Weather Woes Fail to Derail Bonnaroo 2016 on Day 3

Day 3 of Bonnaroo 2016 was a trying one. Sure, the heat was oppressive, but we expected that. What we didn't expect was total evacuation of Centeroo — a first for The Spin in our many years covering the festival — that, at around 8:30 p.m., sent Bonnaroovians scattering to their campsites when a lightning storm came within 20 miles of Manchester's Great Stage Park. There was confusion, mild panic and, worst of all, no music for close to two hours. For a time we renamed Camp Cream "FEMAroo." Luckily, the storm never reached the 'Roo and, with the festival being a 24-hour, curfew-free bash, all shows went ahead as rescheduled.

"Obviously Mother Nature is pissed off at somebody," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' Macklemore said, addressing a massive What Stage crowd with the evacuation PSA that temporarily preempted the Seattle rapper's set six songs in. As we said, it was trying. And who's a bigger tryhard than Macklemore? Minutes earlier, before a reliably heart-swelling "Same Love," the ever sanctimonious Macklemore did his hip-hop star/high-school-guidance-counselor routine with some hackneyed jargon about politicians and the media controlling people, how we should accept people for who they are and how he cares about the heart and what's inside, etc. Good sentiments? Sure — but the kids hear that than, say, Ted Nugent's missives. But these aren't exactly fresh takes, and "Same Love," the first major pro-gay-rights hip-hop hit really doesn't need much explanation, does it? Anyway, between that moment, getting to hear "Thrift Shop" and catching our third Chance the Rapper guest appearance (Why wasn't he on the festival bill again?), we'd had our fill of Macklemore by the time we had to make a mass exodus.

It was sweltering when Chicano Batman took to the Which Stage at 2:30 p.m., but you'd never know by how cool the band looked. Decked out in full suits, these four horsemen glared ice cold in the face of the heat as they opened with a psychedelic wah-wah pedal groove. Keyboardist/guitarist/frontman Bardo Martinez was something to behold, doing the splits in a suit while tinkling the ivories, never missing a note. James Brown would've been proud. The band's rhythms inspired a hippie dance-off in the pit, which we dubbed "The Dreadlock Luau." Breathy electric organ and subtle horns accented the dark tropicalia vibes these knights were giving off, and giving off so well, even the ASL interpreter was swaying to the island rhythms. 

Meanwhile, over at This Tent, Anderson East had no need for tricks like Elvis’ Presley’s popping of salt tablets to break a sweat for the crowd. Whatever sweating the young soul shouter didn't accomplish by bounding around the stage to clown with his ace band or dropping to his knees to offer a teakettle scream, the stifling air inside This Tent did. Among all the crowd-pleasing antics, there was still time for the bittersweet "Learnin'," East's contribution to producer Dave Cobb's Southern Family comp, and one of his best originals yet. Of course, Cobb's influence could be felt to greater effect an hour or so later on the What Stage, when he appeared with his now-best-known collaborator Chris Stapleton, but we had a Natalie Prass set to catch before that would happen.

Another promising act: Amasa Hines. The Little Rock, Ark., psych-soul newcomers' Saturday Who Stage set started out at a bit of a crawl. Their chops and good taste were instantly apparent, but it definitely seemed like the young quintet was holding back a bit, the kind of band you can tell rips it up late at night over beers in their jam space but here, seemed to sacrifice some showmanship to make sure they nailed the parts. But as the sun receded and the modest crowd grew, the group rallied, digging in deeper for the set's back half. For a good approximation, peep Amasa's most-viewed YouTube video, a smoldering live take on set closer "Coltrane" which was what got us out to see them in the first place.

When the clouds had rolled back and the festival called “Game On!” we were ready for a monumental Saturday night. But sometimes, even at a farm full of positive vibes and free hugs, you pull the short straw. That's just what happened to recent Philly-to-Nashville transplant Ron Gallo. His set at the On Tap Lounge fired up at the same time as big draws like Ellie Goulding and the return of Macklemore. Not only did those shows pull in nearly all of Centeroo, this little stage didn't have the volume to ward off the waft of Ellie Goulding hits, but the sparse audience was ready to see the Gallo and his band bash out a helping of raw rock 'n' roll. The power trio of brotherly love were all over the stage, wildly thrashing about like a dirty cocktail of The Stooges and late-90s Gearhead Records punk. The few watchers seemed pleased, but we had move on to catch some old band from Seattle.

