Photo by Dean Budnick

​Relix is currently on site at Bonnaroo creating the official festival newspaper, the Bonnaroo Beacon. For more from the paper, check out the official ​Bonnaroo Tumblr.

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“What exciting things/ Will happen today?” Courtney Barnett half-spoke, half-sang partway through her 10:45 pm set in This Tent. “Anything to take my mind away from where it’s supposed to be.” The Australian singer-songwriter-observational comedian originally wrote the matter of fact lines for her breakthrough number “Avant Gardener,” a slacker-rock modern classic about an ambulance trip, a yard full of rubbish and having trouble “breathing in.” But her quirky lyrics eerily capture the through-the-looking-glass—or more accurately under The Arch—spirit of Bonnaroo’s opening night.

Bonnaroo’s Thursday festivities have long been the bridge between a very specific past, present and the future. For many returning fans and performers, there’s an intangible back-to-camp electricity as Bonnaroovians explore what’s brand new (The Who Stage emerging artist showcase), what’s slightly different (an illuminated, disco-ball-adorned tower programed by Radiohead lighting designer Andi Watson has replaced the cuckoo clock) and, of course, what’s in store for the iconic fountain (It’s looking particularly fresh thanks to a new multi-color paint job and at least two reminders to “radiate positivity”). Festival rage sticks are still in vogue while handcrafted Deadmau5 masks are clearly on the rise.

At the same time, Bonnaroo’s Thursday lineup has consistently offered a Marty McFly-like peek at tomorrow’s marquee names. (Friday What Stage performers like psychedelic-soul blog heroes Alabama Shakes and classic hip-hip savior Kendrick Lamar made their Bonnaroo debut on Thursday night in 2012.) With the main What and Which Stages still dark until Friday afternoon, thousands of concertgoers parked in front of the festival’s more intimate performance spaces, awarding more than a few bands the biggest crowds of their career.

Athens, Ga.-based ensemble Radiolucent, the winners of the Road to Roo competition, kicked off this year’s live music offerings with a set of soulful rock-and-roll in the New Music On Tap Lounge at 5 PM, and a few minutes later, harmonic indie-pop group Parlour Tricks officially broke in the brand new Who Stage. Elsewhere, fans packed into Snake and Jake’s Christmas Club Barn, an onsite venue named after the iconic New Orleans club where a few of Bonnaroo’s founders worked in their 20s. The Tiki Disco DJs not only performed multiple sets, but they also brought along the garlic knots from Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Roberta’s, the Bushwick space where Tiki Disco made their name playing weekly parties.

As always, the evening’s musical offerings grew more eclectic and electric as the sun set. In This Tent alone, styles shuffled from the metal edge of Unlocking The Truth and the Crazy Horse-inspired guitar heroics of Strand of Oaks to the Danish punk of Iceage, the rowdy indie-bite of The Growlers and Barnett’s loose, garage-rock jolt. This Tent’s Thursday night closer Mac DeMarco rolled many of the evening’s sounds into a singular, slacker style that spiked his guitar-driven songs with humorous asides (including a tongue-in-cheek shout-out to Coachella and a call for fans to ride on their friends’ shoulders), concluding with a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

In fact, there was something for every type of music fan. Returning Americana act Houndmouth and Swedish singer Tove Lo—who specializes in beautiful, piano-driven synth-pop—both shined in That Tent, while in The Other Tent, DMA’s veered close to old-school progressive indie-rock and Gramatik dropped a late-night set of glitch, electro and dubstep. Dej Loaf offered an early standout hip-hop set. Bluesy garage-rock guitarist Benjamin Booker offered the day’s most heartfelt onstage reflection when he revealed that he watched Bonnaroo videos at home long before he dreamed of playing the festival. There were a number of musical surprises, too: Bear’s Den played an acoustic set out on the Teva stage in the Grind Coffeehouse, a Mardi Gras-style parade led campers to the new, enchanted forest The Grove and ‘roo vets Cherub—who have attended Bonnaroo as fans, performers and even volunteers—played a stealth 1 AM set in Snake & Jake’s under the alias Snicklefritz.

Psychedelia’s various hues were also on display throughout the site. In That Tent, New England progressive-rock quartet Dopapod, one of the few pure jambands on this year’s lineup, nodded to Bonnaroo’s roots in improvisational music. (Looking out at a sea of fans that spilled into the concession area, the band reminisced about playing the Bonnaroo campgrounds when they attended as fans a few years ago). In The Other Tent, Temples turned in a selection of tight, ’60s-inspired English psych-pop nuggets while Rubblebucket filtered their indie-dance sound through a groovy, horn-heavy lens. Both the jazz-hop group Glass Animals and the percussive, funky Jungle further blurred the lines between danceable electronic music and cerebral ‘70s sounds.

Of course, during the past 14 years, Bonnaroo has grown from an eclectic music festival to an all-around amusement park of activities—and more than ever it is entirely possible to entertain yourself all day without hearing a note of music. The Comedy Theatre hosted a festival within a festival headlined by comedian Kurt Braunohler. Later in the day, The Bonnaroo Cinema presented an advanced showing of Judd Apatow’s new film Trainwreck, seasons 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones, the NBA finals and, speaking of Marty McFly, an interactive, quote-along screening of Back to the Future. (Oddly enough, Doc. Brown seemed to predict a Florida baseball team and video conferencing as well as a revival of “Power Of Love”-style ‘80s beats during his trip to 2015 in Back to the Future II). Things got slightly meta after the screening when The Bonnaroo Cinema hosted its own Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

Speaking of time travel, this summer actually marks the 50th anniversary of the rock-and-roll festival. On July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan plugged in at Rhode Island’s Newport Folk Fest, inspiring bands to go electric and promoters to bring the summer music festival—a jazz and folk hallmark since the 1950s—to a rock-and-roll audience. A lot has changed since that controversial decision helped pave the way for festivals like Bonnaroo, but Dylan’s adventurous, rebellious spirit remains. And, at the end of the day, it’s still rock-and-roll to me.