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Bonnaroo Music Festival 2005
Widespread Panic
The Dave Matthews Band
The Black Crowes
Trey Anastasio
Iron And Wine
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Bonnaroo Music Festival 2005
Manchester, TN
6/10/2005 - 6/12/2005
By: Lindsey M. Keen
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Summer rain, heat and humidity didn't dampen the spirits of
the 4th annual Bonnaroo crowd of 80,000 (in comparison to
the previous year's mob of 90,000). As they drove from
coast to coast and flew across the ocean, this year's
Bonnaroo attendees were in for a real surprise. Sitting in a
car for 12 hours only to trek 20 miles was merely a part of
the adventure, but the opportunity to see over 80 bands and
surprise appearances by special guests like blues-pop
guitarist John Mayer playing with the legendary Herbie
Hancock was well worth the wait.
Bonnaroo offers a chance to see the best of what's around in
today's jam band scene - although this year, the promoters
brought in indie acts like Iron and Wine, Rilo Kiley and M.
Ward, hip-hop artists Jurassic 5 and De La Sol and rock
groups Kings of Leon and The Mars Volta.
At the entry point of the weekend's festivities, the eager
horde of bohemians yelled out, "Bonnaroooooooooo," as the
security guards opened the gate to the main stage entrance.
A couple of hours later, fans began to walk around in a state
of confusion wondering how they would make it to all the
shows on their wish list. The schedule is completely out of
harmony with the reality of here and now, as while the Black
Crows are on the What Stage, surfer/songwriter Jack
Johnson is on the Which Stage and the hushed indie singer,
Samuel Beam of Iron and Wine, is across the field at That
Tent.
Most still realize that the good times like these are
golden...despite it all the weather, traffic, waiting in line for
the portapotty...fans remained steadily surprised by what
the 2005 Bonnaroo had to offer.
This Tent, That Tent and the Other
Tent...
When the rain was coming down and mud would squish
between your toes everywhere you stepped, it was nice to
find safe haven under a tent. There to greet you was the
celebrated songwriter and Bush-basher John Prine,
progressive rockers The Mars Volta, hip-hop gurus De La
Soul, troubadour Ray LaMontagne, the soft indie whisper of
Iron & Wine, the easy going folk voice of Amos Lee and the
multi talented melancholy balladeer Citizen Cope. Bonnaroo
made sure that fans would experience the hippest diversity
in music today.
John Prine recently beat cancer and also released Fair
and Square, his first album in over 9 years. The
congenial Prine laughed about how times are changing but
when you're stuck in the middle of a war a song like "Some
Humans Ain't Human," will allow you to see the light.
However when Prine played his classic hit, "Angel From
Montgomery," the crowd sang along, danced and smiled in
sheer happiness.
Citizen Cope brought out the "Hurricane Waters," whaled
about a "Bullet and a Target," and let everyone know that
the "Son's Gonna Rise." His music can easily switch from
trans beat hip-hop to rock to dance.
Ray LaMontagne has gained great success over his freshman
effort, Trouble. Through his troubadour
delivery and breathy lyrics, LaMontagne slowed down the
fast-paced crowd as they stood beside themselves listening
to "Forever My Friend," took refuge with "Shelter" and found
peace in "Trouble."
Hip-hop veterans De La Soul had thousands of fans pumping
their fist into the air until nearly 4:30am! Meanwhile, The
Mars Volta created a lot of Bonnaroo Buzz as it was rumored
that Jack Johnson and John Mayer wanted to see the band
that's been considered all the rage by nearly every music
major publication.
This year Bonnaroo exceeded the expectations of what was
once coined as the festival for jam bands and has managed
to embrace all forms of music into their rural
community.
What Stage?
What Stage? That was the name of this year's main stage at
Bonnaroo, which featured Allison Krauss & Union Station,
The Allman Brothers Band, Dave Matthews Band, Gov't Mule,
The Black Crowes, Bob Weir & Rat Dog, the Word and
Widespread Panic (who headlined both Saturday and Sunday
night).
