Friday, June, 11, 2010
The first show of the day was Punch Brothers. We got there early and had a spot up front. 
The show was recorded for a radio station. They played some covers, including The Strokes, Radiohead, and The White Stripes (which Chris Thile referred to as the band Jack White had with his then sister-wife).
Afterwards, I had wanted to see a little of Tokyo Police Club, but just skipped on over to see The Young Veins. They played a smaller tent, so we had to weasel our way toward the front. There were some obvious super-fans (quite possibly Panic! fans) who clung to the barricade.
I could see, and that’s all that mattered. Well, that and I was under the tent, in the shade. TYV were better than I had anticipated. Someone in the crowd asked them to play “Behind the Sea,” and Ryan said they would if he remembered it. Their set was good and fun, though, despite it being hot (even in the shade, under the tent).
We then went to see Hot Rize, a bluegrass band, and wait in the shade. We did. And there was when I saw Bonnaroo Dancing Woman. There was some space toward the front in the crowd, and this woman decided to dance around there. She had two braids that went past her hips, which she used like nun chucks whilst dancing. She had tie-dye pants on (that were too long and kept dragging in the sand). Unfortunately, her pants had a huge (and I mean huge) hole in the crotch, which she would periodically “check” and resituate. I don’t know why. But that hole did not get in the way of her dancing and swaying. There was another woman who danced next to her, but where the Dancing Woman swayed and twirled, this woman stomped and tried to two-step solo. She eventually left, probably admitting her defeat.
We left early from Hot Rize to grab a spot up front to see OK Go. I was determined. I had to be up front. Dr. Dog was playing before them, so we caught some of their set. That’s the time to start infiltrating. And I did. I got a spot up front, sort of, kind of near the speakers, but not directly in front of the speakers. This one woman kept pushing me toward the speakers, away from the center of the stage, which didn’t make any sense. I just pushed her back 
and tried to take up as much barricade space as possible. OK Go finally came on, and they were uh-may-zing, of course. The woman next to me, though, was a flailer. Every song was her song. She had to do the fist-pumps and hip-hop-hand-bounce-thing for every one of them, even the slower songs. Her elbows kept getting in my and my lens’s line of vision. I was a little taller than she was, so it wasn’t as bad. OK Go played some of my favorites. They did “Last Leaf,” and as usual, Damian went into the crowd to play that one, but it wasn’t on my side. Damian called us “a bunch of dirty sinners,” and then OK Go saved us by playing the hand bells for “What To Do.” We were washed clean. Oh, and we also got confettied.
Up next was Kings of Leon. We went straight from OK Go, which ended at 7 p.m., to KOL, which started at 9:30 p.m. Quite a wait, but there were already loads of people there. Tenacious D was still playing when we arrived. We got a spot right of center, not-so-near-the-front. I could tell that there were people on stage, but I couldn’t have definitely said they were the Followills if you had put look-alikes up there. When I’m that far away, I like to try to balance the time I look at the jumbo screen and the actual people. For some reason, to me, looking at the actual people makes it “real” and the screen, although is the same thing I’d be seeing if I were at home, allows me to actually see. I do have to say, the lighting on stage wasn’t all too great. It was red, blue, or just dark. Occasionally I remember seeing spotlights, but not necessarily when they were playing – more like when Caleb was asking for a drink or drinking. There was a huge honeycomb-like thing of lights in the backdrop, which looked really cool when they lit up, but that didn’t help me see anyone on stage. Regardless of the lights, they had an amazing set. They played “Trani”! I think that was their last one. Caleb mentioned how they hadn’t played that in so long, because the last time they played it was so good he didn’t think they could play it like that again. Then he said that being able to play the tiny tents, to the bigger tents, then a smaller stage, to the big stage was great, and that that was one of the few things that made him proud of the band.
After KOL, we went to see The Black Keys. A bunch of people were already there, so we were toward the back and to the side. I could still see, though, which was all that mattered. I got incredibly tired before they even came on (it started at 12 a.m. and lasted until 1:30). We stayed for just a couple of songs and then bailed.
We were going to see Royal Bangs after The Black Keys, but I couldn’t make it. At the end of every day, it felt like our camp was all the way in Canada. It seemed like it took for-ev-er for us to get back. My feet would hurt from stepping on rocks and pebbles, and my calves would hurt from standing on the tips of my toes, trying to get a glimpse of the stages. They had golf carts as shuttles, but who would shell out $5 for a ride every day? I guess if you were that close to the highway, you probably would. And once we got back to camp, our lovely New York neighbors would be there. I swear, every single day they played that god-awful Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song about New York, and they would have it on repeat. So, as the dew settled on the grass and our skin stuck to our sleeping bags, the sound of New Yaaaaahhhhhkkk, New Yaaaaaaaahhhhhhkkk lulled us to sleep.
Blizzog 