well, back in the tent closing in on 130am, trying to put yet another stellar Bonnaroo in perspective....
Phish ended about an hour ago, and Elizabeth and I miraculously ended up on the upper sidestage to witness our 1st full Phish concert! As stated in a previous entry, we only caught the first couple songs on Friday night...and if there's one Phish show to catch, I'd imagine it'd be this one - Springsteen guest stars for 3 songs in the middle, a Velvet Underground "Rock and Roll" cover, and oh yeah, there were 75,000 fans going bonkers the whole time...quite a site to witness from any perspective, let along high atop the side of the stage. Oh right, and the setting wasn't any old basketball arena or shed, it was at Bonnaroo! Ok, truth be told, we did ditch out for a bathroom break and a massive slice of pizza around the time they played what's probably my favorite Phish song, "Character Zero," but even that was lucky as we heard the "true" sound mix for most of the song and not the muted, you're-standing-behind-the-speakers mix from sidestage. We were way overdue for dinner as no food was provided backstage, we had to fend for ourselves and time got away from us! And we knew, Phish being Phish, we were gonna be in for an epic night...
Earlier highlights today included-
the fun I had broadcasting from noon-3pm eastern from the radio compound and playing back some of this year's backstage performances from the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, Ani DiFranco, Wilco, The Features, Zee Avi and Andrew Bird (just to name a few). Thanks to Elizabeth and Starr Hill's Mark for joining me on-air, to Brad & Melissa for taking over from 3-4pm, and to Bob back at the studio in VA for getting us on the air from TN!
Elizabeth captured some great video for the Corner Crew of Sons of Bill and Cage the Elephant's raucous (sorry, i know i keep using it, but i love that word!) early day sets. I was on the air and Brad & Melissa's late-morning escort to the off-site showers took longer than expected..."disc jockeys" and "roughing it" aren't phrases that go together very well...lol
Ted Leo was awesome solo at the Sonic Stage. Played a new song and even did a cover of Nick Lowe's "So It Goes!"
Dear & The Headlights delivered a strong set of heartfelt, indie-soul at the Troo Music Lounge. I knew little or nothing about them before I saw 'em...
Strolled over to see Merle Haggard just in time to catch "If You Got the Money, Honey I Got The Time." Classic.
thanks to our Music Allies pal Nick, we got into the pit for about half of Snoop Dogg's set...getting to see him at all was pretty sweet after missing out on a chance to see him during my Missouri days, let alone from that close-up! Sometimes it's not about being backstage at Bonnaroo, it's about tagging along with the right folks at the right time backstage.
also thanks to Nick, caught the last couple of Band of Horses songs from sidestage as well...amazing backdrop with the sun setting off in the distance (for their song "The Funeral" especially). It was around this time I finally introduced myself to a couple of radio legends, Marty and Norm from WXRT in Chicago.
Here's a good summary of tonight, and the festival in general (via yahoo via Associated Press) with most of the highlights put much more succinctly than I could and without my bias...but then that's what makes blogs fun, now doesn't it?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/ap_on_en_mu/us_music_bonnaroo_wrap
ok, time for bed...730am will be here way too soon! don't really want to leave that early, but allowing for traffic and stops along the way, we'll definitely need some good rest before heading back to work on Tuesday! fuller updates on previous days will appear soon...check back!
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