Manchester, TN – Well here we are again: another sunny weekend full of blistering heat and multitudes of glorious debauchery to be witnessed down at Great Stage Park in Manchester. The annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in south central Tennessee always promises eclectic lineups, visual and aural spectacle, and an altogether memorable experience. Whether you’re new to the festival or a seasoned veteran like myself, the Bonnaroo experience is one that is cherished and not soon forgotten. For the festival’s 15 th year anniversary, all the stops were pulled out in booking musical giants like Pearl Jam and the recently reunited LCD Soundsystem, as well as a special appearance from Dead & Company, which features surviving members of the Grateful Dead and renowned crooner and guitarist John Mayer. As always, there are plenty of new bands to check out on the farm, and on the event’s first night—which often features new artists—there was plenty to see.

 

LANY

Best New Bands last saw this electro-pop trio performing at a sold-out House of Blues show in Chicago. This time around, they were performing for even more people at the packed This Tent, on a unseasonable breezy day in Tennessee. Just like the Chicago show, fans were singing along word for word to songs like “ILYSB” and “Made in Hollywood.” Though, this time around, Paul Klein, Les Priest, and Jake Goss were, in a sense, on their home turf. Before relocating to L.A., the three lived in Nashville and attended Belmont University. When frontman Paul Klein made mention of this, the crowd erupted in cheers – clearly there were some Belmont students in the tent. As to be expected, Klein wowed the audience with his charisma and flashy moves, singing to the crowd, while Les Priest and Jake Goss kept the tempo. (SH)

 

Waxahatchee

Alabama-based singer-songwriter Katie Cruchfield brought her project Waxahatchee to the This Tent at Bonnaroo, extending her tour celebrating her critically acclaimed third LP Ivy Tripp (released last year) into the summer festival circuit. She was only the second to appear at the This Tent for the 2016 edition of Bonnaroo, and her set was both awakening and affirming to the festival’s mission of providing constant stimulating artistic content. She appeared with her backing band to play selected tunes, diving in with the second track from Ivy Tripp, “Under a Rock,” and following with an hour-long set consisting of other Ivy Tripp tracks, including slow-burning, falsetto-tinged single “Air,” peppy “Poison,” grit-filled “The Dirt” and her sole venture into synth-pop, “La Loose.” She also courted longtime fans with some older songs lifted from her 2013 sophomore LP Cerulean Salt, including “Lively,” “Waiting,” “Brother Bryan,” and “Coast to Coast.” She closed things out with the droning, pounding sounds of Ivy Tripp closer “Bonfire,” which spoke to the palpable heat of Tennessee summer, much akin to the dripping of sweat she must have experienced growing up in her native Alabama. (CB)

 

Bully

Let’s just preface this with: The This Tent was the place to be on Thursday at Bonnaroo! After LANY, Bully packed the tent late in the afternoon, then Twin Peaks, and BØRNS. But it was Nashville based Bully that really got the crowd pumped. Bully frontwoman Alicia Bognanno was greeted to chants of “Sea World kills!” in reference to what has become her signature show t-shirt. Bognanno smiled before breaking into “I Remember.” Fans began thrashing around. Later Bognanno told the crowd Bonnaroo was the first festival Bully ever played, two years ago, before she praised the marvelous weather, with temps in the 80s, unheard of for Nashville. The band played two new songs, though no titles were given. Bully also treated fans to a new song on the band’s recent tour with Courtney Barnett. With new songs and a new drummer, it sure is an exciting time for Bully, and Best New Bands can’t wait to see what else is in the works! (SH)

 

