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CARRIE'S BONNAROO BLOG: DAY ONE - NUTS.
All is well in Manchester, the city that, overnight, became the third largest city in Tennesee, thanks to The Bonnarooo Music and Arts Festival.
So far there has been only one slight set back: a shoetastrophe, so to speak. I only brought sandals figuring I would stop into Target or Walmart and pick up a cheapo pair of tennies when we got to Nashville, which i did. Only, whee! We arrived at Bonnaroo and I put them on to find i had two left feet... literally! Luckily the weather here is not bad: hot but sunny. Apparently Wednesday night they had a terrible storm so there are some mud patches but all in all it's pretty dry, so I wore my flip flops out yesterday. Well, those mud patches are really hard to see in the dark and, yeah... it seems circumstances led to my barefootin' it around the festival last night. Hey Franti's doing it! Check this pic of my sweet new shoes and a Bonnaroo billboard shot:
 
Last night's Bonnaroo festivities were sorta like a soft opening. Bands didn't start until about 5pm and the main stage, The What Stage, wasn't going at all. I did still get to see a few great acts including Miike Snow, The Constellations and The XX . Of the three, I was most taken with The Constellations, maybe because I had the best vantage point for them or maybe just because that Atlanta 8 piece really kicked ass. Miike Snow was cool and well attended, they played "Animal" last and the crowd loved it! The XX were dreamy and quite loud for an ambient three piece. But really the highlight of my evening, if you even have to ask, were the men in kilts. I'm hoping my photos don't peak this early, but let's face it: I may not get a better picture than this all weekend... nuts.
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DAY TWO: WAYNE COYNE THINKS CARRIE HAS SOFT HANDS... INTERVIEW HAS HAPPY ENDING.
Its hot, hot, hot in Manchester, Tennesee for Bonnaroo, in more ways than one! Wayne Coyne just stopped by the mobile studio and he thinks I have soft hands. It was just a hand shake I swear! He also, so humbly agrees that there is a real conflict for music lovers with The Flaming Lips playing 'Darkside of the Moon' at the same time as The Black Keys take the stage. He even suggested trying to catch both, which of course is an option but often if you don't commit one way or the other you end up with a distant vantage point for both. I made sure to tell Wayne that when i begged the question on air as to which band you would chose more of you went with The Lips. The reasoning, in most cases, being that the Lips don't play Darkside everyday. The Flaming Lips play the main stage, The What Stage from midnight to 2am.
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NIGHT TWO RECAP: BLACK KEYS AND WHITE DWARVES
Sweltering heat, body caked in mud and dust, two lost pairs of shoes, 3 day old port-o-johns, Who Cares!! I hugged Wayne Coyne and Michael Franti yesterday AND hung out with The Black Keys (see picture left) and that is one buzz nothing can kill. The Keys' acoustic set in the WRNR mobile studio was amazing (as you well know if you've been listening). And as if it couldn't get any better (Livin' the dream) I got side stage for The Keys performance, no zoom on these pics!!
 
And for the first time I've ever experienced, (the same goes for everyone I talked to) Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were joined on stage by a bass player and a keyboardist. They did a real old school set, just the two of them for about 6 songs and then they kicked it up a notch with "Strange Times" accompanied by the two additional musicians. All the new songs I heard were really well received by the crowd, especially "Next Girl." They also did "Tighten Up" and "Everlasting Light" from their new album, "Brothers"......and as hard as it was to tear myself away I just had to get a little trippy-to-go with my gritty rock and headed over to catch the end of The Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs performing "Dark Side of the Moon"........
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DAY 3: WHO'S ON WHAT STAGE
When I heard Bonnaroo’s Saturday night lineup for the main or "What" Stage: The Dead Weather into Stevie Wonder and followed by Jay-Z, I wasn’t sure if it would work but, man, was I wrong. Whoever came up with that line-up is genius. It more than worked. It was beyond incredible. Gritty, raw blues rock into the soulful, funk of a legend, followed by a hip hop rock star. Each the master of their respective genres, each commanding the stage and engrossing a crowd of 60,000 people, each putting their energy, and sweat and heart into a performance that re-invigorated a sun-soaked, sleep deprived crowd.
It was Alex’s second time seeing The Dead Weather and my first and neither one of us can wait to see them again in Baltimore next month. It doesn’t seem like enough to say they rocked but man they rocked! I heard someone say that they didn’t feel the female artists were represented well and none of them (Tori, Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile) had late performance slots. Well ladies, I do believe Alison Mosshart did us justice. She is an incredible front woman, all over the stage, strapping on a guitar one minute, playing the keyboards the next, howling her vitrol laced lyrics at the audience. Jack did all the talking and even strapped on the guitar himself for awhile sending the crowd into a frenzy. Alex, or eagle eye as I like to refer to him now, spotted CoCo side stage. At one point Jack even referred to Conan, who was at that time standing behind the sound board, saying “Conan O’brien running sound tonight, more echo!” Check out my pics of Alison Mosshart tearing it up on stage (left) and CoCo behind the sound board (right). He's the guy with his hand in his armpit.
 
