Pixies, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 9/11/2010

I picked up Doolittle by the Pixies when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  I heard them on MTV's 120 Minutes and was blown away.  That album, along with REM's entire early output, Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and the Cure's Distentegration (and a few others, like the B-52's and Hoodoo Gurus), was the start of a lifelong obsession with music.  (What a way to start - thanks, MTV [and my older sister and the older siblings of my friends].)

I had the good fortune to see the Pixies twice when they first reunited in 2004, once at the Ryman but quite spectacularly at Coachella (where they were immediately followed by Radiohead - not too shabby).  That Coachella set is one of the better concert experiences of my life.

So here we are, putting together one of my favorite albums ever with one of my favorive live experiences ever, yet I was going into this one pretty nonchalantly.

We had dinner beforehand at Cabana with some friends and then found downtown to be just hopping - nary a parking spot to be found.  Kind of strange, but good to see.  We arrived as F*** Buttons were finishing a very loud, very boring opening set.

Without much ado (though some very rude youngsters told us that we needed to move out of "their" seats - just like that - when they were in the wrong section altogether - why be rude, people?), the Pixies came out after a short silent film that included parts of Un Chien Andalou (the inspiration for "Debaser").  They rocked about 5 B-sides and then launched into "Debaser."  They sounded awesome, the crowd was just about sold out and totally on their feet and loving every minute of it (how un-Nashville, yet again - love it), and it kind of flew by all too fast.

What can one say about Doolittle at this point?  It's fantastic from start to end, and hearing it now reminds one all over again that without this sound, there would've been no "alternative 90's" decade of music.  They played a first encore with the more famous B-sides (including the UK surf version of "Wave of Mutilation" and ending with "Into the White").

They surprisingly came out for a second encore with all the houselights up (past curfew?) and ripped through "Winterlong" (Neil Young cover), "Alison," "Dig for Fire" (had not heard them play this live yet), "Where Is My Mind?" and finally "Gigantic."  They seemed to really be soaking up the enthusiasm of the crowd, etc.  So glad I went to this ...

All Tomorrow's Parties New York Festival, Monticello, NY - 9/3-5/2010

My third straight year back at ATP NY. My last 2 trips here had been amazing, and while the line-up wasn't as thrilling for me personally as the last 2 years, it's such an intimate and unique experience and always includes good friends such that seeing some things kind of new to me would just be icing on the cake to good times anyway.

9/3/2010 - Friday

I flew into Newark, NJ Friday morning without much issue, picked up my car, made the fairly quick 2-hour trip up to the Catskills without much ado and got settled in the charmingly delapidated Kutsher's by around 1 PM or so. My friends Matt and Nicole got in a couple hours later, and we were all relieved that they had relaxed last year's outside alcohol ban. Outside (as in "good") beer was technically not allowed, but they were not checking bags or being very uptight about it, so we brought in a couple of cases, mainly Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Souther Tier Double IPA and a sampler of Magic Hat. Made the weekend, I tell you.

First up was Aussie 80's post-punks the Scientists playing their first US show ever. The pre-show tunes were the Silver Jews, a good sign. They had a good, Nick Cave-ish blues rock thing going. Got a little same-y, though, and we only caught part of this.

Next was Mudhoney, and we sadly missed their opening "Touch Me, I'm Sick," but got to hear them rip through Superfuzz Big Muff and singles like "Sweet Little Thing Ain't Sweet No More." They sounded great, much better than when I last saw them in the mid-90's. Mark Arm's growl is just mighty. Great set.

No matter how much I'd listened to/read about/dreamed of seeing the Stooges, nothing could have prepared me for actually (finally) seeing them. My goodness ... Iggy was truly like a Tazmanian devil unleashed, just going bananas, stagediving over and over (as did a good many fans), and basically just unleashing his madness. They played Raw Power and then some choice cuts after that and sounded mighty:

Raw Power (in its entirety)
1970
noise
I've Got a Right
I Wanna Be your Dog
Open up and Bleed

ENCORE:
Fun House
No Fun

After a respite, we caught a few minutes of Sleep, some very heavy, very loud sludge/stoner metal. I could catch that they're good at what they do and are a pretty mighty, huge-sounding band, but it was really not my bag whatsoever.  Sleep time indeed ...

