Back From the Roo!

Ok, went to this music festival down in sunny Manchester, TN. Good times. Very eclectic gathering of bands from across the board of genres: rock, country, hip hop, international music, and even Tool. I don't know why Tool was there, to be honest. Attracted the wrong crowd of people. For example, it was not uncommon to see people walking around in all black, covered head to toe in 100 degree weather in the middle of a drought at 1:00 pm where shade is the scarcest commodity to come by. Also, the place was kind of like a candy store for junkies. Whatever you wanted, I actually saw a guy selling a sunrise sprinkled with dew, covered in chocolate and a miracle or two. My point is, the Tool crowd was not exactly the type of kids you want to see tweaking on psychedelics. Columbine anyone?

On to the music. As a preface, let me explain that when there was a conflict between two bands that I wanted to see that were playing at the same time, I opted for the band that toured less. I caught at least some of over 20 bands, most bands I saw their entire sets. Here are the highlights of bands that are not super famous (e.g. the Police):

Gogol Bordello. Gypsy punk band from NYC. Real fun show. Real hard not to dance to this shit live, even in ridiculously hot weather. Better band live than recorded. Much like watching the circus on TV isn't nearly as fun as watching that bear on a unicycle in person.

Rodgrio y Gabriela. Smoking guitar duo, latin rock. Saw them the first night and it blew my mind. Right before they came on stage, saw a naked guy getting escorted away by security. I think he got in trouble, not just for being naked, but for being naked and walking through the crowd that was gathering for the show. Keep your junk to yourself. They did a real nice cover of Wish You Were Here. And here's another clip of them from Bonnaroo without the guy singing over the guitars. They had a pretty cool video in the back, edited in time with the music, pretty sure it was a live video which made it more impressive. They also like hard rock/metal/whatever the kids are calling it now-a-days, like Metallica and the sort. They'll be at the Taste of Chicago on the 4th, check it out. Dig around on the YouTube for some more of their videos.

The New Orleans Klezmer All Stars. Maybe it's just the kid from Skokie in me, but they were pretty entertaining. Anytime you get a chance to see a guy rock out, jumping around on stage, with an accordion, you gotta see it. Unfortunately, there are very few videos of them from Bonnaroo on YouTube. And I'm pretty sure those two videos are of the same song.

Manu Chao Radio Bemba Sound System. Another real fun show to see, though they were playing at the same time as the Roots. This is where the "who plays Chicago more" rule comes into effect. Manu Chao, the singer, kind of looked like a tiny European Bruce Springsteen,though his jeans weren't has tight. The Bass player also looked like Everlast or maybe the fat one from Hot Fuzz. Manu Chao, showing his punk roots, also liked to bang the microphone against his forehead.

Super Jam. I know I said I wasn't going to cover any famous bands, but how can I not mention Ben Harper, Quest Love, and John Paul Jones rocking out, playing our favorite Zepplin tunes?

Dr. Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys. The man's an American musical institution. I could find anything from the Roo, but here's one from a couple months ago played elsewhere. He's the guy who did the music for O Brother! Where Art Thou?. If you get the chance to see this guy, jump on it. I doubt he'll be touring much longer, but I bet people were saying that 20 years ago. Real fucking impressive. He won some lifetime achievement award for his contribution to American music from Reagan, there's a museum just on him in Virginia, he wrote a song called Hard Times which is about "the Rock and Roll" making it hard for bluegrass musicians to make a living written in 1954. It was awkward to hear him say that at a rock festival. It was also awkward to hear him call it "the Rock and Roll". He also played for the Queen of England when she came through last. He also supported Kerry. Oh yeah, the title of doctor is because he was awarded an honorary doctorate from a university and now he calls himself doctor. Funny guy, fantastic musician, and a national treasure.