Manchester united

When The Spin arrived at Bonnaroo, singer Lily Allen was directly in front of us in the media/artist check-in line. We took the diminutive, cheeky Brit as a good luck symbol for the weekend’s festivities.

If only she had been a symbol of temperate weather. It was hot—real hot. And the dry conditions throughout Middle Tennessee manifested themselves as a giant cloud of dust hanging over the whole dang place. Fortunately, there were plenty of excellent bands to keep us distracted and enough air-conditioned refuges to keep our sanity in place. We can’t come close to mentioning them all, but here they are—some highlights from the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 2007:

Manchester united

When The Spin arrived at Bonnaroo, singer Lily Allen was directly in front of us in the media/artist check-in line. We took the diminutive, cheeky Brit as a good luck symbol for the weekend’s festivities.

If only she had been a symbol of temperate weather. It was hot—real hot. And the dry conditions throughout Middle Tennessee manifested themselves as a giant cloud of dust hanging over the whole dang place. Fortunately, there were plenty of excellent bands to keep us distracted and enough air-conditioned refuges to keep our sanity in place. We can’t come close to mentioning them all, but here they are—some highlights from the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 2007:

• Cold War Kids were the first band we caught, and though they’ve rolled through Music City multiple times over the last year or so, they remain a killer live act. With their signature kinetic presence and a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” that we still don’t know what to do with, the quartet left an impression.

• Our No. 1 pleasant surprise was British geek-synth rockers Hot Chip, whose crisp beats and frantic flailing cut through the midday heat.

• A press conference featuring Lily Allen, David Cross, Richard Thompson, Nathan Willette, Warren Haynes and ?uestlove provided some priceless moments: Cross hates hippies, hippies pay ?uestlove’s bills and Allen was forsaking booze for the weekend—tell that to the bottle of Jäger she was spotted swilling onstage a few short hours later.

• A late-night comedy set from Cross, Aziz Ansari and Nick Kroll (appearing here as Fabrice Fabrice) was one of the toughest tickets around—we got in by a hair (a hair!) and were enlightened on such Southern-themed topics as how to spot a “deadneck.”

• Turns out we had this thing deep inside us, a dark, secret force that had stayed dormant for years. The second we heard the opening chords of “Stinkfist,” our passionate love of Tool came raging out. Ditched by our companions, we camped out on the bleachers solo and let our senses be assaulted by the heavy, anthemic sounds, the balls-out laser show and the creepy-ass puppet visuals for which the band is famous. Side note: Maynard James Keenan’s stage banter was surprisingly—and disarmingly—mundane. Where’s the mystery?

• One of the festival’s other refreshing surprises was Blue Note Records’ “Somethin’ Else” Tent, a dark, cool source of respite boasting an array of jazz all day, every day. Standouts included the Robert Glasper Trio, who did an inspiring version of Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place,” and The Philadelphia Experiment.

• It is a rare moment in life when something you’re looking forward to exceeds your expectations. That said, God bless The Hold Steady, who put on one of the most exhilarating festival shows we’ve seen, well, ever. Frontman Craig Finn might behave like a spastic nerd in gym class, but this band is made to be heard live.

• The Flaming Lips know how to amuse people on drugs—giant rubber balls, laser pointers, dancing Santas—but frontman Wayne Coyne lost us (and our 1 a.m. buzz) with his multiple political diatribes. We hate Bush as much as the next omniscient local live-music column, but come on, dude, you’re preaching to the converted.

• Lastly, Elijah Wood was spotted booking it across the grounds to catch Dr. Dog. We got relentless pleasure out of imagining how freaked out some of the tripping kids must have been to see Frodo wandering about, munching on a veggie burger.

• Cold War Kids were the first band we caught, and though they’ve rolled through Music City multiple times over the last year or so, they remain a killer live act. With their signature kinetic presence and a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” that we still don’t know what to do with, the quartet left an impression.

• Our No. 1 pleasant surprise was British geek-synth rockers Hot Chip, whose crisp beats and frantic flailing cut through the midday heat.

• A press conference featuring Lily Allen, David Cross, Richard Thompson, Nathan Willette, Warren Haynes and ?uestlove provided some priceless moments: Cross hates hippies, hippies pay ?uestlove’s bills and Allen was forsaking booze for the weekend—tell that to the bottle of Jäger she was spotted swilling onstage a few short hours later.

• A late-night comedy set from Cross, Aziz Ansari and Nick Kroll (appearing here as Fabrice Fabrice) was one of the toughest tickets around—we got in by a hair (a hair!) and were enlightened on such Southern-themed topics as how to spot a “deadneck.”

• Turns out we had this thing deep inside us, a dark, secret force that had stayed dormant for years. The second we heard the opening chords of “Stinkfist,” our passionate love of Tool came raging out. Ditched by our companions, we camped out on the bleachers solo and let our senses be assaulted by the heavy, anthemic sounds, the balls-out laser show and the creepy-ass puppet visuals for which the band is famous. Side note: Maynard James Keenan’s stage banter was surprisingly—and disarmingly—mundane. Where’s the mystery?

• One of the festival’s other refreshing surprises was Blue Note Records’ “Somethin’ Else” Tent, a dark, cool source of respite boasting an array of jazz all day, every day. Standouts included the Robert Glasper Trio, who did an inspiring version of Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place,” and The Philadelphia Experiment.

• It is a rare moment in life when something you’re looking forward to exceeds your expectations. That said, God bless The Hold Steady, who put on one of the most exhilarating festival shows we’ve seen, well, ever. Frontman Craig Finn might behave like a spastic nerd in gym class, but this band is made to be heard live.

• The Flaming Lips know how to amuse people on drugs—giant rubber balls, laser pointers, dancing Santas—but frontman Wayne Coyne lost us (and our 1 a.m. buzz) with his multiple political diatribes. We hate Bush as much as the next omniscient local live-music column, but come on, dude, you’re preaching to the converted.

• Lastly, Elijah Wood was spotted booking it across the grounds to catch Dr. Dog. We got relentless pleasure out of imagining how freaked out some of the tripping kids must have been to see Frodo wandering about, munching on a veggie burger.