best bonnaroo yet!

[TimmyB]

Hi everybody, after getting back from bonnaroo late on Monday night I was unable to post my review on Tuesday due to the fact that I had a doctor's appointment and had to work. So here it is.

I have been to all three bonnaroo's thus far and for me personally this was the best bonnaroo yet! For reasons that I will now write about.

For starters getting in and out this year was the fastest yet. This year it only took around three hours to get in and under an hour to get out. Whereas the first year it took twelve hours to get in and a half hour to get out and the second year it took fifteen hours to get in and two and a half hours to get out.

This year I saw eighteen total acts with twelve complete © sets. Twelve complete sets is the most complete sets I have ever seen at bonnaroo. I also saw four acts for the first time.

The first year I saw fifteen total sets and ten complete with six first timers. The acts in 2002 were in the order I saw them, The Big Wu, Umphrey's McGee, Col. Les Clapool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, The Del McCoury Band, Col. Bruce Hampton And The Code Talkers (the second Colonel of the weekend along with Les!), Ben Harper (solo), Widespread Panic (second time), moe., Galactic, Ween, Phil Lesh & Friends with special guest Bob Weir and Trey Anastasio Band.

During bonnaroo 2003 I saw, Rebirth Brass Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Jack Johnson, Lucinda Williams, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The Wailers, Emmylou Harris, Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon, Widespread Panic, The Flaming Lips, The New Deal, Warren Haynes, Drive By Truckers, Galactic, James Brown, moe., and The Dead.

Now to this year. Before I get into the reviews of the shows I just want to say that I was so happy about the scheduling this year. I was able to see almost every band that I wanted to see.

First band I saw was Calexico do a soundcheck at This Tent an hour before bonnaroo music was to start. Calexico is a band from Tucson, Arizona that consist of Joey Burns on vocals and guitar and John Convertino on drums. Burns and Convertino were the rhythm section for Howie Gleb's Giant Sand before they formed Calexico. They have been one of my favorite bands since I saw Calexico at the Horseshoe in the late nineties. This was my fifth Calexico show not including a Giant Sand gig as well. The band consists of Joey and John with an upright bassist, pedal steel/guitarist, guitarist, trumpeter, and percussionist, and anothe trumpeter and percussionist. The band creates a rich sound of mexicali, surf, country, rock and jazz.

The second band I saw was The Los Lonely Boys who performed at the Which Stage (the second largest stage) for half their set. They are a band of three brothers from Texas that perform a Stevie Ray Vaughn And Double Trouble style with some Los Lobos in the mix. I have seen The Los Lonely Boys twice at the last two Farm Aids because they were discovered by Willie Nelson (who I wish didn't have to cancel from bonnaroo this year) a couple of years ago. They are a fun band but I had to get back to This Tent to see the who Calexico set.

I was so happy Calexico was on this years bill so they could get some exposure that they deserve and I hope to see them playing to more people soon because of bonnaroo. Their set included Calexico classics Trigger, Stray, Crystal Frontier and a cover of the Love song Alone Again Or. During Calexico's set I noticed that Toronto's own the Sadies were going to be the back up band for Neko Case, but I had to go and see my favorite band on the bill, Wilco.

Wilco performed at the What Stage (the biggest stage). It was my tenth Wilco show and my first with the new line up. Luckily I already had a copy of "A Ghost Is Born" since the majority of the set consisted of this album. Stand out tracks were At Least Thats What You Said, The Late Greats and Hell Is Chrome. Wilco also performed several tracks from their commerical breakthrough "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and One By One of the Mermaid Avenue set. My one complaint was no songs from Wilco's first two albums, but it was still a great show.

During the Wilco set it was getting very hot, especially for us Canadians. My girlfriend Rachael decided to go into a mist tent (which were key all weekend) during the end of Wilco and I left her to run over to That Tent to see the legendary Patti Smith.

When I got into That Tent to see the punk goddess perform for the first time I wished for one song, the pro union anthem People Have the Power. I asked someone who looked old because I figured they would know her material, if she had performed it yet. They said they didn't think so and asked me if Patti used to be in the Pretenders!? I told the guy no that's Chrissie Hynde. I guess I asked the wrong guy! She did the new song Ghandi off her new record and then did the song I wanted. After that she found out she had eight minutes so she did her classic cover of Van Morrison's Them song Gloria. What an artist! She completely captivated the audience and it was the best ovation I saw the whole weekend.

