Bonnaroo Review and Rankings: 2010 By Clark Benson  [84 more lists]

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Bonnaroo 2010 Review That Tent Friday Night



Kicking off this years theme of seeing bands I would be unlikely to ever see in a non-festival setting, Bonnaroo's small-but-representin'- nonetheless over-50 contingent are all in this tent, though it's safe to say they didnt congregate via foursquare.



I catch about half the NGDB set. Enjoyable and at times more rocking than I would have guessed.

Tori Amos Bonnaroo 2010 Review This Tent Friday Night



Tori hits the stage. Solo, just a baby grand and a keyboard.



Dan immediately yells 'bring out the pig'.

The tent before she started was shockingly only about 60% full but it starts to fill in rapidly, and there is a sizeable contingent of screaming fanatics.



Opener is an overanunciated song that just don't quite recognize. Dan is mocking the overanunciation but admits she has great hair.



Dan: ''She sounds like Conan O'Brien when he's a singing pirate."



I consider myself a fan - I still buy her records - but 4 or 5 songs in I'm underwhelmed. Don't like the song choice, with the exception of a decent 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. Prob would have dug a 90s set more.



Things get better for a stretch, including an interpretation of Turn Turn Turn



Audience about 70% female.

There are definitely some hardcore fans here. But there is a lot of turnover in the tent and i am able to get up extremely close after Dan bails. I guess everyone is at Tenacious D?



About 45 in we hit another setlist dead zone. If the next song doesn't pull back in I'm off to Steve Martin's bluegrass band. I dont think she's touched the first few albums. Next song is a little better and by now I'm only about 10 rows back.


She is a h**l of a talent. And she does have great hair.



Followed by a classic.



Dan pings in from Steve Martin: Not as strong as disney hall. Still good to me but the first wave of bored people just left.



Tori has gotten better but solo sets at festivals have a hard time holding my attention past an hour . Off to grab a bite and hear some banjo. Walk past huge crowd gathering for Les Claypool at a smaller tent

Steve Martin Bonnaroo 2010 Review That Tent Friday Night



Dan: Best pre-set music of the fest: the lead in song before Steve Martin - the MECO Star Wars theme



Dan: He is now just killing it. Get over. Front right of the soundboard.



Steve martin is knocking them dead in a packed tent. The Steep Canyon Rangers are a hellofa great bluegrass band. And Bonnaroo fans love their bluegrass. And their comedy



An example: "This next song has expressions of sadness and melancholy- like the expression on the face of my agent when I told him I wanted to do a banjo tour". Wish I saw more of the set. Ends with the place going OFF to an 'Orange Blossom Special'. While hearing the preeminent bluegrass standard is always a treat, I'm bummed because non-headliners rarely do encores at Bonnaroo, and Dan had told me what they ended with when he saw them play a their own show in LA

Ah, they do come back out - and yes, it's a fine bluegrass version of King Tut. My inner 10 year old comes out with a shit-eating grin. I flash back to staying up late and watching him do it live on Johnny Carson. It is a good night to be in TN.

Kings of Leon Bonnaroo 2010 review Main Stage Friday Night

I have seen many live Kings of Leon sets, and while one of my absolute favorite bands of the last 10 years, they don't exactly put on a killer live show. Much like fellow brotherly band Oasis, they tend to stand in one place, they don't particularly jam, and they don't really do much else to engage the audience. So it's all about the music and the songs, which doesn't often cut it for a headliner slot on a stage this huge. That said, I have loved many of the sets I've seen them do, and have even seen them blow Bob Dylan off the stage (Staples Center 2007 or so). They just haven't been headliner sets.

This set was the first time I've seen KOL take it up to a level of headliner. But it wasn't quite the level of Bonnaroo Headliner - at least the kind of headliner that gets me excited all week about the trip. KOL stepped up by pulling out a few things that I've never seen them do in the 8 or 9 times I've seen them before.

They played a cover, an excellent one and well suited for their backing vox - Where Is My Mind by the Pixies. They played a longer-than usual set (close to two hours). They debuted a new song or two - one was particularly excellent (a new song about being from Down South that got one of the best responses from the crowd of the evening).

The first half of the set was a little hit and miss, the second half was excellent. The first half had more recent songs and Dan and I both like their first 2 records a bit more, especially live. In general they've slowed down the pace of their songs on their last few records, and they also slowed down arrangements of some older songs like Molly's Chambers. I don't think this helps them live, especially in a festival headliner setting where you just gotta grab people and keep them there.

Dan's theory: "They should never have gone on tour with U2. That fucking Bono"

All that said, it was a solid set of music and the highlight of Friday for me at least.

Note: they will probably be taking down YouTube footage of KOL due to Fuse airing a full broadcast of the Kings of Leon Bonnaroo set in, I believe, early August.

Les Claypool Bonnaroo 2010 Review The Other Tent



Caught the tail end of his set, including a cover of The Spirit of Radio. Les loves Rush. I love Rush. Good timing. He mentioned it would be the last show with this touring band, which was his fave to play with, and that Primus would be doing some shows soon. I think a few are even on sale already.