Catching up on 24+ Hours of Awesomeness

First off, sorry for the lack of posts! Between lack of cell phone signal/data coverage and lack of an outlet to plug my phone into, posting was a little tough. But we're still here stronger than ever! Here's a recap of what we've been up to...

Bela Fleck - yesterday I got to see one of my favorite artists, Bela Fleck, play with a man named Toumani Diabate. Bela Fleck, probably the world's most renowned banjo player, had been one of my favorite artists since I heard one of his albums, Live Art, which he recorded with his band, the Flecktones (which includes another of my favorite artists, Victor Wooten.). I was a bit bummed when I found out Bela was not playing with his band at Roo. Things changed when I first heard Mr Diabate play!
Toumani is the best kora player in the world. Never heard of the kora? Me neither, until yesterday. The kora is a 21 stringed instrument made of calabash and cowhide. The bass line is played with one thumb, the melody with the other thumb, and the fingers are used to improvise. So it is essentially a one man band. The show was unreal and was capped off by an awesome rendition of Dueling Banjos.

Beastie Boys - our first show on the huge stage was the Beastie Boys. While I listened to them a lot in high school, I hadn't thought much about them recently. I was unsure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by a high energy show which included some favorites like Intergalactic and Sabotage. The best part though was when Nas came out and did a song with them! Amazing! No idea what Nas was doing at Bonnaroo, but it was sweet.

Phish - as you may already know, the deciding factor for me in my decision to attend Bonnaroo was the prospect of seeing Phish twice. The first show was last night and lived up to all expectations. They played some of my favorites, like You Enjoy Myself and Golgi Apparatus. They finished with an encore that consisted of a medley of Beetles songs.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - if you like guitar music, you know R&G. They put on an unbelievable show this afternoon. I, along with the crowd were consistently blown away by the sheer amount of talent emanating from the stage. If you haven't checked them out, go do it!

So here I find myself sitting on the lawn, listening to Jeff Tweedy and Wilco for the first time and waiting for The Boss and the E Street Band to tear it up.

What an amazing experience this has been thus far. There's still another Phish show too! More updates to come hopefully!!!