9/4/2010 - Saturday

Ahhh ... a gorgeous, cool Saturday morning with a mild hangover and a day of rock awaiting me.  I could tell that I'm certainly getting older/snobbier, as the delapidated accomodations, quaint as they may be and charming in their very disrepair, were getting to me a little.  But it was a fine day for the rock.  And it's around this time at any festival that the hanging out with your friends becomes just as important as the actual rocking out.

We started the day seeing the Sian Alice Group (theatrical, a bit much) and then the minimalist English, Krautrock-inspired Beak>, who were good but a bit boring.  I was super-excited to see Tortoise up next, but as usual, they fell a little flat for me.  Just very trancey and what not.  I saw them in the 1990's, and they kind of rocked a bit more, but those days are done, I guess.

I took a break at this point for a wood-fired pizza that was quite yummy and saw Bob Boilen from All Songs Considered on NPR there in line.  I didn't have the stones to say HEY to him, though.  Weird that I'd totally almost bearhug Nick Cave (see last year's report) but couldn't muster a mumbled Hullo to Bob Boilen.  More beer?

This was the big night to rock, though, so we started with Hallogallo, the reinvention of the Krautrock stalwarts Neu!.  I was excited for this but, in typical fashion for me this weekend, found it boring.

Then came a 1990's favorite for me, Bardo Pond.  Playing on the second stage does no one any favors at this festival, as the main stage sounds amazing while this stage straight up doesn't, but they were loud and pretty huge and were playing the first song off Amanita when we walked in.  They also played "Tommy Gun Angel" off Lapsed during their set.  I liked it a lot, but I knew that already.

Back on the main stage, we checked out Shellac (did their Shellac thing, which is fine but a bit predictable and repetitive) and then the Breeders (who sounded unpracticed and out of sorts - a mess).  I actually took a nap during Explosions in the Sky, whom my friends totally dug.  But I had to be ready for Sonic Youth.

I've seen Sonic Youth multiple times over the years, with my first time being in 1995 when they headlined Lollapalooza (which was a tour back then - I saw them in Raleigh, NC, on a stop that included Pavement, Superchunk, the Jesus Lizard, Beck, Cypress Hill and Hole).  I've seen them be both great and kind of awful, but I'm a big, old school fan of them.  I had last seen them probably almost a decade ago, so this was a big selling point for me.  And they were the best I've seen them ever.  Just the 4 of them, very focused, rocking out, playing nothing newer than Daydream Nation (which they played nearly half of).  It was transcendent (and sounded awesome):

Candle (when they opened with those first notes, I nearly lost it)
The Sprawl
'Cross the Breeze
Catholic Block
Stereo Sanctity (!!!!!)
Eric's Trip
Death Valley 69 (!!!!!)
Shadow of a Doubt
Hey Joni
The Wonder
Shaking Hell

ENCORE:
White Kross

I stayed up after it just high on rock and roll.  A great feeling.

9/5/2010 - Sunday

This was my fourth festival of the year, and I was feeling it.  A little burned out, a little tired, a little sure that nothing was going to beat Sonic Youth or the Stooges at this point.  We headed into town for pizza to start the day and then got back for the rock.

First up were a Nashville-connected band, the Greenhornes.  They sounded good and very true to their retro sound.  It wasn't all the spectacular, though, and got a bit same-y after a while.  I checked out maybe 15 minutes of F***ed Up, whom I just don't get and can't get into at all.  And I like a lot of punk and metal but just don't enjoy the straight up hardcore stuff.

