Children of Celebrities

SOUTHERN BELLES AND MERCURY SWELLS

BONNAROO!

“How you boys doin’tonight? Where y’all from?” “They’re from Canada.” “Y’all goin’ to Bonnaroo?” A genuinely warm and friendly greeting from the folks at the Downtown Motor Inn in Dalton, Georgia…our overnight pit stop en route from Atlanta to Manchester, Tennessee. A serviceable pit stop, notable for the “Shake and Steak” where we managed to get some late night chow and southern hospitality before collapsing into bed after a long day and night of travel…the magic wand of air travel! It still amazes…

We drove on up to Manchester, Tennessee the following morning…through the southern heat and the green, lush, rolling hills of southern Tennessee. The highway conjured up legendary names such as Memphis – “long distance information give me Memphis, Tennessee”, Nashville – “Nashville Pussy”, one of the great band names although not one of the great bands, Chattanooga - “when you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar, then you know that Tennessee is not very far”, to name but a few. It took us a few hours to fetch our cheese, box of red wine, beer, bread, bungie cords, camp stove fuel…all the essentials of modern life required to survive in the sprawling fields of tents and RVs on a 700 acre Tennesee farm that is home to Bonnaroo. And then a few more hours and a grrreat burrito from Taqueria El Cruzero as we inched our way to the site and negotiate our path into a field close to the main gate and a row of the essential portapotties. The living was cramped…cars, tents and RVs scattered as far as you could see. “Y’all been to Bonnaroo before? No? Well, you’re gonna have an adventure.”

Thursday evening was spent orienting ourselves to the site, the location of the multiple stages, the refreshment options and checkin’ out the music. First up was Janelle Monae – an energetic spirit from Atlanta sometimes compared to Prince, followed by an up-and-coming rock band, Portugal. The Man, the hip hop duo – People Under The Stairs – driving the Obama-nation audience into a late night frenzy, then the great reggae band, Midnite, who closed out the night at 1:30AM. Meanwhile, a hurricane like storm pounded the site with torrential rain and driving wind for several hours while the music played. We slopped back through the mud to our tent only to find it completely flooded…sleeping bags, pillows, thermarests…water, water everywhere. We had no alternative but to climb into the trusty rental car – a PT Cruiser – tilt the seats back and doze as best we could for three or four hours until sunrise…we thought of our friend and musical comrade-in-arms, Jeremy, and mused on how much he would have enjoyed this experience…fortunately, this was the last of the rain and our gear was pretty much dried out by the following afternoon.

Early on Friday we noticed that some of the Safety Staff (that’s what they call “Security” at Bonnaroo) were smoking pot…this was an auspicious sign and pretty much set the tone for the vibe at the Festival. All in all, a pretty laid back scene when you consider there were about 80,000 people milling about. We swooped into the Whole Foods Market – the coconut and mango popsicles were a steal for a buck – and fueled up on some of the great local brewskies from the local micro-breweries ($6 a pop). The musical day started with a great set from Tift Merritt, a young, Georgia-based singer songwriter and her band, then a serving of classic reggae from The Itals on the What Stage before departing for The Other Tent to catch Vieux Farka Toure from Niafunke, Mali, followed by Bela Fleck (arguably the world’s greatest banjo player) & Toumani Diabate (without question the world’s greatest kora player) – we had a chance to chat with Vieux and Toumani briefly after their shows. We then took a sustenance break for wine, cheese and bread – passing on King Sunny Ade & the African Beats but knowing we would see the band in Victoria later in June– and then returned to The Other Tent to catch the wondrous Amadou & Mariam from Mali, who absolutely rocked the joint. We then wandered the site in the heat of the southern night catching the end of the Beastie Boys set, part of David Byrne’s show, a quick stop at the Troo Music Lounge for Victoria’s Jets Overhead and Justin Townes Earle (yup, Steve Earle’s son) before moving onto to Femi Kuti & the Positive Force from Nigeria at midnight. Femi was spectacular and powered thru a great set (A five piece horn section! Three bootylicious dancers!) until 1:30AM…when exhaustion, fatigue and hunger took hold. Soon after we collapsed into our thankfully dry tent, serenaded by the sounds of Public Enemy emanating from a nearby stage.

