Greetings from Camp 69 at Bonnaroo (06.17.2006 - 12:35 AM)

Greetings from Camp 69 at Bonnaroo. The first full day of music kicked off today and boasted the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, G. Love & Special Sauce, Robert Randolph, Seu Jorge and Ben Folds… none of which I made it to. The problem is that there are too many damn bands here. It is a really big problem. I mean today I had to make the decision between Death Cab, Robert Randolph and Oysterhead (and the winner is Oysterhead by a country mile), tomorrow I have to decide between Beck, Blues Traveler, Les Claypool and Medeski Martin & Wood (not to mention a showing of "Eight Legged Freaks" at the Bonnaroo theater). C'mon Bonnaroo, I want to have my cake and eat it too. I guess the up side is that no two people end up having the same experience so the late night roundtable discussions are a little more interesting.\nThe Best concert of the day was by far Oysterhead. If you are unfamiliar with Oysterhead, it is a supergroup of sorts consisting of the guitarist from Phish (Trey Anastasio), the Bassist from Primus (Les Claypool) and the Drummer from the Police (Stewart Copeland). They put on an incredible show worthy which is not surprising given the astonishing level of talent each band member possesses. My only problem with the show was the lack of new material. The only song they played that wasn't on their first (and only) album was what was undoubtedly the weirdest version of Jailhouse Rock ever preformed, with Les Claypool on what was essentially a mechanical gut bucket, and Trey Anastasio playing a guitar which he somehow controlled by hitting and turning the set of antlers that were mounted on it.\nSecond place goes to Andrew Bird who used Keller Williams-esque sound loops to rock "That Tent." I will have to save my tirade about the idiotic stage names for another time as seven straight hours of dancing in the hot Tennessee sun has left me exhausted and I would like to get in a cat nap before Tom Petty's Concert tonight.