Bonnaroo. Festival. City. Community. Culture. Whatever you want to label it – there’s nothing like it. My second time at the event was incredible. Lots of great bands and lots of great fun, plus the weather wasn’t half bad. I can’t wait to go back!
We arrived in Manchester, Tennessee around 5:00am and we finally got through security and to our campsite by 7:00am. We were right next to the VIP camping so we had a very short walk to get into Centeroo (where the bands play) and we could even see the What Stage from our campsite! It was perfect. We set up our tents as some ferocious clouds moved in, and right when we were finished nailing the last stake into the ground the rain came pouring down. It rained a good half-hour and drenched everything in sight. Mud was everywhere before the festival had even begun. But really this was a blessing in disguise as the rain we got on Thursday kept everything moist enough that we didn’t have a dust storm like the last time I went (breathing dust is not pleasant nor is it healthy).
Storm moving over Bonnaroo
Below I have summarized each show I saw and you can click here to check out how I rated each band…
- Janelle Monae - She was excellent. Great stage presence and lots of fun! Great way to kick off Bonnaroo. I’d love to see her again. She is so good live.
Janelle Monae crowdsurfing
- White Rabbits - They were okay. I only caught the last part of their show.
- Hockey - These guys were crazy but their music isn’t really my thing. They seemed like posers. Blah.
- Chairlift - They pretty much sucked. Interesting show but the music is just way too NOISY and annoying.
- Passion Pit - Oh how I love this band. Excellent show.
Passion Pit
- Tobacco - It started raining right when he started his set, but that just made it better. Great stuff.
- Katzenjammer - This all-female group from Norway rocked the stage. Fun show!
Katzenjammer jammin with a sweet bass guitar
- Gomez - I really like their earlier albums so I was glad they played some older stuff. But their new stuff sounds like Dave Matthews, which is not a good thing at all.
- Animal Collective - Despite the blazing sun and drunk frat boys trying to mosh to “My Girls,” they put on a good show. Lovely. I wish they had played at night though. It would have been so much better.
Animal Collective
- Santigold - If you ever have a chance to see her, DO IT! She is GREAT live. I left early to catch Grizzly Bear but really wish I would have stayed.
- Grizzly Bear - Chilled in the grass while they played their beautiful tunes.
- TV on the Radio - Again with the heat trying to ruin the show! Despite that, they did pretty good I guess. Kind of underwhelming. Third time seeing them. They like to change their songs up a lot when they play live, which can be fun but I wish they would have stuck with their original arrangements.
- David Byrne - Only stayed for a few songs as I wanted to rest up before the night shows began. He was great though.
- Phoenix - Best show I saw at Bonnaroo. TONS of energy and fun dancing and madness. Can’t wait to see them at Monolith in September!
Phoenix and a cool glowstick squid
- Femi Kuti & the Positive Force - I made the decision to skip Crystal Castles, who I have seen before, to catch this band because a few people said not to miss them. I’m glad I didn’t. Their music style is known as “Afro-beat” which is a blend of American jazz and funk with African percussion and vocals. They were incredible and I’m glad I saw them, even though everyone was raving about Crystal Castles.
- Pretty Lights - Probably my personal favorite at Bonnaroo. Their music is a wide mixture of electronic, downtempo, funk and hip hop that blends together into a beautiful, high-energy sound. They played a three-hour set and I was there for every second of it. They had total control of their audience. It was amazing.
- Paul Oakenfold - I am glad I picked Pretty Lights over his show, but he still knows how to throw a techno house dance party. I only caught a bit of the end of his show before heading back to my tent to catch some sleep because the sun was coming up and he was still going strong. That’s Bonnaroo for you!
- Bon Iver - What a perfect start to a Saturday afternoon. One of the best shows I saw. He brought Elvis Perkins out on stage during “For Emma” and a beautiful, stunning cover of Yo La Tengo’s “I Feel Like Going Home” and he got the whole crowd singing the ‘what might have been lost’ line during “The Wolves (Act I and II).” It was incredible.
- Wilco - I missed Of Montreal (who had a HUGE crowd) in order to get a good spot for Wilco. Slight regrets, but Wilco is one of my favorite bands. Third time I’ve seen them and the best. They played a few new songs and lots of older. Great samplings, though I left the show craving “Via Chicago” which they did not play and is my favorite Wilco song. But it’s all good. A couple of hot air balloons flew over the grounds during their show and hung out for a bit to listen to Wilco. It was cool. Again…only at Bonnaroo.
Hot air balloon flying over Wilco’s set
- Yeasayer – Another highly-anticipated show that did not let me down. Very trippy band and lots of fun live. And they had lots of cool lights (spheres and whatnot, reminded me of Sigur Ros) so that was fun. I’d love to see them again.
Yeasayer and their cool light show
- MGMT – What can I say…major letdown. So much hype surrounded their performance and so it was disappointing to see a total lack of energy. They suck live. And the new songs they played were pretty awful. I left the show early because I wasn’t feeling the electricity.
- moe. – I stumbled upon this band after leaving the MGMT show. I had never heard them but I knew they were a jam band, which I am not really into normally. They were surprisingly good (especially their low-key chill songs). I’m not gonna run out and buy their albums, but I was glad I checked them out.
moe. at This Tent
- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – I’m not really a fan of this band, mostly because I’m not into punk rock, but they’re definitely good musicians and their music is tons better than any other punk rock I’ve heard. I saw them at Lollapalooza a couple years ago, much better this time.
- Andrew Bird – Another one of the best shows I saw this year. He is incredible live. You should all see him sometime. He is such an talented musician. He messed up with some loops on a song and kept starting over just so it would sound perfect. It did.
- Band of Horses – Second time I’ve seen them. They are really good live. I only watched half of their show in order to catch Neko Case, but that’s only cause I saw them last year at Monolith. I thought I was going to pass out during the show. I had not eaten much of anything all day and so the lack of energy plus the blazing sun got to me.
- Neko Case - Good way to finish up Bonnaroo 2009. She is really good live. I was not fond of her bringing that stupid Triumph comedian dog puppet on stage to sing “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” though. The puppet was not funny. Neko was not funny. The song was painful (only because of the puppet dog’s harsh, loud rasp). Neko is much better without a puppet backup singer. But enough griping, she really was great.
After Neko we headed back to our campsite to pack up and head back to Springfield that night. We lucked out in being close to the edge of our campsite and our neighbors left early too so we could get out. I wouldn’t recommend planning on leaving Bonnaroo on a Sunday night. It’s nice if you can but not always possible if your neighbors have no intentions of leaving that night too.
It was a fun and memorable experience. Bonnaroo is a little slice of heaven. Can’t wait to go back.
