Welcome to Centeroo.
There isn’t really much to say about my first day at my first Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. After an exhausting all-nighter driving to Tennessee, waiting in line at 5 A.M. to get my press pass, and ten grueling hours in traffic, It was more important to get rest than see shows.
Due to recent weather conditions in Tennessee, the Bonnaroo staff worked diligently alongside Manchester police to ensure the grounds were prepared for the onslaught of vehicles packed with concert-going campers. Unfortunately, this meant a lot of waiting in traffic, sometimes wasting time. We were pulled over per orders of police officers, waiting for the Bonnaroo ‘line’ to move up, when we got impatient and decided to switch back into regular traffic. Much to our dismay, we weren’t even in a line, we were in a segment of traffic that was pulled over for no reason other than to avoid bottle-necking further down the highway.
Eventually the traffic progressed and hours later we were close to the 700-acre farm that would showcase four days (three days if you were exhausted like I was) of music. Alongside the road to the entrance, there were Manchester residents setting up shop to not only help themselves but to help the concert-goers, selling anything from sno-cones to bottles of water, usually for a buck each.
After a quick vehicle search we were allowed into the campground, but I wasn’t ready to sleep just yet.
I made sure I was settled in, and headed to Centeroo, the section of the farm that has all of the stages, a Ferris wheel, and my target destination: the press tent. I spent a few hours walking around with little aim other than the guidance of a map, hoping to find the air-conditioned hospitality tent set up for my fellow journalists and I, and finally found a Bonnaroo staff member who not only knew where it was, but could offer me a response other than, “Uhhh, I have no idea.” To be fair, I hear all of the staff workers are ‘volunteers’ who are paid with free admission to the festival rather than money, so it was expected that they knew as little as I did.The aimless wandering is a crucial learning process for any Bonnarookie, however. The layout of the venue would make Abott and Costello proud: the “What Stage,” the “Which Stage,” “This Tent,” “That Tent,” and “The Other Tent” were the locations where everyone’s’ favorite artists would be playing. With such a tight schedule, ninety-degree heat, and so many bands to see, it’s really a necessity to scope the locations out ahead of time.
Who's on What stage? Which stage? No, the What stage. Which stage? No, the other stage. You mean the Other Tent?
Once I found the elusive press tent (hidden behind the left side of the “Which Stage”) and washed the mud off of my sandals, I realized I was far too tired to see the only Thursday night artist I was interested in seeing—Wale—and headed back to the campground to catch up on my sleep.
Dr. Dog prepares for a private acoustic set for the press in attendance.
Day two at Bonnaroo began at 7 am for me, as any tent quickly becomes a pressure-cooker under the hot Tennessee sun early in the morning. I had a lot of time to kill, as my first plan was the press orientation at 11 am. I do not really recall what I did to pass that time as it was too hot to do much of anything other than head to the press area for its air-conditioned goodness.
The orientation was a quick presentation to lay down the laws for the press and tell us what the different wristbands allow us (or do not allow us) to do. Unfortunately, my wristband did not serve as a permit to get special seating or anything like that, but I was content with having access to the cool press tent as staying away from the heat is far more of a goal than one might initially expect. After the presentation we were treated to an exclusive acoustic set by Dr. Dog, who were scheduled to perform later in the “Other Tent.” We were allowed to record the set, and did record a few minutes of it despite being unfamiliar with the band.
By then I was actually freezing—though I wasn’t complaining—and decided it was time to check out some shows. Upon leaving the area, I noticed a familiar tune coming from the “Which Stage:” Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue covering The Guess Who’s “American Woman.” It was fantastic, but I didn’t stick around. My priorities were at the “What Stage” for the next few hours.
The “What Stage” would be the place to be throughout the weekend for the festival’s main headliners and top names. I caught the last hour or so of Mighty Clouds of Joy, a Los Angeles gospel quartet. Gospel music has never been my thing, nor will it ever be, but I was really impressed by the Clouds. It’s an interesting switch to hear religious music then immediately hear Conan O’Brien request “boobies” from the crowd, as ‘part of his contract’ for emceeing the festival.