On the second stage, we saw Vivian Girls (whom I like but who were pretty lame live, all things considered) and then Wooden Shjips (super loud and rocking, very good psychedelia).  We regrouped and mellowed out to Hope Sandoval on the main stage (very languid, a bit slow for me) and then caught the whole set from Dungen, who were quite good, especially when they rocked out a bit more.  I ended my night seeing T Model Ford, who was charming but predictably underwhelming.

Due to a 5 AM wake-up time on Monday in order to get back to Newark and catch my flight home, I opted out of seeing a few bands that I would have normally checked out ... most notably I missed Boris/Sunn(((O))) performing what must've been a crazy loud blast of feedback, both Raekwon and the GZA from Wu fame, and the Black Angels.  But the old man needed sleep ...

I'll spare everyone the details of flying out of Newark (slightly painful but no major hitches) and say that I had a blast, even if the music was my least favorite of the 3 years.  Not sure what the future holds for me returning to so many festivals, though I know that every spring I end up getting excited all over again, so never say never ...

Worth checking out are reviews (with great photos) from:

The A.V. Club

Brooklynvegan

Pitchfork

The Black Keys, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 8/12/2010

When I think of seeing the Black Keys, I think, "Solid."  Straight up solid, can't complain, no frills, hit the jugular rock.  I've been seeing them since 2005, and they really have been getting better and better at what they do.

After drinks at 12 South Taproom, we headed over to the show (back in the balcony at the Ryman).  Missed the openers the Morning Benders, whom I actually wanted to see, but such is life.

Show was sold out, pretty packed, and folks were actually standing and getting excited and enjoying themselves for change.  Not very Nashville at all, I'm happy to report for a change.

As per usual, they opened with "Thickfreakness" and ran through about 6 hits as a two-piece (very similar to when I saw them at Bonnaroo in June) including "Stack Shot Billy" and "Girl Is On My Mind."  Then they brought out the keyboardist and bassist for the new tunes.  They still sounded good, and the accompaniment is pretty minimalist, but here's my theory:  having those 2 guys play with them forces them to tighten up so much that it takes away the looseness that makes them so powerful and, dare I say it, special.  That sense of being on the edge of careening off the tracks is sorely missed.

They finished up the main set as a two-piece again and then encored with one song as a four-piece and a final tune as two-piece.  Sorry, no setlist.  Really enjoyed this one, loved the crowd being into it (why can't all Nashville shows be this way?), and as usual was not disappointed by the Keys.

Arcade Fire, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 8/9/2010

On the heels of playing 2 straight (almost or possibly completely sold out?) shows at Madison Square Garden (capacity: 18,200), the Arcade Fire pulled into Nashville to play the legendary Ryman (capacity: 2,362). I was kind of excited, to say the least. I'd also been digging on the latest release, The Suburbs, in a big way.

Our posse met up for pre-show drinks at 12 South Taproom and then headed over to the venue. I unloaded my extra ticket (at face value, thank you very much) and headed in. We had main floor, off-to-the-side seats, which I was nervous about as you don't really want to be way under the balcony at this venue, but they were turned out pretty great (see photo to the left).

The show was pretty epic, and this is a band who don't have many duds in their catalog. (I still love Neon Bible, no matter what the consensus is.) The new tunes, esp. the "big" ones like "Sprawl II" and "We Used To Wait," were sweeping, and the classics from Funeral were as epic as ever. This was probably my last chance to see them at a small-ish venue, and I'm glad I made it ...

(???'s = not quite sure but pretty sure)

Ready to Start
Laika
No Cars Go
Haiti
Half Light II - No Celebration (???)
The Suburbs
Deep Blue (???)
Intervention
Crown of Love
Tunnels
Suburban War (???)
We Used to Wait
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)

Keep the Car Running
Sprawl II
Wake Up

Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL - 7/16-18/2010

Friday - 7/16/2010

I flew into Chicago from Nashville after an all-too brief four hours or so of sleep. I met my lady at the airport (flying in from the C-bus), and we proceeded to our swank accomodation at the Hotel Palomar. Very nice. After a quick bite to eat and some finagling to get some new contact lenses for my girl, we headed up to Wrigley to see the Cubs beat the Phillies in what was a pretty great game. Great seats, too, as you can see from the photo.

