Covering a festival like Bonnaroo can be difficult to say the least. Aside from the sheer number of acts one digests over the course of the weekend, myriad factors can affect how a performance goes, from the appropriateness of the music to the festival environment to the audience.

One of the biggest influences on the quality of a set can be the attitude of the crowd. I can safely say that after experiencing the crowds at Bonnaroo, I am a little more encouraged about the state and tastes of the music-devouring public at large. Overall, the audiences were attentive and high energy, willing to dance at the first hint of bass or a soaring guitar line, and extending warm welcomes to anyone making high-quality music. It didn’t matter if this was an artist’s first tour or hundredth, whether they’d been in your brain for years or for seconds.

I was surprised by how overwhelming the reception was on opening night for relatively novice acts MGMT, Vampire Weekend and most curiously to me, the experimental post-rock, Battles. The uproar between songs was headliner-level. I think it’s safe to say that the jam-band, hippie stereotypes from early Bonnaroos have greatly diversified their tastes. Even Metallica, the somewhat controversial, probably most perplexing headliner choice, received a warm welcome.

Honestly, the only negative reception I saw was for Kanye West. And deservedly so, as he pushed his set to 2:45AM and requested all other sets end early before his started, since he was premiering some whiz-bang, glow-in-the-dark live experience. He probably should have remembered he wanted to perform his set in the dark, since he didn’t actually hit the stage until 4:30-ish and the sun was coming up by the time the set was underway.

Other than the crowds, the most positive thing at Bonnraoo was the overall average quality of music being produced. While some sets definitely charged me more than others, everyone I heard was good, if not great, tight and was genuinely enjoying playing their music. For a music geek like me, this is nirvana. With those two general points aside, I will attempt to delve into my musical experiences day by day.

Detailed Daily reviews:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3

(coming soon)

• Day 4

Summer time, and free music has never been easier or more gorgeous. Two East Coast institutions have released their concert schedules. Check for them after the jump:

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All photos: Lori Bally

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MP3: Ministry – N.W.O. from Psalm 69 – The Way to Succeed & the Way to Suck Eggs (1992)

That’s right folks. Ministry, pioneers of what came to be known as ‘industrial metal,’ is presumably finished. They’ve polished off their last North American tour, ‘C U LaTour,’ and are currently touring Europe until late July. There’s been some confusion over whether this was their last international tour, or their tour to end all tours.

But we’ve spoken with guitarist Sin Quirin (original guitarist of Revolting Cocks and Ministry guitarist since 2006), confirming that this is the last tour Ministry the band will ever do, and the album, The Last Sucker (released in September of 2008) the last full-length LP released.

Why?

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What a curious day at the festival, containing multiple highlights (Sigur Rós and B.B. King) and one of the lowest moments (Kanye)

Sigur Rós

Competing with MMJ for my personal highlight set at Bonnaroo. Resplendent with beautiful and moving moments, ethereal and visceral, distant yet warm and welcoming. Oft conjuring images of the tundras of their native Iceland, they create music with a distant yet familiar feel, almost akin to a déjà vu of a memory of love or beauty from a past life. Visually electrifying with elaborate accoutrements and unexpected images, such as the all-white-garbed, small marching band or the rearrangement of core members on the stage into specific sections as if a split orchestra. Now one of my favorite performances, epic in scope and fully captivating. Read the rest…

Day 2 impressions, in order they were seen. More in-depth overview coming by mid-week.

Fiery Furnaces

Extremely tight set, fantastic as always. More rock-oriented than usual, with some great extended guitar jams that sounded like high-quality prog jams, bordering at times on metal. It’s always a treat when Eleanor straps on her Stratocaster. They are truly talented instrumentalists, able to stretch out into any stylistic direction.

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James Hetfield (Metallica), photo credit: Taylor Hill

Jim James (pictured right) with band My Morning Jacket, covering classics from James Brown (“Cold Sweat”) and Kool and the Gang (“Get down on it”) in the second half of a 3-hour marathon late-night set, also featuring Kirk Hammett (Metallica) helping out on “One Big Holiday,” photo credit: me

The day/night also featured Chris Rock’s fantastic round-up of our presidential nominees, another great set by Fiery Furnaces, a surprisingly flat Willie Nelson, a riveting Bela Fleck/Bluegrass All-stars set and tons more that I swear I will comment on in the next day or so (probably Sunday since I find myself wholly uninterested in 90% of things going on Sunday).

Exhaustion hasn’t quite set in yet. The drive from Baltimore to Pittsburgh was smoother than I’ve ever experienced taking only the 4 Google-predicted hours to get there. After getting some logistics out of the way, we embarked at 8PM on the 10-hour trip to Manchester, TN and the 100-acre farm owned by the now 7-year old Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
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Exhaustion hasn’t quite set in yet. Here are my first impressions from day 1, soon to be fleshed out with an expanded commentary on the whole experience. And lots of pictures.

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If you haven’t heard of Caverns (not likely if you read Aural States often), or Cal Robbins, then you must at least be familiar with J Robbins, former bassist for Government Issue, and producer and engineer for bands like Dismemberment Plan, Clutch, Against Me!, etc.

Unfortunately, what should have been the highlight of both his, and wife Janet Morgan’s life, has turned to tragedy. Their son Callum was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA-Type 1), an incurable nerve disorder that kills, often before the patient has reached his second birthday.

No parent wants to go through this, but this is what J. and Janet must face. As expected the health care costs are ridiculous, and there is no company heath plan for being a musician.

Members of the music community have come together for benefit compilations, and live show, most notably a Dismemberment Plan reunion.

This Friday (6/13) Caverns, along with headliners The Bakerton Group (featuring members of Clutch), The Deleted Scenes, and Hammer No More The Fingers will perform a benefit concert at DC’s Black Cat.

More information on Cal and donations can be found at his blog, For Callum. If you can’t make it, then buy a ticket anyway. As Kevin from Caverns–and by extension J, Janet, and Cal– said, whatever support you can provide “We’d appreciate the shit out of it.”

No ticket giveaway for this one folks. This show is about a little more than rocking-the-fuck-out, though Caverns still do that amazingly well.

Our ticket giveaway for the F Yeah Tour is still going strong, winner will be drawn on Monday! Just email us to be entered! In the mean time, enjoy this new Death Set remix!

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MP3: The Death Set – Boys & Girls (Stinky Love Drowning in a toilet RMX)