The dust bowl of last year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival gave way to pleasant temps, a lineup that played electronic dance music (Skrillex) off old favorites (the Beach Boys), and a capacity crowd of 80,000. USA TODAY checked out the weekend's musical offerings at the 700-acre site:
Shakes and Rebels: Aabama Shakes had an indie-rock 'n' soul revue going as they performed Thursday, with singer Brittany Howard channeling Otis Redding during You Ain't Alone. At the end of the set, the Soul Rebels Brass Band led a New Orleans-style second-line parade through the grounds, with Howard and several hundred people who had just finished watching her sing following close behind.
Tribute to Doc Watson: The Avett Brothers made Bonnaroo their back porch Friday afternoon. "You sound beautiful!" Seth Avett told the audience as he led a sing-along of high-energy acoustic folk. Brothers Scott and Seth played a variety of instruments, seamlessly switching positions at the piano between the chord that ended Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise and the one that began I and Love and You. But an a cappella performance provided the most poignant moment. "We're going to do a song we learned from Doc Watson," Seth said as they closed with Down in the Valley to Pray, paying tribute to their fellow North Carolinian, who died May 29.
2¼ hours of Radiohead: "Where are you guys sleeping?" Radiohead's Thom Yorke asked. "In a field? Do you do that here? Face down in the mud? That's what we do in Britain." Few fell out, even though Radiohead played until past midnight, 2¼ hours in all. New song Supercollider received a cryptic dedication that spurred speculation the band may be collaborating. "This one's for Jack White," Yorke announced. "We won't tell you why. … You'll find out."
Vintage Peppers kicking in: Recent hits such as Monarchy of Roses and The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie came early in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' kinetic Saturday set, but the band never seemed to have the crowd in the palm of its hands until an hour in, when it finally played songs everybody knew —Under the Bridge, followed by Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground and Californication.
Superjammin': Early Sunday's nearly two-hour Superjam session featured R&B singer D'Angelo, making his first U.S. appearance in 12 years. He was backed by a nine-piece band with Roots drummer ?uestlove, "Cap'n Kirk" Douglas, The Time guitarist Jesse Johnson and bassist Pino Palladino. The set list included Jimi Hendrix's Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland), Band of Gypsys' Power of Soul, Funkadelic's Hit It and Quit It, The Beatles' She Came in Through the Bathroom Window and Led Zeppelin's What Is and What Should Never Be. Even after the lights went up, the audience continued to chant, "One more song!" After a minute or so, ?uestlove told the crowd: "We don't know any more songs. We crammed all those into, like, six hours (of rehearsal)."
Alice Cooper kills it: Alice Cooper said he couldn't wait to "kill" the Bonnaroo audience. He did just that early Sunday morning, appearing high on a gallows-like platform, singing The Black Widow while wearing six extra legs and shooting sparklers. The show featured Cooper's most famous bits: a fetishistic infatuation with a life-sized doll, a giant monster that roamed the stage during Feed My Frankenstein and a mock beheading, as well as his 1972 hit School's Out, which now segues into Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2. But perhaps the most shocking part of the set came at the very end: a heavy-metal cover of Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which turns out to be a perfect song for Cooper.
Glow-stick Skrillex: For many Bonnaroo attendees, the party's just getting started when the night's headliner leaves the stage. So by 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning, tens of thousands of people — wearing glow-stick bracelets and necklaces — gathered for Skrillex. The EDM producer's console was built into a stage that resembled a starfighter. The crowd surged as he played, waving their hands as four giant plumes of smoke intermittently shot from the stage. The set ended at a good time: The rain began during his hit Bangarang.
Surfin' safari: Every forecast promised a downpour by the Beach Boys' 3 p.m. Sunday start time, but by the end of the 31-song set, the sun poked through the cloud cover. None of the Beach Boys have the voices they once did; the 10-piece backing band doubled vocal lines and fleshed out harmonies. Brian Wilson was a figurehead, seated behind a white grand piano, becoming animated only during his songs in the middle of the set, including God Only Knows and Good Vibrations. But having Wilson sing his songs, with Mike Love there to take lead on Catch a Wave and Surfin' Safari, and Al Jardine to do Help Me Rhonda, gave Bonnaroo fans a full Beach Boys experience.
