Wake up mid-day (think 10am-1pm)Pretty standard bender for most people. From here, however, my compatriot and I moved to:
Drive to next location
Gallivant until 2-5am in said location
Repeat
Wake up at or before 7am because it's balls hot out/the sun's up/people all around you are finishing their night/starting their day/something in between[Editor's note: It took me close to 15 minutes to remember how to block quote. I kept hitting tab over and over and thinking to myself: "This will NEVER work, what the hell..." I'm slowly working my way back into things...]
Try to eat something/find shade (Saturday morning we dragged a picnic table into a mist tent and sat and ate breakfast for close to two hours. It was glorious)
Music begins around noon...
(Fill-in-the-blank here..)
...Music ends between 3am and 6am
Repeat
So basically what I'm trying to tell you is the lack of sleep over the past 4 days makes this trip very much a blur. Random memories come in flashbulbs which trigger other random memories and so on down the line. For the most part once in Manchester the days are inconsequential. It is a part of Bonnaroo and the only real points of reference I have are the concerts, because I have a schedule that lines those out.
A lot happened. A lot I remember, I'm sure a lot of it I don't (or at least I won't remember until something triggers an "O, that reminds me..." moment) so for the couple other people who read and went feel free to chime in when and if you feel something needs additional explanation.
Bruce Springsteen can still flat out rock. Granted, I don't think I've seen a performer more coked up on stage before in my life than Bruce on Saturday, but he can still flat out rock. The E-Steet band was on point, and (dare I say...) better with Max Weinbergs' son on drums than when he was playing. Bruce was right when he called Jay a "prodigy." He's got it. Let Max head back to the Late Show and leave the rocking to Jay. Kid can play.
Back to Bruce. He came on stage fired up. Dripping with sweat. Literally, dripping. He'd lift the mic and you'd just see sweat pour off at his elbow. As the show picked up he'd try to cover up this "problem" by pouring cups of water all over him, but trust me when I say he was lit up on that cocaine. First time I've seen a guy on stage blow massive snot rockets mid-lyric, too. So, thank you Bruce.
He also kept saying "The Bonnaroo" instead of just Bonnaroo. I thought it was funny, I think I was alone in thinking that. Just showed his age. "How's everyone enjoying THE Bonnaroo?" as opposed to everyone other act who knew what was going on saying "How's everyone enjoying Bonnaroo?" It just made me laugh. Still does.
I've since read he played 28 songs, which was about our estimate. Solid 3 hours of good music. Played a 20ish song set and then an 8ish song encore, with my personal favorites being:
"Badlands" - He opened with it, and it's a great tune. They jammed out, too and got things started off right.I guess I never thought Bruce was big on coke, but I have no real reason to have thought that. I should have just used a little SAT-style if-then equation and it probably would have been obvious:
"Workin' on a Dream" - Because I said that about 20 times in the hour lead up to the show, and most times his name was brought up.
"The River" - I just think it's a solid song, so I was glad to hear it live.
And (obviously...) "Glory Days" - one of the last encore songs. Brought back good times on the 4th at Sloat's camp. I was watching with a friend who (believe it or not..) was a big baseball player back in high school. And (this is starting to set in:), time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but..
IF Bruce Springsteen is a rock starHow silly of me. Cheers.
AND rock stars who have never been to rehab love cocaine
AND (I think..) Bruce Springsteen has never been to rehab
THEN Bruce Springsteen loves cocaine.
"i aint as good as i once was..."
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