LIVE FROM MEMPHIS

Last week, Jennifer and I covered the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, TN for the Flyer.  (Read the article here.)  As a three-time festival attendee, I can tell you that we probably had our best Bonnaroo experience this year—possibly due to the added comforts of media access, or the unusually cooperative weather, or the superior line-up for 2009 that included the Beastie Boys, Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne and Public Enemy, just to name a few. We're not sure which.   

One somewhat disappointing thing I did notice, however, was that there no presence from Memphis' thriving (artistically, anyway) underground music scene. Years past have seen well-known local acts such as Lord T and Eloise, Amy LaVere and Lucero performing on side-stages. This year, it seems most of those nods went to smaller acts from Nashville and Knoxville. (Somebody from the Music Foundation or Commission needs to get on this for next year!)

Which is not to Memphis was entirely unrepresented. Soul legends Al Green and Booker T (pictured above, accompanied by the Drive By Truckers) performed crowd-pleasing sets on the main stage, and Memphis-associated acts MGMT and Todd Snider performed on the bigger side-stages. But I'd like to think somewhere in the pantheon of folks like John Paul Keith or Jay Reatard or hell, anyone from $5 Cover, really, there lies an underground band worthy of inclusion for next year's festival.  

Anyhoo, here are some more mostly not Memphis-related photographic highlights from Bonnaroo 2009:

Booker T with the DBT's.

Sunset @ the Other Tent.  

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O striking a pose, as she is wont. 

Me relaxing in the media area, with one of the main stages off in the background.

The Beastie Boys, from their headlining set on Friday.

More Beasties.

The Low Anthem, performing in the Media Tent.  

The crowd filtering in to the festival grounds.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog cracking up Tift Merritt and Alejandro Escovedo at a press conference.

Jimmy Fallon in the Comedy Tent.

Amadou and Mariam headlining the African music stage.

The main stage.