Ice Cream Man

Bonnaroo 2008 Review

Words by Ice Cream Man, Jay Steele
Photos by Abbey Braden, CraSH, Ice Cream Man

There is no other festival like Bonnaroo in America. I’ve heard a lot of stories about large festivals overseas but I doubt they’re much like Bonnaroo either. Bringing 60,000 people together on a farm in the middle of Tennessee with a lineup as eclectic as Metallica, Pearl Jam, Kanye West, Sigur Ros, My Morning Jacket, Chris Rock, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Jack Johnson, Phil Lesh, and Willie Nelson is something you won’t find anywhere else. A while back I heard a quote that Bonnaroo’s goal for booking music was “bands that are good live.” I’m amazed that, with all the other festivals happening in the US right now, they’ve managed to bring together so many great acts keep themselves on the top of the heap.

I rolled into Nashville on Wednesday night to sling cream at the official kick-off party with Lez Zeppelin at Mercy Lounge. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better cover band and even though the sexy lead singer was attracting most of the audience’s attention, I couldn’t stop watching the drummer tear it up. As people filtered out towards the end I headed to the truck to do my thing and make some people happy. My favorite was when four ladies all ordered Bratz and I got a pic of them lined up with their pops… priceless.

This was our third year at Bonnaroo and there is a huge benefit to being comfortable and familiar with what’s going on at a festival. Another benefit is having Newt, our new truck, because I don’t have to worry about breaking down and she holds prolly 500 more ice creams than Bessie. It was a bit slow going on Thursday and I needed to do some laundry before heading over to pick up some Blue Bunny treats at the Goody Wagon distributor in Nashville. I picked up a used bike at the pawn shop thinking we might be able to ride it around the backroads of the festival (I was wrong) and caught up on a li'l work before cramming the two freezers in Newt with Sour Wowers, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Big Dippers, and a bunch of other goodness. It took forever to get there (cuz I got lost and forgot my ‘new’ bike at the ice cream place) but eventually I made it to the dry ice place to stock up on a ton of dry ice to make sure everything was frozen solid for the potential heat at Bonnaroo. The rest of the day consisted of taking our time getting into the fest and setup. Partly cuz we can be lazy sometimes but mostly because we knew we only had a couple thousand pieces on board and we wanted them to last as long as possible. Once it got dark I headed to Centeroo where Extra Golden was playing at the tiny Troo Music Lounge. They were one of my favorite bands I saw and it made me start an Ice Cream Man’s pick of the day where I’d put a sign on the truck telling people about smaller bands that were playing that day they should check out.

Everything kicked off full-swing on Friday and we were happy as hell to be a part of it. Our all-star crew at the truck consisted of Paige, Amanda, Jay, Elizabeth, Colibri, and Colibri’s mom. On the photo side Crash and Abbey were running around like crazy trying to capture as many bands as possible. It was a tough feat cuz there were over 30 bands playing from noon 'til four in the morn that day. I stayed by the truck most of the day and caught up with folks. With a fest as big as Bonnaroo, there’s usually at least one time where I get star struck. Last year it was seeing Jim Jarmusch and this year it was Spooner Oldham, who’d been playing keys on tour with Drive By Truckers. He’s from Alabama where my dad is also from so we started talking about that, then his time spent in Muscle Shoals working at FAME Studios. I recently stopped at the STAX museum in Memphis and they had a section of the museum that spotlighted FAME and all the great music that came out of there. Spooner was the organist on Percy Sledge’s, “When a Man Loves a Woman” as well as “Mustang Sally” by Wilson Pickett and “I Never Loved a Man” by Aretha Franklin. He’s also toured a ton with Neil Young and played with Bob Dylan, CSN&Y and oodles more. So…. It’s understandable I was a bit in awe as I spoke with him and his wife as they got some ice cream.

