By: Dennis Cook Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival :: 06.14.07 – 06.17.07 :: Manchester, TN
 Bonnaroo 2007 by Josh Miller |
Bonnaroo has become a “thing.” More than just a festival, it’s a buzzword, a sizeable blip on the cultural radar. If the model girlfriends and VH1 personalities wandering around didn’t give it away then seeing it called “The New Woodstock” on E! Television’s
Daily 10 show days afterwards sealed the deal. Through adventurous, uncannily prescient programming and a willingness to deviate from the “phatty grilled cheese” aesthetics of older festivals, Bonnaroo continues to merge massive entertainment with a concentrated effort to reach folks on a more personal level.
In a dance of hippie ideals and corporate savvy, Bonnaroo, like some perverse sonic shopping mall, anchors their four-day gathering to a brand name like The Police but makes room for wonderful, lesser known acts like Haale, Yard Dogs Road Show and Sam Champion. Increasingly, you can amuse yourself with things other than live music and still happily fill up your time. The Yet Another (Comedy) Tent featured big names like Lewis Black, Dave Attell and the coolly whacked Flight of the Conchords. Elsewhere environmental seminars, Internet cafes, highbrow salons, MLB batting cages, burlesque acts, video game arcades and a Ferris wheel vied for our attentions.
 John Paul Jones & ?uestlove
Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Walking around Thursday afternoon before the main stages lit up, I found myself quietly singing The Police’s “Too Much Information” under my breath. Bonnaroo is sensory overload dropped like a Vegas meteorite into the middle of the Tennessee hills, a spasmodic Transformer encircled by dusty fields and watchful trees. Think too much about it and it’ll freak you out – especially during the long, disorienting night walks – but surrender and it can be a great deal of fun. Not sure how successful the global issues/social change aspects are given the general Dionysian vibe and shameless hucksterism spilling into every corner but you gotta admire them for trying to make a difference.
What follows is a chunk of the experience. There’s no way to put all of it into words, and like Almost Famous pointed out, some things that happen on the road should stay on the road. But, I will say my fourth Bonnaroo made me acutely aware of the atomic nature of existence – protons crashing against neutrons and electrons, everything tied together with knots we’ll never untie and probably shouldn’t even try to.
Thursday
 Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Settled in by mid-afternoon, there was time to stroll the grounds before the proverbial electrical storm of nightfall. This place really mutates once the bands start cranking and the hordes descend from the massive tent city, a temporary Wild West town with rumored unlicensed strip clubs, tattoo parlors and all manner of barter economics happening. One misses out on the pleasant malaise that descends on Thursday afternoons by coming later, not to mention the chaos of parking and setting up camp in the dark. Free to wander, mentally and physically, one relaxes, knowing a warm haze of music, intoxicants and fresh encounters awaits them. Bonnaroo is so much bigger than the day-to-day world that it’s hard not to feel you’re on an adventure, a kid loose in Disneyland or rafting the Grand Canyon.
 David Cross :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Ryan Shaw kicked off
The Other Tent, exhuming Sam Cooke style ’60s soul with a glorious falsetto and welcoming stage presence. With a super tight band behind him, Shaw strutted and preached before an appreciative audience, especially the ladies who swooned a little at Shaw’s good looks. Prone to cheerful platitudes like “My music is about love” and “We’re gonna speak some things into existence tonight,” Shaw nonetheless won over one of the widest age ranges at any set this year. His gospel-esque take on folk standard “If I Had A Hammer” echoed the late, great
Ted Hawkins, and the encore of Marvin Gaye’s “Shotgun” showed the Motown spirit is alive in Shaw.
 The Black Angels :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
If they ever decide to make a new version of The Monkees TV show,
The Little Ones would be a dandy candidate. Archetypal indie rock, they laid oodles of jangly guitars over tribal-y drums, focused arrangements and breathless backing vocals. If I got most of my new music from MySpace and hadn’t graduated high school decades ago their name would be written all over my Peachy folders.
Austin’s The Black Angels worked up a joyous dirge built by drum thuggery and keenly placed guitar explosions. Their voices sliced through the cumulus like a scalpel as the brilliant light show hijacked the neurons in our heads. They never drew anything out for too long, and everything had the creepy, cool vibe Bauhaus once created. Some tunes unfurled like a ’30s blues record heard on a radio wave light years from home, a floor tom beaten by maracas carrying us off while we stared helplessly grinning at the keyboardist throwing her whole body into the music, a human sacrifice for this inviting pyre. The Black Angels wriggled like warm flesh under our grubby hands – slightly deranged, wholly hypnotic, undeniably sexy stuff.