“Are you ready to rock? Okay, that wasn’t quite right—are you ready to reggae and hip-hop?” The former Tonight Show host announced Damian Marley and Nas as the next performers. Aside from the DJ intro, the reggae/hip-hop duo was excellent. The two tackled tracks from “Distant Relatives” (2010) and individual solo tracks. The collaborative efforts were stellar, but for me, the set got even better when Nas performed “Hate Me Now,” “Got Ur Self a Gun,” and Damian Marley paid homage to his father with a cover of “Could You Be Loved.”
An hour later, it was ‘time for something completely different,’ as O’Brien returned to the stage to announce the acoustic-metal-comedy duo, Tenacious D. I was both let down and amazed by their performance. They exceeded all of my expectations by far and are a fantastic act to see live, performing hits like “Kielbasa,” “The Metal,” and even “Kickapoo” from their film “Pick of Destiny.” I was excited to hear “Kickapoo” but expected surprise guests to sing the parts of the song originally performed by Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio. However, Kyle Gas and Jack Black handled those lines, respectively.
Speaking of the late-great Ronnie James Dio, Tenacious D performed “Dio,” a song written in tribute to the metal icon. In the song, Tenacious D suggests that when Dio is gone, he must ‘pass the torch to ‘the D.’ Due to the admiration the band had for the singer, I expected they would have made a bigger deal out of “Kickapoo” and “Dio,” and follow it up with a Dio medley. They did not. However, they did a medley of Who songs from “Tommy” (1969), including “Pinball Wizard.”
Kings of Leon were up next, but I was largely unfamiliar with their material, and uninterested. I decided to give up my excellent spot in the crowd to rest up a bit before my one late-night show I planned to see.
Around midnight, I headed to the “Other Tent” to see Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame) perform a set with electro-pop act Chromeo. Hall has a webshow called “Live from Daryl’s House” that pairs him with artists ranging from Chromeo to Finger Eleven to Ray Manzarek/Robbie Krieger of the Doors. In every episode, he performs a selection of the respective artist’s songs and a selection of Hall & Oates songs. The episode with Chromeo is arguably one of the best so far, highlighted with Chromeo’s talk box work on the Hall & Oates classic “No Can Do.”
I was really excited to see Hall, and relatively unfamiliar with Chromeo, but the crowd seemed to have a completely opposite opinion, with all chatter surrounding Chromeo as the focus of the show, despite being billed as “Daryl Hall & Chromeo.” After many Chromeo chants, the group took their places on stage, and Hall came out to a thunderous reception, proving my initial thoughts wrong.
“Welcome to Live from Daryl’s House,” Hall said, as the super-jam kicked off with the Hall & Oates hit “Out of Touch.” They then went on to perform a set of Hall & Oates classics and current Chromeo hits. The set was excellent and I hope it makes it onto the 2010 Bonnaroo DVD in some capacity.
I initially planned to see both Kid Cudi and B.O.B. at 2 and 3 am, respectively, but I opted to pass in favor of rest, as Saturday was ‘my’ day.
And yes, I picked ‘the guy from Hall & Oates’ over the Flaming Lips. I would do it again, too. The Lips performed two sets, one consisting of Flaming Lips material, and the second a complete cover/interpretation of Pink Floyd’s classic “Dark Side of the Moon” album. For many, this was a highlight or selling point of the festival, but I have never been that interested in either band.
I could hear “Money” and “Breathe” from my tent, however, and do wish I had at least caught the last thirty minutes of their Floyd set after Hall & Chromeo.
Jay-Z was Saturday's headliner.
Saturday was unbearably hot, and the humidity didn’t help. I grabbed an iced coffee and sat to listen to a couple Rebelution songs from the distance, but it was too hot out to really remember anything about it. My first show on Saturday was Jimmy Cliff of Wailers fame, and I spent most of it laying down with a t-shirt and hat on my face. My initial plan was to stay and secure a close spot throughout the duration of the day, but it was impossible, so I wandered around.
I stopped at the Lunar Stage for the Green Day Rock Band Experience, which let fans play the game on stage. I wasn’t as interested in that as I was interested in the deal they were offering: buy either the Beatles’ or Green Day’s Rock Band games and get a free one-day VIP viewing pass. To make a long story short, I wasted $30 on a game I didn’t want and no one could tell me exactly where to use the pass. Security was clueless, and I was unable to get a refund for the game. After a lot of frustration, I decided to relax at my tent, and considered skipping Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z because I was that exhausted from getting the run-around all day.
