"Walking along this dusty trail..."

The main entrance to Centeroo...where the music magic happens

And dusty it was.  Ask anyone who was at Bonnaroo 2012 what the first 3 days were like, and dusty would probably be one of the top adjetives used.  The other top adjetives would probably be fun, exciting, awesome, spectacular, amazing and DUDE!!  As the second leg of our two-weekend music festival trip we were excited ourselves to say the least.

After meeting up with some friends in Nashville on Wednesday afternoon, we made our way to Manchester to hop in line with hundreds of other cars to make our way into the festival.  Last year we waited for over 8 hours on the side of the interstate before we got in, so we were pleasantly surprised to get in with only about an hour and a half wait once we actually hit the line.  And it really worked out to our favor as we got a great camping spot yet again.  We ended up being straight out from the What Stage (the main stage at Bonnaroo) and we only had about a 10 minute walk to get to the main gate.

Tennessee hadn't gotten much rain before our arrival, so there were some very dry conditions, and as the weekend wore on, the dust really began to become a nuisance.  As we would walk to Centeroo, the golf cart taxis would drive by knocking up large clouds of dust.  For those of you who have driven down a dusty gravel road in the summer, you know how large those dust clouds can be.  It got bad enough by Saturday afternoon that when a taxi would pass, if you breathed through your mouth you would end up chewing on some dust.  Gross, I know.

I feel it's only fair to explain a little about the eccentricities of Bonnaroo before we get too in depth into shows.  For the uninitiated, some of the names for the stages can be confusing.  Often times it sounds like someone is trying poorly quote an Abbott & Costello sketch.  The 5 largest stages are as follows: The What Stage, The Which Stage, That Tent, The Other Tent, and This Tent.  Just imagine walking around the festival and hearing the following conversation:

"What stage will Foster the People be on?"
"Which Stage."
"That's what I asked...which stage will Foster the People be on?"
"Yes."
"There is no Yes Stage.  Lemme try again.  What stage will Foster the People be on?"
"They're on Which Stage."
"THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING YOU!"


All in all though it does make for a good bit of fun.

The What Stage

THE WHAT STAGE:


The What Stage is the largest stage at Bonnaroo.  Massive is a good word to describe the sheer size of this monstrosity, but I use monstrosity in the mostly loving of ways.  The What Stage has played host to bands the likes of The Beastie Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Phish (a few times), Radiohead (a few times as well), Eminem, Arcade Fire, and the Rev. Al Green just to name a few.  I think the sprawl area for this stage is roughly equal to half of Centeroo (more or less), or basically the rest of Centeroo is almost as big as the What Stage area.

The Which Stage (in the distance)

THE WHICH STAGE:


The Which Stage is the second largest stage at 'Roo.  Much like the What Stage, the Which Stage doesn't open until Friday, but when it does, it hosts some large crowds and great bands.  Skrillex, Mumford & Sons, Buffalo Springfield, The Flaming Lips, 'Lil Wayne, Weezer, and Phoenix have all graced the stage at various points during 'Roo's history.  The Which Stage also has the distinction of being the largest stage open for late night shows, and the crowds bear witness to the need for a large stage like the Which to be open at night.

That Tent

THAT TENT:


The tents are probably where you're going to spend a lot of your time when you're attending shows at Bonnaroo.  The names can be a bit confusing sometimes, but you're gonna see some great shows on these stages nonetheless.  That Tent is the largest of the covered stage areas, when you enter Centeroo from the main arch, this will be the first tent you come to as you roam around the grounds.  I've seen Steve Martin, STS9, Flogging Molly, Pretty Lights, Fun., and Big Gigantic here over the last couple of years.

Who let that bear into The Other Tent?  

THE OTHER TENT: 

The Other Tent is tucked away into a corner, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.  The sprawl outside of the covered area of the tent has plenty of room for a crowd.  The stage area is kind of in a bowl so if you get too far out in the crowd it's impossible to see the stage even though you can hear it just fine.  If you venture back this way you can catch some really great shows, that generally have very manageable crowds.  Manchester Orchestra, Daryl Hall & Chromeo, OK Go, Sleigh Bells, and Trampled By Turtles are just a few of the acts at The Other Tent.

This Tent

THIS TENT: 


This Tent is in an interesting location because it's kind of a the central crossroads of Centeroo.  In the picture you can see part of the fountain to the right, and the sprawl from The Which Stage can push against the sprawl from This Tent from the left.  Despite all that though, This Tent holds its own for atmosphere and quality of show.  Umphrey's McGee, Alabama Shakes, Bassnectar, Matt & Kim, Girl Talk, Childish Gambino, Passion Pit, and Bon Iver have all taken their time in the spotlight at This Tent and have put on great shows in the process.


