My journey to the 2003 Bonnaroo Music Festival began on Wednesday, June 11 in Moorestown, New Jersey. As the caravan left packed to the brim with granola bars and Easy Mac containers, I knew I was embarking on a wild adventure.
Six states, 18 hours and one speeding ticket later, my group of seven arrived at the site.
The festival officially began Thursday, June 12 with Louque's 10 P.M. set. Being too tired from the 20-hour drive from southern New Jersey, I did not attend any of the Thursday night shows.
Friday got off to a fabulous start at 8 A.M. in Camp Ultimullet (each campground was designated by a certain type of mullet).
The 95 degree Tennessee sun coupled with the swamp-like humidity made it impossible to sleep past the butt-crack of the morning. Trudging past fragrant porto-potties and the immeasurable crowd of vendors, I made it to Centeroo just in time to catch the tail end of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra's set at the Which Stage.
You're probably thinking to yourself what a stupid name for a stage. Well, yes it was quite a stupid way to name the festival's four main stages: What Stage, Which Stage, This Tent and That Tent.
While it did provide for some interesting questions such as "which stage is That Tent?" it was really more annoying than amusing.
The highlight of the first day had to be Ben Harper's set on the What Stage. Harper played classic renditions of "Excuse Me Mr." and "Sexual Healings." He also showed off his musical ability playing lap steel guitar on a few tunes.
One of the most difficult things about Bonnaroo was the tough decision each night as to which show to watch in the 5:30-7:30 P.M. slot. Heavyweights like Harper, Bela Fleck and Keller Williams played similar slots on Friday; the Allman Brothers Band,The Roots and Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon on Saturday; and James Brown and moe. on Sunday. The strategy that I used was to move around to each show for about 25 minutes each.
Friday's primetime slot at the What Stage featured Neil Young rocking to 50,000 fans underneath a cool blue Tennessee night.
Personally, I felt Young's set was a bit drawn-out in order to fill the 3-hour time slot. The jams were forced at times and did not display much creativity. It was nonetheless a great set due simply to the energy of the crowd.
Saturday began with a smoking start (pun intended) with the The Wailers lead singer puffing on a joint on the What Stage to the cheers of "Light it up!" from the eager crowd.
Robert Randolph's set on the Which Stage was impressive as he showcased many songs from his upcoming studio album. He brought up Susan Tedeschi for a great rendition of "I'll Take You There."
My favorite thing about Bonnaroo was the chance to discover new bands. Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen is a New Orleans-type funk band that blew the roof off This Tent Saturday afternoon. DJ Z-Trip is a fast turnatablist who uses classic rock samples to showcase his abilities.
Widespread Panic stole the show Saturday night with their 4-hour long primetime show on the What Stage.
Showcasing many tunes from their new album, "Ball" the jam-rockers from Georgia sounded fresh and powerful. They closed the show by inviting Randolph and Warren Haynes on stage for the last few songs.
Haynes was probably the busiest man at Bonnaroo. In addition to playing lead guitar for the Allman Brothers Band and having his own solo set, Haynes made guest appearances with moe. and Galactic.
Galactic's set on Sunday featured Stanton Moore's superb drumming and interesting collaborations with Haynes and DJ Z-Trip. A crowd-pleaser was Spearhead's afternoon set at This Tent. Michael Franti got 15,000 people dancing in unison with his melodic, powerful vocals.
The audience went wild as Franti welcomed a girl onstage to jam who could play the violin while hoola-hooping. That was a moment typical of Bonnaroo: improvisation and creativity at its purest form.
I was a little apprehensive about seeing The Dead perform due to the fact that their appearance at Bonnaroo was the first stop on their summer tour.
But it was quite obvious from the first notes of "Touch of Grey" that there was no rust on these jam-pioneers.
True, Phil Lesh's voice has deteriorated almost to the point of intolerability, but the original foursome of Lesh, Weir, Hart and Kreutzman sound as unified and creative as ever.
Jerry Garcia was missed on tunes like "Sugaree" and "Alabama Getaway," but Joan Osborne provided an adequate substitute.
Overall, Bonnaroo 2003 was a greater success than last year's festival. An additional 10,000 people managed to fit into the Manchester farm and the mini-city of concertgoers managed to police themselves without too many dangerous antics.
The festival's popularity and success are a testament to the jam band community that it is a potent force that will not fade because of the passing of Jerry Garcia or Phish's hiatus. Indeed, the fact that 80,000 tickets were sold in two weeks with almost no advertising shows the strength of the jam band fan base.