Next was What Stage again for the highlight of the weekend for me. Bob Dylan, my favorite artist along with Neil Young (who was at the last bonnaroo), for the twentieth time. I was hoping for some guests like Emmylou Harris or something but instead I got one of the most special and unique setlists I'll ever see Dylan do. He opened with two tracks that he originally recorded in Nashville, Down Along The Cove off of "John Wesley Harding" and Tell Me That It Isn't True" off of "Nashville Skyline" both of which I have never seen live. Then their are the four covers that were first timers for me Samson & Delilah (which the crowd obviously enjoyed), the Hank Williams tune You Win Again, Merl Haggard's Sing Me Back Home and Townes Van Zandt Panch And Lefty. I also got one of my all time favorite Dylan tunes for the first time Blind Willie McTell.

I have to get ready for work now so I'll write about the rest of the gigs that I witnessed after work.

[MarcO]

Glad to hear you got home safely you freak!

Welcome home.

[kung]

Next year give Timmy B the press passes.

[TimmyB]

Okay I'm back and before I move on to the next act I want to talk more about Bob Dylan. It was my first Dylan gig with the new guitarist Stu Kimball, who replaced Freddie Koella. I went to five Dylan gigs with Freddie Koella and I have to say I'm not going to miss him now that he's gone. Koella never seemed to fit like Charlie Sexton or John Jackson or even pedal steel player Bucky Baxter. I remember last years gig in Niagara Falls where Dylan looked disgusted with Koella and Larry Campbell and Tony Garnier were laughing behind his back.

Speaking of Campbell it was so great to see him perform pedal steel so much at the gig due to the repertoire of country classics. I actually knew the Merl Haggard song Sing Me Back Home from The Byrds Live At The Fillmore album that was released in 2000. Don't forget all you Byrds/Burrito/Eagles/Parsons fans to go and see Chris Hillman and Bernie Leadon tribute Gram Parsons at the Toronto (Saturday July 17) and Ottawa (Sunday July 18) Bluesfests.

The next act was Dave Matthews & Friends. Now I've seen the Dave Matthews Band six times and Dave Matthews solo three times and the Friends band once and the Friends band is my favorite way to see Matthews.

Last December I saw them in Rochester and I remember it had a Rolling Thunder Revue feel to it, especially when Emmylou Harris came out to perform Dylan's Oh Sister. The bonnaroo show lost that quality a bit, but still delivered the goods. Songs I got at bonnaroo that I didn't get at Rochester were amazing. First off was Save Me which is my favorite track on the solo record and I couldn't believe they didn't perform it that late fall night in Upstate New York. Also they did Hey Bulldog which like Neil and Bob I can always be in the mood for a Beatles cover. Finally Dave and Trey did Waste during their duo set. Ever since Dave Matthews covered Waste on "Sharin' In The Groove celebrating the music of phish" was released in 2001 I wanted to hear him cover this song. I remeber the DMB show at the Molson Amphitheatre in 2001 Dave covered Willie Nelson whereas the show at the Corel Centre got the Phish cover.

It was also a crazy set for all that was going on around me, Rachael, Sara Bolton, Karen Wassink and new friends that we drove down with Mike and Steve. This guy was walking by and passed out right beside us during Trey sing Up On Cripple Creek (no pun intended). Rachael went down to ask if he was okay and he cold cocked her right there! After he took this swing I snapped and jumped down on him giving him a shot and pushing him back to the ground. This is where this jerk turtled and pretended to be pass out again. Rachael and some others pulled me back and I put Rachael behind Mike and Steve and ran off to get security at the soundstage. When I finally returned the loser had already jumped up and ran.

Also two young kids stripped naked (minus the guys underwear) and were dry humping beside us for around fifteen minutes.

Back to the music it was funny during the encore of Sly And The Family Stones's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) Dave completely forgot the lyrics and had to continuously had to turn to bassist Tony Hall to get the words before each verse. Also the song completely fell apart all together and Trey went to help Brady Blade drum and Tim Reynolds did a crazy Led Zeppelin tease of Bring it On Home. It's a fun gig Dave & Friends and I hope that they continue on inbetween the DMB.