Fortunately, I gained enough energy to get back out to the shows. I caught the encore of Jeff Beck’s set which was disappointing because had that fiasco not happened I would have potentially been there for his entire set. I rationalized it by saying, “hey, it’s OK, he’s going to come out for “Superstitious.” “Superstitious” was originally written by Wonder with the intention of Beck releasing it as his own, but he did not, for whatever reason. Beck recently performed it with the mo-town legend at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert, so I figured it was an ‘obvious surprise.’
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Fortunately, Stevie Wonderful was phenomenal and really didn’t need a single guest to help him entertain the fans. He started his set with a fun keytar solo (haven’t seen one of those in a while) and performed most of his well-known hits, like “Superstitious,” “Higher Ground,” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” There was a cover of the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles classic “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” later made famous by Marvin Gaye (1968) and Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970).
Speaking of CCR, there is no reason John Fogerty couldn’t have jammed with Stevie on this as he was scheduled to play on the same stage on the following day. The number of potential collaborations was staggering, and the number that actually happened was in the single digits and flew under the radar for most.
After Stevie exclaimed he was ‘sticking around to watch Jay-Z’s set,’ there was an hour break, followed by a ten minute countdown on the video screens. Jay-Z performed a set that was very similar to the show I saw in Amherst, Massachusetts a few months ago at the Mullins Center.
It was amazing, but it wasn’t ‘Bonnaroo amazing.’ No collaborations and no special surprises. The hip-hop icon did perform a few mash-ups that combined his songs with Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” and U2’s “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” but they were already done at Glastonbury 2008 (and probably other shows). It may have been a treat to casual fans who had not already seen it, but for the die-hard fans like myself, I expected something brand new. Something brand new, like, the debut of Jay-Z’s upcoming single with Dead Weather guitarist Jack White, who performed right before Stevie Wonder on the same stage. Oh well, I guess the lack of surprises was a surprise in itself since everyone expected to be surprised.
I originally planned to catch Gwar after Jay-Z, but again opted to get some rest. Gwar’s set, however, featured multiple decapitations including Barack Obama and Michael Jackson characters, lots of fake blood, outlandish costumes, and heavy metal. The band even put fake blood in the Centeroo fountain, so the next morning you would see people with stained red shirts and know exactly where they were from 2:30 to 3:45 the previous night.
Zac Brown Band stole the show on Sunday night.
As I said, Saturday was my day, but after all was said and done, Sunday turned out to be even better. I started the day with Ingrid Michaelson’s set. I had never heard of her or her music before, but I enjoyed it. Wikipedia labels her as an indie-pop singer-songwriter, and that sounds about right. Michaelson included a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” in her set.
Next up was John Butler Trio on the main stage. If you haven’t heard of John Butler, I recommend changing that. The Trio played at Bonnaroo in 2005, 2007, and returned for 2010 and personify the message of the festival. Butler performed hits like “Better Than,” “Used to Get High,” and the beautiful acoustic piece, “Ocean.”
I left early to do a quick interview with Dropkick Murphys’ guitarist James Lynch, but the heat rendered both my camera phone and Flip camera useless, so the Lynch was kind enough to offer to do the interview through email.
Following the meeting with Lynch, I headed to “That Tent” for Jamey Johnson’s set. Excellent. Johnson drew a solid crowd and delivered a great performance with a few jam sessions that could make any southern rock band proud. Unfortunately, my camera was out of commission and the only clips available on YouTube are of “In Color.” While this is probably one of his best songs, it doesn’t put his band’s jamming abilities on display.
Switching up the genres a bit, I headed to “This Tent” to check out Dropkick Murphys. I got to see the last half hour of the Against Me! Set and I enjoyed it despite being unfamiliar with their work. As DKM’s crew were setting up, there were loud “Let’s Go Red Sox” chants in the front section. I became too hot/exhausted to stand in the front section, so I moved to the grass outside the tent.
I noticed an odd division between the fans in the front and the fans in the front. The fans in the front were very vocal about their favorite Boston sports teams, and the fans further to the back were equally vocal with bashing Boston sports with Yankees or Lakers chants. This was annoying to me because I don’t see it as relevant to the band at all. Dropkick Murphys are so closely associated with Boston sports that pro-Boston chants are relevant, but I think anti-Boston chants are irrelevant and about as rude as booing at Dropkick Murphy themselves. I’ve seen the band about five times already, and seeing them in Tennessee just felt strange because of the mixed crowd, so I left to secure a good spot for Zac Brown Band after about three songs.