That was a great way to start the trip, though it meant that we missed the opening set from the Tallest Man on Earth, which we were both looking forward to. But we got in there, met up with our other friends and started the rocking Friday evening post-Cubs goodness with Broken Social Scene. As usual for me, they were very meh ... some great songs, some forgettable songs, a bit of a mess of a stage show, but mainly lacking a central nugget to which I can latch onto. Their sound just isn't quite unique enough for me, maybe.

That left Modest Mouse as the headliner, and boy were they terrible. It all started out promising enough with "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," but whereas I thought they might bust out classic after classic, they instead stuck to the last couple of records for the most part. They rocked "Dramamine" in the middle, but it was jammy and just bad. It was bad - what can I say? They played "Gravity Rides Everything" in the encore, too, but it was too late by then. There were 6 or 7 people on stage, though it looked/sounded like there were 20 - all cacophony and too much going on for a band that once thrived on spare minimalism and space. A wasted opportunity ...

Saturday - 7/17/2010

After a lazy morning of eating and shopping and pooling at the hotel, we finally meandered into the festival around 4:15 for the end of Raekwon's set, which included some Wu Tang bangers.  Fun, though as this festival proved over and over, great hip hop on record (see Wu Tang, Big Boi) does not translate to great hip hop live.  It was all bass and shouting, no finesse or dynamics.

But then came the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (JSBX), who in 1995 at the now defunct Rockafella's in Columbia, SC, melted my face during the Orange tour.  Well, we are all 15 years older now, but they still got the flavor.  Within the first 5 songs, they had rocked "Flavor," "2 Kindsa Love," and "Bellbottoms."  I loved it.  My favorite set thus far, but oh kids ... it was just beginning ... that's JSBX in the photo on the right ...

Wolf Parade hit the big stage ("big" being relative at a 15,000 person festival) and sounded awesome.  They ripped some new(er) songs and then, midway through, rocked "This Heart's On Fire" followed by "I'll Believe In Anything."  It truly doesn't get much better in rock than that last song.  Biggest bummer was that they left off "Shine A Light," but I really can't complain - it killed.

A very middling, forgettable set by Panda Bear followed.  Again - great, great records - terrible live show.  Oh well ...

But it was all good, as LCD Soundsystem proceeded to play the best set I've seen this year.  It was simply fantastic/transcendent/forward-thinking/dance-ready/awesome.  What is there not to like about this band and what they are doing now or, for that matter, have been doing for the last 7 years or so?  It was both the highlight of the festival and of 2010 musically for me:

Us vs Them / Drunk Girls / Pow Pow / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / All My Friends / I Can Change / Tribulations / Movement / Yeah / Someone Great / Losing My Edge / NY I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

We grabbed come down drinks at G-Cue Pool Hall afterward (random, I know) and then turned in, being the old people that we are.

Sunday - 8/18/2010

This was definitely the most festival-centric day of the weekend, as there were bands I wanted to see starting quite early. And though I didn't mention it yet, it was hot - as in very hot, all weekend long.

We started at the tiny, shaded stage for the last few songs from Best Coast, who were endearing enough, and followed that by kind of watching the set from Girls. Pretty meh.

But pretty epic was the set from Beach House. They sounded amazing - maybe even better than at Coachella a few months before. The crowd was pretty rapt, too, which helped. Fantastic, languid set.

We sort of caught a big of Local Natives and Surfer Blood on the tiny stage, but it was such a human traffic jam that my ever worsening claustrophobia couldn't handle it. (I can only imagine what a hellhole it must've been back there at that tiny stage for Sleigh Bells later in the evening.)

