Friday, I woke up early to an already oppressing heat and still very tired. After a quick breakfast I found some shade and took a long nap. Napping, for me, was just as important as staying hydrated throughout the weekend. When I woke up, I made my way to Centeroo to catch some early acts. Most of the acts I had planned to see that day didn’t go on until later in the day. I seeing the majority of a honky-tonk set before wandering over to What Stage for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Grace Potter is the sexiest woman I have ever seen. She embodies femininity. She isn’t girly, and she isn’t dumbed down, there’s no shtick; she is Grace Potter and ain’t nobody gonna bring her down. She takes Americana, a genre that can often be boring, combines it with traditional rock and has her way with it. Her voice, her dancing, her dress that kept threatening to ride a tad too high, it all came together with an energy that was difficult to ignore, despite the heat. This energy proved to be a force throughout the day.
I took a break for another nap to prepare for Florence + The Machine. Florence Welch, another powerful feminine force made her Bonnaroo debut with ease and grace. It was a among the most crowded sets I attended. I managed to move up a tad, but for the majority of the audience she was a distant flickering flame. This didn’t detract from the show. It wasn’t about seeing her, because you could hear he powerful voice echo well beyond the perimeter of the tent. To say that the audience was excited and engaged is an understatement. Each person knew every word to every song, save for her new material, and clapped along with childish enthusiasm. She humbly thanked the audience for our support before disappearing off stage.
From there I went to see a jam band. I am not a jam band fan, not even a little bit. I have tried to like them, but it’s never clicked. My sister is a Dead Head and had listed several jam bands that she wanted me to see, Primus was among them. Primus isn’t bad. In fact, they as with the majority of jam bands, are hugely talented musicians. But the vocals, I had spent my day listening to powerful female voices, and to listen to a man warble unintelligibly was grating. I only stayed for a a couple songs before heading to the What Stage where My Morning Jacket was playing before Arcade Fire.
My Morning Jacket closed strong, and their fans made room for Arcade Fire fans. Arcade Fire was the only set scheduled for that time slot, and the majority of the festival attendants (80K+) were sitting, and then standing, anxiously awaiting the band. I found a spot between groups’ blankets and one of the BAs tripped over me as he tried to find blank spot to place his foot. I joined them and we pushed further up front. As we were waiting several tiny airplanes flew overhead and what looked like glitter began to fall onto the crowd. It wasn’t glitter, they were LED lights attached to paper printed with QR codes. It was shortly after that a reel projected on giants screens began to show clips of various movies and home videos.
When Arcade Fire finally took stage, the eager audience was more than prepared for their series of anthems. Each song, more powerful than the last. Few artists seem that genuinely happy together and to be performing. It wasn’t a pop act, or a show, there was nothing feigned, it was happiness in the most physical way. The atmosphere they created, for each of us, was unlike anything I’ve witnessed at a concert before. I’m not saying this to be melodramatic. I have been to my fair share of concerts, and the only memory of people sharing something like this that I have ever been a part of before was the inauguration of President Obama – Arcade Fire did that. And they did that through projecting their personal joy to the crowd, through their music, and it resonated through our dancing.
The rest of the festival almost didn’t seem worth sticking around for after that, but I did. I wasn’t nearly as excited about any other acts, but was curious to see some that I wouldn’t normally consider seeing independently of a festival. I spent some time recouping with the BAs before making my way to Lil’ Wayne’s set.
I like Hip-Hop, but it’s never been something I’ve been willing to go out of my way to see. But given the opportunity, I was curious as to how Lil’ Wayne would be live. He’s notorious for all the wrong reasons, and his fans love him through everything. He was reiterated how thankful he was for their support through his set, especially if they had a pussy. There was a lot of pussy talk between songs that are mostly pussy talk. “If you got a nice pussy, make some noise. If your pussy stank, be quiet. If you made some noise, you’re single tonight.” It wasn’t degrading, as Hip-Hop is so often blasted for being, it was funny. I would venture to say that Weezy is equal parts comedian and rapper.
I was getting tired and didn’t stay for all of his set, but I did catch a bit of Pretty Lights on my walk back. I am not a fan of completely electronic music and I am still not a fan. But it makes people dance, and Pretty Lights made thousands of people (mostly space cadets) dance. I was still on my Arcade Fire high, and didn’t care so much about what I was listening to, or what other people were doing, because everyone was dancing, and that’s something I can get behind.
