The Bonnaroo Music Festival shed some of its hippie vibe this year with Radiohead and Tom Petty headlining, and with more than 100 acts- from Beck, Sonic Youth and Death Cab for Cutie to Phil Lesh, Trey Anastasio and Elvis Costello- playing to 80,000 on ten stages over four days in mid-June. “There was a good percentage of first-timers, which is great,” says Bonnaroo organizer Jonathan Mayers. “We’ve gotten a lot more attention this year because we has Radiohead, in particular, and they cross so may audiences”.
    On June 15th, the Manchester, Tennessee, festival’s first day, women in flower skirts and Birkenstocks, pale indie kids with angular haircuts and lawn-chair-toting older couples set up tents in ninety-two camping areas with names like “Camp Jeff Spicoli” and “Camp Fat Bastard.” During the weekend these areas became miniature cities, complete with thriving markets selling everything from ponchos and jewelry to Ecstasy and mescaline.
    On Day Two, temperatures rose to ninety-five degrees and many fans found relief in the fairgrounds’ pool size fountain. But one contingent, the New Orleans musicians in attendance (including Dr. John, the Neville Brothers and the Rebirth Brass Band), welcomed the heat. “They ordered this humidity just for me,” said pianist-songwriter Allen Toussaint as he arrived for a set with Elvis Costello featuring R&B-style takes on Costello classics like “Watching the Detectives.” It feels like New Orleans. We could make coffee with the humidity.”
    Many of the musical high points happened after the headlines went to bed. Petty’s two-hour-plus set– packed with hits and featuring surprise guest Stevie Nicks - was thrilling, but Day Two’s real fireworks came after midnight, when My Morning Jacket tore through a three-hour, thirty-song set, featuring covers of the Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup,” the Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away” and the Band’s “It Makes No Difference.” “Bonnaroo is like Thanksgiving or Christmas for us,” said frontman Jim James backstage. “It’s another day on the calendar that we really look forward to.”
    At his Saturday show, Beck acknowledged apprehensions about the festival’s rep; “I smell hippies,” he joked. His set of hits, obscurities and covers of the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” and Radiohead’s “Creep” (I don’t think Radiohead’s gonna play this one tonight,” he quipped) was a highlight for the many artists watching backstage. “I’ve never been so blown away by a show,” Rob Derhak of jam-band vets moe said. “I’d love to go onstage with him.”
    Damian Marley- who played to a crowd that included Radiohead’s Thom Yorke- introduced fans to some of his father’s less-well-known songs like “Zimbabwe” and “Bad Card.” “A lot of people here were not familiar with the music,” he said backstage. “But I won them over, and they really got involved.”
    Later that night, after two days of intense anticipation across the campgrounds, Radiohead opened their headlining set with “There, There” and continued with hits from every album since The Bends, plus new songs “Videotape,” “Nude” and “Bodysnatchers.” Beck was right: No “Creep”- or anything from Pablo Honey- but after two and a half hours, twenty eight songs and two encores, the masses drifted away sated.
    After his oysterhead set the previous night, Anastasio left to play a Trey Anastasio Band gig in St. Louis but flew back to play a late-night Bonnaroo set- dubbed Superjam- with Phish bassist Mike Gordon. “It was three bands in twenty four hours,” says Anastasio, who is one of the few artists to have played every single Bonnaroo. “My favorite one ever was Dylan two years ago, right before I played with Dave Matthews and Friends.”
    If felt right that, on Sunday night, Phil Lesh and Friends- including singer Joan Osborne and guitarist John Scofield- closed out the fifth Bonnaroo, playing Grateful Dead classics like “Uncle John’s Band” and “Scarlet Begonias.” “I love that Bonnaroo has grown like this, with such diversity,” Lesh said, “I’m the oldest hippie there is, and I love every minute of this.