Over on Who Stage, hometowners Promised Land Sound faced similar post-non-storm timeslot challenges. The band floated into their set an hour behind schedule at Who Stage, shifting back and forth between twinkling folk rock and spacier jam segments. Bassist-frontman Joey Scala jokingly asked why we weren't at Ellie Goulding or The Claypool Lennon Delirium or some other spot. While the post-storm-warning crowd was somewhat sparse, the few dozen folks who made it — several local faces among them — were treated to groovy tunes from last year’s excellent For Use and Delight. James Wallace joined in for some wonderfully lush keys on the back half of the set, including our fave, a set-ending “Push and Pull (All the Time).”

Those who did flood the Which Stage for Goulding's set didn't regret it. Bonnaroovians were so excited not only for the chance to see one of the best pop acts of today (who also happens to have the most Spotify spins of any artist at the festival), but also because the show was definitely going on after the weather delay. Think about it: At the very moment that storm warning went out, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people had either just started coming up, just dosed or just started peaking. Terrifying. Buzzkill. Now think of the release that would come when the carefree pop music starts back up. Goulding's set, however, was not the balls-out party time many expected, for instance, an acoustic version of the banger “Lights” seemed a little odd, and the stage show that was more traditional rock band than pop superstar. But we still had to deftly avoid dozens of people dancing like no one was watching, throwing their whole bodies into it. It was obvious that for a large portion of her audience, Goulding was the act to see this weekend.

We thought we’d escaped CMA Fest by volunteering to sweat it out in Manchester this weekend, but somehow it found us, festooned in red Solo cup lights and hollering to a remix of the “Shake ‘n’ Bake” montage from Talladega Nights that opened Sam Hunt’s set, which was also delayed by the storm that wasn’t. Hunt stuck mostly to hits like “Make You Miss Me” and “X2C,” to the screaming delight of fans who sang back every word. (Such peopled do exist at Bonnaroo.) The crowd at This Tent was densely packed but not overly large, though still far better than the turnout at Hunt’s first Bonnaroo set, which he recalled was at the purgatorial Cafe Where.

When approaching That Tent for Miguel, you could still hear Pearl Jam going for it in the distance, the rain delay causing a little more bleed-over than we’re used to. But with most of the festival’s rockers out of the way, that left plenty of room for R&B fans to fill out the tent, with their pharmaceutically chilled-out brothers and sisters holding back to sit and sway, eyes closed. Miguel promised to party “until the sun comes up,” referencing his later appearance at Superjam. 

And then there was Superjam. Cover sets organized around a theme can get hokey with a quickness, but Kamasi Washington and his all-star band were honoring Tennessee music for this year's installment of the Bonnaroo-branded jam sesh, and they took full advantage of the stunning variety of musicians with roots in Volunteer State soil to keep the backfield in motion until the wee hours.

There were solid traditional picks, like "I Never Loved a Man" and "Jolene." But tunes that came a bit from left-field were some of the best, like Chicano Batman taking on Isaac Hayes' "Theme From Shaft"; Patrice Quinn, vocalist from Washington's own band, taking the spotlight on Bessie Smith's "Ain't Nobody's Business"; GRiZ picking up a saxophone to jam with Washington on an original by tenor sax icon Yusef Lateef; Miguel taking charge on Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack"; and Lizzo leveling the place with Tina Turner's "I Can't Stand the Rain."

As with any Superjam, a few things could've gone better. Allen Stone's vocals were plenty soulful to tackle B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone" without nosediving into melodrama, but even as jam fans, our attention waned towards the end. But our biggest gripe by far is with Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins, who ruined an inventive, trad-jazz-flavored take on "Ring of Fire" with a flaccid vocal that wouldn't even pass muster at Santa's Pub.

Luckily The Spin's night (or at this point early morning) didn't end on that note. The 1:45 a.m. That Tent set by alt-rap supergroup Big Grams — composed of indie-electro duo Phantogram and Southern rap legend and OutKast star Big Boi — was tempting for a couple reasons. With only a six-song EP under their belt (which frankly wasn’t quite strong enough to withstand the weight of its own hype) surely we we were in for a few OutKast classics to pad the band’s hour long set, we figured. And we weren’t wrong ... sort of. OG favorites like “Ms. Jackson” and “I Like the Way You Move” got the crowd beyond pumped, but were mashed up with lesser known Phantogram songs to blue-balling effect. Add to that some really awkward stage banter and singer Sarah Barthel’s pitchy vocals and we left thinking maybe Big Grams was a better idea on paper than in practice. That said, watching the performance was (we can only assume) more fun than getting struck by lightning.