The Black Keys Fan Lounge Forum

Bonnnaroo was a good time. First time down there for me, so definitely an experience

I just finished reading some of the people panning the Keys set, and I'll have to disagree. It was not 'fucking epic' or 'life-changing' or any shit like that, but it was a good fucking set and the crowd was definitely into it. I wouldn't bother checking Youtube for clips because 95% of concert videos on there are awful in general. Seemed like the crowd was most into the new stuff, but it could of just been where I was standing (about twenty five rows back). Sinister Kid still needs some work to get down that really fat bassline found on the album (maybe it's hard to replicate live?), hopefully they can get it rocking on the next leg of the tour. No encore, but it was still a pretty long set.

Trip report part of it:
Went down there with my brother's friend and his girlfriend. Having the group go from about 9-10 people going in May down to three was not cool. I think going with a lot of people is a must that way you feel more of a party vibe sitting around your tent. Plus that way you don't have to go to a bunch of stuff solo. Getting in was the hardest part. One of the entrances (or was it an exit ramp?, can't recall) got closed because of the mud, and it created a major clusterfuck. Took us about seven hours to get in and the person who was driving took some liberties with the line, which was an asshole move, but whatever.

I ended up catching Neon Indian and the XX the first night. Both were awesome, tons of fun in the Neon Indian, and I was a bit weary going into the XX (it's 'intimate' music, works best in small indoors places), but they delivered a damn good set.

I knew it was going to be hot, but I don't think I was fully prepared for the punch in the face from the heat at 7:30 AM forcing me to evacuate my tent every morning. Hats off to anyone who was able to sleep later than 8:30. The one thing I really should of done differently is do more shit in the morning. Sitting around in the humid air for five to six hours goes by really slow. Hoped around from a few shows in the afternoon, nothing in particular was great (Dr. Dog, Umphrey's, Edward Sharpe). I think best daytime show has to go to The National. I was really surprised by their set, because there is a ton of reasons it shouldn't work: it's intimate, melodramatic music and they were on a huge stage, and the sun had drained most people's energy. I was able to get pretty damn close, and these guy's put on an awesome set. Props to Matt Berringer for
getting into this performance, was not expecting him to be a showman in the least bit. Dude ran deep into the crowd for a song, was crowdsurfing, and totally pumped to be playing there. Checked out Michael Franti before KoL, just not my cup of tea.

KoL put on a decent set, I stayed about an hour and half in, the did a cover of the Pixies "Where is my Mind" that was pretty awesome. I already covered the Keys set. I think LCD Soundsystem was my favorite set. Band delivered a solid performance, but it was kind of 'had to be there' things to really appreciate it. Crowd was totally into it and going wild almost the entire set. I remember James Murphy getting pissed at people throwing glowsticks at him and the band (right after he complained about it someone threw another one at him, pretty sure it hit him). Maybe I was too fucked up at the time, but I don't think he or the band turned adversarial towards the crowd, like I read somewhere else.

Some other comments: I saw a few other bands at the What Stage (the biggest one), but I just kind of got the feeling like I was watching a DVD of the performances. Sure they were fun, but I never really got into them. I talked with some people that were in close for the Dead Weather, but I was just too far away to really get into it. Stevie Wonder was cool, but I was fucking tired during his set and just couldn't get too into it. Jay-Z: I'm not a rap fan, but the dude knows how to put on a show, first class entertainer. I was way the fuck out of the way, so practically nobody was that into it from where I was from, but the crowd looked nuts if you were anywhere close.

Some other random thoughts: Why the fuck would you bring a kid here? Black skinny jeans in 90 degree+ weather? Fake shrooms are gay. Everyone down there was friendly as could be, even had some dude randomly buy me two beers. How come the techno stage gets to pump out stuff twice as loud as any other stage? Need to get way closer to the What stage to enjoy the shows there. I need to go down there with more people next time.

I found some super-shitty audio of the KOL Pixies cover. I can't wait for something better to surface because they really couldn't have picked a better song for them. Did they play anything from the new album, do you remember?
http://www.box.net/shared/static/jx5azrqziu.mp3
Thanks for the report!

And Mirby nice stash, but how'd you get it all to fit into that petite clutch with the shiny purple flowers?

Some other random thoughts:
The food down there was surprisingly tasty, everything I ate was tight.

