6.10.2010 - Bonnaroo Day 1
June 22, 2010
Bonnaroo
Manchester, TN
So, our stuff is all set up, we head out to find the elusive "Centeroo" we've heard about. As we are walking the couple of miles (yep, you heard that right, miles) from our tent to Centeroo, we notice that 95% of the vendors that aren't selling food are head-shops. And that 90% of the people we pass are stopping to shop there. This should be fun...Oh, and it's hot and extremely humid. Like "I'd be drier in a swimming pool" levels of liquid in the air.
The first show we went to was Fanfarlo, 4:15 at The Other Tent. I was stoked to finally get to see this band - I'd heard their name tons of times, but had really no idea what to expect. They were really great. I don't even know where I'd place their sound - somewhere around Folky/Indie-pop. There is a special place in my heart for bands that incorporate a ton of different instruments into their music - and these guys had a clarinet, mandolin, violin, guitar, trumpet, drums, bass, and, if i remember correctly, one of those mouth-operated accordian-like things that I don't know the name of. And they have accents, seeing as they are London-based. And the lead singer, Simon Balthazar, is Swedish. I never cease to be amazed when you listen to a band and hear no accent at all in their songs, then they open their mouths to speak in between and wow you with the coolest of European accents. Great way to kick off 4 days of amazing music.
Next up was catching a little bit of Diane Birch's set as we nibbled on humongous vegetarian burritos on the outskirts of That Tent. Hadn't even heard her name before checking out the Bonnaroo schedule. She's from New York, and has more of a singer/songwriter style. We listened to a few songs, and weren't blown away by her performance, but that might have been because we were so focused on chowing down and keeping stray black beans and sour cream off of ourselves.
We then sat through the Manchester Orchestra set back at The Other Tent - mostly because we wanted to be in prime position to get up close for Needtobreathe. Manchester Orchestra has more of a hard-rock/metal sound, which isn't really our cup of tea as they say, but they did draw in a huge crowd.
Needtobreathe is a great band to see live. They have a lot of energy, and seemed to have extra Bonnaroo energy compared to what we saw at The Vogue in Indianapolis a few months ago. I think that every song they played at Bonnaroo ended in some epic rockstar-esque guitar solo. They performed some of their big songs, like "The Outsiders", "Stones Under Rushing Water", "Something Beautiful", and "More Time". There always seems to be a buzz of energy in the crowd at their shows - we highly recommend going to see them if they come to a venue near you!
Our last band of the night was Blitzen Trapper. I've heard their name tossed around lately, but again had no idea what their sound was like. And they happened to be playing the same tent right after Needtobreathe, so we decided to keep our prime locations at the front rail and check out a few songs in their set. They are an Indie Rock group out of Portland, OR. We enjoyed their sound, you can definitely get into their music. Unfortunately, we were exhausted, and the massive crowd was getting to us, so we skipped out after a few songs to start the miles long trek back to our humble abode (read: oversize tent) for the evening.
As much as I've heard that people have trouble sleeping at Bonnaroo becuase of noisy neighbors, music that goes into the wee hours of the morning, heat, etc...we drifted off to sleep within minutes. There are a few times in life when exhaustion actually works in your favor!
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