 Clutch :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Clutch, despite hearing repeatedly that they’d be “the most rock thang” at Bonnaroo, didn’t really fire my jets. They are certainly a solid hard rock band with decent songs but
Super 400 and
Black Stone Cherry do what they do better. People did dig their energetic, hard-bitten set, though.
More diverse, engaging classic rock could be found with the Sam Roberts Band, who combined The Slip‘s restless energy and seamless songwriting with crunchier guitars and dreamy harmonies. Like their sensational 2006 album, Chemical City, they opened with “The Gate,” an irresistible invitation that marries power pop to sweeping ELO dynamics. The whole band leaned forward when they played, willing the music outward, actively engaging the enthusiastic crowd who bounced a maple leaf beach ball in the air, a nod to the band’s Canadian roots. While they don’t reinvent the wheel, they do remind one of all the charms of ’70s rock.
 Apollo Sunshine :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
What more can we say about
Apollo Sunshine? That they’re one of the finest, most exploratory, endlessly catchy pop bands around? That live they shake with a ferocity thought lost when CBGB’s closed? All true but each time I see them beat numbers out of their vintage equipment my faith is renewed. At Bonnaroo they expanded their usual trio with an extra guitarist and a percussionist. Imagine if Fela spent the Summer of Love in San Francisco and you’re in the ballpark. There’s a delightful tug-of-war between melody and chaos in Apollo Sunshine. One never knows how it’ll turn out but the sparks really lit up the night air in Manchester.
Over at the new Bonna Rouge nightclub tent, Yard Dogs Road Show showed some skin after a Victorian tease. They’re “quasi” a lot of things – tin pan alley, vaudeville, Tom Waits, Folies Bergere, Marx Brothers. It’s a hell of a show that scoots to a clip-clop stomp akin to the Squirrel Nut Zippers with more comely trombonists, dream sequences and Leon Russell lookin’ old men than you can shake a stick at. Dandy!
 Rodrigo y Gabriela :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
After lengthy technical difficulties,
Rodrigo y Gabriela dazzled the huge crowd at
That Tent with technically exhausting flamenco-heavy metal. It’s not as strange a combination as you might think, and in their very capable hands (and strong, beating hearts) lays the germ of a new kind of acoustic music. The Pink Floyd sing-a-longs and Metallica covers don’t hurt but it’s their own passion packed compositions that speak of a rich future. Also, points for being two of the most engaging seated performers ever.
 Tea Leaf Green :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
San Francisco’s answer to The Faces,
Tea Leaf Green closed down The Other Tent in front of the biggest audience of the night. The quartet throws a fine party and word-of-mouth is spreading fast. Before the set, singer-keyboardist
Trevor Garrod chilled in their dressing room trailer, a bit overwhelmed by the hubbub outside. A sensitive soul, Garrod instantly shed any nerves the moment his fingers hit the electric piano and the microphone loomed. Some folks are born to the stage, and Tea Leaf demonstrated they have rock ‘n’ roll in their bones. Guitarist
Josh Clark offered his increasingly heavy riffage but with an instinct for backing off when necessary. Like a slow boil, the bouncing, sweat drenched kids up front inspired everyone to bubble over eventually. As a longtime fan, it’s fun to see more and more people pick up their songs, singing them with gusto like on an especially fine “Taught To Be Proud.” What they craft endures, and while a relative oldie like set-closer “Sex In The ’70s” shouldn’t keep working, they always find the pleasure switch in our brains. Hands down, one of the finest performances this year.
I peeked into both the Comedy Tent and the swanky new Somethin’ Else jazz tent but outrageously long lines, erratic door polices and limited seating kept me away most of the weekend. The choice to see top flight comedians and jazz artists in air conditioned comfort was surely appealing but that choice usually meant missing as many as two to three other performances. The bits I caught of the Scott Amendola Band, the David Murray Black Saint Quartet and Don Byron Plays Jr. Walker were excellent, though all suffered from a degree of sound bleed from the rock acts playing This Tent a few yards away.
