Kendrick Lamar, Three 6 Mafia, MUNA and More Keep Bonnaroo Rolling

Aside from Bonnaroo being a special occasion on its own, fans and artists alike often mark milestones at the fest. When Friday ticked over into Saturday two-thirds of the way through his headlining set, hip-hop superstar Kendrick Lamar started his 36th birthday with a sea of cellphone flashlights beaming back at him as a jam-packed What Stage crowd sang “Happy Birthday.” 

K.Dot’s achievements are extraordinary, from the commercial success of his records to the awards he’s received to the role he plays in popular culture, which goes beyond setting bars with the artistic richness, humor and technical prowess of his raps. Add to that his latest album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, on which he rejects any notion that he’s here to save anyone else — he’s got enough on his hands taking care of himself and his family. At the same time, that work involves confronting systemic racism and legacies of violence and trauma, some of the threads that weave his family’s history into that of American culture as a whole. 

Friday, he explored all of this in a show punctuated with his dynamite hooks that had Bonnaroovians bobbing, head-banging and doing wild-ass footwork routines all over the field. The set list spanned his entire catalog, with some standouts “for the day-ones” including “Backseat Freestyle” and “Swimming Pools (Drank),” as well as “Humble” from Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. The show was a very different production from last year’s Big Steppers Tour but just as magnetic, featuring a dance crew sporting smocks that suggested service-industry work; during “Money Trees,” a song about dreaming of success while being trapped in low-wage jobs, they pushed mail carts and shined shoes.

A couple hours earlier, Lamar’s cousin Baby Keem warmed up the crowd. Performing all by himself while the screens flanking the stage showed video of him with an effect that smeared his image, he rapped poignantly about trying to reconcile knowing that you're valuable with feeling worthless, urging the crowd: “If you got a beautiful soul, make some noise!” He returned near the end of Lamar’s set to join in on their Grammy-winning collaboration “Family Ties.” 

Not long after, Lamar & Co. concluded the set with “Alright,” after which he thanked the crowd and made a promise that “we’ll be back.” Once a minute or two of mild confusion subsided — as it turned out, he didn’t mean there’d be an encore — the lingering impression of his words was of a note of hope for the audience finding our way through our lives.

As more pockets of shade emerged and the heat dipped a little on Friday afternoon, L.A. indie-pop trio MUNA brought the party to What Stage. Their expertly constructed setlist bounced between upbeat anthems and deeper cuts. Before country-tinged ballad “Taken,” the band invited the crowd to “sway, drink some water and think about [their] trauma.” After the breather, MUNA invited everyone back to the dance floor with hits like “Anything But Me” — featuring a crowd surfing cameo from honorary MUNA member Stacy the Inflatable Horse — and their latest single “The One That Got Away.” Like many of the day’s acts, MUNA made a point to address the anti-LGBTQ laws passed in Tennessee this year, leading a chant denouncing Governor Bill Lee’s stance on trans rights. The group closed out their set with their “Silk Chiffon,” a crowd favorite and “anti-fascist bop” that perfectly capped their celebratory performance.

Next up, Rina Sawayama brought a Hollywood-scale spectacle to Which Stage, complete with costume changes, props and dancers. Each song blended into the next at her adept command, from ragers like “STFU!” to the Lana Del Rey-reminiscent “Bad Friend.” As did MUNA, Sawayama prompted the crowd to fuel our ire over the “fucked-up laws trying to get passed in this state” into the music, and they eagerly answered. She went on to dazzle the crowd with stellar vocals on songs like her Charli XCX collab “Beg for You.”

Like any performer of her caliber, Sawayama came to the stage with some tricks up her sleeves. One of her many costumes included tearaway pants, a surprise that transitioned the set into “XS,” a 2000s pop-inspired song that sounds like the grown-up version of “Fabulous” from High School Musical 2. The final surprise was the best of all: After a hilariously staged fake-out ending, Sawayama performed “This Hell” complete with a red fringed cowboy hat, line dancing and a guest appearance from MUNA’s Katie Gavin and her bandmates to cap off the set.

