Choo Jackson Joins the "Convo"

Thanks Mac Miller for the referral to Choo Jackson whose music is creeping on the come up, and so is his star status, thanks to his signing with Most Dope, release of Beer Flavored Pizza and drop of this video "Convo."  The Floridian turned PA vet reps for the region, telling an honest story with some clear influences from Cleveland (Kid Cudi, Cleveland Indians hat) and the mundane midwestern grind.  The video is set over the backdrop of a traditional midwestern house party complete with a beer pong game, Solo cups, Natty Ice and people smoking out in the cold.  

Rock The Bells 2012

Saturday marks the launch of the 9th annual Rock The Bells Festival - as it returns to San Bernardino's NOS Events Center for the first of three weekends around the country.  The hip-hop mega fest is slated to deliver a hefty dosage of current heavyweights, veterans and artists who are clearly on their grind.  

From the opening words of Dom Kennedy on Saturday to the final verse from Nas on Sunday - Los Angelenos and hip-hop heads from far and wide can rejoice in a celebration of the culture and some undoubtable surprises.  Some of those we can spoil for you - like the fact that Biz  Markie will join DJ Lance Rock (of Yo Gabba Gabba), Saafir and Ras Kaas reunite wth Xzibit for a special Golden State Warriors performance and Psycho Realm opens up Paid Dues Stage!  Staring into my crystal ball of festival forecasting - I also predict a few guest appearances from Travis Barker (Yelawolf), Kosha Dillz (some stage somewhere with RZA) and Chip Tha Ripper (Kid Cudi) are bound to happen....

The full official line-up includes all of the following: Kid Cudi, J Cole, DMX + Eve, Method Man + Redman, KRS - One, Nas, Wiz Khalifa, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Ice Cube, Xzibit, Golden State Warriors, Kid Ink, E-40 (& Too Short, Deltron 3030, Chief Keef, Machine Gun Kelly, Atmosphere, Killer Mike, El-P, Immortal Technique, Casey Veggies, Dipset, Kendrick Lamar (w/ Black Hippy), Common, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Yelawolf, Future, Dom Kennedy, Jadakiss, Wu Blok, Naughty By Nature, Curren$y, Prodigy, Zion I, Grouch, Eligh, Sean Price, Watsky, Black Knights, Salt-N-Pepa, DJ Quik, Big Daddy Kane, Mix Master Mike, DJ Lance Rock & Friends , I Self Devine, Slim Da Mobster, and Psycho Realm.

You can cop your tickets at www.rockthebells.com and check out a word about the festival from one of its creators - Chang Weisberg.

Check out set times below.  

Rock The Bells 2012

Saturday marks the launch of the 9th annual Rock The Bells Festival - as it returns to San Bernardino's NOS Events Center for the first of three weekends around the country.  The hip-hop mega fest is slated to deliver a hefty dosage of current heavyweights, veterans and artists who are clearly on their grind.  

From the opening words of Dom Kennedy on Saturday to the final verse from Nas on Sunday - Los Angelenos and hip-hop heads from far and wide can rejoice in a celebration of the culture and some undoubtable surprises.  Some of those we can spoil for you - like the fact that Biz  Markie will join DJ Lance Rock (of Yo Gabba Gabba), Saafir and Ras Kaas reunite wth Xzibit for a special Golden State Warriors performance and Psycho Realm opens up Paid Dues Stage!  Staring into my crystal ball of festival forecasting - I also predict a few guest appearances from Travis Barker (Yelawolf), Kosha Dillz (some stage somewhere with RZA) and Chip Tha Ripper (Kid Cudi) are bound to happen....

The full official line-up includes all of the following: Kid Cudi, J Cole, DMX + Eve, Method Man + Redman, KRS - One, Nas, Wiz Khalifa, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Ice Cube, Xzibit, Golden State Warriors, Kid Ink, E-40 (& Too Short, Deltron 3030, Chief Keef, Machine Gun Kelly, Atmosphere, Killer Mike, El-P, Immortal Technique, Casey Veggies, Dipset, Kendrick Lamar (w/ Black Hippy), Common, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Yelawolf, Future, Dom Kennedy, Jadakiss, Wu Blok, Naughty By Nature, Curren$y, Prodigy, Zion I, Grouch, Eligh, Sean Price, Watsky, Black Knights, Salt-N-Pepa, DJ Quik, Big Daddy Kane, Mix Master Mike, DJ Lance Rock & Friends , I Self Devine, Slim Da Mobster, and Psycho Realm.

