TGIF Bonnaroo.

June 19, 2:38 PMMusic Festivals ExaminerMatthew Samson

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Pretty Lights and Bonnaroo nights.

My Friday morning at Bonnaroo began with a rude awakening. Sometime around three in the morning, a terrible storm had rendered my friend’s tent completely useless, after standing outside in the cold rain for I’m sure how long, he woke me up, and I invited him into my tent. In case you didn’t know, it rains almost every year at Bonnaroo, and it’s not the refreshing crisp rain that I’m used to. It is a dirty, muggy kind of rain that makes you hate yourself by the end of the day. After I failed to fall back asleep in the storm, I walked to a nearby tent that served as a breakfast café, and treated myself to a 6:00 am Swiss cheese omelet to the tune of $6. Later I found out that there was a local church group that was doing free made to order breakfasts. Oh well. Next year I suppose.

The music started at noon on Friday with two bands, a Norwegian punk/folk/bluegrass/polka/Balkan/girl group called Katzenjammer and group called Portugal. The Man. I decided to go with Katzenjammer, as they were part of a new experimental approach to Bonnaroo was taking in forming it’s lineup. David Byrne, the iconoclastic former lead singer of the Talking Heads, was asked to put together an entire lineup from start to finish in one of the tents for Friday. It’s a novel approach, and I definitely respect Mr. Byrne’s opinions on music. I was familiar with his other selections; The Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, Santigold, and Ani DiFranco, and so I figured that I was going to enjoy Katzenjammer. I just wasn’t prepared for how much I fell in love with their music. Their debut album, Le Pop, hasn’t even been released in the US yet, and already I can’t pull myself away from their myspace page. I’m listening to them right now. No joke. This to me is what the festival is all about, when you wind up at a show simply because you had a hunch, and it turns out that whoever you saw is your new favorite band. You owe it to yourself to check out Katzenjammer, and when you do give the songs “A Bar in Amsterdam” and “Tea and Cinnamon” a listen. Don’t thank me. Thank Norway.

After their show, I wandered around Centeroo, looking at vendors and listening to political groups make their pitches in an effort to save the world from whatever was going to destroy it during the next ten years. While I was doing this, Gomez was tearing up Which Stage, which is the name of the second main stage (it’s meant to be confusing.) I don’t necessarily dislike Gomez, I saw them a few years ago, and I feel like that’s been sufficient. In any event, they are definitely a band that you can have in the background while you’re doing other things. In some ways, this makes them a perfect early show at Bonnaroo, where there are entirely too many things one can do with their time. At 1:45, I made my way to see an old favorite, Kaki King.

I remember a time when a young Kaki King was considered one of the world’s premier guitar prodigies. She’s older now though, so I think these days she’s just considered a supernatural talent. I’m not really sure when that transition takes place, but I think its works just the same. Her style of playing in unlike any other acoustic artist you’ve ever seen. She has more in common with Eddie Van Halen than she does with James Taylor, at least in regard to her music. She had the crowd mesmerized from the onset as she tore through her set sporting a cropping haircut and a bikini top. She doesn’t care at all about the bells and whistles that plague so many other bad stage performances. To Kaki King, it’s all about playing her instrument. This suits her quite well, as there are not many people alive that can play to a crowd on the same level. I wish I could’ve stayed for the whole set, but I had places to be.

After grabbing a late lunch, it was time for Galactic on the big stage. This band is a Bonnaroo staple to me. They owe a lot of their current success to the exposure they received from playing the early years of the festival. Along with Robert Randolph, they were the valedictorians of the class of 2002. Their Roo shows should be mandatory viewing. This show was a little more interesting in that it included two guests. Trombone Shorty and Corey Henry, who acted as a rap and r & b due that doubled as a horn section. Classic New Orleans style. In fact, the spirit of big easy dictated the pace and flow of the entire set. The fantastic showing culminated with an unbelievable performance of the group’s song “From the Corner to Block,” with Trombone Shorty handling rapper Juvenille’s verse, complete with crowd surfing. Easily one of the best moments of the weekend.

From there I went straight to the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, the alternative radio darlings for New York City. I love this group, and I think that what they do is extremely innovative and edgy. I’m still just not convinced that it translates well to a large outdoor festival. They would have been better suited playing a tent during the day. It would have been packed, no doubt, but the energy of a smaller stage would have pushed the show into the “unbelievable” category of live music. In ten years, we’ll be talking about Nick Zinner as a guitar god for the future. Until then, we’ll have to wait. I slipped away from the set to catch Grizzly Bear and final moments King Sunny Ade & the African Beats. I was impressed by both. Grizzly went some way in alleviating my disgruntled attitude towards the apathetic indie kids that have come to make Bonnaroo their home along with the old dirty hippies. They got mad style, I’ll give them that.

