 Ben Harper :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Friday
Walking towards the first set of the day, I passed graffiti that read, "Wake Up And Rage." Decent advice, though as comedian David Cross pointed out at a press conference later, there were already plenty of (mostly) young people passed out before the first full day of the festival had even gotten underway. "It's people on drugs throwing people who are fucking into the streets," observed Cross.
 Uncle Earl :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Uncle Earl tuned up their beautiful instruments and twirled on good lookin' boots before diving into an impressive string display that made old-time music relevant to the gathered long hairs and suburbanites. Music dorks instantly grokked their highly melodic mix of folk, bluegrass, hot jazz and country but it speaks to their natural charm and showmanship that non-dorks dug it right away, too. As good as their studio work is one picks up on a whole new energy live that's pretty damn appealing. Drawing heavily from their new album, Waterloo, Tennessee, the G'Earls (a moniker the all-female five-piece have adopted) wore this music on their faces, grins and grimaces announcing each shift in mood. They watched each other closely, and in turn inspired us to focus in. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, the unofficial Artist of the Weekend, joined them on mandolin mid-set and stuck around. Jones produced Waterloo and obviously loves pickin' with this group, who vibed equally on his bounteous energy during this hand clappin', foot stompin' set.
 Brazilian Girls
Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Passing Which Stage, the second largest performance area, the diamond hard rush of the RX Bandits caught me. A true DIY group, the Bandits have grown into a theatre-sized attraction. A mainly younger audience knew every word, and while RX made their name playing ska-inspired punk, today's Bandits draw more heavily from roots-reggae and riff-rock in their very immediate, intense stage show.
Big energy remained the common thread on Which Stage, continued by 2007's answer to the B-52's, Brazilian Girls, and the "How you feelin'" nu-soul flow of Michael Franti and Spearhead, both of which got feet moving despite the stifling heat. Neither broke any new ground, and if you've seen them before you know their respective vibes. Fans were spinningly happy, which ultimately is the sign of an effective performance. As Lily Allen pointed out earlier in the day, it's a pleasure to see "people being nice to each other for once." Franti, perhaps more than any other well-known musician on the scene, really seems to like festival folks. He remarked, "The people I meet at festivals tend to be the guy who makes good jalapeno corndogs or the person who does great face painting. Those are the people I'm feeling."
 Manu Chao
Bonnaroo 2007 by Josh Miller |
Manu Chao Radio Bemba Sound System's leaping, fiery set took the Which Stage field with gripping force. So undulating, so desirous of our affections was this Latin-fueled, reggae-leaning juggernaut that resistance was nigh futile. Having seen Manu Chao's regular band, I can say this is way more engaging. Bemba Sound System mingles cultural, political and musical elements from Jamaica, Latin America and Africa, then gooses them with the click-snap of modern electronica. Hugely kinetic, it's a sound capable of reaching huge crowds and keeping their attention even when things dropped down to just two people on the intimate ballads. Only The Roots on the main What Stage achieved a similar effect on Friday, and fine as they are, The Roots' moves draw heavily from James Brown, Sly Stone and other '70s forebears. However, ?uestlove had one of the lines of the weekend at a press conference he arrived a little late to, entering with, "Are we talking about hippies? I love hippies. They pay my bills." He went on to elaborate on the thought, showing real appreciation for how audiences at Bonnaroo and similar festivals had changed The Roots attitudes for the better in the past few years.
 Tortoise
Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Despite several members well into their forties, Tortoise delivered one of the edgiest, most masterful sets of the weekend. They played with the verve and hunger of a new band, and the new material from their forthcoming Fall release was rough and cool. They began with a ballsy '70s Miles Davis style number full of big drums, snarling guitars and peels of white noise. Tortoise was aggressive and inquisitive in a way most jazz-based ensembles just aren't anymore, and this exploratory Zen made sure their all-instrumental music avoided a samey-ness that infects many of their jazz-rock peers. They had two drum kits front-and-center, with various band mates taking turns facing off against their trap drummer. Like most high-end musicians, they showed a weakness for odd little Latinismo and funk breaks, genre spillage that allows them to show off their chops, but the overall feeling was energy rock with real purpose and poise.
Richard Thompson showed us what old pros can do. His newly released Sweet Warrior is perhaps his most rockin' since 1988's Amnesia and the set reflected the electricity running in this new band's veins. Thompson is a breathtaking guitarist and numbers like the Bush bashing "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" and "I'll Never Give It Up" gave him ample opportunities to remind us of that fact. Longtime bassist Danny Thompson (a fellow traveler since their days in seminal UK folk-rock bands Fairport Convention and Pentangle) kept the low end smooth but nicely complicated. Thompson dipped into his nearly 40 year career with lively readings of "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight," "Al Bowlly's in Heaven," "Wall of Death" and "Read About Love." The band moved like a shared hand, capable of genuine tenderness ("1952 Vincent Black Lightning," which he thanked Del McCoury for popularizing) but mostly swinging hard like a coiled fist.
 Richard Thompson
Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings provided a rare moment of stillness at this increasingly raucous fest. During "Revelator" thousands just shut up and listened. It was the most amazing feeling being in the midst of people actually respecting quiet things. Rawlings and Welch complete each other's ideas, adding all the right accents to what the other says. At one point, Welch expressed a desire to have her foot mic'd so we could hear the beat she was tapping. Rawlings grabbed towels and a few cables and had her running in under a minute. There was such tenderness and delicacy to their set that it was hard not to be moved.
