Fallen Thoughts

:: 7.26.2002 ::

I woke up for day two feeling much better than the day before. being cracked out from lack of sleep isn't the best of feelings. I came around at about 10 or 11 AM. when the sun rose in the morning, the tents turned into little ovens, which made it pretty hard to sleep very late. this was a good thing, though, as there was always music going on. can't enjoy the music with your head buried in a sleeping bag.

Chris showed up at our camp around noon. we snapped a few pictures of the camp and hit a good bowl, then walked over to his camp to see what was shakin' in Barbarino. they didn't bring a tarp with them, so the girls were baking in the afternoon heat. knowing the value of shade, we decided to set them up a little makeshift roof with the rain cover from their tent. worked like a charm. I sat and enjoyed the fruit of our labor for a bit and then headed back over to my camp to see what Kev and ME were up to. after a bite to eat and a couple of beers, we packed up the cooler and went back to meet the Barbarino kids. we got everything together and then struck out for the Stadium and Ben Harper.

the performance at Bonnaroo was the first time I'd seen Ben in over a year, last seeing him and the Innocent Criminals at Music Midtown in May 2001. it was also the first time I'd seen a solo set from him. as we approached the entrance to the Stadium, we saw a massive sea of people channeling through the small gates like sand through an hourglass. we stopped for a moment, thinking we might just head back over to the Arena and catch Robert Randolph's set with a much smaller crowd. when we were just about to head back, the gate security saw their dilemma and decided to give in. they stopped checking bags and whatnot and took a step back, letting the waiting crowd pour through the gates and in to the show. we joined right in and made our way through the crowd to a nice spot mid-stage.

the show kicked off with a new version of an old song, 'Steal My Kisses'. after a beautiful string of acoustic songs, the crowd was treated to a song off of Ben's upcoming album called 'When It's Good'. this was another first, being my first time hearing it played. just before, during 'Please Bleed', I got up and made my way a bit closer to try and get some decent pictures with my not-so-decent camera. in my carelessness I got lost from my spot, but I realized that getting lost at Bonnaroo was about as easy as blinking. so I got a few shots and wandered around for a while, just taking in the music and the crowd - such a great, great crowd. after a bit I found my crew again and sat back on our blanket to enjoy the rest of the show. about the time I got back, Leon Mobley came out to join Ben for 'Burn One Down > My Own Two Hands', 'The Woman In You', 'Forever', and 'Mama's Got A Girlfriend Now'. Ben closed out the set with 'Sexual Healing' and then came back on with a beautiful 'Pleasure & Pain' for the encore. when he was done, he thanked the crowd and told everyone he'd see them over at Jack Johnson.

during Jack's show, ME took off to meet some friends at Disco Biscuits and the Barbarino girls found a nice spot to put a blanket down. Kev ran into some folks he knew and held our ground with them. Jack has only been touring a little over a year, starting his touring days opening for Ben & the Criminals in early 2001, and has one album, 'Brushfire Fairytales', under his belt. he and his band got quite a nice turnout for their Bonnaroo set and they did not disappoint. Jack got tuned up and played a couple of songs solo to start out the set. then he invited a special guest on stage - an audience full of smiling faces watched the cutest little 9 year old girl make her way onto the stage. Jack introduced her as Scarlet and said she was going to play the drums for us. Jack and Merlo (the bass player) then joined her for 'Three Is A Magic Number', after which she recieved a rousing applause. (just IMAGINE being 9 years old and playing in front of 30,000 - 40,000 people. amazing.) just after a nice 'Sexi Plexi' that featured a little tease of Paul Simon's 'Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard', Jack invited DJ Logic out to scratch on 'Stepping Stones' > 'Rodeo Clowns'. nearing the end of the set, Jack got the crowd pulsing with a long medley of covers, including 'Who Do You Love?', 'Trenchtown Rock', and 'Garden Grove' among others. after 'Mudfootball', he brought out his good friend Ben Harper to sit in with him for the Band Of Gypsies tune 'Who Knows', and then ended the set with Harper on 'Flake'. he got a great response from the audience and although I was the only one of our group that had seen him before, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the show.

when Jack's set was over, String Cheese Incident had already started, so we took off back towards the Stadium to catch the rest of their set. I've only had the pleasure of seeing SCI once before, so I'm still pretty new to their music, but I knew what to expect. I'm not good with song titles at all, but I think we walked up during 'It Is What It Is'. when we established a spot to watch the show, Nershi introduced a "new friend" of the band that was going to join them on stage. Steve Winwood came out and played with the boys on 'Latinissmo' > 'I'm A Man'. the latter track was a nice treat for the fans, as it was the first time the band had covered the song live and it brought out another special guest, Karl Denson. a couple of members of Denson's Tiny Universe came out for the next couple of songs, followed by the set ending 'Black Clouds' > 'Kashmir' > 'Black Clouds'. the group came back out to begin the encore with the always a treat 'Search > Drums > Search'. the Disco Biscuits set was ending about this time and Kev thought we should try and go hook back up with ME, so we made our way out of the Stadium to the sounds of the drums. I danced my way out, fresh off of another wonderful show from SCI. I look forward to seeing them again as soon as possible..