We rounded out the evening by kind of halfway watching Major Lazer (crazy) and Big Boi (all bass and yelling - and every song is soooooo good - why must this have sucked live?).

What should have been the coup de grace for me rounded out the festival that night as Pavement took the stage, but they didn't come out until after about 10 minutes of a horrible, probably-meant-to-be-comedic intro from some former Chicago DJ. It was bad, talking about how Pitchfork was the minor leagues while Lollapalooza was the major leagues. People were booing vociferously.

After he finally left, Pavement took the stage rather nonchalantly and ran through their set, which was much shaggier and looser than when I had seen them at Coachella. It was good and, again, offered some cool surprises ("Fin" and "Debris Slide"?!?!?) but just seemed slapdash compared to the total badassery of LCD the night before. But it was a sweet sendoff nonetheless:

Cut Your Hair / In the Mouth a Desert / Silence Kit / Kennel D / Shady Lane / Frontwards / Unfair / Grounded / Debris Slide / Spit on a Stranger / Range Life / Perfume-V / Trigger Cut / Fin / Stereo / 2 States / Gold Soundz / Conduit for Sale / Stop Breathing / Here / The Hexx

Phosphorescent, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 7/15/2010

The night before I was set to leave for the Pitchfork Music Festival, I had the good fortune of getting to see Phosphorescent (for the first time) at the quite small and certainly legendary Exit/In.  This was also my last week of "freedom" before starting a real job.  My pal April and I headed up a little after 9, expecting to catch a bit of the second opener and then to see the headliner.  Well, no one had played at all when we got there, so it ended up being a late night.

Up first was Nashville's own Caitlin Rose, who sounded quite great on some harmony-laden tunes.  Her band was cracking.  Second was a solo acoustic set from a guy touring with Phosphorescent.  It was fine, but the natives were getting restless.

So Phosophorescent took the stage just before midnight and proceeded to play the first 5 songs in order off their 2010 album Here's To Taking It Easy.  Wow, did they sound good.  It was pretty momentous for me, really, to see a band that locked in with one another playing tunes that they (and I) wholeheartedly believe in.  They played a few tunes off To Willie in the middle and closed the set out with I Wish I Was In Heaven Sittin' Down.  It just killed.

I'll be honest, though - it was so late, and his older songs aren't just quite as good, so that the encore was a bit of a letdown compared to the main set.  Plus a typical Nashville "fan" who is there to talk loudly and just make the scene, I guess, was ruining it for everyone around them.  But one of the better shows of 2010 for me ...

Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN - 6/10-13/2010

This is still a work in progress with more photos to be added ...

Ah, back to Bonnaroo (number 5 for me). I know I've used this metaphor before, but this festival is truly the Bloomin' Onion of festivals - it seems so great and delicious yet decadent, then I eat and enjoy it but towards the end think that I'll never, ever do that again, but then time passes and I find that I can't reist its siren song allure.

6/9/2010 - Wednesday

I start this out on Wednesday as my buddy Jason and I headed down from Columbus that day, car fully stocked with supplies and ready to rock. We got down to Nashville with plans to pick up my other buddy (and our third Bonnaroommate - sorry, couldn't resist) at the airport at 7:30. His flight was delayed until around 11 that night, though, so we met up with a lot of my Nashville friends, enjoyed dinner and drinks, rounded up Michael, and got a few hours of sleep before heading in to the mouth of madness.

6/10/2010 - Thursday

Up at 6 AM, feeling good, ready to beat the traffic in this year (unlike last year, where we got detoured into 9 hours of hell off exit 127). Grabbed some grub and coffee just a couple blocks from my house, and were en route. We figured we could just swoop in on I-24 and not have a problem this early. So wrong ... we were stuck in hell traffic going EAST past the festival exit for 4 hours, then got re-routed onto that same terrible detour as last year at exit 127. We sat there for about an hour and then decided to get on the back roads.

