Bonnaroo closed out on Sunday night with a trip to the Jersey Shore via a collaboration between Phish and Bruce Springsteen. At the close of Phish’s first set, following a version of ‘Run Like An Antelope,’ Trey Anastasio thanked the crowd and then described attending his first concert ever at age 12: ‘I can’t say that concert has ever been rivaled in my mind. I saw that concert and I thought every concert was going to be like that, exploding with energy for three straight hours…it turned out that wasn’t always true. And all of us now are going to have the opportunity to share the stage with my boyhood hero and still my hero today, Bruce Springsteen.’ Springsteen then stepped out to cries of ‘Bruuuuuce!’ and joined Phish for a run through ‘Mustang Sally’ (Phish’s first performance of that song since 6/21/88), followed by the Springsteen’s ‘Bobby Jean’ and ‘Glory Days.’ The Boss seemed to be in good spirits, riffing with Anastasio between songs and asking a few times for some more from Mr. Keyboard Player Page McConnell. As he left the stage, Springsteen said, Thank you Bonnaroo, thank you Trey, thank you Phish. Following his performance on Saturday night, Springsteen had been seen out and about around the festival, checking out MGMT’s late night set on Saturday (and chatting with Drew Barrymore) and watching other acts, including Band of Horses, leading some to hold out hope that he might indeed guest with Phish.
As for other Bonnaroo news, the aforementioned MGMT set also featured a guest appearance by Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek (the band explained they liked ‘driving around and smoking weed’ with her). Meanwhile, across the site, moe. performed an extended set into the dawn that featured a guest appearances by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, who took the stage mid-set for a few numbers, as well as Perpetual Groove’s Brock Butler, who attended the fest as a fan. Other notable Sunday moments, included Merle Haggard receiving the key to the city prior to his set (as B.B. King did last year), Triumph the Insult Comic Dog sharing the stage with Neko Case (as he did with Springsteen a night earlier), Todd Snider’s on stage admission that he is a ‘pot smoking, Widespread Panic loving hippie,’ and the metal band Shadows Fall quoting Phish’s ‘Cavern’ during one of their tunes. Erykah Badu, who was nearly 45 minutes late in taking the stage eventually performed with her band and later sat in with Snoop Dogg.
All in all, despite some steady rains on Thursday night and threats of more to follow each subsequent day of the festival (as w