Jessika’s Bonnaroo Must Doo!

This summer marks the 10th anniversary of my first trip down to the farm (those are just some of my mementos above). As the fest approaches, I’ve found myself surprisingly sentimental about the decade of memories made. Sure, there were a few years I had to vacate early and one or two I skipped all together due to scheduling conflicts and whatnot… but the better part of the best musical memories of my adult life have been made in Manchester and I am beyond psyched to be headed down to the big throw down once again… this time to cover it for you fine readers at No Country!

So without further ado… the top 5 folks I’m stoked to see this year!

#1. I am TOTALLY with Matt here. The opportunity to witness the sheer insanity that is Björk in all her esoteric glory among a sea of the-so-into-the-psychedlic-kind is not to be missed. He dropped a nice embed already, but here’s a personal favorite of mine, “It’s Oh So Quiet.”

Okay.. for good measure… and because she’s my #1 — here’s the video that used to scare the crap out of my grandmother and enchant the hell out of me… “Human Behavior.”

2. You guys know I’m a Tweedy Bird extraordinaire… so of course I’m beside myself with excitement for Wilco. One of my best previous Roo moments was Tweedy & Co. rockin’ the What Stage back in… what was that? 2009? My how the time flies… Because I’ve seen ’em before (many many times before) they clock in at #2. In lieu of awful cellphone videos of their past Bonnaroo appearances… here’s my lover bird doing his thing (my favorite song – maybe ever?) on Letterman in ’06…

#3. Cat Power. How have I missed Ms. Marshall everywhere I should have seen her before? Wait… no… I saw her once, at Bonnaroo… and she completely dispelled all the myths that she was depressed, unstable, and unfriendly… she was straight up awesome and I can’t wait to see her do her thing again. The hilarious video of her as a guest in a kids’ classroom is un-embeddable, so here’s a jump. And here’s her making music below…

#4. R. Kelly. Nope – not kidding. Aziz Ansari has shown me that there is nothing quite like the experience of seeing R. Kelly in the flesh and I’m not gonna miss it. See why I’m game below… (also… Trapped In The Closet – need we say more?) Plus, Aziz has me looking out for the Sonic Forrest this year. You’ll understand why if you peep these two clips here…

#5. And speaking of comedy — I am so on for Bob Saget with Jared Logan and The Improvised Shakespeare Company. Folks know now (thanks to The Artistocrats) that Bob Saget is a lot more (and a lot funnier) than Danny Tanner or that guy from America’s Funniest Home Videos. What you might not know is that The Improvised Shakespeare Company is one of the absolute best improv troupes in the world. Shakespeare flavored improv comedy gets my nerdy heart a fluttering! Why are they at Bonnaroo? Why the hell not?! And if that ain’t the spirit of the whole thing, I don’t know what is!

Honorable mentions: I’m also insanely stoked for Alt-J, Of Monsters and Men, The XX, Delta Rae, HAIM, Deap Valley, He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, Glen Hansard, Wu-Tang, Pretty Lights, The Lumineers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, David Byrne & St. Vincent and so much more. Not to mention the insane amount of local talent like Alanna Royale and William Tyler, etc.