2 posts tagged “bonnaroo”

So this is the last Bonnaroo posting. Sorry it took me so long, it has been a very strange week. The headline event this year was, of course, the re reunion tour of "The Police" with all three of the original band members. It is a pretty hot ticket no matter where they will be playing, and The Wife was very determined to see the show.

I have to give her some cred, as she understands music and popular culture probably better than i do. Here tastes run towards the 80s new wave and punk, unlike my own tastes. Yet i can understand "The Police" as an important band in the history of Rock, and i even understand that their influence on other bands is probably more important than their place in the history of music. For the short time they were together as a band, they had an astonishing number of hit songs, and songs that were actually intelligently written (if you could get past Sting's arrogance, which has always been my problem).

I will also admit that they were ready to play their concert: they were tight and sounded very, very good. As a matter of fact, i had caught them about a month earlier on VH1 playing a concert in 1980, or 1981, and they were just awful in that footage and made me a little hesitant about their gig in Bonnaroo. My fears were groundless, as they played all their hits and then some i didn't recognize. They sounded great, very professional, and The Wife and i got our grooves on and danced the night away.

However. They didn't play the whole time period they were allotted, by about 45 min., and let us just say that there was NO chemistry between these guys. And i mean NONE. They made a good show of putting up a front of mutual acknowledgment, but it was very clear that they were getting along because not only was this tour the hottest ticket of the Summer concert festival circut, but may well be, according to Entertainment Weekly, on of the most lucrative period. We're talking serious money here folks.

I couldn't help but remember a quote from a book i'd read earlier in the year written by John Strausbaugh, "Rock Till You Drop: The Decline from Rebellion to Nostalgia." The thesis was this

Rock is youth music. It is best played by young people, for young people, in a setting that is specifically exclusionary of their parents or anyone their parent's age. It is the music of youthful energy, youthful rebellion, youthful anxieties and anger...

Basically what i felt uneasy about at the concert, although it will be a treasured memory of time with The Wife, was the fact that these guys were in their 50s and they didn't address in any way contemporary culture, their music was not new, exciting, or innovative, and altho i was jealous of just how youthful Sting looked when he took off his shirt for the last quarter of the concert, i could only think to myself that my God, this is a grandfather prancing around half naked up there and all i could do was kinda wince. I actually felt a sharp stab of pity for the old guy. Strausbaugh also writes, specifically about The Rolling Stones, but it could have been about this reunion tour,

The larger point to be made here at the outset is that by the 1990s, the Stone's brand of colostomy rock had become not an isolated freak show but a regular -- and popular -- feature of the summer concert season. Every year, ancient rock bands rise up from their graves and rule the night again. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull, Yes, The Allman Brothers: pale ghosts of their once youthful selves, they have become their own nostalgia merchandise. There can be only one motivation: as the Rutles declared, All You Need Is Cash.

I think the guy has a point myself...

The other pics i have are of the Fountains of Wayne concert. They aren't Rock, although they come close, but are Pop in an almost pure form. I had a blast and loved their topical music and great hooks. They were playing in support of a newly released album, and i thouroughly enjoyed myself. I got a great location in the middle of the tent toward the front, and have some decent pics. My only complaint was that they were the most jaded and cynical band i've ever watched live, and their satire and commentary did not come from any warm of humane place. They also had no chemistry between them. When i commented on this, a guy next to me looked at me like i was simple and, speaking as one might speak to an elentary school student, explained that this was typical for a LA band... I especially like the pic with the beach ball of death in the frame: someone must have put some sand in that puppy, because i saw a couple of people get beaned and drop like a stone.

I have to admit that Rock n roll was not the reason i went to Bonnaroo. This was my whole and entire reason for going: I cannot tell you just how in love i am with my wife -- i wanted to see if i could put her enjoyment, comfort, and desires ahead of my own for this festival, and in attempting to do this i was the happiest i've been for a long, long time.

The Wife and i returned from Bonnaroo this morning around 8:00 AM after 21 straight hours in the car. Our landlady was painting the porch, our only entry point to our appointment; she thought we were coming back tomorrow... The Wife, always a picture of calm and rationality, reacted better than i thought she would. We eventually go in, and slept most of the day away. I had to get up and walk and feed the furballs, then i came home and downloaded the pics i took at Bonneroo, which was a lot of fun. However, i am so tired that i think i need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

The highlight of my Bonnaroo experience was Gillian Welsh. Damn, she may be the coolest musician walking the earth today. She is the antithesis of what is wrong with most music today, as she is the lead singer/songwriter, plays several different instruments, and is authentically attached to the music she sings. I really enjoyed her show, especially her older stuff, off "Hell Among the Yearlings" and "Revelator."

I also was fortunate enough to catch Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. He is a very old man now, but he put on quite a show as he emceed, played the banjo, and sang. I wanted to be able to say i saw Stanley live, and i saw a special show indeed. It was a little strange, watching these guys dressed as entertainers from the late 40s and 50s come out to play for a seriously hippie crowd. There was more than space separating them from the crowd at the front of the stage. Here are these seriously conservative people that probably hold the polar opposite political views as 90% of the audience and its the music that connects them. There was not only respect for the man, there was an honest to goodness love that was poured out for this guy by that crowd -- the crowd demanded two encores, and you could see the pride in his son's and grandson's eyes, both of whom was playing with the band. The Grandson was only 14 years old, and could play the hell outta his instrument...

What was also a very good but under appreciated show was T-Bone Burnett. I enjoyed his show mostly because it was soooooo obvious that he was a producer before he was a performer... He was far too cool for school, but i loved the sound and i loved the lyrics. He brought a bit of Cali cool to the Tennessee heat. He may be one of the greatest producers ever, and you could tell he understood the different genres of music, although his was a kind of Dylanesque kinda Rock and Roll. I thought it interesting that a Christian in this industry would take a kind of prophetic voice, but he does it well.

                                                The other act i thought was extraordinary was "The White Stripes." Damn, could the man play the electric guitar. Its about time someone besides jimmy hendrix put a rock guitar spin on delta blues. However, these two are more than a little strange, you could kind of catch the vibe from their show. It was a weird vibe anyway, as the dust was hanging heavy at sunset Sunday night.

 Personally I had a lot of fun, although i don't have a lot of stories to give out. I really felt my age, and felt the double-edged sword of being what you believe. I don't smoke Jane, or do LSD or shrooms or get drunk off my ass just because those things may break somebody's list of rules. There is a bond between people into the same stuff, one that i could not participate in at the festival. It is the same every weekend at the Spoke. I choose to be apart because of who i am, because of Whose i am. I do not do these things because i have a uniquely Christian view of freedom. Freedom is not the absence of any type of boundary, or the shattering of anything that may constrict or restrict my behavior; freedom for me is actually the ability to choose what boundaries and rules i will bind myself too. Goodness, gentleness, kindness, and joy prescribe my usage of what everyone else was imbibing over the weekend.

This is not to say i didn't notice all the young lovelies all around.

Like i said, it was a fun time. I have a lot more photographs, and tomorrow i hope i can bring some kind of analysis to the old blog. But as for now, I'm back as i recover from my vacation.