Other daytime performances included solid if not especially thrilling sets from the Cold War Kids and Kings of Leon. The Kids have undeniable stage presence and their sound (and even a few moves like the piano handstand) is a bizarre combination of vintage Billy Joel and Pavement. Cold War frontman Nathan Willett told the press here, "Our songs aren't really festival songs but people are accepting." True enough. The Kings did sound less like a recreation of their records than any of the previous times I'd seen them but the world-weariness and caution in their playing wasn't a great alternative. While initially smitten with them, their charms have quickly petered out for me. The main stage audience was sizeable and seemed to really be feelin' them so I'm willing to chalk this up to being one phenom I just don't get.
 Cold War Kids :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Tool lit up the night. Their 90-minute headlining concert began with the stage engulfed in video flames with brimstone noises to match. About three times as heavy as anything Bonnaroo has ever hosted before, Tool offered zero compromises to the setting, plowing headlong into their Molotov cocktail of heavy metal, psychedelia, prog rock balladry and stoner riffage. It either hit you where you live (as in my case) or it annoyed the shit out of you. When so many other bands gladly stick to the middle-of-the-road, Tool plainly doesn't give a damn if anyone besides the band appreciates their music. Add that to the complete absence of singer Maynard James Keenan on stage - he sang from behind little camouflaged nests where he could see his band mates and the crowd but never fully appeared – and Tool made quite an impression on people used to being actively courted.
 John Paul Jones - Super Jam
Bonnaroo 2007 by Josh Miller |
Instead, the music spoke for itself – loudly, in an emotionally wrenching way heightened by a spectacular laser stoked light show and truly freaked out animation and video clips created by drummer Danny Carey. "I smell patchouli," taunted Keenan, adding, "I took a shower with soap and shampoo in my air conditioned trailer. Jealous?" Later, he said, "I assume most of you are around the barrel? You know, LSD," just before they unleashed an all-permeating ooze that crept into your cerebral geography and metastasized with a quickness. The guest shot from Rage's Tom Morello (at the Roo with his Nightwatchman solo project) would be the highlight in a lesser band's show but it's the perfect symmetry of elements Tool assembles that make them the pointy toothed descendent of Pink Floyd, a non-pretty zeitgeist machine that eats the timid.
As usual, the late nights were tailor made for different tastes. For the spinners and Shakedown kids there was String Cheese Incident (nifty light show, loads of favorites like "Jellyfish" and a clean but underpowered sound). Hip-hop heads got DJ Shadow, Aesop Rock and El-P, who strangely opened his 1 a.m. set by playing Gary Jules mopey cover of Tears For Fears' "Mad World," encouraging the reticent crowd to sing the chorus. STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9) was a big draw but sounded very much like the soundtrack to CSI: Bonnaroo when I swung by. The Super Jam this year consisted of John Paul Jones (bass), ?uestlove (drums) and Ben Harper (vox, guitar) doing Zeppelin tracks and vintage funk like "It's Your Thing," "Superstition" and "Inner City Blues." If you didn't arrive at least two hours before this jam you watched and sort of heard it on the outskirts of perhaps the single biggest late night Bonnaroo audience ever. Reports from those actually close enough to experience this Jam uniformly blubbered about the greatness, epic-ness and sweetness of JPJ and company including Roots' guitarist Kirk Douglas.
 SCI :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Not feeling overly drawn to any of the primary stage choices I happened into the Troo Music Lounge and one of the happiest surprises this year. In front of 50 or so people, NYC's Haale offered an oasis from the battering testosterone and hippy sweat outside. When I entered the trio, led by an intoxicating Persian-American singer who gives the band their name, were deep into a tangent that might have slipped from Zep's "Kashmir." Within moments, immersed in this worldly rock thang, it was apparent these three were spinning out something deeper than a musical performance, something worshipful yet still wholly rock 'n' roll. Matt Kilmer (percussion) and John Shannon (electric guitar) along with Haale's string work and incredible voice – a holy mingling of young Patti Smith, Sheila Chandra, PJ Harvey and Nina Hagen – created a sound much bigger than their numbers, perhaps uplifted by unseen forces drawn in by the enzyme of their playing. Each piece was blissfully dynamic, moving with imperceptible shifts, by turns exotic and punky, guttural and joyous. The lyrics hew to Gaia-centric themes similar to Kan'Nal and Hamsa Lila but juiced with a lil' New York street grease and Persian poetry incense. "Fire does some good things. It burns down the big bad wolf, ego," said Haale, a name meaning "halo around the moon," and there's certainly a spectral light to them. Haale seem capable of something really special, say a record like Astral Weeks or Dark Side of the Moon, or maybe hallucinatory concert spectacles like the '70s Patti Smith Group. Within them burns the potential to kick down a bunch of doors of perception. Listen up now and begin being nourished by this music sooner than later.
Also worth noting about Friday, while Roo organizers got attention for bringing in heavier acts like Tool and Wolfmother this year, they also quietly dipped their toe into mainstream country waters. CMT pinup boy Dierks Bentley's late afternoon set with special guest Sam Bush (New Grass Revival) was a fine example of what Nashville is trotting out these days. The music is the usual bastard child of The Eagles and Garth Brooks on today's country radio but there's no denying Bentley's energy. No one at Bonnaroo tried harder to entertain than this guy, and I'm inclined to give him a pass based solely on that. And I'd sit in mud to hear Sam Bush pick for even a few minutes.
Continue reading for Saturday...
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