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Friday at Bonnaroo Friday at Bonnaroo is the seventh installment of Nate Barrett's stories about playing in the Bonnaroompah Band in the Broo-er's Festival micro-beer garden tent at Bonnaroo 2007.
This entry finds Nate traveling back and forth from Bonnaroo to Chattanooga's River Bend Festival, and back to Bonnaroo; rubbing shoulders with a few of the Gods of Rock, and getting lost for a frankfurter. And now, on to Nate, and Friday at Bonnaroo Friday was a weird day for me. I actually had to leave Bonnaroo for a day to perform with the talented Texan song writer, Beth Wood, at Chattanooga's River Bend Festival, and then return to Bonnaroo that night. I ended up missing most of the big acts that day (The Roots,Manu-Chao, Richard Thompson, Tool) which was sort of alright by me. My mantra for Bonnaroo has always been “You will always miss more than you see.” The great part about going to the 'Noog'(aside from playing a fun show), was telling everyone I came from Bonnaroo. Festival organizers there were shocked. They had only heard tales. When I asked for directions back to the interstate that would take me back to my temporary home in Manchester, I was assaulted with comments like “Oh Gawd, you don’t want to go there!” It was like everyone was convinced that driving up the highway to Manchester would involve a trip through nine planes of hell. I assured everyone that, yes indeed, that’s where I wanted to go. Thankfully, the trip was a breeze. After a brief pit stop at Wal-mart to buy more supplies (beer and socks), I hurried back to camp to catch the end of Friday at Bonnaroo. Once there, I asked how the shows went and got ready to see what I could see. Geol, Phil, and “Smokin” Dave Nichols all decided we would go to what is known as the Super Jam, performing in The Other Tent. Well, they say if you want to make God laugh, make a plan. Friday at Bonnaroo: Lost with a FrankfurterAfter a sludging through the crowd towards the stage, I stopped to get a hot dog, for I had missed dinner and was starving. After the relish, mustard, kraut, and onions, had nestled on my 'furter, I turned around to find myself surrounded by thousands of people, none of whom were my party of friends. Not to let that ruin a six dollar hot dog, I decided I would eat first, then feel lost. Which I did. Another gruesomely slow trek through the crowd, I finally made to stage left, where I was hoping to gain backstage access. The crowd was so thick, I couldn’t make it to the security gate that would be my entrance. It was then I realized that this was not the Super Jam. You would think I would have noticed during my crowd crawl that up on the stage I thought I wanted to be at was tripped outelectronica gurus, Sound Tribe Sector Nine. Crap. Friday at Bonnaroo: Famous Folks and Led Zepplin JamsSo after more time-consuming hiking through the masses that I won’t boor you with, I did finally make it back stage, by myself, to one hell of a great rock show. As I made my way in to the back stage area, accidentally brushing shoulders with Warren Haynes on the way in (heck, that don’t happen every day), I found a spot right as Ben Harper, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, and rock legend John Paul Jones cranked into a jamming version of Good Times, Bad Times. Tom Morrello (from Rage Against the Machine fame) seemed to be enjoying the show a few feet ahead of me. As a drummer, watching ?uestlove work is a joy. He rocks hard with a sense of time that is impeccable. Although there was a monitor wedge blocking most of my view of him, I was still just fascinated with watching his facial expressions and the tops of his sticks whizzing by his face. As I was in drummer zone, the band jammed into another Led Zepplin classic. I remember as I was watching Mr. Thompson do his thing, thinking, “Man, that bass line doesn’t seem like it is quite right”, as if it was being interpreted in a funny way. Then I realized that I am a moron. Of course the bass line was right: it was friggin John Paul Jones playing it! He wrote the damn thing; I am pretty sure he knows how to play it. In summary, how the Super Jam played out for the most part: Jam => Led Zepplin tune => jam => Marvin Gaye tune => jam => more Zep quotes => jam => is that… yep, that’s a jam => Zep => jam => old school standard => holy moley, there is jam all over this place => brief break => more Zep => jam => is that a Zep tune I hear before me? => what the heck am I gonna do with all this jam? And I loved it. ...And so ended Friday at Bonnaroo. There's more to come soon on Nate Barrett's Bonnaroompah adventures. Stay tuned for Saturday at Bonnaroo! Return to Knoxville Music Scene from Friday at Bonnaroo
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