By Jon Stone

I’m home, happy, with lungs full of dust. My sophomore year at Bonnaroo was fantastic. I saw the inside of the comedy tent, screened a film, met a couple rock stars and had my face melted by Deervana. What a weekend.

Here’s a quick report from my last day on the farm:

My general goal for Sunday was to catch as much music as possible so I walked all over the grounds to spend a few songs each with Smith Westerns, Ryan Bingham and Dead Horses, and Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea. I dug the latter two acts and would see them again, but after seeing Smith Westerns twice now, I have a really hard time thinking of them as anything more than an indie-rock Silverchair. I know I’m in the minority here. I just don’t get it.

I was genuinely surprised by the band The Head and the Heart whom I only decided to see after encouragement from a fellow music blogger, Philip from 130 BPM. I’d heard the buzz about this band but somehow misplaced them in my mind genre-wise. I’m so glad I checked them out.  The Head and the Heart are a mostly-acoustic band in the same vernacular as The Low Anthem (if slightly more poppy) and The Rural Alberta Advantage. So, yeah, I dug.

Mavis Staples quipped during her set that listening to her sing would be the closest any of us got to church at Bonnaroo. And it’s true, but what’s amazing about Mavis’s brand of gospel music is that when she sings about the going home to glory, I want to go with her. And on Sunday for about a half an hour, I did. I love her so much.

José González’s band Junip is proof positive that the guitar drone that made him famous over the last several years has electronic parentage. I got caught in the slipstream somewhere between González hypnotic voice and the heavy bass and electric piano and didn’t come up for air for 50 minutes.

Iron & Wine closed things out for me this year. I’ve seen Sam Beam play several times as a solo acoustic act and so the ten additional musicians on the Which stage was quite the change-up. The band was stacked with a three-piece brass section, pianist, two female back-up singers along with the traditional rhythm section. They played re-imagined versions of tunes spanning Beam’s catalog. These revisions were a gutsy and polarizing move as the songs being performed were not the Iron & Wine that fans fell in love with (Beam favored an electric guitar most of the evening, for example). But I’ve seen that acoustic show. Bonnaroo’s audience has likely heard that acoustic act. So this go around, it was fun to watch Beam and his big ol’ band let loose. Was it a little strange at times? Sure – “House By the Sea” had a full-on Caribbean vibe going. But the ten-minute “Fever Dream” was downright gorgeous and even though “Lovesong of The Buzzard” sounded a little as though the Preservation Hall Jazz band had joined in (they hadn’t), I was swept away.

Swept away home.

By Jon Stone

I’m very happy to be back in Manchester for the tenth anniversary of Bonnaroo. After a few years and attending at least six different summer festivals, there is safety in saying that Bonnaroo is a unique experience. There is a vibe here in Tennessee and a kind of instant community that is unparalleled at other fests, remarkable mainly because of the wide diversity of the attendees. Everyone is here and, for the most part, everyone is cool to each other.

A few things changed this year related to the infamous wait to get in. Last year, I waited 11 hours in traffic — all in the heat of an non-air conditioned car. It was horrible. This year, they opened the farm on Wednesday night — a great move on the part of the festival management for a dozen reasons, but mostly because it eased and spaced out the entrance wait-time, allowed folks that were waiting to do so out of the sun, and gave camp-site vendors an extra 12 hours or so to do business. (Oh, and I got in in an hour. Phew.)

The only draw-back to this change is the lag time that it creates for Thursday. The first main-act bands didn’t start until 4 PM creating a long, hot wait for stuff to get going. Not a problem for most, but I couldn’t wait for the music to start up.

Hayes Carll. It did in a big way with alt-country act Hayes Carll. His new record KMAG YOYO is high on my list of favorites this year. Carll leans in the direction of a “classic” country sound but the dude’s lyrical prowess and his spot-on band will stop you in your boots. The record’s title track (translated “Kiss my ass guys, you’re on your own”) is the best example of this and was one of the strongest during Thursday’s performance. Also amazing was “Another Like You” which, on the record, is duet with Cary Ann Hearst (whom I love). Carll sang both parts during his set and said that the song was a comment on how little the things that supposedly divide us really should (politics, religion, etc.). “All you need,” he said “is a little physical attraction and some liquor and you’ll find that people have a lot more in common than they let on.” That comment couldn’t sum up the spirit of Bonnaroo any better. It was a great way to start.