You can cop your tickets at www.rockthebells.com and check out a word about the festival from one of its creators - Chang Weisberg.

Check out set times below.  

Machine Gun Kelly AKA MGK - "Cleveland"

Machine Gun Kelly comes to us straight out of Cleveland, coincidentally the name of the aptly titled song "Cleveland"

MGK represents C-Town and Big Ohio quite well - paying particular homage to Shaker Heights, the high school he went to I presume. The same high school that spawned Kid Cudi and me, Boom D.

Houston born Colson Baker, better known as MGK or Machine Gun Kelly, feels home in the city on Lake Erie as displayed in his expletive laden, reference heavy video. While I don't expect him to be repping any other sect like that, I do expect to see more heat and bad ass raps from this rising midwestern MC in 2011.

SSMF 2010: A Showcase of Music's Future, Present & Past

SUPERGOODMUSIC arrived on the scene of Sunset Strip Music Festival shortly after the gates opened to experience the full spectrum of L.A.'s finest non-electronic music festival. The early day crowd consisted primarily of high school kids in cut-off denim shorts and midriff tops...not as offensive as lingerie clad EDC attendees, but still the kind of clothing that their parents would probably kill them for wearing (if they only knew). Their bellybutton rings and braces glistened in the Saturday afternoon sunshine as they made an attempt to appear oh-so-very rock n’ roll while sucking on their cigarettes in front of The Key Club. Sadly, half the kids there didn’t even know who Billy Corgan was (or The Smashing Pumpkins for that matter) but merely came to swig vodka from water bottles and grind up on girls while Big B performed in the background.

Maybe I age myself here, but frankly, I don’t give a damn if I do. The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the biggest bands I remember from when I was growing up. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is arguably the best album of their entire career, and their music video of “Tonight, Tonight” (back when MTV actually played music videos) is still etched in my memory. I remember first seeing that video in my living room and being absolutely blown away. Needless to say, it won an MTV Video Music Award in 1996, and in case 1996 is a little before your time, it was also covered by Passion Pit in a collaboration with Levi’s just earlier this year.

Long story short, I was not missing their performance that night for anything... not for some drunk kid blowing chunks next to my boots, not for some juiced-up meat-head trying to trample me, and definitely not for some loud-mouth nosy chick who couldn’t hold her liquor (I experienced all these things). So here we have my story of finally getting to see The Smashing Pumpkins and all the revelry that happened along the way. This experience is also known as The Sunset Strip Music Festival...

AJ from Saint Motel (is that a gang sign?)

Anyone who has lived in LA knows the traffic on Sunset Boulevard near the strip is absolute chaos. If you’ve never lived in LA, then for a moment just imagine a primary artery running through a city, that is constantly undergoing construction and being bombarded with tourists, but unlike the Hollywood Boulevard tourist traps, the strip is a bevy of historic bars, legendary hangouts, and a Mecca for the music scene. Now envision dealing with that on a Saturday afternoon during the Sunset Strip Music Festival and also trying to make it in time to see Billy Corgan’s interview at The Viper Room.

Maybe after four years of living in Los Angeles, I’ve learned a thing or two about side roads and slick maneuvering skills because I managed to make it just a few precious minutes after Billy took the microphone. The Viper Room is a dark, small cave-like place that tonight consisted of maybe thirty people at most, primarily of diligent reporters, but entirely of appreciative fans. Billy sat with his young son Jason, who donned some sort of super-hero/wrestler mask. Billy came off as a kind, soft-spoken individual, a caring father, and a seasoned musician. He spoke about the first record he bought (Meet the Beatles! for only a quarter), the pros and cons of an internet saturated society, and of course, he talked about the band. After awhile, Billy spoke about the importance of being entirely you and not trying to be someone else, or even one particular version of yourself, because the act will wear thin in a short time. As this theory applied to his career, he reflected, “at least it’s me pissing them off and not the imitation of me pissing them off.” A few moments later, Billy and his son left the stage, graciously stopping to thank those who expressed their appreciation for his talents. They stepped off the curb and into their silver SUV, vanishing into the sunshine.

