My Full Roo Review - Part Two

[scarfire]

SATURDAY

WILD MAGS

From our campsite, after eating breakfast and showering, we heard Wild Magnolias do a 20 minute soundcheck, including full versions of Tipitina, Iko and Hey Pocky Way. Just the band, not the guys in the Indian Costumes for the soundcheck. I feel bad for those guys, those costumes are hot to wear on a 95 degree day. I love the Wild Mags from seeing Jazz Fest a couple times, was looking forward to their set proper. But ended up missing it.

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW - saw a few songs, sounded like fun bluegrass. From what I heard, a band that would benefit from seeing them with a smaller crowd.

DR. DOG were better than I expected, I heard a few people tell me they weren't that good at the VIP Party. I thought their set was excellent, really enjoyed it. Hard to decribe, a nice indy/rootsy/jambandy blend.

THE SLIP - saw for just a couple minutes passing by, wasn't impressed, sounded whiny to me.

CAGE THE ELEPHANT, in the small tent Troo Music Lounge, were another story. They fucking rocked it. From not far away in Kentucky, they were bad ass punk rock, with the singer crowd surfing with the mike in hand, the small crowd loving it. One of the best sets of the day.


HOT TUNA - It felt like hours waiting in the hot sun for these guys. Time was moving really, really, really, really, slowly. Wasn't worth the wait, the set started pretty boring. We left.

GOGOL BORDELLO were great, very passionate gypsy punk. We've seen a few good bands in this loose genre, including Balkan Beat Box, and it's a very fun style of music.

ZIGGY MARLEY - we watched this from our campsite, with a bunch of our neighbors. Great set, many more Bob covers than Zig normally does. Would like to see that setlist. We really liked a bunch of our neighbors, but didn't see much music with anyone else. This was the best time we had watching a set and partying with a bunch of new friends.

XAVIER RUDD, just a little bit walking by. Sounded boring.

THE HOLD STEADY - we saw a good chunk of their set, really good. Fun band, meat and potatoes rock and roll. Sounded at times a lot like the fantastic Dive-by Truckers. (my fave band/Ashley's fave band/my brother's fave band) Suprisingly small crowd, at least for the end of the set.

WEEN - all over the place, every song sounded like a different band. I digged it. Would like to see them again. I think I dug them a bit more than Ashley.

SPOON - just missed seeing them a couple weeks ago, my boss loves them. Saw just a couple songs, not enough for a fair opinion.

FRANZ FERNINDAND I saw a bit of, thought it was really good. More rocking than I would have thought.

Back to the comedy tent.

DEMETRI MARTIN - great set. The crowd was much less rowdy than lats night, burned out by the hot sun all day. Demetri was very clever and prepared, some good bits. Wanted to see him do some comedy with drawings, as he often does, but it was almost all just normal jokes, nothing visual like that.

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS were great, very funny and memorable. Surprised how many people like them already. By the end of their set, which did run late, half the crowd had left to get ready for the Police.

On Monday, when we were supposed to fly home, our connecting flight in Chicago was cancelled and we had to spend the night. We watched the first episode of Flight of the Conchords on HBO, and it was quite funny. The 3 songs in the episode were the first 3 the Conchords did live too.

I think it was at this point that Ashley and I did some funny grafitti on the green wall between VIP area 1 and the arch entrance to centeroo. Earlier, we had noticed a small hole near the bottom of the fence, two round holes that overlapped a bit. We joked it look like you could put your balls in it. Here's what we ended up writing:

Attention Dirty Hippies!

SCROTE SCRUBBER 2000!

Advanced Testicle Washing Technology.

$2 per ball, both for $3

Clean Balls are Happy Balls!

Then we had a box with an arrow pointing to the hole with instructions:

1. Insert balls in hole.

2. Knock on wall 3 times.

Ashley drew a before and after sequence. Before, a lonely guy with smelly balls. After, clean balls and a lady in each arm.

I drew a little ball sack guy with a big smile.

Hope some folks had a good laugh at that. I could post pics later, it's about the only thing we took a picture of.

THE POLICE - We watched this from our campsite, thought it was a great set. We were laying down for some of it. Felt like it ended adruptly, it was much earlier than listed on the schedule. I heard a kid say later that the band was fighting on stage, it was crazy. Was that true??

