Thursday at Bonnaroo usually means fast and furious sets from some of the younger and rising bands on the bill, and there was a deluge of intriguing music to experience on a moist evening in Manchester, TN. The festival’s first stanza included an especially fine lineup at That Tent, kicking off with an eclectic set by The Preatures, whose lovely guitar pop alternated between sweet and sultry. California’s Allah-Las then offered an hour of their heavy-lidded west coast psych rock, which also contains a thread of outlaw country and plenty of high desert harmonies. Their reverb-laden songs sound like the kind of thing that would issue from a suburban California garage in the late 1960’s. It’s wholly derivative, but definitely groovy and tailor-made for easing in to a long weekend.
ZZ Ward was one of Thursday’s most scheduled sets by attendees, according to the Bonnaroo website, and the mass appeal of her songs was evident for her hour on stage. Like many Thursday acts of Bonnaroos past and present, she’s an artist with barely over an hour of material, so a quick set isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case. She concentrated on upbeat numbers such as hits “Put the Gun Down”, “Til The Casket Drops”, and the sexually charged “Move Like U Stole It”. Real Estate followed her on the same stage and offered a more plaintive approach, their gently enveloping melancholic pop ringing out as the perfect sunset accompaniment. Clear and earnest songs like “Talking Backwards” and the glitteringly melodic “Crime” helped make their set an early highlight of the weekend.
The lure of an all-That-Tent Thursday was strong, with Cherub and Omar Souleyman up next, but anchoring to one stage isn’t a very Bonnaroo thing to do. There was more curiosity at every turn, like the full-frontal guitar assault of Cloud Nothings, which took on an extra level of intensity in the live setting; the brooding, beat-heavy sound of Banks, which was one of the most hyped and haunting sets of the night; and the sensual, synthetic, dual-drummer hypnosis of POLICA, which centered around the captivating stage presence and honeyed vocals of Channy Leanagh.
One of the pseudo-headliners of the night, White Denim, fired off their opening shot a few minutes before midnight. This explosive quartet likes to hone their setlists and transitions to a razor-fine edge, and while every show is essentially the same, there’s no band that careens through their song selections quite like they do. Moving imperceptibly from one frenzied moment to the next, they tore through the breakneck segments of “Corsicana Lemonade”, “At The Farm”, “At Night in Dreams”, and a handful of others like a band possessed. After an evening of mostly up and coming talent, it was refreshing to watch a veteran outfit like White Denim simply and calmly destroy That Tent. It was a perfect palate cleanser for a Friday that is sure to be as grueling as it will be enjoyable.