After that, I realized I'd missed the majority of Saint Motel (pictured above and apparently exceptional) and had some time to kill so I decided to check out Big B. I liked him... he was a large fellow with tattoos, what wasn’t to like? The crowd was still sparse at this point, especially with anyone over 20 years old, but I barely look 18 so fortunately, I fit right in. Big B grabbed the mike and engaged the crowd shouting, “If you like to smoke weed and drink whiskey, put your hands up in the air!” Of course, the teenage crowd immediately threw their hands madly into the air because words like “weed” and “whiskey” naturally excite them. I only threw one hand in the air because even though my smoking weed days are done, my whiskey days are forever. Trying to outdo his brethren, a 15 year-old shirtless boy next to me decided hands in the air were not enough and threw up in the middle of the crowd, half on a garbage can and half next to my boots.

After my Big B experience, and the blown chunks taboot, I decided to check out Neon Trees, a group with which I am somewhat familiar, mostly because of their mainstream hit “Animal." Personally, that song is a little too pop for my taste, but I figured I’d give it a go anyway. One thing I can say about Neon Trees, especially the lead singer Tyler Glenn, is that they have high energy. High energy is always something I enjoy in a performance, but it looked like Tyler may have watched too many cliche rock n’ roll videos pre-show. The 26 year-old was saddled up in black leather pants, using his microphone as a lasso, humping his guitar players leg, and spitting on the stage any chance he got.

If anything, maybe he should take a note from Billy Corgan’s interview earlier in the day and work on being himself, and not just some version of someone else (ahem, Jim Morrison). But again, he’s 26 and relatively new to the mainstream music scene, so I’ll cut him some slack. Plus, the set was pretty good. Did I know most of the songs? No, definitely not. But was the band enjoyable musically as well as performance-wise? I’m going to say yes.

Now I have got to be honest - I unfortunately skipped out on most of Semi Precious Weapons to sit in my air-conditioned car and charge my cell-phone, which now doubled as my camera (thankfully, SUPERGOODMUSIC employed someone else to take pictures for us - a very talented Megan Thompson) Luckily, however, I came back just in time to see Stevy Pyne from Semi Precious Weapons hanging from the rafters. The lead singer, Justin Tranter, beckoned the crowd to “Forget Security! Climb on stage!” And that’s just what they did... taking some of the Sunset Strip Music Festival banner with them.

Next up on my list was Common. Unfortunately, they had severe technical difficulties and the sound check went on for over thirty minutes. The drunk, over-heated crowd was getting antsy, and the time left before Slash would start playing on the opposing stage was diminishing. Ultimately, the trio decided to play off-monitor and Common finally took the stage. Let me say that it was completely worth the wait. He was seriously one of my favorite performers of the night, pulling from classic hip-hop artists like Snoop Dogg and even The Fugees. I knew I wanted to catch some of Slash’s performance (as he was the 2010 SSMF honoree) but Common was so good that after each song I kept telling myself, “Okay, just one more song and then I’ll go." But each song just kept on getting better and better, and eventually he even broke out some freestyle jams.

Needless to say, by the time I made it over to Slash, I could barely snake my way to the front of the crowd. Luckily, I’m rather small and pushed my way through the scantily clad girls and aging blondes who were whining to the club promoters about their lack of drugs. A few songs and “Sweet Child of Mine” later and I had my Slash fix, so I made my way back to the east stage to catch Kid Cudi.

Since so many artists had been having difficulties with the sound system, Kid Cudi couldn’t take the stage until way after his allotted time slot. By then it was getting dark, and the crowd was working on hour six or seven of beer-guzzling. I stood waiting for Kid Cudi for nearly forty minutes while getting pummeled by drunken men and teenagers lacking in body control and annoyed by intoxicated women. The time that Smashing Pumpkins would take the stage was drawing near, and as much as I enjoy Kid Cudi, Smashing Pumpkins trumped all the rest of the performers for me that evening. After nearly getting trampled by a mass of inebriated concert attendees, I decided to throw in the towel and bail.

I watched Kid Cudi from the back and heard one song before I trekked over to see my boy Billy Corgan. It was a good thing I did because I think they were the only performers of the evening to actually go on early. They took the big stage with no introduction, just an epic light show and their trademark guitar-heavy and densely-layered sound. They opened with “Astral Planes” and continued with some of my personal favorites such as “Today” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings."

My mission was accomplished. My day-turned-night was a success. Maybe it was full of half-dressed and completely drunk teenagers, but hey, when it comes to rock n’ roll anything goes, and I like it (yes, I do).

