Saturday at Bonnaroo 2014 finally felt like Bonnaroo, weather-wise. The persistent clouds cleared and allowed the sun to properly bake the farm and its inhabitants. There’s something extra visceral about tens of thousands of people engaging the elements in the name of music, and there was a wide variety of both to experience on this day dominated by big-name veteran acts.
Cake and singer John McCrea brought their unique voices to the hottest part of the day, but their considerable following was present and undeterred by the blazing sun. The band’s shows are always fun and a bit droll, and this one was a concentrated helping of sing-alongs like “Sheep Go To Heaven”, their wry cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, and a closing salvo of ubiquitous hits “Never There”, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”, and “The Distance”. A few hundred yards away, Grouplove practically stormed That Tent, and only a few minutes had passed before singer and guitarist Christian Zucconi bolted into the crowd for a hectic person-and-security-surf. The constantly moving, instrument-switching band brought a pervasive sense of unpredictability and boundless enthusiasm to their set, not to mention a load of confounding and catchy music.
Damon Albarn’s many disparate musical projects comprise a varied and beloved 25 years of music, and he formed a set to please all facets of his fanbase and win a few converts along the way. Perhaps most importantly, his new material worked just as well as the crowd-pleasing Gorillaz songs. Who can’t relate to the sentiment of opening song “Lonely Press Play” – “If you’re lonely, press play”. “Everyday Robots” and “Photographs” also proved captivating, and he saved a couple of Blur songs for the closing run, but for better or worse, the Gorillaz songs were the highlights. For those who hadn’t experienced Gorillaz live, Albarn made sure they would not soon forget songs like “Clint Eastwood”, which featured special guest Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and “Feel Good Inc.”, featuring another guest rapper, Vincent Mason of De La Soul. A brass ensemble helped out on “Broken”, and “Kids With Guns” go the attention of the afternoon nappers scattered throughout the massive What Stage field.
While Cage the Elephant ran through their normal group of live songs at Which Stage, most of the folks on the farm were gathering for one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend. Lionel Richie is the sort of artist that most Bonnaroo attendees wouldn’t make an effort to see on his own, so his appearance in Manchester was eagerly anticipated. While some likely approached the show with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Richie soon put an end to any fun that might have been had at his expense, engaging with the crowd and putting on a show that Bonnaroo’s “hippest” bands would be hard-pressed to match. Part showman, part hitmaker, and part hilarious party host, Richie handled the unique scenario with a veteran’s touch and style, at one point cannily convincing about half of the audience that Diana Ross was going to join him for “Endless Love”.
A slew of hits from his solo career and The Commodores days made for a mind-boggling display of prodigious songwriting and pop mastery spanning nearly half a century. There was never a dull moment as Richie made every song special – “Dancing on the Ceiling”, “Easy”, “Running With The Night”, “You Are”, and of course “All Night Long” were pure flashback bonanzas, while the slower material like “Three Times A Lady” and “Hello” were met with reverence. He put his band through the paces, such as an upside-down sax solo during “Dancing on the Ceiling” and a center-stage harmonica interlude. The Commodores material, in particular, got the Bonnaroo Saturday night going in just the right way via bright and horny funk like “Brick House” and “Lady (You Bring Me Up)”. For an encore, Richie led the biggest live sing along of “We Are The World”, a song he wrote with Michael Jackson, and made instant memories for 50,000 people.
The What Stage chakra had recovered nicely from the bad mojo of the Kanye debacle, and it was the vehicle for a truly amazing performance during Jack White’s headlining set. Bathed in a constant blue glow and working harder than ever, White led his band through a set that spanned nearly three hours and a reveled in a catalogue of new rock and roll classics plus a few recent highlights. There’s no better opener he could have chosen than “Icky Thump”, and he interspersed more of the long-lost White Stripes goodness throughout his 26-song set, which ran well past the scheduled stopping time. “Hotel Yorba”, “I’m Slowly Turning Into You”, and “Ball and Biscuit” locked horns with Raconteurs gems “Steady As She Goes” and “Top Yourself” in a battle of popular favorites. His highly photogenic band featured pedal steel, theremin, keyboards, and violin, along with the requisite drums and guitars. Their unique touch added an exciting element to Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song” and the normally sparse White Stripes songs that dotted a sprawling encore. “Cannon”, “The Hardest Button to Button”, and the show-stopping “Seven Nation Army” left the crowd jubilant and chanting the latter’s familiar hook as they made their way to the late night sets.
After midnight, the confoundingly billed “Skrillex and Friends” superjam got rolling and saw a cavalcade of special guests performing some blood-pumping songs. The marathon affair will go down as one of the most unique happenings in the history of Bonnaroo, if only for the combination of artists. While Skrillex, Thundercat, Zedd, and Big Gigantic held down the musical foundation, luminous guests passed on and offstage at a dizzying clip. Most notably, Janelle Monae joined in for Michael Jackson’s “Wanna be Startin’ Something” and James Brown’s “I Feel Good”; Lauryn Hill brought the house down with “Ready or Not”; Warpaint elicited glee with a dancy double dip of Technotronic’s “Pump Up The Jam” and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”; and Robby Krieger led the band plus Matt Shultz from Cage The Elephant through an earth-shaking rendition of “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”.
At roughly the same time, The Flaming Lips were cranking their antic generator up to full steam on the Which Stage, making the starry-eyed late night crowd “ooh” and “ahh” with every different lighting look. Visual overload is their specialty, but thankfully the band has regained a little of the sonic strength that made their shows so powerful. It’s still reliant on smoke and mirrors – people in varying degrees of costume, confetti and streamers, sparkly everything, and a monstrous wall of light – but at least the current setlist is more appealing than the last few tours, touching on truly worthy songs like “Race For The Prize”, “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton”, “The W.A.N.D.”, and “She Don’t Use Jelly”. This surprisingly substantial Saturday in Manchester might have been overlooked, based on past schedules, but it turned out to be one of the best Bonnaroo days yet and another example of how the festival delivers year after year.
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Glitch mob made me appreciate electronica again. Physical look of them/their set up was amazing, exciting unique music that interlaced popular songs like Tupac (represent!)