Eight hours southeast of Columbia, hippies and freaks converged upon a large farm in Tennessee for three days of music and community. They called it the Bonnaroo Music Festival; they being over 80,000 heads camping out to see such big acts as The Dead, Neil Young, and Widespread Panic. I can testify for those 80,000, because I joined in their three (for some, four) day party, and this is my story.

Disclaimer for being published by Sno-Cone: don’t expect a review of such indie bands as Tortoise, Sonic Youth, My Morning Jacket, Liz Phair, or the Flaming Lips. I did not attend these shows, nor did I have any intention to. If this bums you out, I’m terribly sorry.

And now, on with the show.

FRIDAY, June 13:

Hot Tennessee sun beat down into the three-person tent, arousing me from sleep. I started my day at noon, listening to the African-jazz fusion rhythms of the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra from New York City on the Which Stage. The most interesting thing about their set was how the guitarist, bassist and keyboardist all swayed from side to side together, from the left to the right, in time with their grooves.

Yonder Mountain String Band, a jamgrass group hailing from Colorado, attracted a large crowd that was ready to throw it down hillbilly style. One of their band members could not attend due to a family emergency, so someone from Leftover Salmon filled in. YMSB didn’t miss a lick. I left early with a friend of mine for a rather healthy surprise:

Jason Mraz. Playing in the smaller This Tent, Mraz could not draw the crowd to pack the tent as subsequent shows could, but made up for the lack of people in his energetic show. He was the first one to make me dance the way I wanted to—hard. Those who compare Mraz to John Mayer or David Gray are sadly mistaken. Mraz brings his own style of rap/singing to refresh the singer-songwriter category.

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals’ set on the What Stage (main) was rather uninspired. Harper’s newest album leaves some to be desired, and his normally energetic and uplifting show just couldn’t make the transition from amphitheaters and smaller venues to an arena show of 50,000 plus. I left to catch a couple other outstanding musicians playing at the same time.

Keller Williams is the jam scene experimental acoustic darling. His take on the one-man band knocks out the crowd every time. Luckily, I arrived at Keller’s This Tent show during the songs “Kidney” and “Best Feeling,” arguably two of his finest songs.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones really don’t need an introduction. Their “Which Stage” set was damn good, musically perfect, as expected. They teased “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “All You Need Is Love,” which started a sing-along before busting into a banjo-led, balls-out jam.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse headlined Friday night, and packed the What Stage field. A glowing full moon—perhaps a harvest moon? —shone light down upon Young devotees of all ages, while he ripped through favorites such as “Hey, Hey, My, My,” “Cinnamon Girl,” and of course, “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Exhausted from the day, I took a seat during Young’s show, and (you may hurl epithets at me now) left early with a friend of mine to rest up.

SATURDAY, June 14:

Nickel Creek was simply amazing. The trio of young (22-25) bluegrass geniuses kept the large crowd entertained with their harmonies and jams. They had never played in front of so many people before, and were highly appreciative of all the fans. If they were nervous, it didn’t show at all, as the band ripped through a cover of the Beatles’ “Taxman.” During their tune “the Lighthouse’s Tale,” a smattering of clouds covered the sky and brought a little bit of rain, which fit the sad tune perfectly. A bit of Bonnaroo magic played out for these incredible musicians.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band played to a large crowd on the Which Stage in the afternoon. Always an uplifting show, Randolph invited a few women on stage for his song “Shake Your Hips,” while setting his pedal-steel guitar on fire. These women were no match for his special guest, blues singer Susan Tedeschi.

I caught Garage A Trois (Stanton Moore, Skeric, and company) for a few minutes in the shade of That Tent. They had the crowd going as low as they could go with drumbeats from another planet. Rather funny band exchanges between songs as well.

The Roots performed on one of the best sets of the entire weekend, in my opinion. I stopped to hear them when they played “The Seed (2.0)” with special guest, Cody Chestnutt, and was hooked. The crowd stretched way back towards the Centeroo marketplace, and everyone was sharing in their groove. Best thing: the montage of old-school ‘80s and ‘90s hip-hop, like Bobby Brown and Salt-N-Pepa.

Widespread Panic introduced their new lead guitarist, George McConnell to many people during their headlining show, starting the show with the ever-present sex song, “Love Tractor.” Segueing into “Thin Air (Feels Like Mississippi)” was a bit of a problem for the boys, but that was the only problem of the night. Stanton Moore (of Galactic and Garage A Trois) guested during the 30-minute drums. Warren Haynes played a few, including their latest single “Don’t Wanna Lose You,” with the whole band. Robert Randolph even made an appearance, helping close Panic’s set with “Ride Me High,” another crowd favorite.

The two I went to Bonnaroo with checked out late night shows by Medeski, Martin, and Wood and the Flaming Lips, respectively, but I decided to check into the tent and sleep. However, on my way home, I stopped by the smallest tent on the concert grounds by pure curiosity. Mr. Brownstone, a Guns ‘n Roses cover band, had a fat Axel Rose, and a Slash with a terrible wig.

SUNDAY, June 15:

After breaking down camp, the three of us went out for our last day of musical immersion. I must say it was the hardest day to do much for there was a general exhausting vibe floating around the festival.

Topaz tried to engage the tired crowd with their basic groove sound. They certainly weren’t awful, but they sounded an awful lot like Galactic in their formative years, only without the incredible talent Galactic possesses.

The North Mississippi All-Stars played a standard show, nothing like the smokers I’ve seen in the past. Apparently, Luther Dickinson (guitar) was the late-night sit-in whore of the festival, so perhaps that had something to do with the par show. However, NMAS can pull a large crowd, and keep them moving.

Galactic played to the What Stage field of sun-beaten attendees, but still kept their show high energy, especially when the Houseman came out and sang with them. Michael Franti made a guest appearance/breakdance.

G. Love and Special Sauce attracted a large crowd at the Which Stage, blowing through fan favorites before playing “Parasite,” off his latest album. Jason Mraz guested during the song, which was absolutely sick. “I-76” also made the crowd groove in the hot sun.

I fully intended on catching 20 minutes of James Brown, but he was very late getting on to the main stage. From all accounts I’ve heard, the Godfather of Soul was in fine form, but I can’t vouch for that personally. Instead, I headed towards the best show of the entire weekend in my opinion:

moe. These heavy jammers from upstate New York have attracted a large and rabid fan base over the years, and the Which Stage show only proved why. “32 Things” made the crowd move. The band brought Warren Haynes on stage to sit in with them for “Wormwood.” John Popper was introduced as one of the band member’s “father” (because it was, after all, Father’s Day), and guested on “Bring It Back Home.” Then moe. took the entire crowd on a sandwich jam journey, beginning with the sing-along “Spine of a Dog,” segueing into Buster>Plane Crash>Buster>Plane Crash. By this point, they were over their allotted time, and didn’t return for a much-demanded encore.

The Dead closed out the 2003 Bonnaroo festival with their much-loved mellow harmonies and jams. It seemed the entire field sang along to the opener “Touch of Grey” and the chorus of “Friend of the Devil.” Joan Osborne has replaced original member Donna Godchaux, and proved her worth with songs like “Sugaree.” My own personal highlights: “Sugar Magnolia” and a slower “I Know You Rider.” Things are definitely not the same within the Dead camp, but they continue to press on in Jerry’s name.

After the awesome, but draining festival, I have no other choice than to quote a rather drugged-out man in front of us at the Dead show.

“They should call this festival ‘Bonna-whoop-my-ass.’”

- Erica Hunzinger