Music, mud and glowsticks

June 10
The Day We Missed Neon Indian

Our arrival at Bonnaroo was finally completed after a modest 10-hour car wait. My friends Wells and Babcock were in the van with me, while Fish and Jamie were a few hours behind us. We got the tents put up fairly quickly, but alas, we didn’t  make it to Neon Indian, a band we really wanted to see that night.

Immediately after getting settled in we walked over to Centeroo, which meant having to pass more head shops than I’ve ever seen in a lifetime and a raunchy combination of aromas reserved specially for festivals and fairs.

Once inside, we headed over to That Tent and caught our first set from The Temper Trap. I had just been exposed to them on the drive down and really enjoyed their
album. Live, however, the group surpassed all of my expectations.

“What’s up, Bonna-fuckin’-roo?” lead singer Dougy Mandagi boldly inquired after the band’s leadoff track blew up. Mandagi was a perfect combination of raw energy and unpolished performance, giving him an impressively organic swagger. For my money, this group’s performance was better than the show I had been most excited to see that evening, The xx.

The xx was more than solid, no doubt about that. The duo sounded great, but for a late-night show, it didn’t quite have the lights one might expect. What might have been the larger issue, though, is that I had been awake for 42 straight hours and almost fell asleep standing up during the encore.
 
June 11
The Day James Murphy Got Hit With Glowsticks

If you like waking up at 7:30 a.m. in a pool of your own sweat, Bonnaroo is most definitely something you should consider. We were lucky enough to be subject to such a wakeup on Friday, our first full day at the festival.

The first show we hit was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Our (very) late arrival displaced us to the back, but we were still able to catch a rousing edition of “Home” for the finale, the only song I really cared about hearing.

We then headed over to The National, where we were all pleasantly surprised at the energy of the show. Fish had seen the group at Lollapalooza in 2008 and said he was unimpressed. But lead singer Matt Berninger ensured, at least for our sake, that this would not be a repeat of that. He was as much a rock star as a hipster, and his low croon was versatile in tone and commanding in sound.

Our plan for the night was to rest during Kings of Leon and head out later to see Chromeo and Daryl Hall, followed by LCD Soundsystem. Unfortunately for us, the Chromeo show was more Daryl Hall featuring Chromeo than it was the other way around. Though still a lot of fun and good performance, it wasn’t what we were looking for, and we headed to Bassnectar after about half an hour.

Bassnectar was great, as would be expected, with tremendous vivacity from all the fans turning This Tent into your basic rave facility. At the conclusion, though, the push was on to get close for one of the greatest bands of our generation, LCD Soundsystem.

Fish, Jamie, Babcock and I ended up locating ourselves about four bodies and 10 yards from the stage and frontman James Murphy. The group opened with “Us V Them” and soon after broke into “Drunk Girls,” their liveliest number of the show.

Unfortunately, some fools relentlessly pelted Murphy with glowsticks, causing him to make several comments that reflected both displeasure and, eventually, his lack of desire to be on stage. The group walked off at the conclusion and declined an encore, unheard of for a late-night show.
 

June 12
The Day I Lost My Phone

Saturday might have been the hottest of all days, but that’s hard to say because the heat index was over 100 every day. Regardless, it was our latest start due to both the heat and the lack of good shows during the afternoon.

I was able to watch some of the USA vs. England World Cup game before catching a nap in the shade. Eventually I headed over to see The Dead Weather for my first show of the day.

Jack White certainly found some creative ways to get into the show from the drum set and appeared to enjoy his own performance as much as anyone in the audience. The pulse of the crowd seemed a little off for that show.

Perhaps the festival’s most universally anticipated show was Stevie Wonder that evening. The man played like he just stepped out of a time machine — his voice hadn’t aged a day. He left no stone unturned, playing his keytar with zeal and killing that timeless harmonica from “For Once In My Life.” He also had a great cover of “Heard It Through The Grapevine,” and his entire set was met with ecstatic reception for the audience.

Then Jay-Z took the stage, calling out “I can’t wait to tell my mama that Stevie Wonder stuck around for my set!”

Wonder did indeed stick around for his set, playing the piano on Jay’s verse from “Diamonds of Sierra Leone.” Jay-Z was magnificent, performing several old numbers over new beats and throwing down several freestyles to remind the audience of his title of Best Rapper Alive.

As he was concluding with “Encore,” I headed over to Dan Deacon to get a good place for both him and Deadmau5.

Dan Deacon’s lights weren’t working, and his attempts to use the house lights proved fruitless, forcing him to get creative and even do several interactive numbers with the audience. He actually salvaged his show extraordinarily well.

Then came Deadmau5, which was so body-to-body that I couldn’t put my phone in my bag after my last live tweet. This meant putting it in my pocket, eventually losing it during the middle of what was the most intense show of the weekend. His performance of “Moar Ghosts n Stuff” brought the house down.

Following Deadmau5, everyone went back to camp except me and Babcock, who stuck around to enjoy a typically entertaining set from The Disco Biscuits as they played until 7 a.m.
 
June 13
The Day We Danced in the Mud

Sunday might have been my weakest showing of the festival, losing track of time and missing almost all of the shows I wanted to see.

I did, however, catch a surprisingly ageless John Fogerty. It was cool to see the diehard older fans out in full, and “Prodigal Son” was as visceral as ever.

After Fogerty, we made our way over to Phoenix, maybe the most fun show of the weekend. Standing close to the back because of the packed house, we found ourselves right next to a mud puddle and feeling pretty crowded.

To liberate ourselves, Babcock, Fish, Jamie and I decided to stomp around in the mud for the rest of the show.

We found ourselves the new center of attention, with everyone around us taking pictures and eventually joining in. Though we were caked in mud that frankly smelled like shit, dancing with complete strangers in the mud during “1901” was a perfect way to end my Bonnaroo.