Highlights included synchronicity, message in a bottle, great king of pain, hell, they were all really good. Wanted to hear Demolition Man and Canary in a Coalmine, but all the other big hits were there.

LATE NIGHT - Here's where it gets crazy.

FLAMING LIPS - We saw this set with our new buddies from NYC, 2 chefs Dave and Jay. We had a great time partying with them all weekend. This was the set they were most looking forward to.

(Later Dave would go nuts at this set, take off all his clothes, lose his VIP bracelet, and drop a joint rolled in clear cellulose paper which Ashley and I would find a day later in Centeroo. But that's another story)

The F'lips had an insane prop with them, a huge onstage UFO that Wayne emerged from in his bubble. I was surprised by the elaborate lighting rig underneath the UFO, and how it would lift off to expose all kinds of laser eye candy.

We saw about a half hour of the Flips. I have seen them a couple times, including an epic show at Webster Hall not long ago, and have come to realize the Flips are a one trick pony. They put on a great show, the first time you see them. Diminishing returns after that. Fun for a bit, then off to

GOVT MULE

We entered during Thorazine Shuffle,great sound, loud and full.

At this point, about 12:45 or so, my girl Ashley was wiped out from a couple long crazy hot days. She had big bags under her eyes, and looked ready to collapse. She knew I needed to stay out, so she went back to camp, and told me to stay out and have a great time. I told her I would be home about 4, actually ended up seeing amazing music til after sunrise, at 5:45. (She was at first pissed she missed so much great music, but ended up ok with it. I have to say, this was her first festival, and she stayed with me every step of the way, except for the one block, late night Saturday. It wasn't even a choice for her, her body was crying out "no mas! no mas!" I'm proud of how she did, nobody can keep up with me, and she came a lot closer than anyone else I've ever seen shows with. Next year honey, a little different pacing, and you're staying out all night with me Saturday, I promise!)

So I check out

GALACTIC - not with a dj for the ten minutes I see here, but still sounding pretty good. Back to Mule.

Mule sound fantastic. I'm a big Mule fan, but saw them a lot more a few years back than I do now. The couple shows I've caught recenlty, including at Irving Plaza recently, haven't been great. But this show is as good as Mule get, with lots of special guests and high energy jamming from start to finish.

It was crowded in the back, but you could walk down the side and up front no problem, it wasn't even crowded up there. I watched No Quarter 20 feet from the stage. Epic. John Paul Jones on organ, right next to Danny Louis on keys too. Amazing. Probably my fave song of the weekend. Also loved the Since I've been Lovin You. Pissed I missed the Livin Lovin, I think I was at Galactic for that. A fave Mule Cover, and with JPJ nonetheless.

Still, I got lucky with the mule I saw. I saw about 2/3 of the set, and caught the above, and also the hot tuna sit in which was hot, much better than the tuna I saw earlier in the day. Love hearing Death Don't have no mercy with the Mule.

Then later in the mule set, the warpigs>sweetleaf was sick! Nothing makes me dance harder than warpigs. I was twirling so hard I thought I was going to fly up into the air like a top, and spin all around the top of the this tent. Instead, I twirled myself five fee backwards and landed on my ass. No harm done, pretty funny.

Somewhere near the end of the Mule set, I wandered over to Galactic, and heard the start of an epic Kashmir jam. Love it, give me all the Zep you got! This was the end of the galactic set too, and they had all the djs onstage take turns doing a verse. It was awesome, almost every dj was great, and the band kept up the kashmir groove behind them for well over 20 minutes. Excellent segment, I loved it. Can't wait to hear this one again.

SASHA AND DIGWEED - From not knowing much about dj/dance music, I saw a lot of great djs over the weekend, got turned onto the dj scene quite a bit.

Digweed was awesome music, they really transformed the other stage. Great lights and visual effects. The music was all beats and grooves, very few vocals. Very intelligent and hynotic. I danced to this a lot.

THE DYNAMITES FEATURING CHARLES WALKER - Somewhere in the midst of all this, I caught a song by this great soul singer with a tight band, very much in the Solomon Burke/Wilson Picket/Stax records tradition. Easy to make this kind of music sound corny or overfamiliar, but the tune i saw was hot, and Walker had a very strong voice.

DJ LOGIC at the arcade disco, great fun stuff. Lots of 80s hip hop, stuff I loved in High School. Creative, but a lot of crowd pleasers too.



