With all the hardcore music lovers in here, im surprised no one has made a topic about bonnaroo.....Did anyone go? I went!!!.....Neil Young, Flaming Lips, OAR, James Brown,....etc, etc.....it was a weekend I'll never forget. Someone help me out here....I'm drowning in my own pleasure, please tell me one of you guys made it out there with me!
Ciao
Mark Spencer76

I would kill to see Neil Young, but I figured I'd just wait to see him and him alone. I didn't even know most of the other bands, to be completely honest.

Glad to hear you had a good time!

How were The Roots?

Not to be boastfull and rub it in johnny, I saw Neil Young once before in Hershey, PA.......I will have to say, he is so far, my favorite live act ever. I will be seeing him in Mountain View, CA in about a month, ....my mom is taking me .......but my mom is cool dammit!
Ciao
Mark Spencer76

I actually didnt see the roots, I heard them a little from the distance. You'd be surprised how damn tired you get, you really cant see it all. I forget who i was saving my energy for that day, but I decided to pass up the roots.

I saw some pictures of the festival in the paper. There were a lot of barefoot folkies there.

Yeah, there were "barefoot folkies" there......barefoot mostly b/c the mud and heat was horrible, I wore my work boots to trog through the mud in. But in general there were far more "average college kids" than "barefoot folkies".........I've seen more folkies at String Cheese shows in San Fran.

I feel you, Mark. I saw Neil with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at the arena a couple of years ago. He stole the show - no contest. The second song they played was "Southern Man," and hearing him sing and play guitar on that song made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and gave me chills. He's always been among my favorite artists, but in concert, he just performs with so much feeling, so much soul. You can just feel it. He's so great.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 9:36 pm on Jun. 17, 2003)

No one start throwing stones at me....but would you believe that i had two free tickets and didn't end up going?! I was supposed to hand out crap for this promotion company that I work for, but the crap didn't get to me in the mail in time. And I had weddings to attend on saturday. I really wanted to see Neil Young and Lucinda Williams, Ben Kweller, the list goes on and on! I hope anyone who went had a great time!!

there were a few highlights in the line-up that made it seem almost worth while, but overall, seeing a bunch of jam bands amidst a few peeps who i would dig seeing, plus the traffis blah blah, i don't now, doesn't seem worth it.
maybe im ust bitter bc your festival wan't cancelled...

all the same, im glad u had a good time.

The fact that you've seen String Cheese on more than one occasion, presumably on purpose, makes any opinion/statement/observation you have made or will make in the future completely and utterly irrelevant.

i second that.

I'd probably go see String Cheese before seeing Tori Amos.

Bring it on!!!

(Edited by Keith at 11:34 am on Jun. 19, 2003)

Oh my,
The opinions of the jam band illiterate. Yes, ive seen string cheese on more than one occasion. Personally I did not know anything about them before I saw them 2 years ago in San Francisco. My sister bought the tickets. I own no string cheese albums, and I dont consider them in my top ten favorite bands. But the fact of the matter is, they are great great musicians. Regardless of whether you approve of the "jam band" image, I believe you must at least give credit to the musicianship. They are not just up on stage pounding out some power cords with distortion. I listen to music from a musicians standpoint. I appreciate those bands who have talent and have spent years developing the talent. String cheese happens to be one of those bands with immense talent. And every other band that played at bonnaroo is in the same boat. But I suppose that is just my opinion. I have spent years developing skills in trumpet, piano, and some guitar, so thats what i listen for. Bands and musicians that have done the same. B/C any asshole can learn power chords and get on stage. Thats what I dislike about mainstream music the most.
K
Thats my thoughts,
Ciao Ciao
Mark Spencer76

Yes, power chords over and over again suck. But so do one-riff songs that last twenty minutes with a flute solo and goofy lyrics.

Kenny G can play a sax really well. Does this mean I have to appreciate him now?

Mark, in my experience, most people who rag on "jam bands" just dislike the people who are stereotypically fans of "that" kind of music. They hate hippies and frat boys. And because they hate these people they say they hate _________(fill in the name of your favorite jam band here).

This is not always the case, but it is most of the time.

God, I hate hippies.

I like the Dave Matthews Band.

Im not saying anyone has to like anything. You can like and listen to what you please. I appreciate real musicians though. Kenny G plays a damn good sax. I dont listen to him. But he's a damn good musician. Maybe his tastes are questionable. Linkin Park plays some fancy smantsy power chords. Any 20 year old kid should be able to download the tabs and play along. These are the differences. Not any 20 year old kid could pick up a sax and play the kenny G songs. I guess not many would want to either. But the musicianship involved is at a much higher level for Good Ole Kenny than Linkin park who relies on production techniques rather than musicianship.
Yup,
Thats all im gonna say in this one
Ciao Ciao
Mark Spencer

all of the hippies i have ever met have gracefully possessed all of these admirable qualities [in my book- who knows about ceezes]:

kindness
generosity
intelligence
consideration
restraint
tolerance

i would really be interested to meet a contradiction to this and try to understand why anyone hates hippies.

if you wont hug a tree, hug a hippie.

If I based my opinion of a musical act on whether or not I like their fans, then I would not like any musical act, seeing as though I'm pretty much a misanthrope. The only time I've ever really had a problem with hippies was when I was working at a hotel and Widespread Panic came through town and many of their fans stayed at my work. Their behavior was selfish, thoughtless and they were completely unconcerned with other people's property. That was far and away the worst weekend I ever had at that job. They all seem ok otherwise.

I don't know if I agree with you on this, Mark. I have liked and continue to like a wide variety of music in my life. I do like a couple of bands that would be considered "jam bands," but I also like Pavement and the Ramones. And I don't give the Ramones any less credit or credibility because the level of musicianship is not as high as on a Medeski Martin & Wood album. It's just different. Just because a 20-year-old can get the tabs and play it doesn't make it any less good, in my opinion. In fact, I think that one of the downfalls of the jam band genre is that so many of those bands just hide behind their musicianship and have forgotten the art of songwriting.

It's just my opinion.

Agreed jamie. I remember in high school, all of my friends that were in bands or playing music stopped liking Nirvana. "It's so easy to play" they'd say, "any five year old can play this shit." And my patent response was always that "it may be easy to play, but it gets you going, is fun to listen to, is exciting, and they wrote it... did you ever write anything that good?" I was never heard out in this, but I think it is pretty clear. Like the Kenny G comparison, there are only a handful of people that listen to the music they listen to because of the musicianship, and they shouldn't listen to anything but classical guitar and piano, things of that nature, if that's all they want.

Will

I agree that there are only a handful. I just love how so many people use this as a first line of defense for not liking something.

Which is why I say so generally that "I don't like jam bands..." On one hand, I'll listen to the Dead and some Phish if the mood is right, but on the other, I just cannot force myself to get into that genre.

Bonnaroo is looking to be my only vaction this summer. Anyone else going??Bonnaroo 04

I am going, but I might end up selling my two tickets.