Top 12 Bonnaroo Performances

With Bonnaroo just around the corner and this being my 5th year in a row attending, I thought I would list my Top 12 favorite Bonnaroo performances of the last four years (I was going to do Top 10, but it was too hard to narrow it down).  For those of you who don't know, Bonnaroo is a four-day music and arts festival that takes place every year in mid-June in Manchester, Tennessee.  Every year, I get together with a group of friends, rent an RV, and head down south for an awesome time.  Here is my list of my favorite performances:

12. Metallica - 2008 - There was a brief time in around 1988 where I took a break from listening to hip-hop and became a huge metal head, and ever since, I have loved Metallica.  I loved Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, and Metallica (aka "The Black Album") so I was very excited when I saw Metallica's name as one of the headliners of Bonnaroo in 2008.  While not normally a band that one would associate with Bonnaroo, they put on an awesome show.  At the beginning, they asked the audience how many people were seeing Metallica for the first time and thousands of people raised their hands.  They played all of their hit songs including awesome renditions of "Enter Sandman" and "One" complete with stage explosions and fireworks.  Metallica simply showed why they are the masters of metal and why they also made metal more accessible to mainstream audiences.

11. Al Green - 2009 - This man is an absolute legend, and while I was not that familiar with a lot of his songs, I knew of his well respected status in the music world.  He met and well exceeded my expectations.  Despite being well over 60 years old, he did not miss a beat and seemed to be having an absolute blast on the stage and it was infectious.  He kept telling the security guards that they weren't necessary because everyone was all about the love at his shows and he gave out roses to some of the young ladies near the front of the stage.  The Reverend made a believer out of me that day.

10. The White Stripes - 2007 - I had obviously heard of The White Stripes before this show and knew a few of their songs, but I was not that familiar with them.  This show really opened my eyes and made me appreciate how talented Jack White really is.  Despite being a two-man band, they had such a big sound.  It sometimes seemed like Jack White was playing three different instruments at once to create that sound.  And despite what people say about Meg White not really knowing how to play the drums and it being too simplistic, I personally love that big heavy bass drum that just keeps the beat in such songs as "Seven Nation Army" and "Icky Thump".  Their cover of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton was also fantastic and I was glad that they did "We're Going to Be Friends"

9. Public Enemy - 2009 - The legendary hip-hop group performed the entire album of their 1988 classic It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back as well as other fan favorites such as "911 is a Joke" and of course, "Fight the Power". Over 20 years in the game has not appeared to slow these guys down at all as their stage presence was electric. Chuck D continues to have one of the best rap voices in the business and did not disappoint, and despite being a joke in recent years due his run of reality TV shows, Flava Flav showed why he is the best hype man in the biz and held his own on his rap verses as well. I was very impressed.

8. Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road - 2008 - Levon Helm is a member of the legendary band, The Band. I had recently watched The Last Waltz and also read an article about Levon in Entertainment Weekly a short time before seeing this show.   The article documented his health issues and how there was a chance that he could never sing again because of vocal chord damage after a battle with throat cancer, so I was definitely excited to see this performance. The EW article also talked about Helm's Midnight Ramble, concerts that he put on in his home, "the Barn" in Woodstock, NY to raise money for his medical bills and which featured a variety of musical guests.  These shows also gave him the chance to finally sing again. His performance at Bonnaroo, although during the early evening, was basically a recreation of one of the Midnight Rambles and it just seemed like everyone was having a great time on the stage, including Levon, whose voice still sounds great. Particular standouts were "Ophelia" and of course, "The Weight".

7. The Flaming Lips - 2007 - This show would probably be higher up on the list except for the fact that I was exhausted and the show started at midnight and I only stayed for probably two hours of what was a three hour show. The Police actaully ended their show way earlier then expected, so a ton of people went directly from that show to the stage that The Flaming Lips were set to play on even though their start time was still an hour away. Wayne Coyne came out and told the crowd that they weren't allowed to start early due to the rules of Bonnaroo, but they performed a "sound check" by playing as awesome version of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. Then when the actual show began, it was nothing short of amazing. Wayne entered the stage via a spaceship while inside of a giant rubber ball and walked on top of the crowd while inside the ball. There were giant balloons and streamers constantly being showered on to the crowd from the stage and all sorts of weird inflatables that were surfing through the crowd. There were also a bunch of Santa Clauses on one side of the stage and a bunch of green martians on the other side. At one point, he even brought out a gong which he played for a song. Needless to say, I am very excited to see that they will be covering the entire Dark Side of the Moon album at this year's Bonnaroo.

