Posted on Friday 10 June 2011
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.