Bonnaroo - setlist / reports etc

[GinaSuperCat]

Cataroo 2007 Pt. II

Other Shows Besides Police (in case it’s of interest!):

***FRIDAY***

KINGS OF LEON: Haven’t heard much of them but have been starting to hear about them and no wonder, they really do rock…here’s how hard: at one point the sound system completely cuts out for like 45 secs. to a minute in the middle of a song and what do these rockstars do? They keep playing, of course, and so hard and furious that you can still hear them towards the back of the field completely f’in unplugged…hawt…They really lay into the set and although it may not have been a disc I would have picked up on my own, they sure put on one hell of a live show…

ROOTS: These fellas are unbelievable live. I only have Game Theory having only gotten into them recently but after Bonnaroo ?uestlove is one of my new favorite drummers. Roots lay a groove so fat not only can you put your foot in it, paraphrasing Tom Waits, but you can sit your whole ass down in it. ?uestlove live is freaking amazing. One of the biggest disappointments at Roo was that Roots and Manu Chao were slated at the same time so wanting to catch some of both we had to leave Roots before they’re set ended. They played Game Theory, a rendition of Dylan’s Masters of War (which ?uestlove relates to “the current bullshit-ass administration”), and a breakdown tour of old-school from Biz Markie, Salt n Pepa, Dogg, etc. On the way across the field to Manu Chao we catch the drum solo and I keep slowing down, stopping every 5 feet to check it out <grin> I later heard they closed with a rendition of Roxanne while we were at MCRBS!

**Hard Lesson of Roo #1 You Can’t Do It All…Enjoy What You Can See, Don’t Regret What You Miss! The fact that ?uestlove, Ben Harper and JPJ will be at SuperJam later that night softens the blow of leaving that set <grin>

MANU CHAO: It takes a minute to switch over to the feel of the show after it’s already underway, but it only takes a minute and I bouncing and dancing…the energy is just unbelievable! The tempo changes, blend of different rhythm styles, and sheer energy from MC = a freaking awesome show. It feels like a jolt off the infibulator paddles!

TOOL: Ok, I have to say I’ve only recently started listening to Tool on my own accord…I had some friends who were into them in the 90s and they drove me nuts so I had to go back to that one, revisit the music with a fresh ear <grin>…We are running a bit late and they have already started and I am rocking my ass to the show from our campsite. We figured the VIP seating area (bleachers stage right) would be good for this show so we head there. I think this was a mistake since it oriented you towards the screens moreso than the band onstage…the jumbos aren’t showing the band (even though there is one camera in Danny’s tom that goes on a few times….AWESOME), but for the most part are showing videos (if you’ve seen Tool’s vids like for “Prison Sex” etc. you’d get the idea)…So after finding myself having zoned out on the screens like a waste-case, I told hubby I wanted to move so we could actually see the stage show better (the drummer, Danny Carey, is a relentless assassin of the kit and I wanted to drum-geek out on him instead of zoning on the vids)…no chance of getting anywhere near close to see on the stage with the ever-fervent Tool Army in place so we head to the back, which actually for this show has a better sound mix than anywhere else we were, the lasers start in (more cool trippy shit to zone on) and I find myself not looking at the band much again, which is a shame. The show was really well put together, though, and Tom Morello joins them for a song…I do envy those in the front third of the field…near the stage it must have been mind-blowing!

SUPERJAM: Scheduled from 12-3am, this is one set that you drag your dead ass to no matter how tired, sun-exhausted, and delirious you are. Its John Paul Jones, Ben Harper, and ?uestlove…holy freaking crap. We are just beyond exhausted but we are there an hour early and try to cop a nap on the blanket before they start. Seems like there are some miking problems on the toms so they start a bit late but when ?uestlove kicks out the first 4 count I know immediately it’s When the Levee Breaks (Bonham’s drum part is epic but it’s also one of the first ‘real’ things I learned on the drums plus I am one of those annoying people who can name the tune in 4 notes <grin>)…Is this real? It’s hard to tell. Ben Harper lays to waste the vocals in Plant range and fashion and ?uestlove lays it on as heavy as it goes…JPJ is a legend and it quickly becomes clear that this will be a Zep-heavy JPJ showcase (who, imo, is kinda overshadowed in the whole Zep legacy so I am digging this). It’s packed about 4-5 times over the poor Other Tent’s capacity but if you keep at it, you can keep edging up, just suspend any concept of personal space from your mind, temporarily. Ben is sitting and JPJ is out of view but I have a great view of ?uestlove…Good Times Bad Times, Dazed and Confused is such a colossal jam that they run through all sorts of riffs—a few bars from Immigrant Song, a few from Communication Breakdown, around the sun out to Neptune and back to the point that when it returns to the bass line you had almost forgotten where you were going in the excitement of the ride…Thinking SuperJam will run till 3 as scheduled hubby and I, in absolute distress, decide we have no choice but to head back to camp to go comatose when they take a break after about 1 hr. 45 min. We later heard they only played 2-3 more songs before ending, not the hour 15 we thought we could not possibly stay conscious for! Apply rule #1 of Bonnaroo again here…

***SATURDAY***
We decide to camp out at the main stage and just catch all the acts there on the day the Police headline…we have a great time (Dive, HusbandofDive, Cpriddims, & HusbandofSuperCat) and fare pretty well in the freaking infernal sun and heat; the good company, the excitement, and great vibes from the music all around us.

ZIGGY MARLEY: excellent show…they open with a song Black Cat (MEOOOWW!!), and run through some classics Look Who’s Dancing, Positive Vibration,Tomorrow People, and even We’ll Be Together, etc!

