Photo credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
“Your spaceship is about to blast off.”
So goes the narration to“Martian Monster,” which the band performed midway through their first of twoheadlining sets this weekend. Indeed, over 120 minutes, the band took the crowdat the What Stage into the cosmos, pulling no punches and opening with theirhard-edged composition “Carini.”
Moving through fanfavorites like “Down With Disease,” it became apparent that Phish would play aset entirely of originals, with no covers (save for their version of “AlsoSprach Zarathustra,” which many newcomers in the crowd recognized as the themeto Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey). They worked through newmaterial like “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” and old favorites like “Harry Hood”(with fireworks) and “Tweezer,” which came back around in the encore for ahigh-energy “Tweezer Reprise” to end the show.
As Phish tore up theWhat Stage—markingtheir first Bonnaroo appearance since 2012 and third overall—Hayley Williams of Paramore confirmed many people’ssuspicions, performing a secret set with guitarist Taylor York at her curated“Sanctuary of Self Love” at Plaza 2.
With Williams and Yorkplaying alt-rock tracks in the campgrounds and Phish offering mind-melding jamson the main stage, the two disparate bands embodied Bonnarro’s ongoingcommitment to fostering genres of all stripes.
Even from the openingnotes of Friday’s programming, as warm sunshine and blue skies hoveredoverhead, that musical diversity was on display.
To open the day’sfestivities, Tyla Yaweh rocked This Tent with his rock-infused glam rap andBritish blues duo Ida Mae burned up the Who Stage with tracks off theirrecently released LP Chasing Lights.
Throughout theafternoon, fans enjoyed the warm weather on the grassy Which Stage, soaking upthe sun and tossing footballs and frisbees back and forth.
Over at Snake and Jake’sChristmas Club Lounge, Bonnaroovians took a musical trip down to New Orleanswith the Soul Brass Band as LA’s Cherry Glazerr was heating up That Tent.
“Fuck yeah Bonnaroo!”Lead singer Clementine Creevy exclaimed before launching into Cherry Glazerr’s“Distressor” and then fan favorite “Daddy.”
From there, many musiclovers took in the good vibes of Nahko & Medicine for the People on WhichStage. “Happy Pride. Happy Father’s Day weekend. Let’s get this party started,”Nahko said to open the show. Afterwards, fans soaked in the group’ssocially-conscious songs like “Nyepi and “Aloha Ke Akua.”
For those looking forheavier sounds, Parquet Courts were serving up choice cuts from their acclaimedLP Wide Awaaaaake at This Tent, including “Almost Had To Start A Fight / InAnd Out Of Patience” and “Freebird II.” On the latter tune, the crowd sangpassionately to the closing, anthemic lines, “Free. I feel free like youpromised I'd be.”
“13 years ago I was atThis Tent,” guitarist Austin Brown said from the stage, looking back at histime as a fan at Bonnaroo. “Look where I am now!”
The celebratory vibecontinued an hour later with The Avett Brothers
As the sun hung low inthe sky, the Bonnaroo veterans performed a batch of songs from across theircareer like “Laundry Room,” “True Sadness” and the live debut of their newsingle “High Steppin’.” At one point, the Americana collective led a sing-alongto live favorite “Ain’t No Man” as singer-guitarist Scott Avett jumped into thecrowd and joined the swarms of music lovers who danced along.
Afterwards,Bonnaroovians had their choice to check out the indie stylings of CourtneyBarnett, the heavy rock of Gojira or the future-funk of festival favorite GRiZ,who gave the audience a taste of what they could expect at his G.O.A.T SuperJamlater in the evening.
From there, the massesquickly shuffled from the campgrounds through the newly designed Bonnaroo archto witness Childish Gambino’s highly anticipated set.
As with many of hisperformances Gambino (aka Donald Glover) was shirtless, and flexed his vocalchops from his first tune, the emotive “Algorythm.”
“We’re going to dosomething special… I want you to put your phone down and focus on the moment,”he told fans at the What Stage, and continued on with originals like “The WorstGuys,” “World Star,” “Have Some Love,” “This is America” and a show-stoppingfinale of “Redbone” complete with fireworks overhead.
At one moment, therapper took a moment to absorb the magnitude of the sold-out festival. “This isdefinitely the best crowd we’ve had so far,” he said, later adding, “We are thepast, present and future. I love every single one of you guys.”
Fans continued on toenjoy a soul-stirring Solange set and Phish’s triumphant return to the Bonnaroostage. But it was a matter of time before Bonnaroo transitioned into late-nightmode, with Brockhampton at the Which Stage, the aforementioned SuperJam at ThisTent, Girl Talk at That Tent, RL Grime at The Other and all kinds of mischiefgoing down at Kalliope.
As of press time, GRiZand company were paying tribute to legends we’ve lost, like Prince, Bob Marley,Sharon Jones and David Bowie. Most of all they honored Crescent City legend Dr.John, with a version of “Right Place Wrong Time.” Dr. John passed away on June6 and his 1974 LP Desitively Bonnaroo served as the inspiration for thisvery festival. (In fact, as Phish closed out the What Stage, the opening barsof Desitively Bonnaroo rang through the festival grounds.) There-emergence of Dr. John’s music brought Friday night full circle, as Bonnaroocontinues to celebrate 18 years of live music, fun, friendship and revelry.
