Saturday – June 22, 2002
Saturday brought with it more warm weather and had the right type of relaxed, acoustic and near tropical type of music to go along with it, starting with an early set from Australia’s John Butler Trio. A set from Ben Harper that followed soon after is lauded as one of his finest and served to set the proper mood that afternoon.
Not to be outdone, Hawaiian son Jack Johnson played a set on the Arena stage not that much later in the day. Johnson, who was still growing in popularity in 2002, delighted the growing crowd with his early hits like “Bubbletoes,” “Flake,” and, of course, “Rodeo Cowboys,” which can be seen after this quick clip below. For the rest of the set, listen here.
Saturday afternoon also produced a set at The Arena from pedal steel extraordinaire Robert Randolph and his Family Band. Randolph, hailing from Irvington, NJ and certainly no stranger to New York, shared with NYS Music some of his thoughts about the very first Bonnaroo.
We were definitely a new act, I had just quit my job eight months before that working in New Jersey and heard everyone talking about it. All the bands were literally at one hotel, everyone had to share rooms and switch with bands, everyone stayed pretty much the whole weekend. People camped and partied and hung out there, it was a treat.
I remember telling so many people I was gonna do this festival and there were people from Morristown where I moved and they drove down there and waited in 10 hours of traffic – we snuck some people on the tour bus, they parked their cars in Nashville.
It was the most people I had ever seen, 30-40,000 people watching us. The first and next year were the two biggest years, and to this day I’ve never seen a crowd this big, this crowd of people having the best time of their lives and I was just amazed. I think everything the festival stood for was good; the love and having a great time, coming off of where we were as a world, as a country.
Robert Randolph
For those in another frame of mind, The Disco Biscuits were more than happy to oblige in a late afternoon set of their own at The Theatre that served as an early national introduction to the powers of jamtronica. Dubbed the “derelict tent” by guitarist Jon Gutwillig at the beginning of the set, the Biscuits went on to delight an absolutely rabid crowd with signature hits like “King Of The World,” “Aceetoobee,” and a “Confrontation” and “Mindless Dribble” both played in inverted fashion, a concept still foreign to many at the time.
When we stepped out onto stage at the first Bonnaroo, there was an electricity in that tent, and it still stands as one of the top 10 most exciting moments in 27 years of playing. Bonnaroo set the standard for large scale events in this country, paving the way for the golden era in American festivals.
Marc Brownstein, The Disco Biscuits
Another one of the marquee acts of the weekend was a notable supergroup that just happened to coalesce by chance. Originally, a project by the name of Praxis was scheduled to appear, which was to feature renowned guitarist Buckethead, rock drummer Brain, bassist Bill Laswell, and Parliament Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell on keys. Laswell was unable to attend and Claypool stepped up to the rescue, forming a whole new supergroup called Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains that would even go on to release an album based on this happenstance collaboration.
Particle performed a daytime set right after Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, and many in the audience had not experienced the band’s sound, with the energy through the roof. But that would not be the only time Particle played that weekend. Bassist Eric Gould (now of Pink Talking Fish and Prince/Bowie), recalled a surprise set that led to a legendary first Bonnaroo experience for fans and artists alike:
The owner of the Cinema Tent stage wanted to hear more and worked with our manager to create an impromptu sunrise set that would happen AFTER the late night acts. We didn’t have a PA System, we didn’t have security, we barely had permission!
Fortunately, the stars aligned. The band Psychedelic Breakfast (now called The Breakfast), was on site and brought a PA System with them to jam in the campgrounds. They graciously loaned it to us and only asked to have this new budding guitarist named Tim Palmieri to sit in on a jam. This marked the beginning of an awesome friendship with these dudes!
We had to wait for Galactic to finish up and, after their final note, we scrambled to grab security fencing from their stage to build a barrier around the band. It was crazy! We started up and all of a sudden Bonnaroo was alive again as the morning sun shone on all of our faces.
Eric Gould, bassist for Particle and Pink Talking Fish
During the Particle original, “Metropolis,” multiple guests joined including Palmieri and members of Galactic, Disco Biscuits, Umphrey’s McGee and more during one big jam. For Bonnaroo 2003, the festival invited Particle back for another late night set, this time starting at 3am, with no curfew, leading to a 5.5 hour set, with thousands screaming for more.
But the main event of the night, and possibly the weekend, was a two-set epic blowout from unofficial festival hosts Widespread Panic that was nothing short of religious. Aided soulfully by Dottie People and the People’s Choice Choir, they helped transform the opening set with their presence on a sequence of “Ain’t Life Grand” > “Tall Boy” > “Testify.”
The special guests didn’t stop there as the second set saw Randall Bramblett return once more and this time none other than Steve Winwood sat in on top notch covers of Traffic hits “Glad” and “Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys.” Winwood was recording in Nashville at the time and it was suggested he go to Bonnaroo to check out the event, which led to his sitting in with Widespread Panic for the band’s debut of “Glad” and often covered and and the regularly jammed “Low Spark.” DJ Logic even made an appearance on an ensuing “Drums” sequence, joined by Leon Mobley on djembe. The show will go down as one of the most iconic and memorable performances of the first Bonnaroo, and also marked the final time many saw Mikey Houser perform. Diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in early 2002, a fair amount of Panic fans would depart on Sunday, bound for the next Widespread Panic show in Dallas on June 25.
Another one of the undeniable highlights of the weekend was once again supplied by yet another New York band. This time time it was moe. performing a late night set at The Ballroom that, like late night counterpart Galactic, went until sunrise. The Upstate jam unit trotted out classics like “Mexico” and “Kyle” in the opening set before the show became a veritable grand introduction of the band’s friends and fellow jam laureates. Robert Randolph, who would wind up playing in a number of different settings throughout the weekend, joined moe. for a captivating, set-closing “Meat” that put the majesty of Randolph’s pedal steel prowess on full display for the masses.
The second set of moe.’s late night adventure provided even a better introduction to their signature “jam” style while also bringing along more friends for the ride. One of the show’s highlights was a near 30-minute “Recreational Chemistry” that saw the band replace bassist Rob Derhak with the Disco Biscuits’ Marc Brownstein with Aron Magner joining on keys that helped set the tone of amazing collaborations that transpired all weekend. To further prove this point, moe. later brought up Umphrey’s guitarist Brendan Bayliss to lend a hand on “Recreational Chemistry,” a song he had previously sent to moe. as a recording that a fledgling Umphrey’s McGee were attempting to cover. Further confirmation and a recording of this legendary set can be heard here.
The late night set was kind of a blur being 20 years ago and all. I do remember that the energy was through the roof and it was a record set reaching upwards of 6 hours of music. I do remember some great sit ins and one fall down (Michael Travis of string cheese incident, sitting in and then taking out half of the percussion rig either coming on or off the stage. Funny and scary all at the same time…. seeing that moe.down and summercamp came first, maybe we should ask the question, how did we influence them? (Just kidding) I think that Bonnaroo has become the gold standard of rock festivals that all others strive to be. I am just glad that we got to be a part of so many of them (6 I believe) in the early days.. Being part of Bonnaroo is definitely something that has helped many bands increase their exposure and increase their fan base and even give bands some clout for other festivals and certain live events….
Vinnie Amico, moe.
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