Our second night was better than the first, in terms of warmth, but it was still pretty cold. And then again, by around 7 a.m, it was boiling hot in our tiny tent. The gods of Bonnaroo have a twisted sense of humor. By this point in the festival, I had decided not to bother showering, as I knew I’d be filthy again within the hour. In hindsight, this was maybe a poor decision. Although Bonnaroo 2012 wasn’t quite as hot and dry as it has been in previous years (according to some veteran festivalgoers), there was still dust everywhere. Dust covered your feet and clothes, it got into your food and drink, and it most assuredly got into your lungs as you breathed it in by the liter. We fought the rising dust as we walked the half-mile from the camp grounds to Centeroo for the first act of the day.

Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires

Charles Bradley, AKA the “Original Screaming Eagle of Soul,” is quite a character. He had an early career in soul music before falling upon hard times (this is a familiar career trajectory for a lot of soul musicians from the '70s). He was rediscovered by—who else?—Daptone Records in 2002. Daptone is home to the Dap Kings (who back Sharon Jones) as well as their side project, Menahan Street Band. Bradley’s recent albums have all featured various Daptone recording artists, and in fact his most recent album (*No Time for Dreaming*) is credited to Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band. Because the Dap Kings had backed Sharon Jones the day before, for Bradley’s performance, he looked like he had a totally different backing band, but one that played in the same style as the Daps.

The reality is that if you replaced Bradley with Jones, you wouldn’t really bat an eye in terms of the music. The songs were basically written by the same group of individuals, and although surely they were written to play to the strengths of the particular singer, they are very similar. Bradley is known as the “Screaming Eagle of Soul” due to his particularly high-pitched “soul screech” (for lack of a better term). You know the one: when a soul singer just sort of whines in that high-pitched manner. Bradley is a good performer and vocalist and seems likeable to boot. He was the subject of a documentary, *Soul of America*, that premiered earlier this year at South By Southwest (it also aired in the cinema tent at Bonnaroo 2012). But still, Bradley is no substitute for Jones.

Battles

Second at Bonnaroo only to jam-band music and bluegrass is so-called “experimental" music. Battles fits that mold. Comprised of former members of Don Caballero, Lynx, and Helmet, the music of Battles has surprising depth. As with many modern experimental rock bands, Battles employs a healthy dose of samples on stage, which doesn’t bother me at all when it’s done as seamlessly as when Battles does it. The music is sort of Mad Max-esque. You imagine the characters from *Blade Runner* listening to it. But throughout the overwhelming industrial sound of the music is this definite pop undercurrent that helps the music translate to a larger audience than just experimental music-heads. Still, I'm not sure live at Bonnaroo was the best place for me to listen to their music for pretty much the first time. However, one of the best things about festivals is the feeling you get coming home and (legally) downloading a bunch of new music. Battles is definitely on that list.

Santigold

Santigold put on my second favorite performance of the festival. I’ve been following Santigold—formerly Santogold—for awhile. Or at least since 2008 when she released the song “L.E.S. Artistes” as a single. That song was a beautiful, genre-defying pop song that was drenched with '80s music influences. In fact, some of Santigold’s music reminds me of something The Cars would do. Live, Santigold was fantastic. She had two back-up dancers for the entire set, and changed costumes numerous times. At one point, one of her set pieces involved some people in a horse costume. Gold star for old school creativity. But Santigold’s apparent penchant for bizarre props didn’t come across as pompous; in fact, Santigold seemed very down to earth. The crowd for Santigold was huge, which I wasn’t expecting, but I’m glad this artist is getting the attention she deserves. She has been compared to M.I.A., but really, the only thing that connects those two are the people they’ve both worked with (Diplo, for example) and their myriad of musical influences.

