The blogging soundtrack:
Freelance Whales. Best surprise of DAY ONE. More on that in a bit.
Arrival and campsite set-up went a bit smoother than expected. A friend had told us that we could expect to spend upwards of 7 hours trying to get to the campsite and getting set up. And it took all of 2 hours. So the good thing was that we set out to get to Centeroo, where all the music is, and stake out some spots for the sweet shows. And so it begins:
1) Futurebirds
I was unaware of this band. They came well-recommended, and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. I don't see them as a new favorite, but a fun show for sure. They were quite the decent alt country band, but with plenty of rockin'. They're from Athens, Georgia, which isn't too surprising for indie rockdom. We saw a 45 minute set from them, but my personal highlight was a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart", which is apparently a staple of their live set, and definitely should be.
2) Freelance Whales
Another new-to-me-band. One of my fellow Bonnaroovians that made the trek from Omaha is a fan, so I had a good feeling about that one. They were outstanding, in my humble opinion. They had several quite versatile members, all of whom are quality musicians with range playing some interesting instrumentation. I couldn't even tell you what they were playing at times. Two songs particularly stood out from their set. Generator 2nd Floor and Hannah were definitely memorable. We also listened to the entire album, Weathervanes, on the ride home, and it is quite good throughout. Freelance Whales are on my list of bands to listen to from now on. So there's that.
3) School Of Seven Bells
I was looking forward very much to this show. Windstorm has been a favorite of mine for some time, and hearing a favorite song live is truly one of my favorite things. After hearing Windstorm, I was torn. Either I could sit around for the rest of this show or I could not starve. Food won out, so I only saw about half of their set before heading back to the campsite for peanut butter sandwiches and recuperation for the evening.
4) Sleigh Bells
For me, Sleigh Bells was the must-see of DAY ONE. The only problem was that there were way too many people who agreed with me. We were a long ways from the stage and seeing much of anything was out of the question. Hearing wasn't all that much better. Carving a path towards the tent, I got decently close to hear/rock out well. But by that point, they had played my favorites and I was ready to not be scrunched in a sea of humanity, so we headed out of the crowd. They only played one new song, which I dug, but I wanted more new stuff. It's a shame that the must-see of DAY ONE was the only bust. But everything else was outstanding. DAY ONE was already a raving success even with this set back.
5) Deerhunter
This was a band I was somewhat familiar with before walking in, but one of those bands I wanted to know better. And they rocked from the start. Their first song, Wash Off, was killer. They destroyed in the best way possible. Words do not describe with any degree of accuracy. After this song, I turned to my friend and we were too blown away to say how awesome it was. Don't Cry was also amazing. The only problem here was shear exhaustion. We had driven from Omaha to Nashville the day before and then set up tents and a canopy in heat and humidity, and now it was past midnight. We were flat-out exhausted. It was time for bed before Deerhunter was done, which was sad.
I dipped in and out of a handful of shows over the course of the weekend, and of all the sets I did not see all of, Deerhunter's was by far the biggest regret on that list.
DAY ONE was in the books. DAY TWO tomorrow...
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