A murder took place on the What Stage at 6:00pm Saturday
evening. A murder of Black Crowes, that is. For songs such
as "Soul Singing," their classic cover of "Hard to Handle" and
- for the encore from their highly successful The
Southern Harmony and Musical Companion -
"Remedy," frontman Chris Robinson was in fine form. For
most of the attendees, this was the first time to see the
Black Crows live.
Scattered showers throughout the day gave way to soothing
temperatures as nightfall approached. "It's nice to be a part
of this. All this amazing music," said Dave Matthews, the
fifteen-year industry veteran, who started out his career
playing in small bars and restaurants in Charlottesville, VA,
now in front of a Bonnaroo crowd of over 75,000. Dave
Matthews Band headlined the opening night of Bonnaroo on
the What Stage and began their set with "One Sweet World"
and continued to play crowd favorites such as "Too Much,"
"Crash Into Me" and their new radio single from Stand
Up, "You Might Die Trying." The DMB even spoofed
the Bonnaroo crowd of hippies by covering the Zombies'
anti-Vietnam theme from Woodstock, "Time Of The
Season."
Widespread Panic's first night was a welcoming party as they
ripped into their extensive catalog playing crowd pleasures
like "Chilly Water," "Climb to Safety" and ending the encore
with another love and war song, this time by the Beatles,
"Come Together," featuring Warren Haynes on guitar. Pedal
steel pusher Robert Randolph, legendary Deadhead Bob
Weir, renowned pianist Herbie Hancock and the southern
brothers of North Mississippi Allstars, Luther and Cody
Dickinson, were amongst the special guests that graced the
stage for Widespread Panic's final show on Sunday as the
closer for Bonnaroo 2005.
Where there's a What Stage there's a Which Stage in the
distance...
Which Stage are they playing
at?
British songstress Joss Stone, masterful pianist Herbie
Hancock (featuring special guest John Mayer); ultra-hip
Kings of Leon; laid back beach boy, come polished
songwriter Jack Johnson; Phish out of water Trey Anastasio;
the hot and tight My Morning Jacket; a not so Modest Mouse
and hip-hop innovators Jurassic 5 played to the crowd at the
Which Stage through out the weekend.
Joss Stone stepped onto the stage as the sun kissed the
faces of the hot and already weary Bonnaroo crowd. As she
channeled Janis Joplin, Stone reminded the fans that they've
got a "Right To Be Wrong" and left them with "Some Kind of
Wonderful" as the encore.
Youngsters Kings of Leon, who grew up about an hour away
from Manchester and recently ended a tour with U2, took to
the stage with vengeance, drawing out more songs from
their recent release Aha Shake Heartbreak.
Frontman/vocalist Caleb Followill, along with brothers Jared
on bass and Nathan on drums - not to mention cousin
Matthew hammering out the tones on lead guitar - looked a
little out of place in a jam band scene of granola munching
hippies. Their quick and rattling punkish songs such as
"Razz," "Day Old Blues" and "The Bucket" turned the crowd
around and got everyone on their feet just before the rain
poured on their heads.
Speaking of rain, during Jack Johnson's set the heavens
opened the floodgates and drenched the pack of people who
refused to leave and continued to dance to "Bubble Toes"
and "Flake." At one point, fans were mud wrestling to the
music and a young man climbed high up to the top of a tree
to catch a glimpse of Johnson on stage.
A highlight of the Which Stage was Trey Anastasio's show
that started after midnight and kept on rocking until almost
3am. Phish fans lined up in front of the stage 3 hours before
his performance in order to catch the best possible view. But
what they didn't expect was the American Idol reject Bo Bice
joining Anastasio for a deranged version of Van Halen's
"Panama" and Hasidic reggae/rapper Matisyahu covering
Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" to close the show.
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