as me, Kev, and Chris (not sure what happened to our girls during this time - that part's pretty hazy) were walking past the Arena to go find ME, we were sucked in by the sounds of the band onstage. the sounds were that of old-school hip-hop and they were courtesy of the band Jurassic 5. after hearing a recording of the full show, I found that we walked up right after they played two of my favorite tracks, but nevertheless, we got DOWN for the remainder of the set. we walked up, sat the cooler down, and danced our white asses off. it was such a nice change of pace to hear some good old-school style hip-hop.. I just wish I had pictures of our faces during that last half-set. I'm not too familiar with all of their music so it's tough to throw out any song names, but regardless, it was a blast! I'll surely be familiarizing myself with the group and their music in the years to come. when the music stopped and we had our damn-that-was-great smoke, we found the cooler empty and we had about an hour until it was time to Panic again.

we struck out for Barbarino to go take a break from it all and re-up for the rest of the night. after a short rest and a cooler cram, we were back on the road to the Stadium. on the way back Chris wasn't feeling that great, but we could hear the show getting started and he was determined to make it. once we arrived at the Stadium, we made our way to a great little place on the right side of the stage. after stellar versions of 'Blue Indian' and 'Pigeons', the boys broke into 'Happy Child'. as they were segueing into 'Ain't Life Grand', Dottie Peoples and her choir made their way onto the stage to help out with 'Ain't Life Grand' > 'Tall Boy' > a RARE 'Testify'. the harmony of the choir brought so much to the songs, giving them wonderful layers of vocals. they exited as Panic brought it back to 'Tall Boy' and closed out the first set. and talk about dancin'.. whew! I was almost glad to see the first set come to an end for fear of my legs giving out. during the first set, we met a great group of kids beside us from Arkansas(?). Holly and Tom come to mind, but then again I could be completely wrong. we also met a very nice girl named Gray Moore who ended up giving us a copy of the setlist after the show. thanks! regardless of my lack of recollection, they were great concert neighbors and it wouldn't be the last time we'd see them.. the second set opened with a nice medley of 'Disco' > 'Thought Sausage' > 'This Part Of Town'. soon after, George McConnell (see: Kudzu Kings) joined the stage for 'Stop Breakin' Down Blues'. for their next trick, the band brought out two more good friends - Athens native Randall Bramblett got in on the act and Steve Winwood hopped on the keys. Winwood led the way through a first for Panic - a cover of 'Glad', written by Winwood with his band Traffic. then they segued seamlessly into another Winwood-penned tune, 'Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys'. Winwood's vocals and soft keys blending with JoJo, along with Bramblett's subtle sax made for an excellent 'Low Spark'. they seemed to think so as well, extending the song into a long jam before leaving the stage to let Sunny do his thing on 'Drums'. as if we hadn't already been treated to a multitude of talented special guests, Ben Harper percussionist Leon Mobley and DJ Logic took the stage to join Sunny for a riveting drum display. after the intense first set and the songs with Winwood, much of the crowd took a seat at the beginning of 'Drums'. but almost as soon as they were down, most everyone came back to their feet thanks to the glowing stage presence of Mobley. with only his djembe in tow, Mobley put on an amazing display keeping rhythm with the superb percussion work of Mr. Ortiz. Logic made himself known from the shadows of the sidestage, layering his scratches over the onslaught of percussion. one-by-one, the band made it's way back on stage to fall into 'Vacation', and then ended the set with 'Space Wrangler' > 'Love Tractor'. after a short break, they returned for a great 3-song segue encore of 'Visiting Day' > 'Arleen' > 'City Of Dreams'.

during some part of the second set, Chris took off and said he'd be right back. famous last words.. me and Kev waited around for a bit after the show to try and find him, but we finally decided to just join our new Arkansas friends and walk over for the late-night Galactic set. when we got to the tent, it was already packed out and the Galactic funk was in full effect. Kevin made his way into the tent, but I couldn't deal with the crowd, so I found a place just outside and got down to the funk. I was pretty out of it so I can't recall what part of the show I heard - I do remember a song with Les Claypool and another soon after with Michael Kang of SCI. finally I got so tired that I just walked away from Kev and the Galactic tent as they were doing a wild rap medley. I made my way over to the other tent to see what was going on with moe.'s set. their tent seemed to be even more jammed, so I filed in behind a little security golf cart and made it through the crowd and out to the campgrounds.

with hopes of getting off of my feet as soon as possible, I headed to the closest camp. when I got to the Barbarino Kids' camp, I found the elusive Chris sleeping HARD in his tent. I'm still not sure how or when he got there, but it was obvious that he had done the right thing. I took a load off and had a smoke while listening to the music still pouring from CenteRoo. after a few minutes Amanda, Kayla, and Kate showed up and we caught up on the evenings events. it wasn't long before Kate and Amanda had joined Chris in the tent, so Kayla and I sat and had a great conversation while watching the fireworks and hearing the bands behind us. we finally decided to make the walk over to my camp and fell asleep to the sounds of Bonnaroo..

stay tuned..

:: posted by Michael at 7:04 AM [+] ::

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