Fuck you Jack White for reppin Nashville instead of Detroit

Also, Jack White and Jay-Z really teased on doing a collab. Jack White said something to the effect of like "Make sure you check out Jay-Z" tonight at the end of the Dead Weather, and Jay-Z shouted out Jack White twice in his set "I'm lookin at you Jack White"

@mirby,

Yeah the wait was ridic, would of taken probably ten if the person who was driving hadn't cut.

People punking out sucked. My brother's friend girlfriend kind of ruined the vibe too. I get the environment isn't for everyone, but do you need to put on an attitude the whole time? And yeah, you're right, kind of needed more people to fuck around with when sitting around.

With the glowsticks, I just read Bassnectar had to stop his set and have security tell people to stop fucking throwing shit at him.

With the fake shrooms, just bad karma from cutting in line. The three of us only know pot and pills, so I guess we were bound to get ripped off. Our neighbors thought they may be fake because the caps were pretty massive. As soon as I started chewing em' I was weary cuz they taste tasted fine, weren't bitter

" After many years of festivals, my feelings are that the first few years of a fest are the best and you get the best crowd. Then the word gets out and people show up for the wrong reasons and it gets really lame really quick.""
I'm taking you mean people start to show up more for drugs than the music?

And, nice kit, must of been a good time

@grownsofugly,

Yes they played about four or five new songs. I'm sure there will be a good version or two of "Where is my Mind" that will pop up on Youtube in a few days. Saw tons of cameras go up during that one.

Here's the only one I could find so far

dan and pat video interview at bonnaroo

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid95002728001?bclid=91388700001&bctid=94967584001

wait, it's sweet tea flavored vodka? huh

mirby put some green dragon in that shit

It was my first time at Bonnaroo so definitely an incredible experience.

Driving there from Akron, OH only took about 9 hours but I stopped in Nashville first to check out Third Man Studios (for those of you who don't know this is Jack White's label), where I met Alison Mossheart (the Deadweather/the Kills) outside smoking a cigarette. We had a random discussion about music and such for about 20 minutes then her and Jack White left.

Waiting to get into Bonnaroo for 11 hours was definitely the worst part of the trip. Cutters, the mud inside Bonnaroo and two flipped semis within a 10 mile stretch was the cause of this. I went in a group of 9 people and 4 cars so staying together in line was a bit of a challenge with all the cutters. Plus the car in front of our group let 50 vehicles that i counted in front of us. Luckily we all filled up before we went as we saw about 15 cars run out of gas in line waiting.

Bonnaroo definitely isn't a hippie fest anymore. I saw a lot of "bros" and rich kids and a couple fights so there were definitely some bad vibes going around. Camping turned into a constant search to hide from the sun until we figured out to use a giant tarp and make a sort-of cave to hide in. It was fun to be with a group at the site because it made much more of a party atmoshpere, plus our cave was a nice attraction to all of the drug peddlers so they just came to us. I enjoyed lots of delicious buds, a little bit of molly and some bubble hash, but I had a difficult time finding any good shrooms.

Centeroo during the day also became an all out scramble for what little shade could be found, seeing about 200 people crammed under a tree for about 30 minutes then all shifting when the sun moved. Despite the hot hot sun the music was all great. Notable shows include: Neon Indian, Tenacious D (they played an awesome medley of songs from Tommy by The Who), Les Claypool, Kings of Leon (debuted a couple new songs which were good, excellent cover of Where is my mind? by The Pixies), The Black Keys (I only saw the first six songs of this set so I could see the Flaming Lips), The Flaming Lips (they played a little more than an hour of their original songs and then covered Dark Side of the Moon which was truly incredible), LCD Soundsystem (positively rockin' set), The Deadweather (very short set for Jack White standards), Jeff Beck (this guy can still rip it up), Stevie Wonder (splendid performance), Jay-Z (possibly my favorite show of Bonnaroo), John Butler Trio, John Fogerty, and Ween.

Other Comments: Bonnaroo seems to be more mainstream and corporate structured than I had heard from people in the past. People go to festivals like that to "get away from the establishment" but they all just become sheep paying 6 dollars for beers and 35 dollars for a poster and 16 dollars for a pack of cigs from the Bonnaroo general store. I recommend for the future Bonnaroo-goer to bring everything you need from home from cartons of cigs to bags and bags of ice. Any surplus you can sell because it is pure rape when it comes to prices

hahahaha I think that guy's invisible djembe is attacking him.

I also like this dude at Coachella: