A little while back, Cory, Beau and I woke up in Portland, Oregon. We had decided the night before that we would high-tail it to Tennessee for Bonnaroo and we had three big days of driving ahead of us. We’ve been having trouble finding sponsors so it was a tough decision to drive 2500 miles east but luckily Ben & Jerry’s and Popsicle were donating treats and Jakprints and We Had a Moment pitched in to make the journey possible.
Bonnaroo just celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary with another sold-out festival. The headliners weren’t as awesome as some might have expected but there was still so much good music and with bands, dj’s and rappers performing till four in the morning there was always something for everyone.
Eminem was the top headliner this year and he did everything possible to make his set the best it could be. He even brought his whole crew and band down on Thursday morning so they could do a full-set run-through for his Saturday night performance. He defintitely brough the energy but I’m just not that big a fan of his music. It was still fun to watch and I couldn’t get out of my head the thought that I had seen one of my favorite performances just before Eminiem hit the stage. J. Roddy and the Business were playing on one of the smallest stages at the opposite end of the main stage and they destroyed it. Last year my favorite performance was Warpaint which played the Center Roo stage around midnight and there were only a couple hundred people around.
We generally sling cream all day and once the sun starts to set we close up and hit the main stage for the headliners. On Friday we showed up a bit after My Morning Jacket started. The schedule was a bit different this year with two bands ‘headlining’ the main stage. I like this setup better than in the past where you were ‘stuck’ watching hours of the main band with no other shows going on for 3 hours or so. Friday was MMJ with Arcade Fire and Saturday was Black Keys and Eminem. Even with our late arrival I still think MMJ’s set was my favorite I’ve seen on the main stage in the six years I’ve been to Bonnaroo. There was something about giving them ‘only’ a couple hours to play. They’ve been known to play for four or five hours at Bonnaroo and with only two hours they mined their hits as well as some tracks off their new album Circuital which is my favorite album from them in half a decade. Arcade Fire did everything they could to rile up the audience and I’m sure most of the people there had never scene them before and were blown away. The highlight of their set for me was when front-man Win Butler said between songs, “Come on you f_cking hippies… let’s do this!” It was a call action asking everyone to play and sing along to thier melodic, inspirational chants.
By the time Sunday rolled around all I really wanted to do was hang out in the truck and give away ice cream. We were down to mostly scooping Bonnaroo Buzz and I made quite the mess of myself goign through over 100 pints. I was reflecting on the fact that we had been at Bonnaroo more years than not and if this would be my or our last year. I couldn’t figure it out so I just kept scooping away and chatting with people and putting smiles on their faces. Giving away free ice cream never gets old. There are still so many moments that remind me why we do what we do. How much longer it’ll go on is the only question now.