Zac Brown Band is not country. I just want to get that out of the way. They may be labeled as such, but they share more in common with the Allman Brothers, Jimmy Buffett, and Sublime than Alan Jackson or George Strait. Many of their songs have a mellow escapist rock style reminiscent to Jimmy Buffett, so it’s no surprise that CMT paired the two acts up for an episode of Crossroads a few months ago.
Zac Brown Band was excellent, though. The guitar work was phenomenal across the board, as was the speedy fiddle work by Jimmy De Martini. Chris Fryar was no slouch, either, with a few impressive drum solos. The highlight was “Who Knows,” which sounds like a cross between the Allman Brothers and Sublime (guitar and rhythm sections, respectively). Unfortunately, there is no 2010 video available yet.
In retrospect, that should have been the end of Bonnaroo for me. Dave Matthews was next, and it was a grueling two-and-a-half-hour set that did not impress me at all. Granted, I am not a fan, nor am I familiar with a lot of their work. They are a talented band, but it just didn’t ‘work’ for me that night. Maybe it was the exhaustion or standing for so long and being surrounded by so many people, but it bored me. Even the song I was most looking forward to—their rendition of the Dylan classic “All Along the Watchtower”—didn’t impress me, which was surprising, because the versions from the Central Park and Piedmont Park live albums were good enough to drop my jaw to the floor if it were possible. Again, no surprises. If there were surprises, they must have been catered to DMB fans and went right over my head.
All in all it was a great time, and if I had had to pay for my ticket, it would have been worth every cent. I do think it could have been better, however. Fortunately, next year is the tenth anniversary of the festival and it will be easy for them to top this year’s lineup.
Final thoughts for Bonnarookies:
- Bring lots of cash. The food there is amazing and any food you bring with you will most likely go uneaten. I recommend the samosas, the jalapeno & pineapple pizza, and the veggie corn dogs. (They are VERY vegetarian-friendly.)
- Bring lots of water. Not only that, but try to bring the largest-sized containers of water possible. Cases are nice, but you go through them so fast that it’s a pain. This year’s new addition was filtered water stations. You’ll want to bring a large bottle to fill when you go into Centeroo, rather than a few small bottles.
- Learn the layout early. Preferably in the evening on Thursday when it’s getting cooler. If it’s 92 degrees on Friday afternoon and you don’t know where you’re going when looking for a show or a specific area, you’re wasting a lot of energy.
- Don’t bother showering. I know, it’s gross. They have shower facilities that cost $7, but you’ll already be dirty and sweaty by the time you get back to your camp site, and that’s a promise. So, why bother? No one’s going to care if you smell, because there’s a good chance they smell, too.
- Remember where the information desk is. If you have a question about something, ask them, as it’s their job to not only answer questions, but actually know the answers to (most of) your questions. The guy guarding the Artist Hospitality area isn’t going to have a clue where the Lunar Stage is.
- Carry a map, carry a schedule, carry empty water bottles. Carry sunscreen or sun block and an extra t-shirt or towel.
- You might as well leave your technology at the door, because the lines to charge cell phones at the kiosk in Centeroo are always pretty long.
- Pay attention to what is and what isn’t allowed into Centeroo. If the security throws away your container of unidentified liquid, he’s just doing his job.
- DON’T FALL FOR ONE-DAY VIP VIEWING PASS SCHEMES!
- Be respectful as you try to have yourself a good time—everyone else wants to have a good time too. The Bonnaroo crowd will—for the most part—be the friendliest, kindest crowd you will ever meet.
Bonnaroo in 2006. At bottom: Which Stage and What Stage.
awesome coverage! i give you so many props for braving the heat, i don’t think i could handle it.
sounds like you had a good time– i love festies, big and small. you should try out a much smaller, cooler (temperature-wise) one in September (the 17th) in Greenfield, Mass. called Wormtown. It’s my favorite favorite favorite.
Thanks ange! I'll keep that in mind. It was a nice trip, though; it was nice to get out of New England for once. I am really surprised I could handle the heat. I think eventually you realize that whining won't make it cooler out… hehe
Thanks ange! I'll keep that in mind. It was a nice trip, though; it was nice to get out of New England for once. I am really surprised I could handle the heat. I think eventually you realize that whining won't make it cooler out… hehe
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