Recap Bonnaroo, June 14

Ben Franklin got it right when he said, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three day,” because the same can safely be said for Bonnaroo attendees. By Sunday afternoon, there was a subtle but pervasive odor throughout the farm that can only be described as weak deodorant overwhelmed by sweaty crotch. Scents emanating from the Port-O-Sans banks were worse.

TV On The Radio's Tunde Adembimpe is interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic DogIn addition to smelling bad, festival-goers were visibly tired. They still did their strange, jellyfish-like dances, but they were oscillating at something like 72 beats per minute as opposed to the 200 they’d been clocking for the past few days. Likewise, the music slated for this last evening was somewhat quieter, though no less powerful than the previous acts.

Andrew Bird
Yeah, he can sing and play guitar as well as most singer-songwriters of his generation, but that’s not what makes Andrew Bird distinctive. It’s the addition of solid violin riffs and virtuosic whistling. If you’ve never seen Bird live before, it’s easy to believe that the whistling on his album is just studio magic, chirps spliced together to create an unbroken croon. But even in concert, his whistling was fluid, and a single note might be held for a full 15 seconds. During his low-key late-afternoon set, a good chunk of fans opted to sit or lay down in what had been grass four days ago, but was now mostly mud. Bird played songs that were irrevocably pleasant, cheery, and melodious. If it had been a Friday set, he might (rightly) be criticized for not performing with enough energy. But he served as a perfect harbinger, with his tamped-down sounds reminding us that, even though we were at a concert, the festival was coming to an end.

Snoop Dogg
At last year’s Bonnaroo, Kanye West was slotted for a 2:45 a.m. set but didn’t hit the stage until almost 5 a.m., playing for a scant 58 minutes. This year, Snoop had some fans fearing a copycat shaft: He was scheduled for a 6 p.m. performance, but a 6:15 announcement said Snoop wasn’t even on the festival grounds yet. Luckily, within about 15 minutes, he was onstage doing his verse from "The Next Episode." Phew. He brought out Erykah Badu midway through the set and later played House Of Pain’s "Jump Around" (the song’s second invocation at Bonnaroo—The Knux played it on Thursday night).

Phish
Some devout Phish fans were afraid the band blew its jam-wad on Friday night with an insanely energetic, insider-friendly show. Indeed, Sunday night’s set started out slowly with a few songs that some heads might consider to be second-tier (“Bathtub Gin” and “Gotta Jibboo”). By the time they started the jam-heavy “Tweezer,” a decent portion of the audience, while anything but unhappy, squated dancelessly in the grass-mud. But then they brought out…The Boss! After the show, many fans said they’d seen it coming: Of course Phish was going to bring out Bruce Springsteen. Whatever. It was a terrific surprise. Bruce and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio traded riffs on “Mustang Sally,” stretching the song out so the chorus repeated four times during the course of 10 minutes. With Phish endorsing him, the crowd seemed much more excited to see Springsteen play than on Saturday night. Together they then played a couple Springsteen songs: "Bobby Jean" and "Glory Days."

After a brief set break, Phish returned with an energy more reminiscent of its Friday night set. The group powered through "Silent in the Morning," "Prince Caspian," and the powerful "Backwards Down the Number Line," which culminated in a fireworks display. It’s difficult to imagine a better way for a notoriously hippie-bent festival to end. Placid smiles on their faces, Rooers stumbled back to their tents. Driving away from the festival grounds, Decider was, like so many attendees, happy to get away from the smell, but a little sad to be leaving the sounds.