Stevie Wonder ever so humbly took the stage with little bravado, or hype and proceeded to show everyone how it’s done. His voice is untouched by the years and hearing him play classics like “My Cheri Amore” and “Living For The City”, “Superstition” and “Uptight” was unforgettable. He had the entire crowd singing along, even doing a two part boy/girl toss back. His band was incomparable, musicians of the highest caliber. There were 14 of them, two keys, two guitars, a smokin’ bass player, horns and back-up singers. And then there were 30. For his encore he brought out a group of drummers each hailing from a different part of the world. They did a drum jam that was quite literally the best drum circle ever. In addition he brought out a chorus of 15 or so singers. At the end of his set Stevie said his thanks and also that he was sticking around for Jay-Z. Here's a pic of Stevie (left) and Stevie with the above mentioned 1,200 or so people Stevie had on stage by the end of his show (right). Simply amazing.
 
Before Jay-Z hit the stage, the jumbo-tron projected a clock counting down. No fear of another Kanye West moment, or perhaps as Alex said a direct response to Kanye’s having shown up 4 hours late for his performance last year. The crowd was the most intense I had experienced up to that point and with good cause. That man knows how to put on a show, he commands the stage and connects with the crowd. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing him live before and was especially impressed with his enunciation. Ok I feel like my Mom saying that but it’s true his lyrical style is so crisp, not a word is lost, and gladly so, because he is clever and quick and funny. After a song or two he said, “Wait until my Mom hears that Stevie Wonder stayed to see my show!”
We left the main stage floating on cloud nine and wandered over to check out our hometown representatives, Thievery, who did not disappoint. What a night!
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SATURDAY SIDE NOTE: HOW I HUNG OUT WITH THE AVETT BROTHERS WITH OUT KNOWING IT.
I ran into Scott Avett and somehow managed to remain composed and, more amazing, not grope him while this photo was taken! Alex and I went and checked out the Avett's show on the Which Stage, the 2nd largest stage on site. They are one band you haven’t truly heard until you’ve seen them live. They are so raucous, and rowdy and fun on stage. I was so grateful to have met Scott and had the chance to tell him what his music means to me but I did wish I’d been able to meet the entire band. You can’t say you’ve met The Avett Brothers when you’ve only met one of them. Later that night during Stevie Wonder I found myself wondering what other bands might be watching, I was hoping all of them, he was that good. Well much to my delight when Stevie finished and the lights came up I turned around to find the other Avett Brothers, they’d been standing behind me the whole show!!! BTW, optimal time to meet rock stars and have your photo taken; after dancing for 2 hours in 90 degree heat.
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Day 4: DUDE, WHERE'S MY PLANE?
We flew home on Thievery’s jet!! Funny, it was named Southwest and they invited a lot of people on board, but none of them were Kevin Smith. Seriously though, having Thievery Corporation on the plane home really changes ones perspective on a delayed flight. I was never so happy to hear my plane had been delayed. We talked about shows we caught and I showed them my pictures, which of course, included them! I couldn’t have planned a better ending.
Only at Bonnarooooooooo!
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To check out more photos from Carrie's Bonnaroo Blog, CLICK HERE. |
