above, you know we were super fired up for Superjam. What better rhythm section than Questlove and JPJ? I'm not the biggest Ben Harper fan, but I figured you would have a lot of guests sit in, and was hoping that Warren Haynes would be there too.
The set was good, but Ben Harper sucks. Not a bad guitarist, but the guy sings out his nose, it sounds like shit. Is it only me and Ashley who notice this? Cool to see Good Times Bad Times and Dazed and Confused, but the jams were a lot looser than I would have liked to see. A little dissapointing.
SOUND TRIBE SECTOR NINE - we saw 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Nice lights, sounded ok. Sounded better when it was in the background by the fountain, or browsing the vendors. Whenever it sounded so good we walked over to fully watch it, it seemed to turn noodlier and not as good. Still, for music that is not from my favorite kind of genere, a bit better than I expected. Wouldn't mind seeing them again.
Speaking of noodly...
STRING CHEESE - not a band I like a whole lot. Caught a few minutes here and there while traveling hither and yon. Sounded ok, nothing that made me nauseous.
EL-P - just saw a little bit of this dj, don't remember him that well. Saw him freestyle a verse the next night at Galactic too, that was hot.
DJ SHADOW, at the This Tent, was a fantastic set, really nice blend of songs, very high energy and nicely chosen.
Shadow's set continued to 4, for the last 45 minutes or so he was the only live music, I believe.
We heard the end of his set from our tent as we called it a night, sounded nice and loud and perfect for slowly bringing a long day of great music to a close.
I did forgot to mention, please don't flame me if I slam your favorite band. I just call em' like I see em'.
And I'll be the first to admit that someone I saw 5 or 10 minutes of, and wasn't that impressed by, might have played a great set if you judge it from start to finish.
Post by Jazzmaster on Jun 19, 2007 22:03:16 GMT -5
I completely disagree with you on Tom Morello, Lewis Black, and Richard Thompson. I don't really like your review at all to be honest (although I didn't smite you).
So I just got home from a great Roo, wrote up a detailed review of my own experiences, more for my friends and brother than the inforoo board, then posted it here.
Didn't expect to get slammed 3 times in a row for it.
First, these are obviously MY opinions. If you disagree, very cool, would love to see dissenting opinions, especially on the stuff I didn't see a lot of. Don't really see what I wrote worth personally slamming me for.
Second, why are my thoughts not valid on those bands I only saw a little bit of? I always said upfront on the bands I only saw a little on, more than once mentioned that I was not sure how valid my opinion is since I didn't see much of the set. On the other hand, many of the sets I only saw a little bit of I really dug.
Couple more slams and I'll just delete the post and email it to my friends.
Post by steveternal on Jun 19, 2007 22:37:20 GMT -5
Offering criticism (what you call "slamming") is the much more respectful alternative to anonymous smiting, which it seems no one has done to you yet. You should be thankful, frankly.
I didn't disagree with a lot of what you said, although I didn't read all of it. To leave alone what we like and pick apart what we don't is human nature, so don't take it too seriously. If it's any consolation, I do appreciate all the work you put into the review. It's the kind of thing I would do!
Thanks for your Rooviews. I appreciate what anyone has to say and that you took the time to post it. Like you, I tried to see a lot of bands and I'm glad I did. I don't think a single one I saw personally was any worse than slightly above average, so Roo has the amazing picks for who they have perform. Did The Black Keys really end their set 20 minutes early? I tried to catch them around 7:20 and they were already being cleaned up. That was the only tent set I saw that ended that much before schedule.
Thanks for your Rooviews. I appreciate what anyone has to say and that you took the time to post it. Like you, I tried to see a lot of bands and I'm glad I did. I don't think a single one I saw personally was any worse than slightly above average, so Roo has the amazing picks for who they have perform. Did The Black Keys really end their set 20 minutes early? I tried to catch them around 7:20 and they were already being cleaned up. That was the only tent set I saw that ended that much before schedule.
yeh, they actually stopped playing earlier than that. They played for maybe an hour, they were both clearly exhausted. Then, the crowd went crazy, started chanting ONE MORE SONG, etc. and they came out and played two more after a while. It seemed to be a real encore, not a "Hey, you guys were great, we will be back in 5 minutes."
Post by bloomindaedalus on Jun 20, 2007 13:25:01 GMT -5
seriously i appreciate your review and i won't flame you but if you saw fifty bands..you weren't really there....well who am i to judge that okay so i rescind it but it is my first reaction. I guess you just had a different experience
for the record the green goes in your shoe, not your pocket...its not jr high school...lol... glad you had fun though.
I appreciate your honesty too. I saw some great shows thsi year but i also saw some that sucked ass and i find that people often are afraid to admit what they didn't like so props to you for being honest
"...well yeah the guitar is good accompaniment but you can't like compose with it; I mean you can't base a whole song around the guitar." -Bob Dylan 1965
I actually liked most of your review except for the glancing "boring prog-rock" tortoise remark. I understand you didn't get into it but I thought it was one of the best sets of the weekend, right up there with DJ shadow who was stunning as well. I took some video of the show, once I get it together maybe you can check it out and revaluate your feelings on them (by the way it's called "post-rock" and it is far from boring, they are all extremely gifted musicians and we were lucky to have them at the Roo again). I thought Lewis Black was funny too, better than any of his "friends." I'm just glad to hear you had a good time though! peace.