Hinds

Madrid’s four-piece lo-fi rock outfit Hinds (f.k.a. Deers) celebrated their first Bonnaroo (and first time in Tennessee as well) with a raucous performance at the newly renamed Who Stage (recently changed from its former name as the Sonic Stage, to fit in with the endearing yet utterly confusing Bonnaroo stage nomenclature). They showed no shame in sound-checking just minutes before they were slated to appear, the crowd growing both in size and anticipation as time went on. Boisterous singer/guitarist was illustriously vocal throughout the performance, offering tidbits of banter to fill the times between the dozen or so songs they played, joking about the critiques they’ve received from some Spanish journalists about their live sound check (“They would say that we are no good based on this!”), how they were extremely jetlagged from their journey from Spain (to which I can totally relate, having just returned to the states from Barcelona myself on Monday evening), even inviting basically the entire festival to come join them at their camp before a gorgeous rendition of “When It Comes To You,” a cover of the original song by the band Dead Ghosts. Most of the set consisted of numbers from their debut LP, Leave Me Alone (released early this year), including “Easy,” “Warts,” “Chili Town” and “San Diego.” Popular single “Garden” was also included towards the end, and smack dab in the middle of the set they performed their first hit “Bamboo,” virtually launched the band’s trajectory into popularity thanks to the eager ears of music powerhouses like Bobby Gillespie and The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney. They closed things out with another cover, this time of UK punk/garage band The Headcoats’ “Davey Crockett,” which saw the four women stomping enthusiastically around the stage for their show’s conclusion, though to be honest, their energy never wavered throughout the entire forty-five minutes they were given. (CB)

 

Twin Peaks

Garage rockers Twin Peaks had one of the rowdiest crowds Thursday night. Even before the guys started the set off with “Butterfly,” from the band’s most recently release Down In Heaven, the crowd was going crazy, with the sight of guitarist Cadien Lake James walking out in a Superman costume. Oldies “Stand in the Sand” and “I Found a New Way” started the crowd crowdsurfing, which from that point on was never-ending. Halfway through the set the guys shouted, “We’re from Chicago. Anyone here from Chicago?” Cheers boomed from the crowd. Off to the side of the stage, members of Bully could be seen watching, and up front, the ladies of Hinds were dancing around in the pit. The guys also took notice of someone in the audience holding up a photo of Donald Trump’s head. Into their microphones, the guys yelled, “F**k Trump!” several times. Cadien Lake James said, “Let’s burn that!” While the sign wasn’t burned - that we know of – Twin Peaks sure did set a fire at This Tent! (SH)

 

BØRNS

Michigan’s Garrett Borns, better known by his stage name BØRNS, was fortunate to be featured at the This Tent later on in the evening, after the blistering Tennessee sun had set and the festival had come to life in a blur of flashing LEDs and glow sticks that bobbed along through the sea of silhouetted heads moving from stage to stage. The This Tent was packed to the gills as he took the stage, utilizing the hour given to him to its fullest potential, virtually playing his entire debut album Dopamine in full, yet in a completely different order. He kicked things off with the album’s title track “Dopamine,” before soaring into the fluttering sounds of “Dug My Heart” and the sonic ripples of album opener “10,000 Emerald Pools.” Album closer “Fool” followed, much to the delight of the people standing just in front of me, who clamored every word he sang in a jubilant, yet adorably tone-deaf manner. Other highlights included “American Money” (which he introduced by saying, “This goes out to anyone who forgot to wear underwear!”), “Past Lives” (another bounding sing-along), and a surprise medley of covers that paired up Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion (Lies)” with the late great David Bowie’s masterpiece “Heroes.” He naturally ended his set with his mot popular tune, “Electric Love,” which had even the most stoic, curmudgeonly attendees jumping with joy as the entire crowd sang with unmatched enthusiasm. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to write a song and sing it for thousands of people and have them sing along; it must be a high like no other drug. I will most likely never find out exactly how it feels, but at the This Tent on the first night of Bonnaroo, BØRNS experienced it first-hand. (CB)

 

Cashmere Cat

Norwegian-born, New York-based DJ/producer Cashmere Cat (real name Magnus August Høiberg) tore down the That Tent on Thursday night as the stage’s final set. Though he has yet to release a proper LP, Høiberg has produced several EPs over the past few years and has collaborated with and produced for such top-billing artists as Kanye West, Ariana Grande, and Britney Spears. His late Thursday set at Bonnaroo’s That Tent seamlessly and effortlessly blended multiple genres, including hip-hop, pop, dubstep, grime, and garage. The stage area was absolute madness, peppered with totems and glittering light structures that bobbed up and down like luminous buoys in a veritable ocean of rhythmically nodding bodies. If his set at Bonnaroo is any indication of his talent and the throbbing, almost seismic material that is to appear on his upcoming debut LP, then we are in good hands. (CB)

Stay tuned for more Bonnaroo coverage throughout the weekend. Select acts will be streaming live on the Internet, so check out the Bonnaroo website for details. Be sure to follow Best New Bands on Facebook and Twitter.