Continue reading for Friday…
 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…
 Sting – The Police :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Saturday Let’s get this out of the way: The Police just weren’t very good. Couldn’t call them bad but lackluster and unfocused fits their headlining performance pretty well. If you strip away the nostalgia and cult of personality underpinning their reunion tour, the music was mediocre at best, and far less satisfying than most of what happened on the Tent Stages earlier in the day. For the main event on the 40th anniversary of Monterey Pop – the originator of freeform festivals like this – it would have been nice to hear something special. The Police didn’t provide it.
 Copeland – The Police :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Even if most were unaware of the Monterey anniversary, on a subconscious level it was in the air, and the initial rush of hearing “Message In A Bottle” live again for the first time in decades almost made me think we were in for a cool trip. Yoga has been very good to
Sting, and ’80s chart topping royalties appear to have treated
Stewart Copeland and one of rock’s most unfairly under-praised guitarists,
Andy Summers, pretty well, too. Sting was in fine voice and the skeletal purity of their sound seemed intact until they began layering on unnecessary extensions and superfluous noodling to what are predominantly slightly sophisticated pop songs. There was something off in Sting’s voice, perhaps disdain for his younger self or for the words he once sang so passionately, that created a distance between the singer and the material that showed far less reverence for the songs than the audience has. The only one who seemed to be playing WITH the other two was Summers, who occasionally seemed slightly perturbed at the incongruous rhythms coming from the drums and bass.
During “Driven To Tears” and the world’s longest “So Lonely” my mind started to wander – “Sting is very tan. Can that be good for a man his age?” and “Wow, this really isn’t loud enough” and “I wonder if there’s anything to eat here that isn’t fried or grilled?” The music wasn’t compelling enough to stave off such thoughts. I wandered away during the overly busy “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” remaining within earshot but unable to look at them anymore, and eventually returned to hear Copeland say, “Sting is going to get naked and dance among you. And if he doesn’t I will.” This reference to Copeland’s remarks at his 2006 Bonnaroo appearance with Oysterhead were met by Sting saying, “I’d like to see that, Stewart.” In a way, I’d rather watch a messed up reality show about this reunion than listen to them play if the Bonnaroo performance was any indication of how they’re treating some really treasured music.
Onto greener pastures…
 RRE :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
New Jersey’s answer to Fairport Convention,
Railroad Earth, kick started the day with acoustic instruments and high, clear voices riding a big beat. They are folk-rock that doesn’t let the second part be an afterthought despite the fiddles and mandolins. Railroad swung with big touches and epic compositions that never feel overlong or overstuffed. In fact, it’s this seemingly effortless flow that’s the heart of their charm. Like a steady flowing river, they sweep you up and take you somewhere new. They are all very fine musicians but it’s violinist
Tim Carbone that really dazzled, his insightful, gloriously melodic bowing a sparrow lighting on the notes.
 Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Saturday’s true pop parade, including excellent sets from
Spoon and
Fountains of Wayne (who proved much more diverse and ’60s/’70s savvy than “Stacey’s Mom”) began with
Dr. Dog, who shook with excitement from the minute they came on. Wearing sunglasses in the shade, they rescued “da da da” and “la la la” from the doldrums, reenergizing the fundamental joys of pop with a cappela outbursts, handclaps and pretty lil’ riffs. Upfront, a curvy hippy gal shook it like it was an audition for the touring company of
Hairspray, and on the slow numbers one halfway expected couples to dance cheek-to-cheek like it was a sock hop and not a dry grass field. If radio weren’t a predominantly corporate wasteland that favors factory generated crap over great toe tappers then Dr. Dog would be on MTV’s TRL instead of say the prefab
Paulo Nutini (a Friday performer this year), who’s still shaking off packing peanuts and manufacturer’s stickers in his high rotation videos.
 The Slip :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Josh Miller |
Speaking of folks more talented than most of their peers,
The Slip got off to a sleepy start, the touring miles and long nights surfacing most evidently in
Brad Barr‘s voice. But a few minutes in, they came to life and unleashed a spiritual thunderbolt towards the end of “Even Rats” that woke the room up. The sonic turbulence gave “Rats” a ragged edge, which they used to cut a way forward. The Slip always manages to work in the moment unique to each stage and time. And it’s tough not to feel infused by Bonnaroo audiences who generally offer nothing but real affection, even to unfamiliar acts. “If One Of Us Should Fall” had the feel of ’70s Dylan, “Tangled Up In Blue” for the computer age, a paean to love’s inherent difficulties and one’s intrinsic aloneness. Repeatedly, the trio touched that kind of nerve – unvarnished truths most wither at. A fierce blues jam recalled Led Zeppelin’s early BBC sessions and foreshadowed the amazing set-closing cover of “Heartbreaker” that brought the house down. You could see the strain and effort of making this music all over them but that makes one love them all the more. The Slip aren’t waiting to play with the Big Boys, they are the Big Boys and we’re just waiting for the world to catch up.