This Tent also had the honor of hosting the Super Jam curated by ?uestlove of the Roots.  Super Jam is where some of the most talented, famous, and legendary artists that are at 'Roo every year get together and, as the name suggests, jam.  I'm not sure who all was part of the Super Jam beyond ?uestlove and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers [CORRECTION - I was informed that Flea was not in fact part of the Super Jam...my apologies for the confusion], but it was a good show nonetheless.

Bear in mind that these aren't the only stages areas at Bonnaroo.  There's also the Sonic Stage, Solar Stage, Cafe Where, the Great Taste Lounge (sponsored by Miller Lite), and the Silent Disco.

The Solar Stage

Sometimes if you miss an artist at one of the larger stages you can catch them during a more intimate show on a smaller stage.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. played The Other Tent Thursday afternoon, and then put on a smaller show Friday afternoon on the Sonic Stage.  Sometimes (if you're lucky) the artists will make themselves available for autographs and high-fives after performing on one of the smaller stages.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. on the Sonic Stage

The Silent Disco is an amusing area to watch.  You can see people of all different shapes and sizes dancing away to a live DJ set, but you have no idea what they're dancing to.  As the name suggests, from the outside this dance area appears to be completely silent.  Those inside dancing are all wearing headphones, so they can hear the music, but you're left wondering how good the DJ really is.  It's a lot of fun to merely watch the crowd, let alone getting inside and dancing up a storm.   And if all that music isn't enough excitement for you, there's always the Cinema Tent and the Comedy Tent, where you can see movies, NBA finals games, and some of your favorite comedians such as Aziz Ansari, Conan O'Brien, Rob Riggle, and more.

And now, without further ado....the shows:


#1 Phish: 


This wasn't Phish's first rodeo, or even their first 'Roo, and you could tell once they took the stage.  As the Sunday night headliner Phish got the distinct privilege of closing the festival down.  Once their second set was done Sunday night Centeroo was closed for the first time in nearly 4 days.  As bittersweet as the end of the festival can be, this was definitely a set for the books.

Phish always travels with a crowd of fans.  If you know someone who's a Phish-head you know how dedicated they are at travelling.  If Phish was a college football team, they'd always get first bid for a bowl game because their fan base travels very well.  And if Phish fans love one thing about a Phish show, it's having a great time.  Dancing, glowsticks, lights, costumes, and music from their favorite band puts Phish's fans into a party frenzy that I'm not sure I've ever seen duplicated by another fan base.

The lights in the audience weren't the only lights happening either.  Usually when you think of the members of a band, you think of the guys/gals that sing and play the instruments.  Using that definition, Phish has 4 band members, but that's not the right number.  Ask a Phish fan how many members of the band there are and you'll probably hear them say 5.

Why 5?  Chris Kuroda is the lighting designer for Phish and his specialty is improvisation and syncing with the music.  When you're doing lights for a jam band like Phish those are good specialties to have.  He has designed what is probably the most intricate light show I've seen at a concert and it really adds to the overall ascetic of the show when the lights are going crazy.  If you don't believe me, check out the video to the right. Watch that and tell me those lights aren't impressive. 

During the first set of Phish's 4-hour time block, there was a large crowd on the right side of the crowd engaging in a glowstick war of epic proportions.  I watched for no less than five minutes of solid glowstick explosions happening in rapid-fire succession.  It was like watching the grand finale of a 4th of July fireworks display, except it was all plastic tubes of glowing light instead of incandescent chemicals.  For those not familiar with a glowstick war, it's taking a handful of lit glowsticks, and throwing them up in the air in cohesion with those around you.  It's a sight to behold and Phish shows have the best glowstick wars of any artist I've seen.

As if the crowd wasn't getting into the show enough as it was Phish had a surprise up their sleeve.  In the middle of Set 1 they brought Kenny Rogers onto the stage to sing "The Gambler".  I'm not a huge Kenny Rogers fan, but it was still a unique experience to see him on stage signing while Phish provided the backing track.  And as if to make the night a little more magical there was a drizzling of rain that threw the crowd into a rain-soaked frenzy of fun.