Things generally slow down once the headliners hit the main stage because most people leave the artist hospitality area to check out bands like Metallica who were on the main stage from 9-11:30. If you didn’t like Metallica you were kinda screwed cuz there really wasn’t any other music going on. I think it’s a bit strange cuz there’s a lot of jam band fans at Bonnaroo and having two-and-a-half hours with only a metal band to watch is weird. Maybe that’s when they expect people to nap since it gets so hot by 7 or 8 in the morning that it’s near impossible to sleep later than that. I’ve never been a fan of Metallica so my interest level was pretty low for seeing them. But… like the smart guy I am, I knew I might not get another chance. I waited 'til they were past halfway through their set then headed over with Dove to check it out. It was perfect because I was able to find a seat in the bleachers right as they tore into “One” then “Enter Sandman”. They sounded great and people were freaking out. My only gripe was that James Hetfield was talking a bit and being a bit too nice for a metal band. You’re not supposed to like everyone, remember you had an album called Kill ‘Em All?

I had been saving myself all day for the night to come. By far the best thing about Bonnaroo is that the festival is in the middle of nowhere and music goes 'til at least four in the morning for three nights. My Morning Jacket was set to play from midnight 'til three on the second stage and everyone was excited. I snuck some cans of Hamm’s into my pockets and walked by the stage as they were starting. It was nice knowing they’d be playing for at least three hours and I could venture around a bit and they’d still be there. I had met comedian Reggie Watts at Sasquatch Festival a few weeks prior and ducked into the comedy tent to see him, John Mulaney, Zach Galifianakis, and special guest Aziz Ansari. It was great to get a laugh in and Aziz’s bit about a trip to Cold Stone Creamery gone wrong put me in a great mood for the rest of the night. Before heading back to MMJ, I stopped by the Troo music lounge and caught some Howlin’ Rain, who’d been my pick of the day, along with Cornmeal who’d played the same stage earlier. Tiesto was rocking This Tent with a two hour DJ set that featured Tegan & Sara, Jose Gonzalez, and prolly some other special guests. I saw I tiny bit of it but never got to catch any of the collaborations…. bah. It had been lightly raining most of the night so I threw back on my disposable plastic poncho and headed to watch a bunch of MMJ before passing out while listening to them at 3:30. Ah…. Bliss.

Saturday started out great because the clouds and inclement weather kept things cool and allowed for us to sleep in 'til just before ten. I wanted to sneak in some breakfast before the rush and headed over to guzzle down some coffee and slowly start the day. The picks of the day were The Avett Brothers and Dead Confederate. The Avetts went on at 4:30 in the afternoon and I had just seen them the week prior but I wanted to watch them in from of their fans in the south. Wow… it was so great to see how much they’ve grown. Two years ago they were the first band to play after Radiohead and there were a couple hundred people there. This show brought out the masses and the majority of the people in the front of the crowd were singing along to nearly every song. We kept the truck open 'til around ten at night when Pearl Jam was set to go on. We found a spot on the grass behind a fence where you couldn’t see the band but the sound was decent. When they finally hit the stage we could barely hear the crowd cheer and I remember saying “nah.. that’s not them, people would be more excited if so.” Compared to the audience reaction to Metallica the night before, Pearl Jam’s set seemed quite subdued. We relaxed and chatted most of the time and I was happy to not be dealing with the 50,000 folks on the other side.

Like I mentioned before, the fun really starts to happen once it hits midnight. The late night lineup on Saturday was one for the books. Kanye was supposed to light up the main stage with his glow-in-the-dark show at 2:45, Sigur Ros was playing a two-hour set in That Tent, Ghostland Observatory was going on at 2:30 and Phil Lesh was playing a four hour set for the jam fans. There was also a solid lineup of hip hop artist in the Other Tent (The Coup, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Chali 2Na). Chelsi, who does massages backstage, and I headed out without much of a plan. Money Mark caught our ear so we stopped there for a bit. I love seeing Mark on guitar fronting a band. It’s much different than his keyboard work. The Coup are one of my favorite hip hop bands so we checked that out for a bit. I had commented to Chelsi how they never played anything off their first two albums live anymore. Apparently I was wrong and for the last song of their set they played “Fats Cats and Bigga Fish” from their second album Genocide and Juice. The chorus of “get down, get down, get down” had the crowd jumping up and down and singing along which was the perfect way to end things.