Article by Lauren Lomma; All Photography by Megan Thompson

A Day In The Life of the 'Roo

For those of you who couldn't make it to Bonnaroo, for those of you wouldn't make it because it's prohibitively far and/or prohibitively hot and for those of you who did make it but didn't see what we saw - we're bringing you the SUPERGOODMUSIC Bonnaroo festival experience in this feature we're calling "A Day In The Life of the 'Roo." So read on as Boom D take us through his Friday at Bonnaroo.....

The first truly full day of Bonnaroo began for me with a rude awakening at 8:50 a.m. No one said or did anything inappropriate - rather, the sweltering Manchester heat roused me from my sleeping bag long before I wanted to be. Although it was not an ideal start to my day, my early morning personal dew reminded me of the swampy dance party I assumed would ensue later on.

From the SUPERGOODMUSIC camp site well past Pod 9 (for those unfamiliar - the Bonnaroo campgrounds are about as massive as a small village - some camp sites are over a mile away from the actual concert grounds), I began an early morning trek to Shakedown Street (Third Avenue). While en route to the Shakedown, and more specifically the Grassroots California and Tree Shurts tent, I sampled some of the festival fixings including an amazing mango smoothie and the hippie staple that is garlic grilled cheese. While the smoothie more than rocked my TOMS off, the garlic grilled cheese at this year's Bonnaroo left something to be desired as compared to the seasoned and veteran versions of ggc served by Phishheads last year.

After kicking it with GRC and Tree Shurts for an hour, I made my way to the Press Tent for Orientation and a surprise acoustic set from Dr. Dog.

Having never seen Dr. Dog before, I was not quite sure what to expect, although folky rock was a good assumption given the band's arrangement and their indie folk garb. The band eased into the music with hand claps, some box tapping and some soft guitar.

What the band lacks in aggressiveness they more than make up for in charm and chemistry. After drifting through a few songs, Dr. Dog had to prep for their later set, although Scott (far right in the picture above) hung around for a little bit of Q & A.

Although it pained me to leave the press tent and the soothing air conditioned haven that it was, I couldn't miss the opportunity to see the New Orleans funkstar, and occasional Treme role character, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews on the Which Stage.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue were throwing it down when we arrived - playing three cuts off of their new major record BACKATOWN, including "Something Beautiful" which was covered by Bonnaroo TV. They played some other choice tunes - including "American Woman," "Groove On," and closing with a New Orleans twanged "When The Saints Go Marching In." As he's done all season on HBO, Trombone held his own and shined amongst some accomplished musicians - showcasing to the sizable Tennessee crowd exactly why he just had his first major label release produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman (who was in the crowd) with guest features from Allen Toussaint and Lenny Kravitz.

From Trombone's "Saints Go Marching In" encore I b lined back to the press tent for some free water and free A/C, and also to see what was doing with the first press panel that featured rising artists, including Sarah Jarosz and Jessie Baylin (wife of one of the Kings of Leon guys), as well as a few comedians (Margaret Cho and Reggie Watts featured below) and a few others. Beth from The Gossip was supposed to be there - but she was probably getting ready to wail at their epic performance later in the day, which I will tell you more about below. Although I was disappointed to not get to go through some Q & A with Beth, the panel was decently interesting in no small part because Cho and Watts ranted for several minutes about how Cho might get "gwaped" by Gwar. If you can't figure out the terminology, gwaping is a recently developed term for being gang raped by Gwar. We have no confirmation that that actually happened and we didn't catch GWAR's set - but Cho was toying with the idea early in the afternoon.

After Cho and Watts' hilarious banter, it was hard to stick around and listen to other musicians go through Q & A....especially Scott from Dr. Dog who talked about how he didn't have any memories from Bonnaroo (Sorry Scott/Dr. Dog - but you lost some credibility with me with that answer as I prefer musicians to be honest and from the heart and it just didn't seem possible that you have no memories). Scott's less than interesting responses gave me the motivation I needed to get out of the air conditioning and head to more shows.

Baking in the hot sun on my travels, I decided to go to This Tent for Jay Electronica. I've been listening to the extremely talented underground MC for almost a year now, but had not yet had the opportunity to catch a performance from Jay. As I arrived at the tent, I was pleasantly surprised to see the MC just taking the stage. He absolutely destroyed the microphone - seamlessly weaving through a cappella and instrumentalized versions of his mixtape friendly music - including an epic version of "Suckas" and "The Ghost of Christopher Wallace."

