Day three of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival featured performances by Mumford and Sons, Bleachers, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, SZA, Hozier, Belle & Sebastian, Childish Gambino, Flume, SBTRKT, My Morning Jacket, Slayer, and many more. Saturday is an essential day for Bonnaroo- mainly because the festival’s organizers book the biggest and highest energy artists on that day. Saturday’s performers did not disappoint, and they proved they belonged on the big stage at the festival.
The Top Five performers from Saturday include:
Number Five: SZA continues to shine as a bright star in the music business. The young 24-year old singer showed glimpses of a veteran on “The Other Tent” stage. During her set, she was having sound issues with her bass guitar and SZA’s pianist was also having sound problems. In the midst of it all, SZA showed her professionalism and true talent, and she didn’t let the issues affect her performance. In reality, most of the audience didn’t even realize SZA’s problems with the instruments. High energy was definitely the remedy for the lack of sound quality.
Number Four: Hozier not only gave a brilliant performance of his hit single “Take Me To Church,” he also delivered a performance of Ariana Grande’s “Problem.” The rocker initially covered Grande’s song on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge back in January, and now Hozier has added the single into his live set. The audience seemed to adore every note Hozier was singing, and gave one of his best live performances of the year, so far.
Number Three: My Morning Jacket. As the smell of marijuana covered the air, the band rocked the “What Stage” by performing songs like “Big Decisions,” “Spring,” and “Holdin’ On to Black Metal.” My Morning Jacket’s music infuses several genres including R&B, psychedelia, and folk. The band played several songs from the majority of their albums, which include At Dawn, Z, Evil Urges, and their most recent project Waterfall.
Number Two: Mumford and Sons. On the heels of their new album Wilder Mind, the band gave the attendees an electrifying performance. With more than 10,000 people in the audience, Mumford and Sons rocked out to “Believe,” and “The Wolf,” which is part of the band’s brand new sound. Even though they abandoned their folk sound for a more electric feel on Wilder Mind, Mumford and Sons still performed songs from their earlier projects including Sigh No More and Babel.
Number One: Childish Gambino. To say he “killed” his performance is an understatement. Gambino didn’t have a hype man, dancers, musicians, or instruments- it was just him on the stage. One man. One mic. Gambino commanded the people’s attention, and the audience took in every word he delivered when he performed “3005,” “Crawl,” and “Sweatpants.” The rapper just put a lot of pressure on Sunday’s performers; they will definitely have huge shoes to fill.