The second set of Phish was a little longer, and I actually missed the start of it because we had gone back to camp to do a little preliminary packing and recruit more people to come back in with us.  The most notable feature of the second set was the number of covers they did.  Over 1/2 of the songs performed in the second set were covers, and I can only assume part of that was in response to the fact it was a festival crowd, and not a completely Phish crowd.  For a festival closing show though, it had all the elements to be a legendary performance complete with full fireworks show when it was all done.  It kind of got me in the mood for the 4th of July.



#2 The Beach Boys:

Sunday was a busy day at 'Roo with the Fun., Ben Folds, Phish, The Shins, Bon Iver, and of course The Beach Boys. playing throughout the day.  The weather cooperated fairly well for the day as we were worried we'd get rained out of Bonnaroo the same way we did Wakarusa.  A couple of light sprinkles were all we saw until Phish, which was fine by me.  The overcast day was welcome as the sun was extremely oppressive during the day Saturday, and it kept temperatures cool.  Although it did make for a unique setting in which to see the Beach Boys.

Normally when you think of the Beach Boys you think of California, surfing, summer, sun, the beach, and fast hot rods, and all those things were present, if only in the lyrics and in spirit.  I was really excited for this show, because let's face it: everybody knows the Beach Boys and they've produced a lot of great hits.  Also factored into the equation is the fact that they're not getting any younger, and I might not get another chance to see them live.  When I was about 8 years old or so my favorite song was "Kokomo", so the kid in me was jumping for joy at the chance to see the Beach Boys.

You'd think with as old as the "Boys" are, they'd be hard pressed to rock a stage yet.  You'd be wrong in that assumption.  When you've got the catalogue of hits the Beach Boys do, and you've got a consumate performer and musical genius in Brian Wilson a bad show is borderline impossible.  Fans of all ages were compelled to sing along with favorites such as "Barbara Ann", "Good Vibrations", "California Girls", "Help Me, Rhonda", "409" and more.  Every time the group would end a song there was an anticipation that ran through the crowd about what would be played next.  That anticipation created an electric atmosphere that fueled the crowd's energy throughout the entire show.  By far one of the best shows I've seen live...EVER.


#3 Fun.:


As mentioned earlier, Sunday was a great day for music at Bonnaroo.  Fun. played That Tent right before Phish took the stage for their first set on Sunday.  With the crowd that was there, I think they probably could've played the Which Stage and the crowd still would've been a bit packed.  Personally I think Fun. was more deserving of a Which Stage set than Foster the People, because at least Fun. has a couple of albums out, and the lead singer Nate Ruess (formerly of the Format), has lots of experience playing shows.  But that's neither here nor there.  


One of my friends from work made the comment once that "Fun. is the Queen of our generation."  I'm not 100% in agreement with that statement, but I do feel that Fun. has the potential to be a very influential band.  "Some Nights" might be the the most complete album I've heard from a band since Cartel released "Chroma."  I was really excited to see/hear that Fun. sounds as good live as they do on the album, which isn't always the case with an alternative group.  


As the crowd shifted and morphed around me during the show everyone's focus was on making sure that they hadn't missed "We Are Young" which at that time most of them hadn't.  Personally I think that "Some Nights" is a better song, but pretty much every song on the album could be a hit.  I enjoyed the way the group played a nice balance between "Aim and Ignite" (their first album) and "Some Nights" with a few extra songs thrown in for good measure.  Altogether it was a great set, and I was a little sad I left the show just before it was over, but I had to get a good place for Phish, so it was a sacrifice that needed to be made.  That's the unique thing about festivals, is the sacrifices you make to see all the groups you want to see.  




#4 Radiohead:


Radiohead last visited Bonnaroo was in 2006 and it's been widely reviewed as one of Radiohead's most epic performances.  Even Thom Yorke has been quoted as saying that the 2006 'Roo performance was one of his personal favorites.  In 2006 Radiohead played something like a 4 hour set which was the longest of their tour at that point in time.  Bonnaroo fans were hoping for something as equally epic from Radiohead this time around.  


Whether Thom's decision or the festival's decision, Radiohead only played their allotted time.  Another interesting twist is that they didn't play the usual encore set that they've played at other shows on their tour.  My buddy saw Radiohead in Kansas City early this year and told me that they'd played a double encore at that show.  


Amazing light shows were the theme for the weekend on the Farm.  At least they were if you were on the What Stage as a headliner.  Phish is obviously known for their light show, but Radiohead?  Yep.  Radiohead.  Radiohead easily had the second best light show at Bonnaroo this year.  