 Hot Tuna :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
The blues have rarely been better served than
Hot Tuna‘s crushingly heavy afternoon set.
Jack Casady, looking increasingly like Don Knotts, snapped his bass like he was backing a young Muddy Waters and they had something to prove. Guitarist
Jorma Kaukonen matched him lick for lick, pushing his wonderfully rough voice into the dark places where the real blues meat lives. Tuna resisted the urge to pretty things up, leaving in the river mud and crop dust. Greatest showing of traditional tie-dye, joint-passin’ hippies all weekend, too. Delightful.
 Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
At the risk of hyperbole,
The Hold Steady were everything good and right about rock ‘n’ roll. I purposefully avoided checking out their critical smash
Boys And Girls In America before Bonnaroo, wanting to see if the music moved me without any preparation. Boy howdy did it! The last time I saw that many beer bottles raised in salute after an opener here was the
Drive-By Truckers‘ blasting 2005 performance. This is rock for dock workers AND cute girls in their cute girl glasses and their secret pot smoking intellectual boyfriends. Most reviewers are calling them a modern day
Springsteen or Replacements – they are a natural fit for jukeboxes from here to Timbuktu – but there are also echoes of
Graham Parker and the Rumour,
The Stranglers and Jim Carroll’s
Catholic Boy. With 400 or more hardcore Steady-heads sparking the rest of us, it wasn’t long before even total neophytes like myself were shouting the “hey hey hey” choruses and yelling, “I’m gonna walk around and drink some more” at the top of our lungs. What at first comes across as disdain in bandleader
Craig Finn ultimately reveals a frustrated, disappointed romantic, as in the audience stilling “First Night.” Finn introduced “Hot Soft Light,” saying, “Did anyone’s car get searched on the way in? This is a song about getting busted.” In mood, their music reveres the vibe in say Rick Springfield as much as it does the craftsmanship of the Beatles. It’s smart stuff but it never fails to make you feel alive and present. Since this set I’ve been immersed in their albums – which are mighty dandy – but it’s the Everyman mojo of their concerts that marks them as truly special.
 Ziggy Marley :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
Ziggy Marley was a consummate roots-reggae showman. He’s grown into being the torchbearer for his father’s legacy, perhaps by building one of his own instead of merely piggybacking on dad. The setlist cherry picked Bob Marley classics but Ziggy’s own “Conscious Party,” “Tomorrow People” and others from his 13 album catalog stood proudly with “Get Up Stand Up” and the like. Like his father, he made it look easy, steering a large, tight band full of vocal nuances and rhythmic curves with unusual grace. When he sang it came from a deep place and he put his back into both his singing and stinging guitar playing. His obvious calm and the inherent mass appeal of really well done roots-reggae carried over magnificently on the main stage during this afternoon delight
Would love to tell you about Keller Williams‘ WMD but after waiting almost 20 minutes past their start time while they fussed over the sound in front of an increasingly fidgety audience, and then spent the first 10 minutes farting around in aimless plunking worthy of the laziest Grateful Dead “Space” I simply lost interest. I’m told it got going after that by folks I trust but a half hour of nothing tests even the patience of the truly curious.
 The Flaming Lips :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Josh Miller |
While it’s easy to walk by all the late night sets, sampling a bit of this or that, experience has shown that placing your chips on one bet usually pays the biggest dividends.
Galactic assembled perhaps the greatest West Coast independent hip-hop MC line-up in history including
Jurassic 5‘s
Chali 2na,
Blackalicious‘
Gift of Gab,
Lyrics Born,
The Coup‘s
Boots Riley and more. The
Flaming Lips descended from a spaceship and let their acid carnival loose. The goofy fun
Girl Talk and DJ legends
Sasha and
Digweed tore it up for the candy necklace kids. But, gut instinct led me to
Gov’t Mule and what turned out to be a pure rock ‘n’ roll highlight of the weekend. Joined by a cavalcade of guests, the Mule really impressed. Since settling on this line-up a few years back they’ve grown by leaps and bounds, making a bold, bluesy sound largely lost after 1979.