Mogwai

I wanted so much to like Mogwai’s show at Bonnaroo. A fair portion of my time in college was spent listening to the albums *Young Team* and *Come On Die Young*. For those who don’t know, Mogwai specialize in quiet-loud instrumental music. Typically, they will noodle around on a riff or melody before suddenly exploding into loud distortion. Their songs are almost always instrumental. Some of them are quite beautiful, like the songs from *Mogwai: EP + 2*. As the group hails from Scotland and traditionally didn’t tour the states much, I haven’t had many opportunities to see them, and when they were touring I wasn’t able to make it out to any shows. Mogwai was one of the bands I was most excited about seeing at Bonnaroo. Unfortunately, though, the performance was not so great. Some of Mogwai’s music is intricate and beautiful, but their show was too noisy (even during the “quiet” moments) for any of those intricacies to shine through. And when it was time for the “loud” parts, the audience was left swimming in a soup of noise. Note that I don’t care that the set was loud, it’s that it was so noisy that you couldn’t distinguish anything. That might not be entirely the band’s fault, but still, it affected the show’s quality. I hope to catch Mogwai again at another venue.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

After Mogwai, I begrudgingly walked back across the festival to catch the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set. I haven’t cared about anything this band has done since *Blood Sugar Sex Magik* and, honestly, even that hasn’t held up very well over the years. As the group has become more pop-oriented, I’ve liked them less. Not helping matters was the fact that the performance seemed to be even more crowded than Radiohead the night before. It was impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on someone passed out on the ground beneath you. Total nightmare for miles. The Peppers played some of their more recent songs and some songs from *Californication*. I heard they soundchecked with some songs from *Blood Sugar*, but we didn’t stick around to hear whether they ever got played in the set proper. Instead, we ventured back to the other stages to await the Superjam.

Superjam ft. ?uestlove with very special guests

Every year at Bonnaroo, an artist curates “Superjam,” which—as I understand it—usually involves some of the artists who played Bonnaroo that year jamming together on stage. This year ?uestlove from the Roots curated the jam, and I think it’s safe to say that it was one of the best ever. The show started a little bit later than billed. When ?uestlove finally took the stage, he took his sweet time getting the ball rolling. He said he was putting us in a time machine and taking us back to a period in his life when he basically lived and worked at Electric Lady Studios in New York, recording and playing with a variety of amazing artists. One by one he brought various musicians from that period in his life to the stage. Then he said, “I’ve been waiting 12 years to say this: ladies and gentlemen, D’Angelo.”

At which point my jaw hit the ground. D’Angelo hadn’t performed in the US in over 12 years, although he has been working on new material and was preparing to stage a comeback. Apparently word that D’Angelo might be the centerpiece of Superjam had gotten out, but I hadn’t heard it. It was a total surprise to me. The band opened with Jimi Hendrix’s “Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland),” worked through a myriad of classic soul covers, as well as stunning versions of Led Zeppelin’s “What is and What Should Never Be” and the Beatles’ “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” D’Angelo was not as fit as he was back in his “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” video days, but he wasn’t fat like he appeared in some pictures that circulated awhile back. He looked healthy and his voice was great. He didn’t talk much (onstage jitters?) but the performance was amazing, especially given the top notch musicians on stage. ?uestlove had joked that the audience would be bored by the music—not so. The crowd was, of course, much younger than me, but many seemed to know who D'Angelo was, or at least had had the chance to Google him when the rumors were circulating. My freshman year college roommate back in 1999-2000 was a BIG D'Angelo fan, so I've been familiar with him for a while, and am old enough to remember how much potential he had. Seeing him perform live after such a long absence was far and away my favorite experience of the festival.

Unfortunately, right before Superjam, I’d begun to feel sick. It started with a scratch in my throat, but was escalating to mild body aches. I think the copious amount of dust in the air (and therefore in my lungs) combined with lack of sleep and lack of a consistent diet all contributed to the swift decline of my health. By the time we left Superjam, I was downright sick. Quickly, we walked past the stage where Skrillex was playing, and like I figured I would, I hated everything about it. We went back to our tent, where we bundled up again in case the temperature dipped down. As my throat began to close up even more, I reflected that suffering through night three in a cold tent, filthy and sick, while Skrillex blares in the background is my definition of hell. At some point after Skrillex finally decided to stop making noise, it started raining, and it was still raining when we woke up the next day.

Here's how I feel about Bonnaroo: I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go, and I had a great time listening to some fantastic music and soaking in the festival. It was an experience I needed to have. However, unless somebody sends me in a comfy RV, or I only go for a day, I'm never going back. The struggle of Bonnaroo (i.e., dealing with the heat) is part of what's so rewarding about the total experience. I'm glad I now know what that struggle is like. I'm just too old and I like my bed, being clean, and the indoors too much to venture out again absent some changed circumstances. Of course, we'll see how I feel next year when another incredible lineup is announced. My body has a short memory.