Phosphorescent. One of the tricks I’ve picked up on going to festivals is to be on the lookout for off-schedule promotional performances. Companies often will feature bands to get you to come in and check out whatever it is that they are hocking. It feels a little corporate, but it creates opportunities to see bands in intimate settings not-otherwise possible at a festival of this magnitude. This year, I lucked out and saw Phosphorescent play a sweet, if slightly messy, set in the Ford Focus tent. Messy only because the band seemed to be working out equipment issues incurred from their red-eye from London the previous night (“every single piece of equipment we own got broken on the flight” Matthew Houck quipped halfway through the performance). It was still amazing. They opened with a cover of Radiohead’s “House of Cards” and basically just took requests for the duration of the hour they were on stage: “Nothing was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)”, “Mermaid Parade”, “Not a Heel”. Awesome.

Henry Rollins. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see one of the icons of my youth. Rollin’s work in Black Flag and then as a solo artist is, deservedly, the stuff of legend. It was odd, I thought, that he was billed as a comedy act, as those familiar with his spoken-word career will know that’s not really what he’s about. Lots of the folks we waited in line with didn’t really know who he was and were there for the air-conditioned comedy. I think they were disappointed. And even though I had a better idea of what to expect, I was too. Rollins’s show is interesting to the extent that he can transform the experience of being Henry Rollins into engaging oratory, but it gets awkward when that narrative moves from “I was a rock star now I’m a globe-trotting humanitarian” (which is interesting) to pseudo-intellectual motivational speaker territory (which is where it went). The problem with Rollins as a motivation speaker is that his main point is — “look at all these awesome things I’ve done and thought, you should be and think like me”. You’re Henry Rollins, man. Nobody can do what you do (well, except for that George Bush impression. I got that).

The David Mayfield Parade. I finished off the first night with David Mayfield and his band. What a treat. The Parade isn’t the tightest country-folk act in town, but wow are they charming. Mayfield has a southern-gentleman wit that makes not just the music, but the between song-banter a pleasure. The set included several songs from the band’s new record (aptly titled “The David Mayfield Parade”) and a sweet old-time duet with his sister Jessica Lea who is here with her band as well.

I made several other walk-bys. Best Coast, Band of Skulls, and Deerhunter all sounded pretty sweet in the few songs that I heard — Deerhunter especially. Looking forward to catching them at a smaller club sometime soon.

I’ll be back tomorrow for Friday’s update. Lots of amazing bands playing today.

By Jon Stone

I’m driving out to Bonnaroo on Wednesday to participate again in the great outdoor music fesitval paradox. I mean, of course, the incredible experience of seeing band after band that you love paired with hour after hour of high temperatures, humidity, sun exposure and standing fatigue.  I’ve packed my sunscreen though, as well as a nice wide-rimmed hat, and am even growing a little hipster mustache so as to fit in with the natives. All in all, I’m really excited to be in Tennessee with my brother for the weekend and have here a list of my most anticipated acts. I’m still looking for recommendations, though, so feel free to chime in with the bands that I should give my attention to.

Headliners:
My Morning Jacket tops my list here as I’ve never seen them live before (tragedy, right?) but I’m also excited to see the reunited Buffalo Springfield. I Really hope that one lives up to the hype, but it will be a pleasure to see Neil Young — oh, ok, and you too Steven Stills and Richie Furay. Additionally, I’m excited to see Iron & Wine, Ray LaMontangne, the Decemberists, and of course, a little band called Arcade Fire.

Roots music:
If you’re familiar with my grass|roots series, it won’t surprise you to hear that I’m most looking forward to roots and bluegrass artists. We will be just outside of Nashville, after all. The shows always feel a little more intimate and real. This year’s acoustic music offering is going to be amazing: I’m planning on seeing Old Crow Medicine Show, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Justin Townes Earle, Abigail Washburn, and Ben Sollee, among others.

Smaller acts:
Among those others is a little band called Mathew and the Atlas — an English acoustic band that will be touring with Mumford & Sons. They play during the first half of Eminem’s set, which is just fine with me. I’m also going to try to check out The David Mayfield Parade, Hayes Carle, Freelance Whales, and the not-so-small (as far as acts go) Sharon Van Etten (blast the conflict with Jessica Lea Mayfield, though!), Best Coast (who, judging from some late-night performances I’ve heard, is a lot more interesting live), and Phosphorescent.

As usual, conflicts abound. I’m hoping to get an earful of Dr. John and Bootsy Collins, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and others if I can steal away from competing agendas. I’m also going to do my best to see Henry Rollins’s spoken word/comedy act. He had a little spoken-word piece in the 90s that is the stuff of legend: “And I’ll tell you things you already know, so you can say: ‘I really identify with you, so much.’”