Next was Vida Blue With The Spam Allstars. I saw Vida Blue during their first tour with Hamilton and MarcO a couple of years ago in Detroit. I remember how Wilco and Los Lobos were also playing that night in Mowtown, I went to Vida Blue with the thought of the possiblility that it would maybe be the only time I could see Vida Blue. I was wrong, but I also find it funny that in 2004 I got to see Vida Blue, Wilco and Los Lobos on the same weekend!

Now the show this time had the Spam Allstars which apperar on the new Vida Blue alubm "The Illustrated Band" released last year. I also wanted to see this show in Miami after Phish this year but luckily got to see it here. Some stand out Vida Blue tracks were the opener Most Events Aren't Planned, Where's Popeye, Electric Glide (which lyrically reminds me of Strange Design). The covers included a well recieved verson of Average White Band's Pick Up The Pieces, also Radiohead's Subterranean Homesick Alien (which was a definite highlight for me. It was the first time I have seen somebody cover Radiohead who I think are the best band of the past ten years) and Pink Floyd's Sheep (which I saw in Detroit, but was better here with the guitarist from the Spam Allstars). Vida Blue encored with Cars, Trucks And Buses. I thought it was interesting that now we as phans now have to get used to seeing Trey and Page perform Phish tracks (like Billy Breathes cuts Waste and Cars, Trucks And Busese) in their different groups then Phish. I enjoyed Vida Blue and thought the Spam Allstars gave them some punch as their material can be a bit too much mid tempo.

After Vida Blue I went to The Other Tent to see a bit of Umphrey's McGee. I saw them at the first bonnaroo and thought they were a decent midwest version of moe., I remember fondly how they performed YYZ at the 2002 festival. This time I didn't stay until the end as I don't know the material well and was very tired. They did do a crazy cover of the Flock of Seaguls song that was featured on the Diet Pepsi commerical a year or two ago.

Day two I went right to the What Stage to see Los Lobos. Which was where I found out that Ray Charles had passed away as David Hidalgo tributed at least two songs to Ray. It made me sad as I never so the soul great and I remembered all the times I passed him up including on year on my birthday. I had seen Los Lobos twice before though it had been since 1997 that I could check them out. They are coming to Toronto on Saturday July 17, but unfortunately that is the day that I will be going to see Chris Hillman and Bernie Leadon at the Bluesfest. Their set included two songs off their new album The Ride (Mammoth Records, 2004), they were Charmed and Chains Of Love. They also did my favorite Los Lobos song One Time One Night. They also covered The Who's My Generation and Not Fade Away and Bertha. The one song I thought I would hear but didn't was When The Circus Comes because of Phish covering it over the years it would have gotten a great reception.

Next was the British boys from Gomez at the Which Stage. I saw them in at Lee's Palace back in 1999. And was very much looking forward to seeing them again. Gomez will also be playing on the second day (Friday August 6) of Lolapalooza this year at the Molson Amphitheatre. It was a good show with old Gomez stand outs like Bring It on, Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone, Free To Run, In My Gun, Here Comes The Breeze, Fill My Cup and Trying To Get Myself Arrested. New tracks performed included Where Ya Going? and We Don't Know Where We're Going. A definite highlight of the set was when they performed The Way You Do The Things You Do a Temptations song written by Smokey Robinson and known through this scene by the Jerry Garcia Band.

Next was Gov't Mule at the What Stage. I came in late as I have seen the Mule more times than most whereas Gomez is relatively rare to see. I walked in as the Mule were peaking to Led Zeppelin's No Quater. The set also included Al Green's I'm A Ram which Warren started playing with Gordie Johnson and Big Sugar back in 1998 when they toured together. Then Warren also tributed Ray Charles by performing one of my favorite Charles tunes I Believe To My Soul, it was the best part of the gig. I also saw them do Mule tracks Rockin' Horse, Thorazine Shuffle, Beautifully Broken (When Doves Cry intro) and soulshine. Then to close they did a meddley of The Who's Youngman Blues (that's two Who covers by back to back bands on the same stage) and Good Morning Little School Girl. I was hoping for guests but the set was still special with the Charles tribute.