We headed over to Chromeo for a bit but it wasn’t long before I realized we needed to be at Sigur Ros. I can’t believe that I hadn’t been more excited about seeing Sigur Ros. Maybe it’s cuz there were so many other bands on the bill or maybe cuz I hadn’t heard much new music from them for at least a couple years. Right as we walked up we could see the band walking on stage with horns blaring. There were over a dozen band members and they looked and sounded like angels. I instantly got a huge grin on my face as I was reminded how big a Sigur Ros fan I am. For the next two hours we sat right in front of the speakers where the sound was amazing but we couldn’t really see anything. It didn’t matter though. I’m guessing half of the show consisted of songs I’ve never heard before. Their new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, came out yesterday in the US and they way the songs came across live with a full band was magical. It was my favorite performance of the three Bonnaroo’s I’ve been too and somewhere in the top 3 or 5 shows of all time for me.

We stopped by Ghostland Observatory afterwards for a bit and danced a bit before we slowly started making our way to Kanye. As we did we started talking to someone who said that Kanye’s set was delayed 'til 3:30. Hmm…. ok, we’ll just rock some more Ghostland for a bit then roll by the truck and grab some more Hamm’s before heading over. It was past 4 and Kanye still wasn’t on stage. We parked in the bleachers and waited. A lot of people had been there for over an hour-and-a-half and people’s patience was running thin. At 4:22 he came on stage singing the fitting lead track “Good Morning.” My first thought was… what took so long? He had a fancy stage setup which looked like something from Moon Patrol but there really wasn’t any glow in the dark stuff and no band, dancers, performers, to speak of. So… it’s a HUGE stage at 4:30 in the morning with one dude trying to win over a crowd of people who were tired as hell and had waited forever for him. I actually enjoyed it and was impressed that he could just tear into one hit after another while jumping around the stage with li'l to no downtime. At five in the morn, as the sun was slowly coming up he kicked into “Flashing Lights” which is my favorite track of his latest album. It sounded good but by that time people were starting to head back to their campsites and we decided to join them.

My friend Jackie, who books Ghostland Observatory, had a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express for four nights but was only planning on using it on Friday and Saturday so I had to luxury of a hotel room (and a shower) for two nights. As we were leaving I got a text from her that said something like, “I’m on the road, don’t forget the room number is 318.” This was Saturday night and I was expecting to camp but I shot her back a text and sure enough, I lucked out and had a room to crash in. Kristii and Chelsi were driving back to their hotel so I caught a ride and within a few minutes was in slumberland. What a great night.

Sunday couldn’t have started out better because I slept in 'til around 11 then headed over to the nearby Starbucks to get some coffee. From there I caught a ride into the fest and I slowly let the day build around me. Broken Social Scene was closing out the Other Tent later in the day and, even though they’re not really a ‘small’ band I chose them as my pick of the day because they’re great and there’s prolly a bunch of people who still haven’t seen ‘em yet.

I had guesstimated early in the weekend that we’d run out of cream around four or five on Sunday and that’s exactly what happened. We made sure to get a group shot of the crew over where Danny Clinch was taking pics of all the bands, then made a plan to meet up for BSS then dinner afterwards. BSS was great, as expected, and their set just kept picking up steam 'til the very end. I had been wanting to hear “It’s All Gonna Break” but didn’t think it was going to happen. For the last song, the drummer started with a beat I was unfamiliar with and the guy next to me asked me what song it was. “I don’t know but it’s not “It’s All Gonna Break” was what I said. It’s so great to be wrong sometimes. Sure enough they slowly built up the song then rocked it for over ten minutes and everyone danced around like it was the last band of the fest which.. outside of Widespread Panic, which we weren’t really into, it was.

After BSS we hopped on a golf cart back to the main tent in the guest area to get some grub and drink some beers and talk about how awesome Bonnaroo is. You’d think, by this time, that nothing could get better, right? As I walked into the tent I screamed and freaked out because they had a stereo and big screen TV setup and they were playing the Sigur Ros set from the night before. With all the crew hanging out and all the cream gone, there was no better way to wrap up Bonnaroo, the best one yet.

