2008 Woodie Awards
The greatest rock show on Earth
Kyle Zwieg
Issue date: 8/30/06 Section: Music
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Likewise, attending a large-scale music festival such as Bonnaroo, one of the United States' premier annual music festivals, offers the same simple, yet profoundly frustrating predicaments. Decisions, decisions, decisions! It would be extremely cynical to criticize Bonnaroo, now in its fifth year, for attracting too many great acts, but that seems to be what happened. In three short, wonderfully rain-free days (four if you count Thursday night's lesser-known warm-up acts), the festival crammed in enough top-notch acts to satiate the divergent tastes of stoners, aging hippies, rock snobs, party girls and indie kids alike. While it was obviously impossible to see every act, much less see every act I wanted to see - those three days were so loaded with enough great music to leave even this jaded hipster completely satisfied. Some accused the previously jam-heavy festival of betraying its roots and selling out. I'm not buying it.
Thursday June 17: Can you blame me for not being there Thursday night? My best friend's grandma lives in Maryville, which is near Knoxville, Tenn. The three of us - me, Andy, Steve - were enjoying great company and even better food. Besides the best thing Thursday night had going for it was a screening of Walk the Line, and that movie was only kind of good. Sue me.
Friday June 18: After sleeping through practically the entire overnight drive, we arrived at about 7 a.m. Andrew Bird, who popped my Bonnaroo cherry at 1 p.m. that day, was absolutely fantastic. I didn't think his intricate studio arrangements would translate to the stage, but his whistling was even better live. In the most controversial decision of the weekend, the three of us opted to watch Devendra Banhart, instead of Ben Folds (see him twice) and Seu Jorge (that guy who randomly shows up and sings David Bowie songs in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). Well that sucked. At one point Mr. Banhart proclaimed that if it weren't for Bonnaroo he'd still be in bed. That sounds about right. We arrived just in time to see Ben Folds smashing his piano stool all to hell, so the show was probably the same set he played at the Eagles Ballroom last spring. We were immediately faced with the unusual choice of Nickel Creek or Bright Eyes. We ultimately decided for a raucous set of bluegrass over Conor Oberst's twangy angst (twangst?). Nickel Creek turned out to be a great pick, they were fun, energetic and the crowd absolutely adored them. I'd never heard them before, but I was won over. Best moment was a silly cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic." That was immediately followed by Death Cab for Cutie, who delivered a surprisingly solid performance, though the same thing that annoyed me on their records annoyed me live, mainly their tendency to drone on with their somewhat whiny choruses over, and over, and over, and over…
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