Meanwhile, Charley Crockett turned That Tent into a roadhouse. The Texas songsmith has a catalog thick with danceable country and Western songs, tinged with Crescent City soul and other influences, that linger like the sting of lemon juice in a paper cut. One of those was “Paint It Blue,” in which he sang “I ain’t too concerned with my name / ’Cause I know it won’t be on my grave” while couples waltzed in the dust. Crockett and his snare-tight band reeled them off one after the other with a minimum of fuss — even when the P.A. cut out for a few seconds. 

As the sun set over Manchester, indie-folk rising star Noah Kahan hit the stage. The crowd sang along with every word of opener “All My Love” and every song that followed, overflowing from the That Tent into the surrounding field. Kahan was equally excited to be at Bonnaroo, confessing to the audience: “Last time, I played 10 seconds and slept in a hotel with cockroaches.”

Over at This Tent, Alexander Giannascoli — better known to fans as Alex G — kicked off what he later described to the crowd as “a crazy fun night” with a brief instrumental session. Then, he unleashed the full power of his hypnotic vocals and hazy full-band sound, diving into songs from his latest LP God Save the Animals with standouts like “Runner.” A little later in the same spot, Seattle indie-folksters Fleet Foxes gave an eerily beautiful performance of songs from across their much-loved discography against a backdrop of watercolor-like visuals. Singer Robin Pecknold gave heartfelt thanks for the warm reception of their lush, cozy harmonies and array of banjos, guitars and brass instruments.

“We could be up here for a week,” enthused DJ Paul during a brief breather in Three 6 Mafia’s set at Which Stage.

“We've been in the business 20-plus years, and sold more than 100 million records — we got some hits,” Juicy J agreed, talking through the Hannibal Lecter-style mask he wore, accessorized with a matching straitjacket. “Three-6-aroo! Free weed, free alcohol and free strippers!”

The Memphis hip-hop heroes brought all their legendary party-starting skills to bear, firing off anthem after anthem: “Poppin' My Collar,” “Tear Da Club Up,” “Ass & Titties.” There were salutes to fallen comrades and other Memphians gone too soon: As Paul and J asked, the crowd made some serious mothafuckin’ noise for Gangsta Boo, Koopsta Knicca and Young Dolph. There were multiple shoutouts to J’s older brother and Three 6 associate Project Pat, who wasn't on the Farm.

There was copious blunt smoke and pyro, and a dope supercut of horror flicks ran in the background. But a special guest appeared to do a verse and the hook from the group’s Oscar-winning Hustle & Flow theme song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” sending the crowd to a whole other level. Jelly Roll, on his way to country stardom but never one to shy away from his hip-hop roots, said it right: “We are in the presence of living legends!” he shouted before handing back the mic and returning backstage.

Sylvan Esso bridged the gap between Kendrick Lamar’s headlining set and the true late-night ’Roo shenanigans 75 minutes of what we’ll call “ethereal dance music,” or maybe “the other EDM.” The husband-and-wife duo of Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath — Sanborn in drag and Meath with a fake gold beard in another of the day’s protests against the state’s anti-LGBTQ laws — can make you feel like you’ve stumbled into their private dance party. 

Sanborn wields massive, warm synths that sound so huge that you’re almost waiting for a melodramatic, 2010s-pop-radio beat drop. But the drop never comes, and songs like “Die Young” feel like delightfully danceable exercises in anticipation and restraint. Meath, similarly, owns the stage with graceful, deliberate movements. It was strangely perfect for both night owls looking to amp themselves up for a never-ending night in Manchester and for folks who want to dance off their last bit of energy before heading to their pop-up canopies for the night.

Our last stop was at Plaza 10 in Outeroo. Nashville hip-hop collective Six One Trïbe popped in for a set billed as a late-night Kendrick Lamar after-party. The performance, at a spot billed as the Always Underground Stage, didn’t appear on the festival schedule. But plenty of folks making their way back to their campsites were treated to low-key sets from the celebrated collective of Music City rhymesmiths. Ronni Raxx performed her very new single “Call You Latr,” and HB Mandella made a point to thank both those who’d sought the show out and those who’d stumbled upon it. “Everything we’re doing is building something,” he said, “and we’re proud of it.”

Cover Stories

Festival Frenzy 2023

• Scene Staff