As Bonnaroo 2017 rolled into its second day, both the good weather and good vibes held, and we sampled a variety of sounds from rock to funk and beyond. For a festival bill with a heap of electronic dance music, there was plenty to dance to that was of the non-EDM variety. We also caught a few guest appearances — some more surprising than others.
The smoke filling the air at This Tent for Khruangbin’s early afternoon set was appropriately thick, which no doubt helped the crowd feel the love for the Thai funk-inspired Houston, Texas trio. We rolled up right as they kicked off their set with an instrumental jam, which sounded pretty tight despite some initial sound issues. "Hey, it smells really good in here, though," guitarist Mark Speer told the crowd, before resuming fan favorite "Mr. White," the smoldering slow groove that opens their 2015 album The Universe Smiles Upon You. Good vibes abounded for the next hour, with the occasionally rowdy moment — usually accompanied by a heady drum solo from DJ Johnson — from the hula hoop-heavy crowd.
Kevin Morby
We were pretty stoked for a chance to catch Kevin Morby at That Tent, and the Lubbock, Texas-born songwriter didn't disappoint. Kitted out in a white, Nudie-esque suit embellished with music notes, Morby’s bold stage setup looked more like something we’d expect to see on one of the bigger stages, hopefully hinting at things to come. New tune "City Music," the title cut from the album he’s releasing June 16, sounded right at home on this breezy, sunny afternoon, while Singing Saw cuts like the mournful "I Have Been to the Mountain" saw one of the day's chiller crowds letting the spirit move them. A highlight of Morby's stellar set, though, was another new one, "1234," a gravelly garage rocker that we were still singing as we moseyed on.
Cruising past the On Tap Lounge, we caught a couple songs from Nashville’s LANco. Listening to their country radio single, the sparkly ballad “Greatest Love Story,” we were pretty sure their records weren’t our bag. But live, they trended toward twangy rock with blistering guitars and chugging rhythms, and every song seemed to not so much end as screech to a halt. Fun stuff.
We strode up to This Tent as Car Seat Headrest was ripping into the stop-and-start chorus of "Fill in the Blank," the opening track from the band's 2016 major label debut, Teens of Denial. We last caught prolific frontman Will Toledo and his band at a packed Mercy Lounge show back in September, and we weren't quite sure how CSH's club-ready indie rock would translate in front of a late-afternoon ’Roo audience. But with the crowd spilling out past the edges of the tent and into the field beyond, echoing every word to songs like "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" as an inflatable killer whale bounced around like a beach ball, Toledo — the first rock ’n' roller we've ever seen wearing a black turtleneck during a Bonnaroo set — and his band were a hit.
Especially charming was the bit when the band called a young lady (We think she said her name was Adrian? Or Andrea? Angela?) onstage to play cowbell along with "Destroyed by Hippie Powers," a long, winding sing-along anthem that gave the not-remotely-crowd-shy Adrian/Andrea/Angela a lot of opportunities to hop around stage and "solo" on her bell into the mic.
Francis and the Lights
The enormity of the What Stage, made for massive acts like Jay Z, Sir Paul McCartney and U2, was an awkward fit for Francis and the Lights. The only things on the expansive sun-lit stage were a keyboard, a mic, a DJ rig (mostly obscured) and Francis Farewell Starlite, doing his Auto-Tuned blue-eyed soul and a lot of goofball dad dancing. Though it was a little underwhelming, some big-stage cheers finally came at the end of the set when Chance the Rapper ran out to do a synchronized dance with Franky on “May I Have This Dance.”
Approaching the revamped Other stage just ahead of Big Baby D.R.A.M.'s set, we were met with clouds of weed smoke over a sea of stoked millennials. While our knowledge of the rapper and R&B vocalist pretty much begins and ends with the ridiculously catchy and goofy Lil Yachty collab "Broccoli," we were impressed by D.R.A.M.'s surprisingly top-notch live band and sometimes-melismatic vocal chops as soon as he dipped into "Get It Myself."
D.R.A.M.
He reiterated his catch phrase "spread love” again and again, asked the crowd if we love our mamas, and reminded everyone to "Wash your ass!" during our Bonnaroo stay before he dipped into silky-smooth bangers like "Cute." Clearly, D.R.A.M is a posi-vibes-only showman, whether that means neon cartoon strippers sliding down LED poles on the screen behind him during his more "sentimental" numbers or hyping the crowd during cuts like "Cash Machine.” After all, as he said himself, the dude has “layers.”