It was very clear that Jay was enjoying himself because at one point he invited the entire crowd on stage, and I do mean the entire crowd. Although I didn't join the rush, I watched as what appeared to be some 200-300 people attempted to make their way onto stage and or behind it. Security clearly was not prepared for the mayhem Jay invited because most of the fans actually got on stage and stayed there for a good 3-4 songs. The volume of people on stage was so large the back of the tent actually cooled down.

I stayed for most of the set, at least until they had removed the crowd from the stage, before heading to check out the Carolina Chocolate Drops in That Tent. I had been hearing so much about the band and seen their name in various publications and on various festivals, but I had not yet heard their music, so I felt obliged to see what the hype was about. I didn't realize it was more in the folky bluegrass string band genre, for some reason (probably their name) I thought their music would have a little more sweet umph behind it. The melodically driven soft music was certainly good, but not what I was looking for after such a riveting performance from Jay Electronica so I headed away from That Tent over to the Which Stage to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

ESMZ is not one of my favorites despite the fanfare they've received in Los Angeles and I tried to shake my stigma against them and endure their set. With the hot sun beating down and only 15 minutes to spare before The Gossip's show, Edward couldn't hold my attention very long. Like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the Magnetic Zeros music just does not have the aggressiveness or rhythm that I wanted on Friday and that I often want out of my live shows. Rather than endure anymore heat, I snagged an icy cold beverage and headed straight back to This Tent for The Gossip.

I raced to This Tent for The Gossip because they were, without question, my favorite performance at Coachella and I didn't even catch the whole show there. I was sure not to miss a minute of this one - and I made the right decision. A drunken Beth Ditto took stage, already soaking in sweat from the heat, but ready to drench herself more with her inspired singing and effort. Constantly referencing her southern roots (she grew up in Arkansas), Ditto opined how it was okay for her to be wasted mid-day Friday and joked with the crowd about the swampy heat. At one point, she wrapped her head in a towel to contain the stickiness.

Ditto didn't let the heat get to her as she ripped off solid vocals from start to finish, including amazing versions of "Four Letter Word", "Listen Up", "Standing in the Way of Control" and a great cover of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" that had the entire crowd singing along with her. She capped it all off with her closer - an a cappella version of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."

From The Gossip's ridiculous show, I decided to check out the main stage for the first time at the fest for a little bit of The Distant Relatives - Nas and Damian Marley. I got in a few songs from Nas and Marley, but was disappointed to learn that I had missed the opener to their performance, "As We Enter" which has been a recent car anthem of mine. With the sun still beating down, and about 5 hours of music under my belt, I decided I should take a breather for a few, hydrate, re-apply sunblock and get some dinner so I headed to the press tent. Before I could execute that plan, I ended up bumping into Playboy Tre, who I'd met in Los Angeles, and decided to put my agenda on the back burner to chop it up with the rising hip hop artist and his chart topping homeboy, B.o.B.

As we walked backstage, we made arrangements to meet up later before they had to head back to their hotel. Departing Playboy, B.o.B. and crew, I attempted to execute my initial plan, but was again sidetracked when I ran into Marley, the bassist from Rebelution, and decided I'd put my plans on the back burner yet again to kick it with the heavily touring reggae dub soul artists.

With the help of my Rebelution friends, I was able to sneak back into the Artist campground and kick it on the RV with the boys from Santa Barbara, who were enjoying a day of shows before their Saturday morning performance (which was spectacular). We went back and forth over who to see and what we were most excited for for the night before the crew decided it was necessary to grab a bite and check out Tenacious D. Unfortunately, my luck ran out as I tried to get into Artist hospitality because I was discovered by the security guards and not permitted to enter the free beer and food zone :( So, I meandered over to the press grounds, grabbed a very tasty pulled pork po-boy from the TomKat catering crew and kicked my feet up waiting for either Michael Franti & Spearhead or Les Claypool to start.

I ended up tuckering out and not making it over to Claypool, which sorely disappointed me because the bassist is always amazing live and I imagine he was joined by some of my other favorite musicians, Skerik and Mike Dillon, who are members of his Flying Frog Brigade. As of this writing, I have not confirmed whether or not Dillon and/or Skerik were there. I did catch a moment of Franti as I was heading back to Shakedown and chilling before the sick nighttime line-up.