I must say that I think we finally cracked the Bonnaroo code when it comes to how to get in easily. I'm sure other folks have known this for a while, but we swept in with no problem going the back way. I-24 - never again. That's all I have to say.

By 4:00, we were set up, shade tents up in Camp Roger Murdock (best campsite we've gotten in years), beers cracked, gearing up for the tunes. We started out with Here We Go Magic, whom I'd seen once opening for the Walkmen. They sounded good - much bigger and fuller than that Walkmen show.

We pretty quickly drifted over to see Local Natives, though, and they sounded pretty great. That album is a good one, and they tore through most of it. Next up was part of the Miike Snow set, which was not totally my bag but sounded pretty good. Jason and I wandered off to see JB Smoove's comedy set. I love him on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and he had a decent enough stand up set. (While we're at it, I just have to embed a couple more great Curb scenes ... Leon as Danny Duberstein and the raunchiest joke ever told.

We then caught the Dodos for a bit (sounded fine, nothing great), took a breather and ended the night with the XX. I only made it through about 5 songs before just petering out and needing some zzz's (get it? XX? ZZZ's?). A strong start ...

6/11/2010 - Friday

I was obviously tired, as I got a solid 8 hours or so of sleep, which was the last I'd see of that this go round. We had an easy morning and made our way in around 12:30 to catch the last half of the Punch Brothers set. I'd seen Chris Thile play a solo set a few years ago at the Basement in Nashville and was excited to see him rock the mandolin again. I'd also played Taboo with the banjo player, Noam, many moons ago (Nashville is a weird place). They sounded good and did some interesting bluegrass versions of the Strokes' "Reptilia" and Radiohead's "Morning Bell."

Next up was most of the set by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an African American bluegrass/folk band. They sounded pretty great, though I'm not super familiar with their material.

I was then very pumped to see Hot Rize, a great bluegrass band and one I had not seen since 2003 or so. Their guitarist, Bryan Sutton, is one of the best flatpickers in the world. They played about 45 minutes of their bluegrass "hits," including "Blue Night," "Climbing Up A Mountain," "Radio Boogie," and "Just Like You." The sound was a bit off, which plagued their whole set, but I was still loving it. They then did about 30 minutes of their Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers schtick, which involves them playing country and western swing and kind of acting goofy. That did not go over nearly as well. They then closed out with a couple more traditional bluegrass tunes. It was a big treat for me, but I don't think it translated to the Bonnaroo crowd at large as well.

We then headed over and got in position for the National. Excitement was high, I'll be honest. And they delivered a really great set. The older songs of course sounded stronger, but the newer stuff gained a lot of vitality live. Sound was great, energy was great ... it was awesome, a real highlight for the weekend:

Start a War
Mistaken for Strangers
Anyone's Ghost
Bloodbuzz, OH
Brainy
Secret Meeting
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Afraid of Everyone
Little Faith
All the Wine
Available (off the Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers album - wow)
Conversation 16
Apartment Story
Abel
England
Fake Empire
Mr. November
Terrible Love

ENCORE

About Today

There was a big night coming up after this, so we took a breather for a few hours, skipping Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers (bummer) as well as the Kings of Leon (meh).  I actually slept another solid 2 hours or so back at the tent (because I'm an old, old man) before we headed back in for the Black Keys.  They got started at midnight and played about 7 songs as the traditional 2-piece band.  And what a start to the set ... "Thickfreakness," "Girl Is On My Mind," "Stack Shot Billy," "10 AM Automatic," "Busted," "The Breaks" ... and then they brought out the other 2 dudes to help them with the new songs.  We stayed for a bit of this and then headed over - with much skepticism, based on past experiences - to see the Flaming Lips.

