For those who haven’t been to Bonnaroo before, it’s a very hard experience to explain. Of course you could simply state that it is indeed a music and arts festival, but it goes far beyond that. When you see artists at Bonnaroo, they aren’t just playing their music for an audience, but instead are presenting themselves more along the lines of performance artists, just as Marina Abramović presents herself as a performance artist. These musicians often do their best to leave a long-lasting impression with their performances, doing one-time cover songs and collaborations. But who were the best and worst performers?
Thursday’s weather was calm and somewhat cool, making for a great lead-in to what would inevitably be a swelteringly hot weekend. Of the performances I saw on the first day, the two best were easily The Weeks and Omar Souleyman.
If you’ve been around Oxford long enough, chances are you’ve heard of and even seen The Weeks, who are Mississippi natives. Their sound was dialed in perfectly, making for an excellent show so close to their newfound hometown of Nashville, only 30 minutes away from the site of Bonnaroo.
Omar Souleyman, a Syrian, hit the stage to a small crowd and gained a bigger one as his set progressed. Although I was near certain that most of his crowd would be people waiting to see White Denim, this worked in his favor as he eventually garnered an enormous crowd ready to dance to his hypnotic blend of Middle Eastern folk and electronica.
The worst performance of the day went to Pusha T, who came out late and was more or less doing karaoke to his own tracks (not the instrumentals, the actual studio tracks with vocals included). This was a terrible headache for me because he was one of my most anticipated artists to see perform. I ended up leaving early because I was so frustrated with his poor showmanship.
So Friday came, and this was my most awaited day. If there is anyone who was on top of the world, it was Danny Brown. Maddeningly, Kanye’s concert was both one of the best and one of the worst shows I saw all weekend.
The best performance of the day was not only taken by Danny Brown, but he also placed it under lock and key and refused to give it back. The show started with his DJ, Skywlkr, hitting the stage and dropping Waka Flocka Flame’s “Hard in Da Paint” to get the audience pumped up for the show, much to the crowd’s delight. From that point on, the show was no longer anything more than a fight for survival. The spectators waxed and waned with Danny’s songs like a more aggressive moon going through phases. Kanye, on the other hand, was not as well received by his onlookers.
When Kanye took the stage, many Bonnaroovians were skeptical. In 2008, he performed four hours late in a very lackluster way. This year, to the surprise of most, he showed up on time and killed it for about six or seven songs before going on long-winded rants, therefore losing his audience. He went back and forth like this all night, making for a show that was memorable for its unique blend for quality and lack thereof.
Saturday came, and with it brought Lionel Richie’s amazing performance of hit after hit, showing every young artist that he was still in charge and one of the world’s greatest hit songwriters. Not only was his singing perfect, but the same could also be said of his in-between song banter and audience participation. 
Also on Saturday, Jack White appeared with a long awaited performance at The Farm. Much like Lionel, he showcased his versatility by playing songs from his many projects such as The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and The White Stripes, while also playing new solo songs, and covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Lemon Song” and Dick Dale’s surf rock classic “Misirlou.”
Another terrific Saturday act was Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, whose stage show can only be explained as the sound of a warm gunshot slowing and engulfing your whole body. Nick Cave and his band had more than just an idea of how to control their dynamics, by incorporating both soothing string arrangements and all-out noise assaults.
Sunday always brings a more relaxed environment to The Farm. Yonder Mountain String Band took the stage early in the day, filling the crisp, sunny air with their modernized brand of bluegrass, much to the delight of everyone surrounding me. The crowd danced in freeform to Sam Bush’s phenomenal fiddle playing.
Hubby Jenkins, left, and Rowan Corbett of the Carolina Chocolate Drops perform during the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival Sunday, June 15, 2014, in Manchester, Tenn. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, Adam Lau)
Shortly after Yonder, my good friend Sean Kaufman and I took a trip over to the Solar Tent, the smallest of the stages at Bonnaroo, to watch an interview with old-time string band Carolina Chocolate Drops. The group had excellent insight on the subjects of social identity based on race and class, occasionally breaking conversation to perform riveting versions of old American folk tunes and work songs.
While I may have talked about plenty of artists in this article, there were other great performances to be found in musicians such as Seasick Steve, who performed with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Ice Cube, Shovels & Rope, Ms. Lauryn Hill, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Die Antwoord, and Deafheaven. Of course, there’s a whole lot more to Bonnaroo, such as the people you meet, the excellent food trucks, and the craft beer expo. I highly suggest you take a trip to The Farm next year and catch some of your favorite artists.