After I ran over and checked out My Morning Jacked at the Which Stage. I liked the track they had on the Bonnaroo 2003 compiliation CD, titled Dancefloors, and luckily for me they performed it while I was their. Also I heard a lot of good things about them being a fun southern rock band and after seeing Gov't Mule I still needed that southern rock fix. Though I did leave their set early to get a good spot for Steve Winwood where I was also supposed to meet up with Rachael since she left me during the Gomez set.

Steve Winwood at the What stage was delayed for two hours and fifteen minutes due to thunder storms. And even after he started his set the rain continued until around midnight. I had seen Steve Winwood perform Glad and Low Spark High Heeled Boys with Widespread Panic back at the first Bonnaroo, but I had never seen him perform his own set. I had tickets to see Winwood play Massey Hall back in 1997 but unfortunately the show was cancelled. I was disappointed that Willie Nelson was off the bill, but since I see Willie with Neil at every Farm Aid it didn't hurt too bad. I found out at that first bonnaroo that Winwood lives in the Nashville area now and was estatic about his addition. He opened with Can't Find My Way Home, I just smiled and remembered when I bought that Blind Faith album when I was fifteen in a trip with my high school music band in New York City. He also did Different Light from last years About Time album on the String Cheese Incident label SCI Fidelity Records. Winwood got a huge ovation when he put on the mandolin and did Back In The High Life. Also before he went into the Traffic material, he told us that the recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees would hit the road this fall. The Traffic songs performed were Dear Mr Fantasy and Low Spark. Winwood then encored with the Spencer Davis Group song in which Steve was only fifteen when it was recorded Gimme Some Lovin'. The Winwood set was one of the best parts of the weekend for me even if I was wet and cold through out it.

My only regret is that if I knew that Steve's set was going to start so late I could have checked out the bluegrass great Doc Watson and maybe a bit of Jazz Mandolin Project. But I guess hindsite is 20/20.

After came the Dead on the same stage. The arrived one hour and forty-five minutes late due to the rain. It was a good first set and the first time I saw Warren Haynes play with Bob Weir and the two drummers. And The Weight was something that I really enjoyed (it was also the second night in a row that the headlining act performed a Band song). But when they took a set break after just an hour first set with everybody tired, wet and muddy I got mad and decided to go back to the camp site for the first time all day. Because of the rain I missed the Dead doing Shine On Your Crazy Diamonds and I missed Primus as well but I was just wipped out.

The final day I went with Rachael and Sarah to see Burning Spear for the first time. It was much like last year with The Wailers on the Saturday opener on the main stage, a great vibe. Reggae music first thing on a hot Sunday afternoon is always nice.

Next I went to the Which Stage to see Taj Mahal for the first time and what a great set! I have always loved the blues and since Ray Charles had just passed on it reminds me that many of these greats won't be on the earth with us much longer. Obviously he did Corrina, Corrina which was made me think of growing up on the Rolling Stones and Phish in Florida.

Next was Guster at The Other Tent. I have been a fan of Guster since their 1998 album "Lost And Gone Together" and I finally saw them this past fall at Lee's Palace and didn't mind missing moe. for them at this years bonnaroo. At the Lee's Palace gig they performed a Talking Heads cover Nothing But Flowers and I wondered what were the odds that David Byrne would come out and play it with them. Well co lead vocalist Ryan Miller thought the same thing and told us this amazingly sad story. He basically said that the story was going to go bad before he went into it. Miller said that the band went through all the right channels, through the record companies to try and see if Byrne would come out with them, and the record company said no way. As Miller was getting his haircut in New York city last Friday his hair stylist said that she also cuts Byrne's hair. So she asked Byrne what he thought and Byrne said great just have them come up to me before the gig and I'll come out. Unfortunately for Miller and Guster a "Nineth stage band" as he referred to himself is as impossible as it is for the audience to go and meet up with David Byrne. So It didn't happen but the did the song anyway in tribute. Their set included twin guys playing a cello and violin for more than half the set and a trumpet player for two songs. Highlights for me were Happier, Careful, I Spy, Barrel Of A Gun, Amsterdam, Homecoming King, and Fa Fa.

