June 14 - Day four.
I caved on Sunday morning's breakfast, buying a six dollar breakfast burrito at one of the food stands, but it was worth it after a weekend of ramen and peanut butter and jellies.
The first show that I really wanted to see was Andrew Bird at 4:15, so the morning was spent cruising around tents and seeing friends that had made the trip to Manchester for the weekend. I've heard good things about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists show, but I had seen them before, so I wasn't too worried about missing them. Citizen Cope also came on, but as a prior visitor to his shows, they are pretty awesomely mediocre (in my head, at least). Plus, I could hear his show my tent, so I guess I did see him (or at least hear him). The time was used to pack up the car, so that we could leave and beat the traffic after the Phish show.
Andrew Bird is a guy that I have been listening to for a long time and was excited to finally see. It's not a show to get all too excited at; it's a pretty mellow show. I will say that it was pretty impressive watching him maneuver his fiddle, guitar, loop pedal, vocals and whistling all at once. Quite a juggling act. Highlights of this show for me were "Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" leading into "Fiery Crash," as well as "Cataracts" and "Fake Palindromes."
Next up, Snoop Dogg. He was about thirty minutes late, which was a little frustrating, but once he walked on the stage and "The Next Episode" started blasting, all was forgiven. His interjections between songs were as hilarious as they were numerous (Last words before walking off stage: "Smoke weed, motherf***er!"), and seeing "Gin and Juice" live is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. It was a blast, and highlights included "Doggystlye" and a cover of House of Pain's "Jump Around."
Finally, the last set of Phish. I was curious to see how long they would go, because I know that other closers like Widespread Panic have been known to go deep into the night. The first set was great. Great performances of "AC/DC Bag," "Gotta Jiboo," "Character Zero," "Run Like an Antelope" and "Bathtub Gin," and then, lo and behold, Bruce Springsteen graces the stage. It was funny to see Trey Anastasio get a little bit star-struck. He introduced him, saying that The Boss in New Jersey was the third show he had ever seen, and that he decided from then on that every show should have that much energy. As Bruce crooned "Mustang Sally," you could see Trey absolutely cracking up, completely giddy. It made me not sad that I missed the end of the Bruce show when they played a pretty stirring rendition of "Bobby Jean" then "Glory Days." The first half of the second set was definitely the weakest of the weekend for Phish, as they got a lot more "jammy," with long jams that, again, were not their best. Once they got to "46 Days," it started to pick up. It was a long time coming, but they busted out "Farmhouse," and then premiered "Backwards Down the Number Line." Ending the second set with "Prince Caspian" and "First Tube" provided the crowd with plenty to cheer about to bring them back out for an encore. The encore was some of Phish's strongest work of the weekend, starting with "Suzy Greenberg" and then "Tweezer Reprise." And then, it was off to the packed car, the road and home.
When you leave Bonnaroo, it is like you are leaving Never Never Land (the Peter Pan one, not the Michael Jackson one). You leave a place where you don't have to worry about anything: homework, deadlines, even the time and the day of the week for that matter, to head back to the daily grind. If there is one word to describe Bonnaroo, it would be "relentless." It just never stops (well it does, but only between 5:00 am and 12 pm), especially in years where it gets really hot. You're always hot, you're always thirsty, you're always completely exhausted, but you're always listening to awesome music (having to choose between Phish and Public Enemy was like choosing one child over the other) and you're always having an awesome time. There are times when you love Bonnaroo and times when you hate it (when you're trying to get your fifth hour of sleep at 9:00 am but can't), but when I pulled into my house at 4:00 on Monday morning, I couldn't help but miss i a little bit already. Will I ever go again? Who knows? Has it gotten overpriced or over-commercialized? Probably. What is for sure is June 11-14 of the year 2009 will be days that I will be remembering for a long time.
I caved on Sunday morning's breakfast, buying a six dollar breakfast burrito at one of the food stands, but it was worth it after a weekend of ramen and peanut butter and jellies.
The first show that I really wanted to see was Andrew Bird at 4:15, so the morning was spent cruising around tents and seeing friends that had made the trip to Manchester for the weekend. I've heard good things about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists show, but I had seen them before, so I wasn't too worried about missing them. Citizen Cope also came on, but as a prior visitor to his shows, they are pretty awesomely mediocre (in my head, at least). Plus, I could hear his show my tent, so I guess I did see him (or at least hear him). The time was used to pack up the car, so that we could leave and beat the traffic after the Phish show.
Andrew Bird is a guy that I have been listening to for a long time and was excited to finally see. It's not a show to get all too excited at; it's a pretty mellow show. I will say that it was pretty impressive watching him maneuver his fiddle, guitar, loop pedal, vocals and whistling all at once. Quite a juggling act. Highlights of this show for me were "Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" leading into "Fiery Crash," as well as "Cataracts" and "Fake Palindromes."
Next up, Snoop Dogg. He was about thirty minutes late, which was a little frustrating, but once he walked on the stage and "The Next Episode" started blasting, all was forgiven. His interjections between songs were as hilarious as they were numerous (Last words before walking off stage: "Smoke weed, motherf***er!"), and seeing "Gin and Juice" live is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. It was a blast, and highlights included "Doggystlye" and a cover of House of Pain's "Jump Around."
Finally, the last set of Phish. I was curious to see how long they would go, because I know that other closers like Widespread Panic have been known to go deep into the night. The first set was great. Great performances of "AC/DC Bag," "Gotta Jiboo," "Character Zero," "Run Like an Antelope" and "Bathtub Gin," and then, lo and behold, Bruce Springsteen graces the stage. It was funny to see Trey Anastasio get a little bit star-struck. He introduced him, saying that The Boss in New Jersey was the third show he had ever seen, and that he decided from then on that every show should have that much energy. As Bruce crooned "Mustang Sally," you could see Trey absolutely cracking up, completely giddy. It made me not sad that I missed the end of the Bruce show when they played a pretty stirring rendition of "Bobby Jean" then "Glory Days." The first half of the second set was definitely the weakest of the weekend for Phish, as they got a lot more "jammy," with long jams that, again, were not their best. Once they got to "46 Days," it started to pick up. It was a long time coming, but they busted out "Farmhouse," and then premiered "Backwards Down the Number Line." Ending the second set with "Prince Caspian" and "First Tube" provided the crowd with plenty to cheer about to bring them back out for an encore. The encore was some of Phish's strongest work of the weekend, starting with "Suzy Greenberg" and then "Tweezer Reprise." And then, it was off to the packed car, the road and home.
When you leave Bonnaroo, it is like you are leaving Never Never Land (the Peter Pan one, not the Michael Jackson one). You leave a place where you don't have to worry about anything: homework, deadlines, even the time and the day of the week for that matter, to head back to the daily grind. If there is one word to describe Bonnaroo, it would be "relentless." It just never stops (well it does, but only between 5:00 am and 12 pm), especially in years where it gets really hot. You're always hot, you're always thirsty, you're always completely exhausted, but you're always listening to awesome music (having to choose between Phish and Public Enemy was like choosing one child over the other) and you're always having an awesome time. There are times when you love Bonnaroo and times when you hate it (when you're trying to get your fifth hour of sleep at 9:00 am but can't), but when I pulled into my house at 4:00 on Monday morning, I couldn't help but miss i a little bit already. Will I ever go again? Who knows? Has it gotten overpriced or over-commercialized? Probably. What is for sure is June 11-14 of the year 2009 will be days that I will be remembering for a long time.
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