 Haynes & Weir
Bonnaroo 2007 by Dave Vann |
One gets a sense of the scope based on the set’s bookends. They began with a thick reggae take on the Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire,” where
Michael Franti dropped a smart, sexy freestyle. They closed with a double encore of Black Sabbath’s beloved weed hymn “Sweet Leaf” that drifted into “War Pigs” followed by an especially tender “Soulshine.” There may not be a better band at incorporating guests than Gov’t Mule, who morph subtly to adapt to each person’s strengths. In the first set they kept up with
Bob Weir‘s idiosyncratic explorations on “Sugaree” and a great “Loser.” There was a truncated visit from
Lewis Black cut short by a jackass who threw stuff at him before he got two words out. The inarguable highlight of the first set was
John Paul Jones slipping in during a “Moby Dick” tease in Matt Abts’s drum solo and then lending his still jaw dropping bass to “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid,” “Since I’ve Been Loving You” and showstopper “No Quarter.” No complaints when the second set began with Hot Tuna’s
Jorma Kaukonen and
Jack Casady for “Come Back Baby” and a stunning cover of Rev. Gary Davis’ “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.” More echoes of Jerry Garcia arrived with a
Luther Dickinson assisted “That’s What Love Will Make You Do.” Dickinson stuck around for a mean “32-20 Blues” and had lurked side stage the whole night drinking in the music. Yet, for all the high powered assists it was the core quartet that kept knocking it out of the park, especially on great new springboards from last year’s
High & Mighty like “Streamline Woman” and “Brand New Angel.” Urgent and heavy yet capable of turning inward with real gentleness, today’s Gov’t Mule bears watching.
Continue reading for Sunday…
 Wolfmother :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Sunday Total music dorks dream of days like this.
 John Butler :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
While the
John Butler Trio did their
Pearl Jam meets Ben Harper thing on the big stage,
Mavis Staples did old Pops proud with her sizzling band under The Other Tent. Starting with “Eyes On The Prize” from her stellar new Ry Cooder produced album,
We’ll Never Turn Back, they immediately injected some much-needed gospel powered soul into the final furlong. They quickly followed with two inspired covers – Buffalo Springfield’s eerily timely “For What It’s Worth” and a smashing “The Weight” where she reminded us the Staple Singers played
The Last Waltz. Her reminiscences and seasoned moxie added flavor to every number, which she sung in a deep river voice capable of touching everyone within earshot. Staples announced, “I don’t know what took us so long but this is our first Bonnaroo. I guarantee it will not be our last.” Our cheers shook the support beams.
 Charlie Louvin :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
A hop and a skip away one of the fathers of country music, 79-year old
Charlie Louvin, showed us how it’s done really old school style. Backed by total pro Nashville pickers, Louvin has mellowed wonderfully, the brimstone of his ’50s gospel replaced by a tongue softened by laughter and tears, life uncut spoken in plain, beautiful phrases. Even his rambling, geography-laden band introductions were charming as hell. The man who once released a record with his brother titled
Satan Is Real turned his attention to Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” and cuts from his past that once inspired Gram Parsons. It was fun to watch the hipsters’ looks of smiling recognition when Louvin sang “Cash On The Barrelhead.” One caught a whiff of how Gram must have felt coming face-to-face with the Louvin Brothers. He introduced Byrds favorite “Christian Life” saying, “This might step on some toes but sometimes that helps us. Most of the Louvin Brothers songs have morality at the top and this one’s no different.” Charlie Louvin turns 80 on July 7 with a citywide party in Nashville. Be sure to lift a glass to him that day.
 Ralph Stanley :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Wolfmother, in all their AC/DC, Sabbath biting glory, were a hot shock to the system after Louvin. They provided the heaviness all the folks in Tool shirts were craving, and there were a lot of Tool shirts wandering around. While I think their sputtering punk-pop stuff like “Apple Tree” is more interesting than their homage to sweaty ’70s hard rock, there was no denying their live presence, which courted folks lustily. The same listener embracing gusto also applied to
The Decemberists and
Feist, both of which made live indie rock come across as far more exciting than it initially sounds on paper this Sunday.