Strung from the top of the stage were 6 LCD or plasma panel screens that added a wrinkle to the normal stage lights you'd see.  What was really cool about these screens was that they weren't locked into place.  They would rise, fall, and spin to add depth to the show, and just basically amaze anyone watching them from the crowd.  While I wasn't actually in Centeroo for the Radiohead show (we were grabbing food and drink back at camp to fuel up for the late night performances) I can say that the lights were still amazing, and the performance put on by Radiohead was the kind of marquee performance you'd expect from a group like Radiohead.  




#5 Skrillex:


Whether you're into dubstep or not you have to hand it to a DJ like Skrillex.  Watching the man perform live is a thing of beauty.  He's got something like 4 turntables in front of him and he's up there rocking the crowd by syncing all the sounds together.  I was impressed at the very least.  


The lights were fairly routine, and what you'd expect from a DJ set.  That said, I did enjoy some of the dancing graphics that he had on the screens behind him.  At one point during some of the bigger drops he had a Godzilla like lizard dancing around and it just seemed to fit the music perfectly.  You probably had to be there to fully understand it.  


The crowd was really into the show, which was awesome given the threat of rain Saturday night.  It did sprinkle a bit, but it even lighter than the rains Sunday afternoon.  I think the rain made for denser air, or cooler air because the flying lanterns that normally get set off during a show like that were having problems getting going.  


One lantern floated a mere 3 ft. above my head even though it came from 20 yards in front of me.  Unfortunately, that lantern ended up crashing and didn't get off the ground.  One of our group went and tried to resurrect the fallen light, but it had a huge tear in the side, so after stomping the flame out, he kept the lantern for memories.  


While he was attending to the fallen lantern, another one wafted lazily over our heads right toward a tree.  I was certain that it was going to crash, and the tree was going to start on fire, but a small Bonnaroo miracle happened: the lantern caught a great up-draft and floated about 20-30ft. straight up in the air and managed to avoid the tree.  As the lantern looped slightly to it's left it began to fly toward another tree, and then casually listed the right and floated off into the distance.  




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Honorable Mentions: 


I can't think of another show that stands out more than the rest to put a #6 on the list.  There was a lot of great music, and if I've learned anything over the last 4 years of Bonnaroo weekends it's that there's too much great music to really be able to see it all.  And the performers that show up on the Farm for that weekend in June put their all into their performances because they truly love the fans that brave the sun, heat, and dust to listen to their favorite artists jam some good tunes.  


Here's a list of shows that impressed me, even if they didn't necessarily stand out as "special":
-The Roots (good show, but it's expected)
-Tune Yards
-Flogging Molly
-Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 
-The Shins
-Ben Folds 
-Punch Brothers
-Rodrigo y Gabriella and C.U.B.A


Here's some shows that I didn't get to see, but I was told were solid performances, so if you get a chance, check these artists out live as well: 
-Foster the People
-Little Dragons
-Feist
-Ludacris 
-Santigold
-Childish Gambino
-Grouplove


Someone I'm sure will be quick to point out that RHCP isn't on my list of great shows.  It's not that I'm biased against RHCP, I'm just not a huge fan.  Yes they've made some great music over the last 20 years and I'm sure they've got some more left in them, but they're not a group I'm going to get overly excited to see at this point in my life.  I may regret that decision later in life, but part of the festival experience is picking and choosing who you see, and when you see them.  It's my choice, and I'm stuck with it now, so let's leave it at that.  


So that's the story of Bonnaroo 2012.  At least from my perspective.  Summer's still going strong, and while there are no more major festivals on my radar there are plenty of shows still to be seen.  I'll be tagging along to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin the last weekend in June to see Phish again on their summer tour.  The weekend after that will be Des Moines' own 80/35 Music Festival, and there will be some great shows at the Iowa State Fair as well.  I'm also sure I'll be catching lots of music all over the Des Moines area this summer at various venues so stay tuned for updates and reviews as I get around to seeing those shows.  


*BONUS BONUS BONUS*


Bonnaroo is so popular that you stumble across the occasional celebrity taking in the sights and sounds of the festival.  Last year Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin' from "Superbad") was spotted in the crowd, and I've heard of other celebrities stopping by and hanging out with the crowds.  I've never been lucky enough to see a celebrity in the crowd....until this year.  So who is this mystery celebrity that I got to bump elbows with?

I'll give you a few clues:
-Pop star
-Canadian
-You'll get a fever

Give up?  Scroll down for a picture of the mystery celebrity:





















It's.....JUSTIN BIEBER

Baby, oh, baby....It's Justin Bieber !