Thanks a bunch to everyone who made it possible; Blue Bunny Ice Cream, Rich and everyone at Superfly and AC Entertainment, our amazing Ice Cream Crew, Jackie Nalpant, Goody Wagons in Nashville, and whoever taped the live Sigur Ros set that I’m listening to right now as I type this review.

Matt from Free Gold Watch made some awesome shirts for Bonnaroo. Check out www.freegoldwatch.com for more of his designs.

- Ice Cream Man

There almost wasn’t a Bonnaroo for me this year. I was coming off of a relentless week and a half long tour with two killer bands, Dead Confederate and All the Saints, and my exhausted innards begged me to catch a flight from Atlanta back to Raleigh. Not to mention the more important fact that I didn’t have a guaranteed pass. But then I decided to buck up and put some feelers out on e-mail. Sure enough, Matt and Crash came through in the clutch and hooked me up with the necessary credentials. It was now Manchester or bust.

Two years ago, I read Ice Cream Man’s review of Bonnaroo, eventually propelling me to contact him about possible work. In said review, he mentioned his brother Brad and friends hanging backstage with him all weekend. Well—as it goes in this small, small world—those friends, Brack and Casey, were my ride to the festival this year. Very strange but at the same time typical of the magic embodied by Bonnaroo and of course, the Ice Cream Man.

Our trio arrived to the festival behind schedule—mostly due to the fact that my super, fandangled shortcut directions got us lost. Thank the Lord that the check-in crew was on Bonnaroo time because if they’d stuck to the 12:00 am deadline on Thursday night/ Friday morning I would have been up you know what creek without a paddle. Needless and unfortunately to say we didn’t get to see Battles, MGMT, The Felice Brothers, The Sword, etc. But after unpacking and making camp in the farthest campsite from Centeroo, we made the pilgrimage into the heart of the festival and were able to catch a hair of Porter-Batiste-Stoltz. It sounds like a new age law firm but in fact it’s a throbbing funk trio with deep ties to the Crescent City music scene. I mean, George Porter, Jr. The Meters. C’mon. Slammin’, but after a few hours it was time for bed. Friday was going to be a day of massive proportions.

Friday morning, after catching up the crew—old friends, fresh and beautiful additions—I headed to check out the Drive-By Truckers. With their biscuits and whiskey Southern rock, DBT knocked the dust off the bottle and the Which Stage, jumpstarting the masses for a steamy Friday the 13th. A little while later we headed over to see The Swell Season. Once was in my top 3 flicks of ’07 and I wasn’t going to miss a chance to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova live. (Marketa had also soothed her singing throat earlier in the day with some ice cream.) The duo, along with a slew of backing performers, transformed This Tent into one big goosebump, especially when they played “Falling Slowly.” Before things got too misty, Paige, Amanda, Elizabeth, Eric and I jumped across Centeroo to That Tent, where we shook our behinds to the pulsating party jams of !!!. The Sacramento-based group upped the already sweltering temperature with a blistering set. Hopefully, the Bonna people will wisen up and give the band a late night slot in the future, because that’s what !!! deserves.

Unfortunately, I missed M.I.A. and Willie because I had to pay my dues slingin’ cream. As killer as I heard those sets were, it turned out to be a necessary break, as Chris Rock, Metallica, MMJ, and the heavens planned to drain just about every ounce of energy I could store. Chris Rock was, naturally, the height of hilarity. The first band really brought the noise, and it was truly an experience to see them live. It was obvious watching their extremely tight and discography-spanning performance why Metallica has achieved such World-wide acclaim. The latter band made its name at Bonnaroo with mind-boggling shows and their set this time around wasn’t no slouch, neither.