DJ MOTION POTION - Holy Shit! Perhaps the person I saw at Bonnaroo who came out of the blue to blow me away the most. I'm a big fan now to be sure.

I checked him out at the silent disco late Saturday on a whim, at maybe 3 or 3:30. Stayed til he packed it up, after sunrise, at 5:45.

He played an amazing mix of fun music, including lots of beatles and other jamband friendly stuff. But so well mixed, so upbeat. He talked a little between songs, very likable and friendly. The kind of music that made everyone smile and dance like crazy.

The best was that he had a special set going for an hour or more leading into sunrise, including lots of beatles, and as the beautiful sunrise happened, songs like Let the Sunshine in, and Good Morning. The crowd had thinned from a full tent to about 40 folks by sunrise. I ran into a friend late I used to work Gathering of the Vibes and All Good with, great to see an old friend at such a fun time.

Tried to end with a fantastic "and we bid you goodnight", 1969 by the sound of it, but the crowd brought him out for one more.

Great set, can't wait to see Motion Potion again. Walked home to the sound of 1,000 hippiess rhythymically banging on the water trailer.

SUNDAY

MAVIS STAPLES - a surprisingly crisp set from this soul legend. Very personable, great stories of her dad Pop's days with Martin Luther King. Respect Yourself, I'll Take you There, The Weight, Long Walk to Freedom all sounded mighty fine.

CHARLIE LOUVIN we saw a few minutes of on the Sonic Stage. Thought it was Ralph Stanley for a few moments. We had seen Ralph last year at Tampa's great venue, Skipper's Smokehouse. If you're ever in Florida, try to see a show there, it's a great outdoor courtyard type venue with great food, wonderful place to see a show.

YARD DOGS ROAD SHOW in the Bonna Rouge Cabaret tent, fun gyspy music and choreographed dancers. Great tent, very fun cabaret feel.

ELVIS PERKINS IN DEARLAND did nothing for me, seemed like a very lame singer songwriter wimpy type to be playing a big stage, seemed much more like a Troo music lounge kind of act. Heard him introduce his band as Dearland, if that's the case what is he doing in them?

WOLFMOTHER, one of Ashley's faves, rocked. Great set. Very hot, by this time we were seeing half hour of music, cooling off in the fountain, then back for more music. Wish you could have heard Wolfmother from the fountain, we would have stayed there the whole set. Very good. Every song sounds like a cross between Zep and Sabbath. I say this as a good thing.

RATDOG sucked. I'm more of a Phil guy, but like Bobby and try to stick up for him. I've seen a couple very good RatDog Shows, especially after Wasserman left, but this was a snoozer, Bob was super low energy. I've seen almost 100 Dead shows from 87 to 95, Ashley is younger and into more indie and harder stuff. She's suspicous of jambands, I was hoping to win her over on a few. Well, Mule and Panic won her over, but that Weir set wasn't going to make any new fans. Hell, it was the kind of set that loses old fans. Oh well, I still love Bobby, they can't all be winners. Too bad Bobby didn't sit in with Panic too, I was really hoping for a Cream Puff War.

WILCO were pretty good, saw about the first half hour or 40 minutes of them. I want to like Wilco more, I have a bunch of friends that love them. They don't rock hard enough for me, nice sounds and good lyrics, but Tweedy is not a super strong leader to me. Give me the Drive By Truckers for Southern Rock. they rock and the songs are much better to boot.

So Wilco were pretty good, was kind of hoping they would blow me away but they didn't. Would like to listen to this full set and see where it went.

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL STARS sounded like noodly blues, not so great. I want to like this guys, always think they are bluesier and harder edged than they are. I like Luther Dickinson better with Circle Sound, a band he has with Rich Robinson from the Black Crowes who have played NYC a few times this year.

ORNETTE COLEMAN played beatiful and sophisticated jazz, really enjoyed the half hour I heard. Very haunting and powerful music. Was really surprised to hear that he collapsed a little while after we left and had to be hospitalized for heat exhaustion. Hope he makes a quick and full recovery.

WHITE STRIPES did a bit of an odd set. I'm a huge Stripes fan, saw them 2 years ago in Coney Island, and the first night was an all time great show.

This set started off too quiet, and kind of disconnected. After a bit, it picked up, and for a while was really smoking. The middle of the show rocked, especially I think I Smell A Rat, Death Letter>Motherless Children, Do, Cannon>Little Room, Ball & Biscuit .Black Math, Rag & Bone, Blue Orchid>Party Of Special Things To Do
and I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.

