Bonnaroo! - Part Two (Saturday and Sunday)

Saturday
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings 2:45-3:15pm
Gogol Bordello 4-5
Cat Power 5-5:30
B.B. King 5:30-6
Ben Folds 6:15-6:30
Iron & Wine 6:30-6:45, 7:20-8
Zappa Plays Zappa 6-6:15,6:50-7:15
Jack Johnson 8-8:30
Pearl Jam 10:15-11
Parade
Chromeo 1-2am
Sigur Ros 2-2:15
Lupe Fiasco 2:15-2:16
Kanye West 2:30-3:30 (waited and then left)
Chali 2Na 4-4:45

This day could have been SO much better if it weren't for Kanye. Kanye Sucks. One of my friends could not understand why Kanye was getting a bad rap (!). She thought the hate was overdone. I think she fails to understand that there are certain expectations of a performer, and even more, of a late night set, almost always considered must-see at Bonnaroo, regardless of their level of fame. To force an audience to wait 2 hours with no notice of delay and to force them to miss so many other fantastic things going on at the same time (among them, Ghostland Observatory) so that they can finally witness a weak 1 hour performance of not even all his best songs is a HUGE disappointment. Its almost devastating. Kanye Sucks. Its ironic that his glow in the dark show was actually finally held as the sun came up and tired, exhausted people left in droves as his average raps withered over booming bass and flying 'glow' sticks. He was lame as hell, his ego is unrecognizable, and his attitude and lack of respect are unfathomable. To not hate Kanye right now is to support his bullshit.

Anyhow, this day ended up fairly well, although not too close to the high bar set by Friday. I saw Sharon Jones by virtue of running into those girls from the first campsite while in line to charge my cell phone. They were heading over there and I had nothing planned (although now I hear that Little Feat was worth seeing - southwest jam rock). Jones was this little black woman with way more attitude than I could handle. Perfect for you upbeat soulful types. I'm looking at you, Pun. I then wandered some more before ending up at Gogol Bordello, of whom I am definitely not a fan (gypsy punk music.. see what I mean?). I probably should have gone to Mastodon instead (hard rock/metal). I also ran into Ivan, a friend from Rosslyn VA and some of his buddies, greened up and headed over to Cat Power. Unfortunately, her music was not doing it for us. Too slow and beautiful - Sigur Ros would suffer from the same treatment later. I guess I can't do slow and beautiful at a festival. Instead we headed over to BB King, who was as great as he was horny. In between loud, swinging songs, he talked about viagra and the pretty young things who didnt holler at him no more. He had an extended interlude about his boner at one point. Awesome. I left a little early, and Ivan and I wandered around from concert to concert at this point since there was so much going on. I caught parts of Ben Folds (utterly uninteresting), Iron & Wine (heavy reggae influence was great) and Zappa Plays Zappa (never heard Zappas music but this was really good stuff). Eventually, Jack Johnson came on and I checked him out for a few songs but understandably got very bored and left. I ate some stuff in preparation for Pearl Jam, who rocked incredibly hard. I am so glad I finally got to see them play. They played a bunch of my favorite songs including Animal and really played their hearts out. However, there is no question that Vedder sounds like he is going to die at any moment. As the night descended, I found myself at several non-performance dance venues including a DJ tent and a futuristic techno tent. I've never sweat more flailing. We also got caught up in an insane, random parade that took us throughout the venue and featuring fire-breathing men, half naked dancers, and a lot of tin cans. Chromeo kicked off the second nighttime dance party. The highlight of their show came when they launched into a cover of Your Love (outfield) and then followed that with Don't Stop Believing. Awesome. The party continued at Sigur Ros. just kidding, it was sad, droopy, moving, and absolutely the wrong vibe for my night. I heard a song and left. I've seen them before so it wasnt much of a loss. I also stopped by Lupe's tent for a second and was reminded of how terrible he is live and left. I tried to see Kanye but Kanye Sucks. I came back later to see him just for giggles. In the meantime, Chali 2Na of J5 had some sort of revival going on in his tent, which was fairly enjoyable. A bunch of us ended up just chilling at the campsite, ignoring Kanye and enjoying the sunrise.

Sunday
Wendys 11:30-12:30pm
Ladytron 2:30-3:45
Robert Randolph's Revival 3:45-4:15
Yonder Mountain String Band 4:20-5:15
O.A.R. 5:20-5:30
Broken Social Scene 6:20-6:30
Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, T Bone Burnett 6:30-7, 7:30-7:45
Death Cab for Cutie 7-7:30
Widespread Panic 9:30-11:30

The last day of Bonnaroo proved to be the most scattered and random. Many people left instead of staying for the concerts in order to make it to work on Monday. Many people who stayed were exhausted from the three days previous and spent the day recuperating. I took a $7 shower, made a short trip off-campus (for the first time) to Wendy's (the spicy chicken fillet and chocolate frosty were enormously gratifying), came back to funnel some beers, eat some stuff and go straight to Ladytron with a couple of greg's other friends from TN (having missed Rogue Wave). Ladytron showed up dressed completely in black and gave a very professional vibe. Their performance was fantastic and I'm looking forward to seeing them again at the Outernational fest next weekend. They exchanged female lead singers but perfectly reproduced their sound with live synths and guitars, which I really didn't expect. After this show, I wandered for a little bit since I was unfamiliar with the shows playing. I passed by Jakob Dylan's tent but found the sounds uninviting. At another tent, I was pleasantly surprised by what I would later discover was Robert Randolph's Revival. This is officially my favorite discovery from Bonnaroo. The band really swung in a loud harmonic way with a lot of energy and poise. Highly recommended. Towards the end of their set, Randolph paused to lead the crowd in a "Kanye Sucks" chant. Immediately after this, the energy in the tent soared. I'm looking forward to checking out RRR's mp3s and LPs. As the boys from TN had left and told me they were going to O.A.R., I tried to find them at this point and wandered over to what I figured was O.A.R. - 4 country-type guys with mandolins, guitars, banjos playing bluegrass and fast-paced country. It wasn't until the end of the show that I discovered I was listening to Yonder Mountain String Band. Here was another unexpected surprise - these guys were great. I remember thinking that OAR sounded a lot better than I had remembered. My favorite song was one called Catch a Criminal. Both of these new bands had very positive, catchy vibes to their music that made them instantly likable. Next, I finally found OAR and was reminded of why I didn't listen to them. I left to find greg back at the campsite, refuel, and go see broken social scene. However, at this point greg was breaking down and so I decided to skip broken social scene (catching only KC Accidental.. but its okay, it sounded identical to the last time I saw them) and wander over to see Robert Plant with him. I wasn't really expecting any Led covers but heard at least one. I also wasnt expecting the duets with Alison Krauss to be so slow and moody. As beautiful as her voice was and as cool as it was to see Plant perform, we left to look around some. I caught the start of the death cab for cutie set, which I actually enjoyed somewhat, and a small part of the Pat Green show (but only because greg thought it was Al Green) before returning to Plant/Krauss in the hopes that they had picked up the pace. At this point, greg was ready to go home and so we tried to. We sat in line to leave the campsite for about an hour before we learned that the gates to the freeway wouldn't open until midnight. In this case, we decided to just go back, watch Widespread play, crash in the van, and leave in the morning. Widespread Panic was actually a fantastic live band to see - their jams were technically accomplished and actually really entertaining. When you think of a jam band, you think of floating, unguided passages of rambling guitar but these guys created structure and pleasurable sound out of walls of strong guitar solos. I did end up sleeping for 75% of the show but what I heard was really very great. It was a good way to close up what was most certainly my favorite weekend yet.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Kanye West does not suck.