Bonnaroo 2012: The Best Moments of Day 3

From Skrillex to Gary Clark Jr., Dispatch to the Roots, read about the highlights from Saturday at the Tennessee fest

Jeff Gentner
Punch Brothers Cover Beck, Radiohead
I was in the Fuse tent in the Bonnaroo press area when I heard the Punch Brothers, a New York City-based progressive bluegrass fivesome, covering, of all things, Beck’s disco-junkyard-funk jam “Sexx Laws.” They played it with an acoustic guitar, standup bass and violin—see, White Boy Funk knows no boundaries. It sounded great. Later the boys, all dressed up in thrift store suits, plucked out an esoteric cover of Radiohead’s “Kid A” that was sort of genius in its arrangement. Who knew a banjo could ever sound like a computer-generated blip? —WILLIAM GOODMAN
Aubree Lennon for Fuse
LP Covers, Murders Beyonce's "Halo"
New York's LP looks like a modern-day Patti Smith but vocally occupies the middle ground between St. Vincent's punk rock ethos and Florence Welch's operatic soar. At the Great Taste Lounge, her cover of Bey's love song avoided ironic gimmickry and became the vehicle for her voice, simultaneously booming and soaring. Walking to the front of the stage, the singer outstretched her arm to the sky as if commanding an arena. Hopefully she'll get to the real thing soon. —JASON NEWMAN
Aubree Lennon for Fuse
Childish Gambino's Probably Spontaneous Freestyle
On the Which Stage, Childish Gambino suffered some technical difficulties (read: busted laptop), but turned a potentially awkward break into a festival highlight by ripping a seemingly extemperaneous freestyle about Bonnaroo. Was it planned? Off-the-cuff? Who cares. When the actor/rapper flipped "Tennessee" into "Tenn-essy" (to rhyme with messy), it didn't matter. —JN
Aubree Lennon for Fuse
SBTRKT Bring the Remixed Dance Party
To close out their set at This Stage, the masked British DJ duo put a heavy remix on their hit “wild Fire,” featuring vocals from Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano (whose band performed Friday night). This time they spliced in rhymes from rappers, digital whiz-bangs, detours, breakdowns and some heavy trance beats. I usually hate that sort of treatment, but it sounded great. The crowd agreed; many waved poles with cutouts of their signature masks attached. —WG
Aubree Lennon for Fuse
Tuba Gooding Jr. is The Roots' Unsung Hero
At the What Stage, sousaphonist Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson out-charmed his bandmates, consistently jumping up and down onstage, twirling around and utilizing every inch of the expansive stage. Dude acted as much hypeman as instrumentalist, running through the crowd during "Break You Off" and anchoring a musical duel with Questlove. Covers of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" and Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" were enthusiastically received, but today belonged to Tuba. For those about to blow, we salute you. —JN
Tim Mosenfelder
Dispatch Play That Song You've Definitely Heard Before
How did this Vermont-based indie folk and jam band get so damn popular? And just why, exactly, does their music inspire absolutely psychopathic fandom? It's a little lost on me, but it definitely has something to do with their song "The General"--oh, you've heard it. It's the root of why this band can fill Madison Square Garden and other arenas across the country, and it starts with this catchy lil couplet, "Take a shower / Shine your shoes / You've got no time to lose / You are a young man you must be livin'." The wildly-into-this-concert throng at the Which Stage sang those words like they wrote 'em. I admit it: I did too. —WG
Tim Mosenfelder
Skrillex Makes Really Loud Whiz-Bang Sounds
For two hours, Skrillex stood behind a giant alien spaceship-like stage set and just blasted a massive field of fans packed on all sides with lightning bolts of whiz-bang sounds and grinding beats. It. Was. Intense. It's hard to pick one highlight from a set of repeating peaks and valleys of sound, but one build up resulted in more glowsticks flying through the air than I've ever seen in my life. The glowstick war was a tradition started by Phish fans--I wonder if the 19-year-old frat boy with the pacifier, or the dead-eyed girl walking in circles offering "rolls," know that. Also: You'd never seen people having the time of their life, while others walk by quickly like they were escaping hell fire. Skrillex: The Great Bonnaroo Divider. —WG
Douglas Mason
Gary Clark Jr. Plays the Supercharged Blues
Imagine Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene.” Now imagine it played, like, 30 times faster. That’s this Austin bluesman who straight ripped it up on the tiny Sonic Stage on “Don’t Owe You a Thang,” a boogie woogie rocker that charged like a electrical storm. True to his contemporary style, Clark added flair of psych guitar on the fringes, but stuck mostly to his roots, playing straight up blues that were hot to the touch. —WG
Roy Burgess
GZA Performs 'Liquid Swords' With Latin Funk Band Grupo Fantasma
Wu-Tang Clan linchpin GZA has been performing the majority of his groundbreaking album 'Liquid Swords' for a minute now. So why did Saturday night's performance make the list? The dextrous rapper may have found his perfect complement with 11-piece Latin funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma, who reunited with the rapper after a thunderously received gig at South by Southwest. GZA: You found your new house band.