June 8, 2012:
The way to wake up at Bonnaroo is with a beer and a batch of dirty eggs and bacon cooked in a pan that you bought for less than five dollars at the Walmart. That’s just how you do it. Our eggs this morning were cooked by a collaborative effort between DJ aka Chach aka @djthegoods and Brandon “Supergood Music” Dorsky. They did damn well, and we all got a good base in our stomachs. You need a good base.
At the Jam Van we saw sessions from Glass Note Records act, Oberhofer. They had the most complicated sound set-up that our boy Beez on the mics dealt with all weekend. Not that this was a bad thing. It was a great thing whereby they were concerned, as their music is an intricate assault on the eardrums. I only mention the complexities of their set to precede our second artist, Hey Rosetta, who showed up with just a guitar and put on an equally captivating performance. Sets 2 and 3 for Jam Van 2.0 in the bank, baby was well broken in.
Out and about the festival we kicked it with the home-girl Big Freedia, the Queen of New Orleans Bump music. Shook it to Sharon Jones and her Dap Kings. Paid our respects to North Carolina while watching the Avett Brothers make pretty girls swoon and sway from the main stage. Stood backstage for a barrage of Ludacris’ biggest hits accompanied by the butt shaking of back-up dancers with some of the most imposing rear ends that I have ever witnessed. Took a dose of Radiohead and their wild light show to the dome, then washed it all down with some late night daggering at Major Lazer, head-thrashing with Valiant Thor, hand pumping at Blackstar, spin-dancing at the insane Umphreys McGee set that lasted until six AM, and of course, bumped it up with Freida at 3AM.
That’s how you do the Roo. Wake up, then don’t stop. It’s a marathon. Pace yourself, hydrate, don’t try and see everything, just try and smile and laugh as much as possible.
Track for the Day: “Home to Me” by Tauk, off of their album Pull Factors.
Photo Phun:
We made it into the pages of Relix’s Bonnaroo Beacon on day 1… Hashtag ballin’.
An impossible task for him…
The home-girl Big Freedia filming for a TV show and kickin’ it… Mostly kickin’ it.
Sharon Jones lettin’ y’all know it’s never too hot out to wear your purple sequins.
Oberhofer and Two Door Cinema Club hangin’ on our bean bags…
The high view, Sharon Jones.
Dove Yeaman + Big Freedia = a whole lot of somethin’…
Sixty Minutes type ish…
Hey Rosetta levitating…
How the Perfect Hippie spent Bonnaroo OH’12.
NC born and raised up.
Good spot to throw stuff at the crowd… Fun stuff, like water.
Luda at the Jam Van…
Brotherly love and stuff…
I believe this is Breath Carolina doing some MTV type ish, but I can’t be certain… They all blended together at some point, as so many wanted to use baby-girl as a back-drop.
This is where we watched Ludacris from… I should have taken a picture of one of those girls’ butts.
Blackstar pre-show huddle. I was not involved.