After Guster we ran over to David Byrne which unfortunately we arrived late but that's the way it is at these festivals sometimes. I had seen David Byrne once before at the Phoenix duing his Look Into The Eyeball tour in 2001. That gig was great but it was only a few Talking Heads songs, this gig was the opposite where he played only a few solo songs and the rest was Talking Heads tracks. I came in during I Zimbra, And She Was, Once In A Lifetime, Psycho Killer, Blind, Life During War Time. Plus solo tracks that I like Like Humans Do and off the new album Tiny Apocalyse. Unfortunately I feel the set was cut short due to the upcoming storm as the show ended at seven when it was scheduled until seven thirty.

Then the rain came again and Rachael, Sarah and I helped with the giant tarp city to keep us all out of the rain up front. It stoped in time for Trey to debut his orchestral music at nine with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. I felt privilaged to be there though I wish he picked a different venue to debut this style of music. The crowd was generally respectable, but it only takes a few to ruin it for all. I thought Flock of Words was beautifully done with the orchestra and Guyute was very intense.

I have seen Trey Band perform six times before this show and I have to say that the second set was the best single set of any Trey Band show that I have ever seen! They performed my favorite Trey Band songs like the Mister Completely opener, Cayman Review, Push On Till The Day, Ether Sunday and First Tube to close with an amazing array of fireworks. Also the covers were amazing! Devil Went Down To Georgia had the crowd going wild, Sultans Of Swing which had a firework go off right by some friends which I later found out started a ass kicking of the guy who fired it and finally Black Dog with Jennifer Hartswick singing lead vocals.

After the final night I went back to the tents and wound down and crashed for a few hours before getting up at seven for the long drive home. Though getting out in fifty minutes helped the day go by faster. En Route home it was fun seeing all those who were at bonnaroo too. I had a great conversation with a couple at Cracker Barrel. And we even saw some at the Angola stop right out of Buffalo before the Canadian border.

I can't wait until next year and hope more friends will come with me for the fourth bonnaroo.

[MarcO]

I'd like to hear more about Cracker Barrel.

[AD]

. And we even saw some at the Angola stop right out of Buffalo before the Canadian border.

I wonder if that was my posse you saw... We stopped there on Tuesday morning, probably around 5:30 or 6... Sun was just coming up...

AD

[TimmyB]

No AD we were their around 11:30pm to midnight on Monday. How great was that weekend though? Immediately after bonnaroo ends I wonder who will be on the bill next year.

[fretman]

do you think going through buffalo is a better way?....I've taken Detroit both times I've gone to Bonnaroo.

I'm about 3hrs from Windsor, and about 2hrs from fort erie or niagara, we hit alot of construction on the way back.....definately loved the drive through north Tn and Kentucky, those mountains are beautiful, Ohio and Michegan suck though.

[TimmyB]

Hey fretman, I live in Hamilton and live around 100km away from the Fort Erie/Buffalo border crossing. I don't know if going down the 401 to the Windsor/Detroit border crossing is faster or not. If you keep a trip-o-metre for your trip, mine was 1362km for a one way trip taking the QEW>I90>271>71>65>24.

It took us 18 hours and 45 minutes to get down there because we were caravaning with a group that was slow and liked to stop often. En route home it only took 16 hours and 10 minutes.

One funny quote that I remembered from the weekend was during the Wilco set. Before "A Shot In The Arm" Jeff Tweedy asked the crowd, "Everybody Hi?!" then he raised his arms and replied "I'm not!" This statement was funny for those of you who don't know Jeff Tweedy had just recently finished up rehab from being addicted to Vicodin.

[CyberHippie]

Damn I can't believe some dude whacked Rachel! That's insane. Not that two wrongs makes a right, but I hope you got a good one in there.

I think the strangest thing I saw at bonnaroo was when we were sitting along the fence for North Mississipi Allstars last year. This girl comes right up beside us, hikes up her skirt, and takes a squirt. Pretty halarious. But we did have to give up our good sitting spot, that's nasty...

[fretman]

right on TimmyB thanks, i think our trip was about the same distance, i know I was arount 2800 both ways.....excellent review by the way....i like how you stressed that you saw complete sets....I seen so many half sets, because there was so much schedule conflict.