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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Bonnaroo scene report #2
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alejandro Escovedo had never heard of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog before today’s press conference with the Robert Smigel puppet, plus Tift Merritt and Elvis Perkins. Escovedo’s now a fan. Some Triumph highlights:
“This place has more stages than syphilis.”
“I saw alot of underarm hair at the Ani DiFranco set. I thought one woman had a Yorkie in a headlock.”
“On Monday this place will smell better… when it goes back to being a hog farm.”
Host Andy Langer said to Escovedo and Perkins, “Did you ever think you’d be on a panel with a dog?” to which Triumph exploded, “Tift Merritt is a very beautiful woman! How dare you?”
*”Jimmy Buffett is here? This place really is eco-friendly. There’s nothing like recycled music.”
*”Phish broke up five years ago, They could’ve played three songs in that time. The original script of the Gettysburg Address was ‘Four Phish songs and seven years ago.’”
“Is there anything that Phish fans can’t make out of hemp- besides deodorant?”
“So many Bruce Springsteen fans have come from New Jersey. You can tell because of the smell of weed mixed with Axe body spray.”
“It’s a different time. At Woodstock three babies were born. Here three babies were traded for a case of Dasani and a meat pie.”
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Bonnaroo scene report #1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The big buzz Friday night at Bonnaroo- Tennessee’s much muddier, trashier, druggier version of ACL Fest- was that Nas came out and did a new song with the Beastie Boys called “Too Many Rappers.” I missed it. Missed it because the Beasties- who are the Pearl Jam of hip hop because their irrelevance hasn’t hurt their concert draw - were pretty lame in the first half hour and I couldn’t see it getting any better. Loved the energy, but you know an act’s not special when the audience is the best part of their show.
DJ Mix Master Mike opened the set with some turntable trickery on Led Zep’s “Misty Mountain Hop,” then the whiny trio came out with instruments strapped and played a punk song called “Time For Livin’, as the young crowd went intergalactic. But after about twenty minutes, with a walkthrough of “Sure Shot” and inferior takes on “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” and “Shake Your Rump,” it was time to ditch these frauds for some real musicians, David Byrne and his band on the other main stage.
The thing about music in a field is that you want to know every song and the man in white delivered with Talking Heads classics such as “Born Under Punches,” “Life During Wartime” and “Once In a Lifetime.” Could’ve done without the cheesy aerobic dancers, but Byrne and band certainly kicked it hard. “This ain’t no party/ this ain’t no disco” never rang truer than in this setting of mud-paddies and sunburned zombies.
Best thing I saw all day was Al Green’s set before the Beastie Bores. “I know what you’re all thinking,” the legend said at one point. “Does Al still got it? Can he lay it down like he used to?” Then Green held a bending falsetto note for about 10 seconds on “Tired Of Being Alone.” This set, accented by a pair of wild dancers, five backup singers, a full horn section and dozens of roses thrown to the audience, was much better than Green’s set at ACL a couple years ago. Even a cheesy Stax/ Motown medley that touched on the Four Tops, Otis Redding, the Temptations and Green’s idol Sam Cooke, didn’t slow down the soul train a comin.’ He’s a Tennessee stud and he brought it all home.
Meanwhile, in the press tent, KGSR’s Andy Langer, who’s been moderating panels at Bonnaroo for three years, stoked up some controversy when he led alleged comedian Janeane Garofalo into some unexpected Obama-bashing. Today, Langer’s got a panel with Triumph the Insult Dog and Alejandro Escovedo. I can hear it now: “Your brothers were in Santana; what happened to you, man?”
Other Austin acts playing the biggest annual U.S. festival include Okkervil River, Belleville Outfit, Heartless Bastards and Dan Dyer.
There are a lot of huge differences between Bonnaroo and ACL: there’s no Ferris Wheel, for instance, at Zilker Park. And the garbage on this 700-acre farm near Manchester (about an hour drive from Nashville) littered the chilling fields for much of the day. But the main diff is the air of decadence at Bonnaroo that makes ACL come off like a family affair. Instead of a kiddie stage, there’s a ribald comedy tent at Bonnaroo. And full body painting is everywhere.
I guess this is what would happen if the hundreds of acres in Zilker Park not used to ACL Fest were set aside for campers. Something else we, thankfully, don’t see: festgoers walking around holding rolls of toilet paper.
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