Sunday, June 13, 2010
It's was hot, just damn hot, and that's all you can say about it this year at Bonnaroo. The heat was relentless and people were finding any way they could to cool off (photo below was taken at the Bonnaroo "Beach"). We were certainly ready to finish up our last day at Bonnaroo 2010 and get back home to some air-conditioning. We got to the Sonic Stage very early so we could grab some of the few shady spots available and awaited a set by Truth & Salvage Company. While it's a newly formed group, the members are all veteran musicians who have come together to create some great laid-back California rock with some great four-part harmonies similar to The Eagles.
Afterwards we trudged over to The Other Tent to catch Ingrid Michaelson. A huge crowd had already gathered by the time she took the stage (photo above) and we had to endure the sun since all the shade was taken. She surprised us with her energy, witty banter and great vocals which helped get your mind off the searing heat. We are definitely adding her to the "We Would Pay Money to See You Again" List. The crowd dissipated after her set and we were able to slip under a nearby tree with a slight view of the stage and await balladeer, Martin Sexton, to play next. Martin is a long-time veteran of the folk rock genre with a style similar to Van Morrison. His signature song "Black Sheep" is an amazing piece of music.
We moved inside The Other Tent next for Blues Traveler and got fairly close to the stage, but the rather irritating facts that it was stifling hot under the structure with no air moving, and that lead singer/harmonica legend, John Popper, didn't seem really into the show with his long pauses to take a drink and smoke a cigarette during songs made us quickly decide to seek entertainment elsewhere. Our only real musical disappointment of the festival so far. What a shame because we were looking forward to seeing them and have been fans for a long time. We ambled over to the nearby This Tent and found some much-needed shade under a tree near the front of the structure and listened to a little of Against Me!. These guys are a little raucous for our taste and they weren't on our "must-see/listen" list, but at least they were showing more enthusiasm and energy than "Snooze Traveler." Now we probably know why those guys have fallen off the face of the map in the last ten years or so.
For the first time that we can recall at Bonnaroo there was chanting by fans a half-hour before the next band even took to the stage. They were awaiting the Dropkick Murphys, a legendary band from Boston who take their Irish heritage very seriously and incorporate traditional music from the homeland in their songs with the amps turned up to about 11 (see the photo below of the strange combination of bagpipes and big-ass Marshall amps). They started gaining national notoriety a few years back when Martin Scorsese used their signature song, "Shipping Up to Boston" in his Academy-Award-winning best picture, "The Departed." Now while their musicianship and vocals aren't superlative, they make up for it in energy and bravado. This was a wild crowd for a hot, steamy afternoon with loud sing-alongs, high bouncing up and down, and lots of crowd-surfing. People were coming out of the center of the thick crowds drenched in sweat and probably close to the point of collapse only after a couple of songs.
It was an entertaining site on all accounts.
We finished the festival with a half-hour set by a solid, newish band that we saw last year here that we really liked called Everest back at the small Troo Music Stage. We caught a song or two by Phoenix on the Which Stage as we made our way over to the main What Stage to catch about 45 minutes or so of the Dave Matthews Band as they closed Bonnaroo 2010.
Unlike our troubles getting into the festival, it was a breeze getting out and we were home by midnight. It was a really bittersweet festival this year for us with some definite highs (no pot-head pun intended here, sorry) and lows, but in the end well worth all the effort and struggle. Next year is the festival's 10th anniversary and we are hoping for some big things for it, so we can hopefully do it all over again next summer.
We moved inside The Other Tent next for Blues Traveler and got fairly close to the stage, but the rather irritating facts that it was stifling hot under the structure with no air moving, and that lead singer/harmonica legend, John Popper, didn't seem really into the show with his long pauses to take a drink and smoke a cigarette during songs made us quickly decide to seek entertainment elsewhere. Our only real musical disappointment of the festival so far. What a shame because we were looking forward to seeing them and have been fans for a long time. We ambled over to the nearby This Tent and found some much-needed shade under a tree near the front of the structure and listened to a little of Against Me!. These guys are a little raucous for our taste and they weren't on our "must-see/listen" list, but at least they were showing more enthusiasm and energy than "Snooze Traveler." Now we probably know why those guys have fallen off the face of the map in the last ten years or so.
For the first time that we can recall at Bonnaroo there was chanting by fans a half-hour before the next band even took to the stage. They were awaiting the Dropkick Murphys, a legendary band from Boston who take their Irish heritage very seriously and incorporate traditional music from the homeland in their songs with the amps turned up to about 11 (see the photo below of the strange combination of bagpipes and big-ass Marshall amps). They started gaining national notoriety a few years back when Martin Scorsese used their signature song, "Shipping Up to Boston" in his Academy-Award-winning best picture, "The Departed." Now while their musicianship and vocals aren't superlative, they make up for it in energy and bravado. This was a wild crowd for a hot, steamy afternoon with loud sing-alongs, high bouncing up and down, and lots of crowd-surfing. People were coming out of the center of the thick crowds drenched in sweat and probably close to the point of collapse only after a couple of songs.
It was an entertaining site on all accounts.
We finished the festival with a half-hour set by a solid, newish band that we saw last year here that we really liked called Everest back at the small Troo Music Stage. We caught a song or two by Phoenix on the Which Stage as we made our way over to the main What Stage to catch about 45 minutes or so of the Dave Matthews Band as they closed Bonnaroo 2010.
Unlike our troubles getting into the festival, it was a breeze getting out and we were home by midnight. It was a really bittersweet festival this year for us with some definite highs (no pot-head pun intended here, sorry) and lows, but in the end well worth all the effort and struggle. Next year is the festival's 10th anniversary and we are hoping for some big things for it, so we can hopefully do it all over again next summer. 
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