Bonnaroo, like life itself, is all about making choices. There is simply so much going on all the time that you have to accept that you cannot do it all, see it all, taste it all, eat it all…seeing one performance means that you are missing four or five concurrent stellar performances. Fortunately, our media accreditation mitigated our frustration at having to make choices as we had front row access to almost all of the performances. And this same access provided for some welcome respite from being on our feet constantly – standing at show after show is physically demanding! Especially given our age cohort – the backstage media tent provided an oasis in which to relax and watch the rockin’ scene roll by.

Saturday commenced with the best $7.00 shower one could hope for – even though the hot water was not universal. But it was great to feel clean and fresh if only for a few minutes before the sticky, southern heat squeezed the perspiration out of your body yet again…and then we coffee’d up and were off…a killer noon hour show by Alejandro Escovedo and his great band, a solid reggae set from the Wailing Souls, a new discovery of “punk flamenco” from the two guitars played by Rodrigo y Gabriela, then a two-hour stunner from Wilco and, finally, the three-hour tour de force from a something-to-prove Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band before 70,000 people, lasting well past midnight. We had the great thrill of being within touching and smelling distance of the Boss on a couple of occasions including his commandeering of a request sign for “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” from the guys standing right next to us! Now…this song, a staple of Springsteen’s sets over the years, was last heard by yours truly on December 21, 1975 at the Seneca College Field House in Toronto with about 1,800 in attendance…listening to this 70,000 strong-singalong of “Santa” on a hot, Tennessee night was a special moment. If you ever doubted that Santa Claus was comin’ to town, this rendition removed any question as to his annual visitation …and then we were off to Nine Inch Nails, whose set kicked off at 1AM. But alas, once again, exhaustion, exhilaration and hunger took hold…and we could not muster the energy to sally forth into the crowd of 40,000 or so who were digging Trent Reznor and crew on their farewell tour…the path blazed by the hard rocking Nine Inch Nails is, indeed, coming to an end.

Sunday morning comin’ down…the music had barely stopped when it was about to start again. They say that if you’re sleeping at Bonnaroo it simply means you’re not seeing and hearing enough music…we started our day with the bluegrass, country-ish sounds of The Lovell Sisters, then moved on to catch part of sets by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Todd Snider, Elvis Perkins and the enigmatic and wondrous Erykah Badu. We then re-fueled…more coconut and mango popsicles, beer, New Orleans style bourbon chicken and jambalaya…before catching a superb show from Merle Haggard late Sunday afternoon. The evening wrapped with a short stop at Band of Horses and a few songs from Neko Case – “Deep Red Bells” was our swan song…and then we were on our way, navigating the crowds and cars, making our escape from the site and heading back down the Interstate to the shelter, shower and sheets of the Downtown Motor Inn in Dalton. Where we polished off the box of red, red wine…

There were more than a few heartbreaks at Bonnaroo…the shows we missed, the choices made… which meant missing some wonderful performances. Among the heartbreaks…the Tony Rice Unit, Al Green, TV on the Radio, Animal Collective, The Mars Volta, Okkervil River, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Public Enemy (heard but not seen), Andrew Bird, Booker T and DBTs (“Green Onions” heard from a distance), Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, Lucinda Williams, The Decembrists, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Galactic, MGMT, Phish (jamming with Springsteen on Sunday night after we had hit the road), Santigold, Bon Iver, Gomez, Govt Mule, St. Vincent, among others…it’s depressing rattling off the artists and performances missed! And a camera missing in action…What’s a poor boy to do?

Beware - Bonneroo is not a place for whiners and complainers. Unless you’re camped out in the luxury of an enviro-killing RV…lineups for the $7.00 shower, lineups for the portapotties, lineups for food, lots and lots of people, wind and rain, sun and heat, standing, sitting…but there are those little gems as well…the ferris wheel at night, the misting tent, the air-conditioned media tent, watching VH1 interview Chuck D and Flava Flav from Public Enemy, the Silent Disco…and the gathering of the tribe(s) as audiences and performers engaged in the ritual of live music fueled by drugs, alcohol, the elements and the mysterious ties that bind musical tribes the world over… “The midnight gang’s assembled and picked a rendezvous for the night”…

Bonneroo! And folks would say to us, “isn’t this incredible…this amazing festival out here in the middle of nowhere?” And we would smile and chuckle knowingly, remembering Festival au Desert in 2008 and ask, “say, have you ever heard of Timbuktu?”

Author: Rankin' Rob

Co-facilitator: Skankin' Sierd