Nighttime brought headliners Kings of Leon to the main stage for their pop rock heroics. Playing their hit songs and a little material from their forthcoming release, I expected a bit more energy from the native Tennessee quartet. However, the band seemed rather melancholy, playing what the New York Times and Rolling Stone are calling a "pensive" and "introspective" set. Not wanting to miss the energy of the late night shows and not seeing any reason to stay, I departed the main stage for The Other Tent for Daryl Hall & Chromeo. As I was leaving, Kings of Leon ripped into perhaps their most energetic performance of the evening when they encored with their hit "Sex On Fire." Despite the last second change in rock attitude, it didn't capture my attention as I was pining for front row at the never before seen live Hall & Chromeo collaboration.

I arrived about 25 minutes early for the should be electro-two stepper party and made my way to the front right side of the stage, a mere ten feet from Chromeo's Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel.

The energy was palpable as people kept packing the tent in - forcing me and my 150 pound frame closer and closer to the front fence. I managed to find myself at the top arc of a circle of tweener hipsters who were on ecstasy and getting touchy feely with strangers, myself included, as they chanted "Chromeo-Ooooh-Ooooh, Chromeo-Oooooh-Oooooh, Chromeo..." for about ten minutes. When the mega-band finally took stage, the crowd got a little too close for my comfort. Although I tried to endure the frenzy, after three songs, I couldn't handle the claustraphobia, heat or thump anymore (even with ear plugs). I literally almost passed out from heat exhaustion as I escaped to just outside the tent and sat down. However, I sat down in some wet muddy mess, which surprised and actually quickly revived me.

So, soaking in my own sweat and a soggy ass, but nonetheless with renewed fervor - I took my two stepping self to the back of The Other Tent and caught the remainder of Chromeo & Daryl Hall's performance - which swayed from Chromeo electro jams to Hall & Oates hits like "Kiss Is On My List" and my personal favorite "Private Eyes" (which they did a stellar job of). Mention of the gems from the Chromeo cuts they played must include "Bonafied Lovin", which included a solid rotational lighting scheme synched to the synths and had the entire crowd pumping fists and singing "oh oh oh oh-ah-oh."

From Chromeo I charged to That Tent pre-Kid Cudi to try and meet up with B.o.B., Playboy Tre and B Rich for a minute to say what's up, give them some Grassroots California hats they'd asked for, and hopefully get a prime spot. Kicking it backstage, I got to watch the former Shaker Heights resident grab the mic in intoxicated fashion after being introduced by Aziz Ansari. Cudi proceeded to rumble through a troubled set which may have no small part to due with the now confirmed rumors that the star MC had been arrested earlier that day in New York. Although his energy was extremely high, as he proclaimed that he "really wanted to be [at Bonnaroo]", it seemed like he forgot lyrics at times during his set. Despite his problems, my hometown bias keeps me from saying anything all that negative about the show; even with flubbed lyrics, I thought it was great from backstage as he did drop a dope and well executed medley of "Memories" -> "Day N Night" as well as a crowd sing along of "Cudi Zone" and the encore anthem "Pursuit of Happiness."

I felt obliged to rush to LCD Soundsystem post Cudi because I had missed the bands Los Angeles performances last weekend when I was en route and attending Wakarusa. I was happy to arrive to an ending opener of "Us vs. Them" going into "Drunk Girls," spinning lights, stomping feet and great music as James Murphy led the band through a near 90 minute set that closed with "New York, I Love You" with an ending "Empire State of Mind" tease that portended the following days headliner. Although they did not play my preferred cuts off of the new album ("You Wanted A Hit" and "Dance Yourself Clean"), they did play "Pow Pow" and the set was easily one of my favorites at Bonnaroo as the band nailed it on classics like "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House", "Losing My Edge", "Yeah" and "Tribulations."

From LCD I was drawn to the Lunar Stage for a dj set before learning that B.o.B. was rocking it well past his scheduled end time of 4 a.m. The chart topping artist apparently was woo-ing the late night crowd with cuts off of Adventures of Bobby Ray, favorites off his mixtape like "I'll Be In The Sky" and "Satellite", before wrapping it up with his modification of MGMT's "Kids" just before 5 a.m.

As I took the 30 minute stroll back to the SUPERGOODMUSIC campsite, I finished the day just as it started, with a garlic grilled cheese and a ice cold beverage....