Bonnaroo 2016: High-Five Friday!
High-Five Friday at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is a special day. Not only are people slapping hands left and right (not that friendly fives aren’t common place at ‘Roo to begin with), but it also marks the first full day of festival activities for most attendees.
The packed schedule started bright and early with 9 am yoga and an Academy session with Chris Alexander (a.k.a. Bonnaroo Chris) of ShelterBox about disaster awareness and prevention. Then into the music! As promised, temperatures were high (though, thankfully, not quite as high as forecast). As Gary Chardonnay would say, “Hydrate, hydrate, HYDRATE!” But that didn’t stop the tens of thousands of happy campers from enjoying this amazing place.
Jarryd James kicked things off at That Tent, quickly followed by Rayland Baxter (This), Andra Day (Which) and, of course, Allen Stone (What?) Confused yet? Good! Seasoned Bonnaroo veterans know these stages by heart, and are always happy to point newcomers to The Farm in the right direction. And the circular conversations straight out of “Who’s On First?” are entertaining (and an inevitability) no matter how familiar you are with the heart of Bonnaroo.
Even though there were grumbles about the lineup this year from some, looking at it on the grid shows you how truly stacked this lineup is. In an hour span Kamasi Washington, GriZ and Chvrches all took the stage. Flosstradamus packed a tent while Tyler the Creator and M83 duked it out head to head for crowd time.
Then it was on to the main event: LCD Soundsystem. They have hit the festival circuit hard this year with their recent reunion, and they didn’t disappoint this crowd. Playing under a giant disco ball, they covered all the oldies-but-goodies as well as some new stuff. I don’t know about you, but James Murphy and crew were the soundtrack to a decent chunk of my youth. This was a great one, and I know many agree.
Friday late night also kicked it off in a big way with the highly-anticipated set by Tame Impala. Filling the coveted 1-3 am slot, they provided a mellow (yet intense) retreat from the energy just a stone’s throw away with The Chainsmokers, Bob Moses, Zeds Dead, Blood Orange and so much more!
The only unfortunate thing that happened Friday at Bonnaroo was the incident on I-24 when a festivalgoer was struck by a car attempting to cross the interstate. Stay safe at festivals, guys, especially the big ones like Bonnaroo. Be smart. Take care of yourself and those around you (HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!), and most of all have an amazing time. Until tomorrow, Happy Bonnaroo!