Are you going to Bonnaroo this year? What am I missing? Drop a comment with your most anticipated acts and I’ll do my best to check them out. As possible, I’ll be posting daily updates and tweets from the festival. Follow me on twitter at @jwstone and I’ll see you there!

One of the albums I’m most excited about this year is tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l, which arrives April 19th on 4AD. If the track “Bizness” is any indication of what the rest of the record holds, we’re in for a beauty.
MP3: tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”

Deerhunter have released an 8 track iTunes Live Session, entitled Live From Soho yesterday. It was an easy buy at $3.99. “The session was recorded late last September at the Apple Store in Soho, NYC and features back catalogue tracks as well as versions of several songs taken from latest album, Halcyon Digest.” Listen to ‘Desire Lines’ at Pitchfork.

Strand of Oaks has released demos/outtakes from Pope Killdragon. You can stream and download the entire collection here.

Timber Timbre’s back with a new album, Creep On Creepin’ On from which they’re sharing a stream of the the debut single, “Black Water.”

The Felice Brothers have signed to Fat Possum Records, who will release the band’s new album this spring. The Felice Brothers are touring significantly in the coming months.

Bonnaroo announced its line-up yesterday.

NPR has the first listen of Julianna Barwick’s album, The Magic Place.

I’m heading to the High Noon Saloon in Madison tonight for the Deerhoof show. It’s been a good number of years since I’ve seen the band live. AV Club Madison chats with drummer Greg Saunier. We interviewed guitarist Ed Rodriguez last week.

We’re presenting a top-notch showcase at Linneman’s in Milwaukee on Saturday, February 19th with performances by Icarus Himself, Sat. Nite Duets and Surgeons In Heat. Music starts at 9PM and $6 gets you in the door.

Update: Volcano Choir is playing Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee on Saturday, March 26th.

We’re going to be bouncing around Milwaukee venues on Saturday night. In addition to the Kneel to Neil benefit at Linneman’s, we’re also looking forward to checking out the bands at Bay View Brewhaus. Headlining the bill is Conrad Plymouth whose self-titled ep was released on our vinyl label, Ten Atoms. Copies are running thin, so place your order today if you haven’t already. If you’re thinking about heading out on Saturday night, get there early to check out Clean Hands.

Elsewhere:

Daytrotter released a session with Futurebirds who play two shows tonight in Milwaukeee. First is a free Happy Hour Session at Burnhearts before their official gig at Cactus Club.

Daytrotter also drops an excellent session with Secretly Canadian’s Suuns. We’ve been enjoying their new record, Zeroes QC quite a bit these days. Here’s hoping they tour through the Midwest next year!
MP3: Suuns – “Arena”
MP3: Suuns – “Up Past the Nursery”

The Felice Brothers perform NPR’s Mountain Stage.

The Washinton Post reviews and offers some amazing photos of Grinderman’s stop at the 9:30 Club in DC. I really want/need to spend more time with Grinderman 2 before the end of the year.

One of the best shows I saw all year was Jónsi at the Pabst Theater. You can now listen to Jónsi In Concert From Washington, D.C.

Bonnaroo announced its 2011 dates: June 9th – 12th

A bunch of prominent indie labels (Domino, Merge and Beggars) leave eMusic today. Merge gives their reasons.

Portland’s Loch Lomond will release their new album Little Me Will Start a Storm on February 22nd, 2011. You can download the track “Elephants & Little Girls” below:
MP3: Loch Lomond – “Elephants & Little Girls”

Good friends have had great things to say about Raleigh’s Veelee. Go here to download an mp3 of “When You Gonna Come Home” from their forthcoming album, The Future Sight.

Watch Pavement’s entire set at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival

By Jon Stone

As promised, I’m back for one more Bonnaroo related post. Looking back on the my previous recaps and comparing them with other Bonnaroo related stuff from around the web, it looks as though more textual information probably isn’t required. So I’ll leave you, instead, with this collection of my snapshots and a video that captures more the excitement of a moment than it does display any shred of cinematographic talent (or a quality recording device, for that matter). Check out the Avett Brother’s doing “Laundry Room” at their special Chase Freedom lounge performance (and the setlist) below.

Oh! — there is one last thing. I failed to mention seeing a set from Lissie late on Saturday night. I think she’s gonna be big. She has a huge voice — a Bonnie Raitt to Brandi Carlile’s Melissa Etheridge — and plays a mean (and loud) guitar. She’s touring the UK right now, and her album will drop there before we get it, but her performance now has me looking forward to that date, whenever it is.