Very sadly, for financial and avoidance of sun poisoning reasons, I did not get to attend Bonnaroo this year (since my stint in '04 at the tender age of 16 I have decided I will be sticking to smaller, a bit more mellow, festivals from now on). However, I did get to do the next best thing: Watch the Bonnaroo Live Feed!!! I have to say, while the image froze occasionally the audio was strong and consistent, and honestly with ticket prices these days, it completely made me feel better about not going. I got to see a lot of the artists I would have gone to see, right from the comfort of my lovely air conditioned home (and with a little hdmi cable magic I transfered it from the PC to the flat screen - now that is how you do it folks). I had so much fun watching all the talented artists like Damien Marley, Tenacious D, Nas, Tori Amos, Dave Matthews, Jay-Z, Norah Jones, Weezer, Michael Franti and even good ole John Fogerty. But I was truly impressed by one stand out performance in particular:
Regina Spektor
I've been dabbling in this girl's music for a few years now and I've had a handful of songs which I truly adore, but I'd never seen her play live. It really is an experience. She's got such a good energy about her and while she could use a little fine tuning on her stage presence, working the crowd in between songs, seeing her play is really inspiring. She's got the same essence about her that you can see in Tori Amos' early work from 90-94 (her technical skill may not be as high but her songs certainly have more of a hook to the masses), with a more diverse taste for different instruments that she actually plays herself. She played her beautiful piano for a while, then a guitar, then a piano and chair at the same time, and then the keyboard for a more electronica diddy. Needless to say, I was intrigued. As her career progresses it will really be treat to see her music evolve. Overall the songs were light and beautiful, perfect for the summer festival atmosphere. Then there were a few really powerful beasts in there like Machine (wow...with sirens and everything), and Apres Moi with her gorgeous Russian vocals interwoven through the song (I had chills, y'all). I was just sitting here thanking God for a modern piano girl who truly knows how to compose a great song and use those strings (ala the highly talented but disappointingly under productive Fiona Apple). The feed cut off the last few songs of her set to show someone else play for a while but I'll be catching up on those last four songs I missed as soon as I get done typing away on here.
Set List:
1. The Calculation
2. Folding Chair
3. Eet
4. Sailor Song
5. Machine
6. Laughing With
7. On The Radio
8. Better
9. Dance Anthem Of The 80s
10. Bobbing For Apples
11. That Time
12. Apres Moi
13. Poor Little Rich Boy
14. Samson
15. Us
16. Fidelity
17. Hotel Song
18. Love, You're A Whore
An mp3 of the entire show can be found here:
I can tell you one thing, I think its high time I throw down the money and finally get an album...this definitely won't be the last time she'll be popping up here at The Soul-Quake. Regina, you have got my attention.
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