On June 9th-12th, 100,000 eager concertgoers converged at a 700 acre farm in Manchester, TN for the 10th anniversary of the music festival Bonnaroo. Cars, RVs and buses packed the winding roads that lead up to the farm as music lovers from across the country honked their horns. As the gates to Bonnaroo opened, it became immediately evident that the next four days would be an experience filled with good people and great music. Check out my top five live acts from Bonnaroo 2011:
1.The Arcade Fire
One word: epic. There was something in the air as Arcade Fire took the stage on Friday night. As one concertgoer put it, “I feel like there is pixie dust falling from the sky.” The big band indie superstars pulled together a set of anthems along with several songs from their latest, Grammy-winning release, “The Suburbs.” The energy level of the eight-piece band was contagious. Frontwoman Regine Chassagne gave up her accordion to take the lead in the enchanting “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).” Lead vocalist and husband of Chassagne, Win Butler, came back on to the stage for an encore. “We wrote this song for a room of 20 people,” he stated, before the band launched into the epic “Where The Wild Things Are” theme song, “Wake-Up.” Arcade Fire delivered the crowd a performance that would be talked about for the entirety of the festival.
2.Band of Skulls
This talented trio put in a performance that confirmed that rock n’ roll is still alive. Band of Skulls wowed the giant crowd and played a set that made you ask, “Who are these guys and why have I never heard of them?” Their sound was tight and they held the stage presence of a legendary rock band. Their sound drew in hoards of people as they walked through the ticket gate and towards the sound of screeching guitar solos, new age effects, and old school chord progressions, the perfect recipe for a great rock band. They played hit after hit from their album “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey,” including “Light of the Morning.” The crunchy guitar intro to “Death by Diamonds and Pearls” had the crowd rocking with a sound reminiscent of Jack White.
3. Deerhunter- It is not often that you hear a band that makes you feel like you are on drugs. Deerhunter did just that on opening night as they compiled a set of new tracks from their album, “Halcyon Digest,” with its old experimental, psychedelic sounds that their fans are accustomed to. Bradford Cox’s unique vocals set the stage for the rest of Deerhunter to manipulate the sounds coming from their instruments in such a precise nature that it mesmerized a crowd that fell under the hypnotic spell of mind blowing, ambient, drowned out effects.
4.The Black Keys
Aziz Ansari took the stage before The Black Keys were supposed to perform. He facetiously introduced himself as Ken Bonnaroo, founder of Bonnaroo. He then introduced The Black Eyed Peas. A faint sound of boos accompanied the joke as fans stood waiting for the talented duo to take the stage. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Camey reaffirmed their status as the most talented, catchy, rock-blues band out right now. The drummer/guitarist and vocalist combination played together for half the set before a full band joined them on stage to give a deeper sound to the fan favorite, “Tighten Up.”
5.The Strokes
The sun was setting and dusk was having its way with daylight as The Strokes took the stage on the last day of Bonnaroo. The band had energy comparable to the “I don’t give a crap” attitude that they had when they first appeared on the music scene. Despite sound control problems at the “Which Stage” all weekend, the vocals of lead singer Julian Casablancas prevailed. Although The Strokes didn’t explore a sound beyond the album version of their hits, they looked like The Strokes of old, and for that, they won over the crowd with a great performance that capped an incredible weekend of music and arts.
Matthew can be reached for comment at [email protected]