6. The Roots - 2007 - I hate to admit it, but despite growing up in Philadelphia and being a pretty big hip-hop fan in general, I am not that familiar with The Roots body of work. I usually like the songs that I hear by them, and I even have a few of their albums on my iPod, but I have never taken the time to just sit down and really listen to them. However, when I saw that they were playing Bonnaroo in '07, I made it a priority to check them out, and they did not disappoint. In addition to being just a great hip-hop act and obviously knowing their hip-hip history (they did a fantastic medley of old-school songs during this show) they also showed that they are talented musicians as they had a full band including a great saxophone player and of course the one-and-only Tuba Gooding Jr. A highlight of the show was when they paid tribute to the reuniting of The Police later that night by covering Roxanne with ?uestlove on drums and vocals.

5. Cypress Hill - 2006 - This is the only show to make the cut from my first year at Bonnaroo. Atmosphere and G.Love were close, but didn't quite make it. Cypress Hill was another group that I had been listening to since basically 1993 or 1994 and I had always wanted to see them play. They did all of their big hits and put on a great stage show, including a giant inflatable Buddha that rose over the stage about halfway through the show. They ended by saying "Our name is Cypress Hill, and this is how we say good night" before breaking into "Rock Superstar". Overall, a pretty awesome show.

4. Stephen Marley - 2008 - I saw Damien Marley at my first Bonnaroo and I saw Ziggy Marley at my 2nd Bonnaroo and they were both really good and did their fair share of Bob Marley songs, but there was something about this Stephen Marley show that was just a little different. It just had the ultimate feelin'-good-chillin'-in-the-sunshine-listenin'-to-some-reggae vibe. It was just an extremely happy and upbeat show. And of course he did plenty of dear old dad's songs.


3. Snoop Dogg - 2009 - I have loved Snoop since 1993. Doggystyle was one of the 1st CDs that I ever bought, so I was extremley excited when I heard that he was playing Bonnaroo last year. By the time his show rolled around, it was Sunday afternoon, it was really hot, I was completly exhausted, and the show started late, but as soon as Snoop hit the stage, I just lost it. Apparently there were some young ladies videotaping me and my friend Bobby T. because I guess it's not every day that you get to see two large hairy white men dancing and rapping along to every word at a Snoop Dogg concert.

2. The Decemberists - 2007 - I had only heard a few of their songs at the time of this show and I had never heard "The Mariner's Revenge Song". Now, thanks to this show, The Decemberists are one of my favorite bands and "The Mariner's Revenge Song" is one of my all time favorite songs. I also had no idea that apparently they hardly ever play that song live anymore, so it was a rare treat. They trained the crowd on how to do whale noises before they started playing, so when our part came, we were ready. Another highlight of the show was bringing out the legendary Mavis Staples and singing "The Weight" with her. Absolutely fantastic.

1. Rodrigo y Gabriela - 2007 - this show was just one of those transcendent moments that are few and far between.  This was a midnight performance on Thursday night in one of the tents, so it wasn't too crowded and we were able to get close enough to actually appreciate how fast Gabriela's hands were moving while she played percussion on her guitar and played the guitar at the same time.  These two are amazingly talented and the highlight of the performance was when they started playing the intro to "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd and just as it got to the part where the lyrics kick in, Rodrigo pretended that he was going to start singing, but the entire crowd just launched into the verse and Rodrigo turned the mic around to face the crowd and the entire crowd sang all the lyrics in perfect unison.  It was definitely one of those "you had to be there" moments.  I saw them again at Bonnaroo in 2009 on the main stage in the middle of the afternoon and it was good, but it didn't come close to capturing the magic of that 2007 show.

Well, that concludes my list.  For those of you out there who have been to Bonnaroo, what were your favorite shows?  Also, I would encourage everyone to try to get down to Bonnaroo at least once.  It really is a great experience.  BONNAROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!