I'm happy to report here that the Lips were the best I've ever seen them.  We caught about the last half of their "regular" set including the end of "Yoshimi," some new songs and a rousing, closing "Do You Realize?" before they took a break and then came out with their full cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.  I'd heard that they really kill this, but I was pretty blown away at what they did with an album I already loved in the first place.  They put their spin on it yet remained true to the record.  Pretty awesome.

Next up - starting at 2:30 AM - was LCD Soundsystem, a consistently great live band in my experience.  And yup, they were great again.  They opened with "Us Vs. Them" and played all the hits including "Losing My Edge," "Daft Punk is Playing At My House," "Movement," "All My Friends," on and on and on.  It was tight.  The crowd was pretty bananas, too, which was fun.

Actually saw the sun start to rise around 5 AM and maybe slept about an hour before starting all over again ...

6/12/2010 - Saturday

None of us really slept, which can make for a rough day, but we were all still on a relative energy rush from the night before.  We headed into Centeroo around 10:30 that morning out of restlessness, had a couple beers, and then sat in the hot sun and kind of watched (though we could barely see it) the US-England World Cup match.  The 1-1 tie was pretty awesome to experience with a few thousand other folks.  We caught about the first 45 minutes of the Dave Rawlings Machine set next, but I was dragging so much by then that I had to get catch a breather/nap at that point.  I hated to miss the Melvins, but I was pooped.

We got back in and saw a little bit of Jeff Beck, which was interesting but a little more guitar-wonky than I thought it would be, and also saw a few tunes from Weezer from about a half mile away.  Nothing too great.

But then we got a good spot and settled in for our first big stage show to see Stevie Wonder.  He sounded amazing, coming out playing a key-tar and just rocking it.  His catalog is deep and contains so many songs I thought about ("Higher Ground," "Superstitious," "Livin' for the City"), didn't even think about ("Signed, Sealed, Delivered," "My Cherie Amour," "Sir Duke," "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing") and that I expected to hear but didn't get ("Boogie On Reggae Woman").  The newer stuff was a bit schmaltzy and not so great, but man did he sound good.  His band gave him space, too, which was surprising.  It was pretty awesome, really.

Jason and I stuck around for the first bit of Jay-Z's set, which was imposing and sounded great, but we were just spent at this point and headed in for the night.

6/13/2010 - Sunday

Sunday was hot, and we were losing our edge at this point.  We moved slowly around our campsite, trying to muster our reserves.  We packed our stuff up and headed in for Calexico's set.  It was, well, boring, and they were once for me an exciting, interesting band.  They did play "Across the Wire," which at least brought back some nostalgia for me, but it was not that great.  And did I mention that it was hot?

We retreated to some shade and heard some country from Jamey Johnson (not my thing).  We then caught another Bonnaroo first for me, a set at the tiny Sonic Stage, seeing Medeski, Martin and Wood play a crazy good 45 minute set.  His drumming is not to be believed.  In an epic quest for shade and nourishment, we then entered an intimidating line to get tickets for the 5:30 show from Aziz Ansari.  We were all skeptical but ended up getting tickets (while hearing Against Me! - again, not my thing ... not a great musical Sunday so far) and then got in line to actually get in the comedy tent.  We finally made our way in, soaked in the AC (ahhhhhhh ....), and proceeded to laugh our asses off at his 40-minute or so set.  His comedy is pretty silly but really works.

We then headed over for our last set of the weekend with Phoenix.  They sounded great, playing every single song off Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, three tracks from It's Never Been Like That and a few other gems but oddly leaving out "Too Young" to a very large audience.  I think the whole crowd's energy was pretty depleted, though, all things considered.  While it was fun and sounded great, it did not carry the same ooomph was some of the earlier sets we saw.

We got back to the car and were back on I-24 with a shower and Waffle House awaiting us.  I'll be interested to see if I make it back.  Something tells me that I'll have a hard time staying away.  While the music is great, it's really the energy and the intangibles of the Bonnaroo experience that set it apart from other festivals.  If they could just fix the traffic situation ...