But the set ended adruptly, it seemed like they had 15 minutes left on the schedule. I see them twice next month, at Madison Square Garden and in Wallingford, CT. Looking forward to those.

Then, sadly, the last act of the show.

WIDESPREAD PANIC

I liked these guys back in 90, 91, saw them at the Arrowhead Ranch in probably 91 put on a great show. (with Ziggy Marley, maybe?) But then I got bored of them, and think usually they're kind of repititive. Saw a good show by them on Halloween in Vegoose a couple years back, but saw one of the first Jimmy Herring shows at Radio City last year, wasn't too impressed.

But I was pretty happy with their set for the most part. Would have liked to have heard a few more covers and some more guests. (Warren, Bobby)

Most of the set Ashley and I watched from our tent. By the end, we were sound asleep. I think I fell asleep on their last song. A nice end to a wonderful festival.



So that's it. Thanks for reading. I'll close with some favorites:


Favorite Stage: This Stage, next to the Comedy Tent. Sounded the loudest, easiest to get close up for.

Favorite Food: Pesto-Dillas from Bearly Edible

Favorite Art in Centeroo: The Such and Such area and their cool fire installations, including the volcano and nightly smoke jellyfish and smoke rings released in the air.



Fave sets at the What Stage: Tool, the Police, Ziggy Marley

Fave set at the Which Stage: Wolfmother, White Stripes

Fave set at This Tent. Clutch, Mule, DJ Shadow, Black Angels, Gogol Bordello, Ween

Fave sets at That Tent: Black Keys, Galactic (on the Kashmir alone), Hold Steady

Fave sets at The Other Tent (what Richard Thompson called onstage something like "The Old Fogey's Tent): Ornette Coleman, Sasha and John Digweed, Mavis Staples

Biggest Disapointment: SuperJam (but it was still good)

Biggest Surprise: DJ Motion Potion (he wasn't even listed on the main schedule, and one of my fave sets)

Best Bonnaroo Buddy: Ashley, my love, what an incredible time we had together! Her first festival, and she kept up with me almost all the way!

Best Groundscore: Our buddy Dave's clear-paper Doobie, $20 bill, cool bird feather, somebody's credit card (turned that one into lost and found)

Best pre-show trade: sending my vip parking pass I didn't need to somone in exchange for two lawn chairs, a case of gatorade, and a case of red bull. The gatorade was a lifesaver, such a great thing to have in the heat.

Biggest bummer: Getting my green taken by a dick security guy at the gate

Longest Wait: Me, right now, counting off 359 days til Bonnaroo 08!

[insaner]

scarfire said:

SATURDAY

/snip killer roo experince


all i know is, i want you to be my new best friend, and i hope yer old lady has a sister so we can all hang and do shows together.

[elmorejames]

While I appreciate you taking the time to write such in-depth reviews, a newcomer to Bonnaroo might read them and take away far more negatives than they should. That, I believe, grossly misrepresents the spirit of the Bonnaroo experience. I can assure you that someone was blown away by every band who performed.

It's easy to find something bad about every show or to say "this band sucked", especially while tent hopping or only watching a few minutes. But why not look for the positive? You'll have much fonder memories and you may avoid pissing off those who happen to love one of the bands that you so easily dismiss.

[scarfire]

I see a ton of live music, my standards are pretty high for a great show. Of which, I saw many at Roo this year. Even the stuff I liked the least was still good, I didn't see any sets I would rank below a C on a letter grade scale. I think Roo does a great job booking this event. They also make it easy to see lots and lots of music.

Some of the bands i was a little underwhelmed by I love and have seen play better in the past. (Richard Thompson, White Stripes)

On the other hand, some bands I have seen in the past and I'm not crazy about played sets I really enjoyed a lot. (Panic, Black Angels)

If you read this full review, I hope it's clear I had an amazing time from start to finish. Didn't realize me being honest about who I loved, who I thought were good but not great would be so controversial.

Also, had fantastic run-ins and conversations with lots and lots of cool folks from all over the country.

[rbrink]

I agree with you 100% on the Flaming Lips comment ("One-trick pony"). I saw them last summer, and it was really fun, but I realized even at the show that any other time seeing them just wouldn't be the same experience. I have no regrets about leaving their show for Mule.