Back in the classics department, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys wore almost matching suits during their traditional bluegrass seminar. Always fun to watch guys with “haircuts you can set your watch to” as Grandpa Simpson once put it. They picked with a homespun, generational purity that keeps a long tradition alive and intact. A Phish kid in front yelled out for “Man of Constant Sorrow,” Stanley’s striking contribution to the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, and Stanley shot back, “He’s not here yet but he’ll make an appearance later.”
 Wilco :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
The man who put the
O Brother soundtrack together,
T-Bone Burnett, played before Stanley with a group that included the king of studio drummers,
Jim Keltner, and NYC downtown jazz master and former Tom Waits sideman, guitarist
Marc Ribot. Surprisingly noisy, Burnett focused on his own work, which was often a unique update of gospel music that embraced chaos and static in addition to melody. He got a good chunk of the audience chanting, “We’re marching up to Zion, the beautiful city of God.” Introducing “a happy song” called “The Rat Age” from the score he wrote for Sam Sheppard’s play
Truth And Crime, Burnett said, “We’ve made mistakes. We confess them. We’re proud of them. Wait, that’s another sin [
laughs].” They sauntered through Burnett’s older country rock originals and choice versions of Dylan’s “Isis” and Clifton Chenier’s “Bon Ton Roulet,” which he suggested as America’s new national anthem. There’s simply not enough good things to say about this set.
Just ask Wilco‘s Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche, who watched most of T-Bone’s performance. The one-two punch of Wilco and RatDog on the massive What Stage made for a three-hour stretch of just about perfect rock. Say what you will about either band but if you like them then they gave you everything you could want. I could hold different things up to the light, but the truth is both presented their best face, playing with great spirit and skill on well-chosen setlists. Following RatDog’s increasingly slinky take on Grateful Dead music, one did catch a little ’70s Dead feel to some of Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky selections that hadn’t been obvious before. ‘Nuff said.
 The White Stripes :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Caught the tail end, in several senses, of sensitive popsters
Elvis Perkins In Dearland. Perkins sings in a boy-man voice like early
Bright Eyes and writes about strong feelings and strange thoughts.
Clap Your Hands‘
Alec Ounsworth joined them on a new one called “Doomsday,” that opened with a slightly drunk second line of blurting horns and clanking percussion. However, the band was upstaged for many by a thin, lovely sprite who stripped to her polka dotted panties and worked a Hula-Hoop like it was an Olympic tryout. Much of the applause on the right side was for her when they finished.
Blunt force power was the operating principle behind both The White Stripes and North Mississippi Allstars. One had to choose which tough, blues guitar workout they wanted to whip them around. Some ping-ponged between stages, catching sonic bumpers like a dirty pinball, others just stared in exhausted, silenced pleasure. The mean old sun finally dropping behind the hills, everyone breathed a little easier. The hard minded approaches of both bands did a lot to revive spirits, too. Meg White remains a comely simian with percussion Tourette’s syndrome but Jack White was mesmerizing, cool and easy to watch. Neither band deviated much from their signature sound, and both offered up fan favorites without hesitation. Each is a tributary of the blues, taken in strikingly different directions. It was actually fun to steadily move between their worlds, letting one’s own definitions of what constitutes the blues drop by the wayside in the process.
 Widespread Panic :: Bonnaroo 2007 by Rod Snyder |
Widespread Panic capped off the festivities, playing like men with something to prove, namely that they’re one of the sturdiest, finest rock bands of our times. The addition of
Jimmy Herring on lead guitar has really flipped their collective wig. Playing one extra long set instead of the usual two fit this newfound headlong energy. To pause would have risked losing the momentum built by each piece. WSP struck me as real musicians playing at the top of their game – mature, confident but still anxious to break fresh ground. The sequence starting with “Fairies Wear Boots” (another Sabbath cover) and winding through “Space Wrangler,” a percussion solo, “Don’t Wanna Lose You” and “Henry Parsons Died” was a weekend highlight, as good a progression and performance as any band has played this year. Like last year’s
Phil Lesh & Friends closer, Widespread put just the right punctuation on everything, sending us off with sublime covers of John Lennon’s “Crippled Inside” and the Talking Heads’ “Heaven.” Even with our nostrils caked with dust like a pharaoh’s tomb, our bodies dried out and weary, one still felt like they’d gotten into that bar in Heaven, toasting another year of incongruous, incomparable Bonnaroo entertainments.
JamBase | Manchester
Go See Live Music!