BEN HARPER: Before SuperJam I hadn’t known much about him but he’s unbelievable…gorgeous voice, incredible range, and rocks way harder than you’d expect. Diamonds on the Inside being the only song I recognized, I really enjoy watching him play and wail away…Ziggy joins them for Get Up Stand Up and JPJ joins again for an utterly jammed-out Dazed and Confused…plus he said Roo was the best festival in the world…meow!!!

After a trip back to the camp to change into warmer clothes we meet back up with Dive and hubby and they are really excited to see this late late show by a band they know locally called the Dynamites. Knowing Dive’s taste in music, we know we’d better drag our assess with our last bit of strength for a 1:30-3:00 show in a tiny tent overlapping with the Lips (so packed we couldn’t even get within a mile). 3 sax, trumpet, bass, guitar, drums, hand drums…you know this will be good <grin> We are just fading but as soon as the first notes but this is so funky our corpses are up and dancing for most of the set. I mean this music grabs your ass and shakes it for you, you need do nothing on your own. James Brown lives, seriously…The roof of the tent is thumping…what starts out with a few people gathering at the beginning ends with a tent packed with seams-busting, it's a freaking funk-soul-revival party in here with us all singing along where cued, etc!

***SUNDAY***

RATDOG: I wasn’t going to see them but we are wandering around and I immediately recognize the early Dead tune The Other One. Having been to over 100 Dead shows back in the 80s to Jerry’s death, I should have known that Ratdog would play Dead songs (just thought it was Bobby’s solo project) so we jet over there for the last bit of the set and catch Franklins Tower and Samson and Delilah…it was like a breeze from the past…Ok, you can stop laughing now!

WILCO: I’ve never seen them live before but they are unbelievable…Tweedy says he needs to go to front-man school and doesn’t know what to say in big crowds but he owns this one with his “aw shucks” kinda vibe…Trying to Break your Heart, Jesus etc., Handshake Drugs, Man who Loves You, Shot In the Arm, and some new stuff from Sky Blue Sky…I danced the whole time and look to be the only one (it’s the blazing-hottest day and it’s also the last day, everyone is just plain burnt in all possible ways) but I don’t care, I am in heaven…I had to haul ass back to meet DmotD who was so cool to be holding down an area for hubby and I for Stripes after staying there for the Decemberists (the Stripes were scheduled *immediately* after Wilco at another stage) and upon asking after the show I learned I missed One by One…Glenn Kotche is a f-in madman, another new favorite for me emerging from this festival & I was lucky enough to catch a bit of Nels Cline playing with Scott Amendola in the jazz tent the night before! They are capital M Musicians, capital A Artists, and are just f’in brilliant live.

WHITE STRIPES: Rocked the freak out, I mean there’s crowd surfing and all sorts of things going on…must’ve been 20k+ people at this one alone (the second stage at Roo), more jammed than Flaming Lips the night before, which I didn’t think was possible…Jack introduces his “big sister Meg” <giggle> …Dead Leaves, Hotel Yorba, Think I Smell a Rat, Meg sang Cold Cold Night, Jolene, Blue Orchid, I Can Tell We are Going to be Friends and ended with a smoking 7 Nation Army (go Italian football! <grin>) and everyone in area was clapping and stomping out the quarter notes it was unbelievable and surreal experience I <3 the White Stripes: Jack is one unbelievably talented mf and Meg rocks…two people make all that noise?…they sure have big brass balls/ovaries! Great stuff of the new album (to be released tomorrow), near the end broke a great new song about loving a girl so much he’s going to leave before he f’s it up, introducing the song (as best as I could understand) referring to a letter a fan wrote about planning to propose to someone during the concert? I do wonder how that went! <grin>

Hubby and I have to head home before Panic, but we are so happy from Bonnaroo all we can talk about is RV’s and other things that would make going to festivals like this even more fun the whole way back like 2 complete music nerds <grin> We are filthy, smelly, delirious, lungs are dust-caked but we are the happiest we’ve ever been coming back from a music event!

[Philip]

wawww! tis is the bigest post I've never seen. It will take me until tomorow to read this.

[DirtyMartini]

You are fabulous, Miss Kitty. Thanks for the details!

[New Zealand Promoter]

[quote="GinaSuperCat"]

The order is noticeably different for this show, Walking and Driven are moved up, Voices and World moved down, Wrapped moved up, etc. Some songs are not on the list tonight (Murder, Spirits, Don’t Stand, Invisible Sun) so I don’t think anyone can say it’s static. [/quote]

thanks for your report!

but, ummm, removing songs and shuffling them around isn't really what we're talking about. doesn't really count like including a DIFFERENT song now and then, hey? it's not necessarily a static set list, but thus far, it appears there is a static pool of x number of songs, and x number of songs only.

[GinaSuperCat]

I think we are indeed talking about the same thing insofar as what I was saying was that such tinkering may be the early signs of the slow-evolution, perhaps with a few small changes later on down the road to be seen...

And as far as song pool for the tour, as I understand it, the Police have *always* had a a set of x possible songs rehearsed for the tour and out of that set the shows for any given night are chosen...what you seem to be intimating is not what the Police have really ever done, as far as I know...

[conroy]

Great review, Supercat! I'm even more excited to hear how the show's sound has evolved since the FC show in Vancouver and I can't wait for Dallas to get here!

See you there!

[Kim]

Awesome review Gina! I really wanted to see Tool this year but my poor credit card is still smoking.

[English-lion]

Loved your review Gina