BONNAROO MUSIC FESTIVAL: DAY 2 ///
MANCHESTER, TN ///
JUNE 13, 2008 ///
WORDS & PHOTOS: ABBEY BRADEN ///

Day 2 Friday:

We can't think of a better way to start the day than with a Jose Gonzalez set. Perfection.

Wait, back up. We actually started with Drive By Truckers, but aside from the astounding fact that Spooner Oldham was sitting in with them on keys (holy ***, if you don't know who he is, google him STAT) we aren't uber fans. EXCEPT when it comes to Spooner Oldham. Like, think back to the opening organ chords of 'When a Man Loves a Woman' or 'Mustang Sally' or like, ANY Aretha song- those are his. Here is Matt with Spooner and his lovely wife backstage at the truck.

From Jose we tent-hopped to a positively glowing set by Adele, where she (and us in turn) mourned the fact that we were missing Stephen Marley. That's one thing about festivals- it's a choose your own adventure and you gotta stick to your guns.

She plays guitar too!

From there it was a brisk walk-run to Tegan & Sara, whom we hadn't seen in the flesh since one of them fainted from dehydration during Lolla in 2005. Color us AMAZED. They were fantastic live.

Unfortunately missing !!! and the awesome Shannon Funchess, we got into the pit at the WHAT Stage (capacity 100,000, but who is counting as it is out of doors) for the Raconteurs. Fan-effing-tastic. When will people stop referring to this as a side project? Probably when they stop asking that very question in every review known to man kind. Apologies.

Moving on to...

The lovely and talented and very much engaged to be married M.I.A. Will this really be her last show as she claimed? You heard it from me: doubtful in the long run. It takes one overdramatic homegirl to know one. Opening with 'Bamboo Banga' - aka our fave ode to Jonathan Richman EVER- she seemed to be having a stellar time with her backup singer/dancer. That term is totes disrespectful, because that woman is SO MUCH more than backup. Does anyone know her name? Can I hire her for like a day so she can like, punctuate everything I say with POWA POWA! Cameron, make it happen. Anyway Ms. Arulpragasam, like every show, did indeed play it like her last, gleefully swopping in 'Where my HIPPIES ATTTTT' for her usual call to Boyz. We left her in good hands- more like 300 of them- as is custom when the fans rushed the stage for 'Bird Flu.'

I worked the ice cream truck while everyone headed out to Chris Rock. Most photogs were locked out of the pit for Metallica w/out warning, which kind of utterly defeats the purpose of shelling out major cash to fly to the middle of nowhere and you know, COVER the festival. But whatever. Amping up the crowd with 'We're METALLICA... and we're here to make you feel GOOD' was totally underwhelming, and just made us all look forward to Mastodon tearing our ears a collective new one the next day.

My camera batteries were recharged just in time for My Morning Jacket's epic 4 hour jam. Can we talk about MMJ for a sec? Because tix for their New Years Eve show at MSG go onsale on Friday. YES, Madison Square Garden. Terminally Long Jams + Massive Following + Playing NYE at MSG totally = The new Phish. Except where Phish were playful and groovy and unmistakeable in their 20 odd years of songwriting, MMJ goes to outer space and back and evolves and unleashes some of the best covers any white boy has dared go. Color me delighted trudging across a muddy field to hear their take on Bobby Womack's 'Across 110th Street' 3 hours into their set. It was pouring rain the whole time.

We took off to catch Tiesto across the way, and boy were were glad, because Jose Gonzalez AND Tegan & Sara, along with Les Claypool, dropped by for some live vox. Insanely amazing, and thanks infinity to Tito for giving me the headsup on the guest appearances. This was one of many moments that you couldn't experience anywhere else.