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Bonnaroo
June 14, 2009
Bonnaroo scene report #5: Okkervil kills!
“We are from the state of Texas and the city of Austin,” Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff announced near the end of an astonishing set that did our burg proud. “Lost Coastlines,” with an extended banjo intro by Lauren Gurgiolo, had the crowd of about 2,000 clapping their hands over their heads, and the closing couplet of “Our Life Is Not a Movie” and “Unless Its Kicks” caused waves of delirium.
Sheff has developed quite a flair for dramatic pause and effect, with “A Girl In Port” building to a climax and “John Allyn Smith Sails” delivering mightily on the seque to “Sloop John B,” which Sheff sang like this is the last show of a tour. The crowd sang back parts of “For Real” as Sheff rocked out on his acoustic.
But Sheff and his Arcade Fire-like band of multi-instrumentalists were just as dynamic on quieter moments, creating grandiocity without big strokes. Sheff dropped imaginary walls and curtains around the confusingly-named “Other Tent” (as opposed to “This Tent” and “That Tent”) on a solo acoustic “A Stone.” As Sheff sang “You love a stone/ You love white veins/ you love hard grey/ the heaviest weight/ the clumsiest shape/ the earthiest smell/ the hollowest tone” the rest of the fest was drowned out by the boldly naked moment.
Among the other highlights was “Westfall,” from the first record, which moved back and forth between “Paint It Black” by the Stones.
Pure and simple, Okkervil River destroyed on the last afternoon of Bonnaroo. Their fans sang every word, the passersby stopped passing.
Talking to Sheff after the set, he said the band was nervous, yet energized, by the presence of Bruce Springsteen at stage right for the entire 90 minutes. “The Boss” complimented the Okkervillians and hung out with them for awhile. “He told us how much he’s been enjoying touring these days,” said Sheff, “because there’s only so much time.” Springsteen was later spotted taking in Neko Case’s set.
(Ed. note: Springsteen also joined final night headliner Phish on stage for performances of Mack Rice’s “Mustang Sally” and his own tunes “Bobby Jean” and “Glory Days.”)
Okkervil River tapes “Austin City Limits” for the first time Thursday. Then they’ll go into the studio to make an album with Roky Erickson.
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Bonnaroo scene report #4
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It’s probably hard to freak out producer Don Was, but when Robert Earl Keen opened his set Sunday with an amazing version of “White Room” by Cream, Was had to make sure he wasn’t hearing things.
Was had just played a set on bass with Todd Snider that was alternately hilarious, tender, angry and sane. With just Snider’s acoustic guitar and Was’ standup bass, the duo had every hand in the air at “This Tent” during “Stuck On the Corner,” with it’s “Hell, Yeah” crowd response.
Snider did some new songs from the album “The Excitement Plan,” with a tune about Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter on LSD in 1970 resonating especially.
Keen joined Snider on the latter’s “Corpus Christi Bay,” which is on Snider’s new album. It’s a song about giving into the elements, which seemed well-placed on this final day of the country’s biggest, craziest music fest.
Right now, Erykah Badu is making it hard to write, not just because the bass is making my laptop vibrate. Sounds like she’s really fired up- and so is the crowd- so let’s see if I can get some of that.
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Bonnaroo scene report #3
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hate when they change the rules about where you can and can’t go. Now already I know I’m coming off as a snob, because, well I am when it comes to big outdoor festivals. After 34 years of reviewing shows, I just can’t do the sun-stroked behemoth without some sort of special access and at Bonnaroo they have this cool deal where they vacate the first 50 yards in front of the main stage after each set and then let diehards line up for a place in the pit. With the kind of pass I had, I was able to join the action up front for Al Green and the Beastie Boys.
But before Saturday evening’s Wilco set, that was off: no artist badges allowed up front. The word was that reps for Bruce Springsteen, who came on next, wanted to clear the area of S.I.P’s (sorta important people). Wilco came out rocking, but not enough to move me from the next county, so I went back to Gov’t Mule at the other main stage. The Mule was on some weird cover mission, like maybe they’d lost a bet with Phish and had to play such worn tunes as “Helter Skelter,” “Creep” by Radiohead and Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” It was an experiment that worked for awhile.
Saturday morning I dropped my laptop on my bare foot and my big toe was as black and swollen as Kanye’s ego, so I called it a day early and drove back to Nashville. I thought I was done with the ‘roo, but on Sunday my big ‘un made a remarkable recovery and I was back on I-24, headed 66 miles to Manchester, Tenn.
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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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