Four Vignettes From Bonnaroo
By Josh Liburdi
The My Morning Jacket Set
I ventured to the What Stage—the largest stage at Bonnaroo, capable of holding probably up to 70,000 people—to see My Morning Jacket and to find a decent spot before the Arcade Fire set. It was late in the evening, but the sun was still out and, with no overcast to speak of, was still providing excruciating heat. The spot I found was near some food vendors at stage right—no shade to be found in the area. I made the best of it and laid my ripped bedsheet/ makeshift blanket down near some others who were trying to relax. I laid there for a while, using my water pack as a headrest and stared at the sky through a pair of borrowed sunglasses. It wasn’t long before I was in and out of sleep.
All that I remember from this set: clips of Jim James singing and lots of girls in skirts walking over my face. I became an accidental voyeur when they decided it was quicker to walk directly over me instead of around me. I was mostly asleep, but there were times when I received full-on views of their panties. I thought that this was funny and was thankful for them all deciding to wear underwear that day.
The Robyn Set
On Sunday morning I put my bedsheet on the sand under The Other Tent and laid down. Even in the shade of the canopy and the legs of the few around me, the sunshine was pervasive, so I put on sunglasses and, again, used my CamelBak as a pillow. One band had already played and Nicole Atkins was about to start, but the tent was mostly empty, so there was plenty of space to loaf. Not caring about Nicole Atkins, I continued to lay through her set while people filled in the spots around me and the others who chose to stay low.
I was more interested by the remnants of the Gogol Bordello set which happened there the night before. It was one of the late night sets, taking place around 2AM. It looked like a good time: leftover were approximately fifteen-to-twenty individual shoes and flip flops, an inflatable raft (now deflated) and a broken umbrella. If you can judge the greatness of a show by the amount of shit that is lost during it, then Gogol Bordello probably played the greatest one at Bonnaroo. Seeing all the debris made me sorry that I missed the set. Instead I laid among it and the beer cans and cigarette butts, waiting for Robyn to play later in the day.
When that time came—with a surprising, wonderful intermission by Junip—the tent was packed. I couldn’t lay down without fear of being trampled by all the gay boys who rushed to get spots up close, so I picked myself up and got ready for what was one of my most (quietly) anticipated shows of the weekend. It seemed that a lot of people had anticipated it, too, as the tent quickly filled. Bodies poured out of it and lined up all around the outside just to get a glimpse of her setup: lots of synths, giant paper windmills and a lone wireless mic at center stage.
I was alone but felt comforted by the mass of people and the conversation that occurred near me. Three guys were talking about their social circle and comparing all of their friends to characters from Star Wars. They had a laugh and repeatedly said “oh my god, you are so right” when someone suggested that Mike (I think it was Mike, anyway) was R2D2. One of them asked which robot R2D2 was and so another replied, “he’s the short fat one.” Poor Mike.
The crowd was anxious, I sweated profusely. These were common themes all weekend. Robyn came out to big cheers. When her band started playing and she began to dance around on stage, I thought that she must be a sort of Swedish fairy. I can’t think of anything else that can move like she does and get that much applause. After nearly every song she played, she took a few extended moments to catch her breath, panting, and look out at the crowd. Assuming she never started another song, everyone would have cheered the whole time just at the sight of her.
For over an hour, the tent was a wild ass party. Everyone sweaty and looking glazed, everyone dancing and trying to keep up with her. When she sang “Dancing On My Own,” everyone flipped out and started doing their own version of Robyn car/ shower karaoke, singing it as loud as we could. Lots of water was thrown into the air. Beach balls were blown up and thrown around. At one point, an inflatable sex doll flew over my head and was thrown around, too. After a couple passes around the crowd, it came back and its vagina almost hit me the face. Yes, this was indeed a great set.