Speaking of style, perhaps you’ve heard of Al Green. The reverend began his set on the main stage at 6:00, and I’m just thankful that I was there to see it. He is a legend in his own time, and he’s the swagger to prove it. Every move he made, every note he sang was done with a dapper grace that just seems to be missing from a lot of live music today. This is one of those sets that you can use to name drop in order to gain a little street credibility with music nerds like myself. I split evening bouncing between this set and Ani DiFranco over in That Tent (again, confusing.) She is an institution in her own right, and a delight to see. To this day, I can say that her live album, Living in Clip, changed my life when I wore a younger man’s close. Most men wish they were as strong as Ani DiFranco.

This is where the evening starts to get interesting. Beastie Boys, as I predicted, absolutely killed their set from 8:30-10:00. While Kanye West blogged that Bonnaroo didn’t know how to put on a hip hop show, the Beasties showed Kanye what is wrong with not only him, but the superficial nature contemporary rap music in general. There was no flying saucer that landed on the stage, or some self serving rant about how they were the most important artists of the past 25 years. There was only 3 MCs and 1 DJ (and occasionally a percussionist.) One thing that did surprise me about this show was level of musicianship possessed by the Beasties, as a lot of time was dedicated to out and out funk jams. It reminded me that these guys got their start by playing in a punk band, not as rappers. They closed the set with “Intergalactic” and “Sabotage,” playing the instruments themselves. Thankfully, they gave me enough time to catch the last 45 minutes of David Byrnes set.

It’s a good thing too, because it turns out that those were the 45 minutes that mattered the most. Byrne tore through a vast collection of Brian Eno produced Talking Heads material including; “Once in a Lifetime,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Burning Down the House.” It was definitely a crowd pleasing performance, and I feel a lot better having seen it rather than having to hear about it later.

Then it was time for the big guns. The hotly anticipated debut of Phish at Bonnaroo. The boys certainly did not disappoint, ripping through a single set that rivaled their initial reunion at Hampton Beach in terms of crowd favorites. “Down with Disease,” “Stash,” “Wolfman’s Brother,” and “You Enjoy Myself” all stand out as being particularly exceptional, but the reality was the whole show is only as good as the sum of it’s parts. Start to finish, this was the best set of the weekend. No question about it.

While most people at this point, having never experienced Bonnaroo before, are tuckered out and getting ready for bed. It’s a grave mistake, as they risk missing out on the truly special performances. I am, of course, referring to shows that take place between midnight and 6:00 am.

Public Enemy got things started at 12:30. I’m not sure why they were given this late night time slot, and I’m still not sure that it worked. One thing I do know is that Flava Flav definitely made fans out of a people that simply knew him as a reality TV clown, when they should respect the controversial work he’s down with PE. There was a time when it was cool to wear a wall clock around your neck. Or at least I think there was. This show should go a long way in getting you to believe me on that one.

Crystal Castles and Femi Kuti kept the crowd entertained long enough to make it to the real meat and potatoes of the night, a triple header featuring Paul Oakenfold, Girl Talk, and newcomers Pretty Lights. A lot has been said about Girl Talk, and a lot of people really seem to hate him for making the music that he does, simply because he uses a laptop instead of a turntable to sample pop songs. All I can say is, he makes music come out of some speakers, and people dance to his music. They dance until they’re sweaty and their clothes are falling off. They dance until the balloons drop from the top of the tent. They dance onstage with the artist, literally to the point that he has to cover his laptops so they don’t get ruined by the sweat. So, I’m not really sure what the argument is here. He makes music. He makes people dance. So, in my mind, he’s a musician. In fact, he’s a hell of a musician. If you’re going hate on the guy, do it on your own time. The more people run their mouths, the bigger he seems to get. He’s on fire at the moment, and this was easily the second best set of the weekend.

Pretty Lights offered an electronic alternative to anyone that couldn’t stomach watching people have a good time. This was also a stellar show, it just didn’t have the energy that the crowd at Girl Talk possessed. I’m really glad they were there, and definitely encourage people to check out their website, where they actually offer their albums as free downloads. I look forward to hearing from them for many years to come.

From the emerging to the establish, Paul Oakenfold needs no introduction. The man lives better than most European monarchs, and is easily the most in demand DJ on the entire planet. He kept his end of the bargain, blasting his techno pop well past sunrise. Even as I lay in my tent, trying to get some sleep for the next day, I could hear him raging on. This is made more impressive when one stops to consider the fact that 1.5 miles separated me from the show at that point. Oakenfold knows what he likes, and he likes his music loud.

Not a bad attitude to have at Bonnaroo.