Swedish pop star Tove Lo loves two things: vaginas and weed. The first was evidenced by the vag-tastic logo she recently got tattooed on her arm flashing on the screen behind her for most of her set. The body-positive move might have been lost on the crowd in the back, who went all-out for “Habits (Stay High),” her hit single from 2014’s Queen of the Clouds.
Tove Lo
At one point, a sign in the audience caught Lo’s eye, and she demanded that the sign waver hand it over so she could hold it up for everyone. Proudly, she showed the thousands of people that it was her name spelled out in lips, buttholes and tongues through peace signs. Here’s the most surprising part of the celebration of love, bodies, feelings, weed and sexuality: We’re pretty sure we spotted Gov. Bill Haslam leaving the pit at the end of the set. Wearing what looked to us like a button-down shirt, he had a big grin on his face. We had so many questions, but he disappeared into the river of glitter-covered youth and we did not see him again. U2 and Bonnaroo co-founder Ashley Capps did, however.
The xx
Have we mentioned the moon? The moon was incredible on Friday — full, huge and low on the horizon just as The xx came onto What Stage, amplifying the band’s striking, slick production. “We are so happy to be here, this is our third Bonnaroo,” Oliver Sim told the crowd. And then they delivered their slow-burning electro-rock with the kind of perfection you only hear on a record. We were surprised at how mesmerizing a spectacle it was: really, the band didn’t do much aside from play their shit and play it well.
Trusting The xx were in good hands with the thousands clamoring to get as close to the stage as possible, we hopped over to This Tent to catch a glimpse of Gallant, who had the crowd worked into a bubbling R&B frenzy (with help from maybe one of the best drummers at Bonnaroo). We arrived just in time to see the panties fly (literally) as he closed the set with his big hit “Weight in Gold.” We were covered in goosebumps as the entire crowd threw their hands up in the air to sing the chorus at the top of their lungs. How is Gallant still tucked away on a side stage? Life isn’t always fair.
Angélique Kidjo
Any Roovians who were not at That Tent to see Angélique Kidjo’s Remain in Light did themselves a great disservice. The Benin-born Grammy winner — along with a stellar band including the Antibalas horn section, guitarist Dominic James and a five-member chorus — dove even deeper into the West African grooves that Talking Heads mined from Fela Kuti on their 1980 LP Remain in Light, along with a few originals. She put the “festive” back into “festival,” dancing through the crowd, assuring everyone that it was OK to have an incredible time. As the set came to a close which felt all too soon, we couldn't argue with the stranger we overheard: “She just won Bonnaroo.”
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
We hung around That Tent to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band receive the keys to both the city of Manchester, Tenn. and Coffee County. The Crescent City’s long-running combo is a festival staple, drawing a few gray-haired festies and the occasional nerd in a band camp T-shirt, alongside a raft hula-hoopers and totem-carriers. Playing mostly from the dark grooves on their freshly dropped Cuban-flavored album So It Is, the PHJB was en fuego, playing rump-shaker after rump-shaker until the crowd started to thin as folks ambled off for U2.
More on the self-described “boy band from the north side of Dublin” right here.
After U2 wrapped up, we wandered over to This Tent, arriving just in time for the lights to come up on Portugal. The Man. Spread across a stage that had the lived-in feel of a practice room, John Gourley & Co. laid down some of the heaviest, shreddiest riffage we’d heard all weekend. Granted, that’s not a high bar, considering the near nonexistence of heavy music at this year’s Bonnaroo. But by any yardstick, the band was clearly thrilled to be playing new songs — their new LP Woodstock, which comes out June 16, is their first in five years — and they delivered them in a rapid-fire barrage broken only to say “Here’s some new shit.” Somewhere among the falsetto funk and AC/DC crunge of old favorites like “Modern Jesus” and new joints like “Feel It Still,” they snuck in the solo from Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” and we wondered for a second how many of the younger fans would view it as a classic rock reference. What can we do but grin?
Major Lazer
We waded into the Which Stage field where Major Lazer was hosting a glow-in-the-dark dancehall aerobics class with help from a crew of dancers. It did our heart good to hear chief producer Diplo shout out to his teenage stint in Middle Tennessee, including some time at Hendersonville High School. A lot of the old dubby Lazer sound was in the mix, alongside plenty of pop references and breaks to wave things in the air, run to the left or the right and bounce. Call it cornball if you like, but it was fun. All the same, our tank was running low, so we stumbled back to camp.
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In The Spin — the Scene's live review column — staffers and freelance contributors review concerts under a collective byline.