I’m going to go ahead and say again that My Morning Jacket is the best live band around. The hair on the back of my neck practically stood up throughout their four hour-long set. It rose every time Jim James’ cherubic vocals soared across Centeroo. Every time the band launched into a thunderous breakdown, such as the one that closed “Steam Engine,” and the rain would pour down in two ton tanks. When Metallica’s Kirk Hammett came out for “One Big Holiday,” and you could just see the utter joy on Carl Broemel and Jim James’ faces. Or when James and company transformed MMJ into the best wedding band in the galaxy and performed a handful of funk and soul covers, including James Brown’s “Cold Sweat.” Neck hair most certainly stood at attention during their earth-shattering performance of “Run Thru.” And finally, when Zach Galifianakis came out dressed as little orphan “Annie” for the grand finale, Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home.” (I laughed a little bit, too.) By that time, people were utterly exhausted. It was four in the morning and nearly three-quarters of the crowd had left. But for those who stayed it was the perfect reminder that this isn’t only an incredibly talented rock band; it’s also one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. One that despite the torrential rain, the technical difficulties (“rain and electronics are not friends,” declared James), and the dissipating crowd, could still persevere to finish the night in an entertaining and hilarious fashion. That’s a characteristic that a lot of other groups have trouble finding. And I know all of this might sound hyperbolic. I guess you’d have to been there to understand. I wish everyone was.

Needless to say, Saturday didn’t start at the crack of dawn. I actually rode back to Nashville with the good people from American Songwriter after the MMJ set to find a warm shower and a warm bed. Sounds weak, but it was damn sure better than being soaking wet and trying to sleep in the front seat of a car. So, we didn’t make it back to Manchester until the Avett Brothers’ late afternoon set—but what a fine performance to start the day with. The Avetts, now a four-piece with the amazing Joe Kwon, had The Other Tent in a snake-handling frenzy. People were singing along so much it was if they were speaking in tongues. Both Matt and I agreed that we had never seen a band rock a daytime tent like that.

Since the Avetts were rocking so hard, we didn’t make it to Cat Power . Though I did bump into the ever -stunning Chan Marshall behind This Tent. Phew! It was in that same tent that I met my friends Jon and Lauren to see Iron and Wine. Sam Beam truly has an incredible voice and the band really jammed up their normally laid back style for the Bonnaroo attendees. From there I skipped over to see Levon Helm and Ramble on Road. Like any rock enthusiast, I’ve seen The Last Waltz countless times, so it was more than incredible to see him sing “Rag Mama Rag” in person. Not to mention the fact that the man survived a bout with Throat cancer and can still sing like he does. Definitely reminds one to make the most of every day.

After Levon, Jon and I met up with the guys from Dead Confederate, ready to play their 1:30 AM set early Sunday morning. We hung around the artist area for a while and then made our way to the new hill beside the What Stage to watch Pearl Jam. My older brother reared me on Ten, etc., so it was pretty awesome to see them live. He actually texted me the lyrics to “Animal” just as the band was wrapping up the song. Weird, huh? Things started getting a little too political, so we decided to head over to the Troo Lounge to help DC get ready for their set.

They didn’t need any help. Dead Confederate killed it. I’m not just saying that because I’m friends with the Athens, Georgia-based band. I’d tell them they were terrible if it was so. But it wasn’t, and it’s clear that’s why wanderers slowly packed the Troo Lounge. Their sludgy brand of mystifying Southern rock ripped the tits off the tent. The noise was so hot at one point that even the sound men couldn’t figure out why all the signals showed red. Perhaps one feller standing next to me put it best after the band finished a stage-destructive cover of Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea.” Looking over at me, eyes bugging out of his face, he somberly stated, “Jesus Christ, man.”

After some festival grub and a small dose of the squeal, bass and lights of Ghostland Observatory, my night was again nearing four in the morning. Kanye, sticking to his self-righteous nature, hadn’t even come onstage. It was time for this man to go to bed.

Sunday was a slow day for me. It was searing-ass hot and I was exhausted. For the most part, Jon, Lauren, Brack, Casey and I hung out with the rest of the crew backstage. It was a nice break. We got to chill with Matt from Free Gold Watch and all the crew was photographed in the backstage Danny Clinch studio. But we weren’t going out without any music, so the whole gang headed over to watch Broken Social Scene. Although Jon, Lauren and I were only able to catch a few songs, I can tell that BSS is a band I am really going to get into. I know that they’ve been along for awhile. They’re just one that I haven’t listened to very much. Sorry.

We said our goodbyes and that was it. Another awesome Bonnaroo with a totally amazing group of people. Thanks to Matt, Crash, the crew, Brack, Casey, Jon, Lauren, and AS for making it possible. Until next year, Manchester.

- Jay Steele