edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros 2013

It was one of those situations where the weather was bad, it was just bad a mile north of us. The clouds kind of split around Manchester, from what I saw on Weather.com. There was a quick downpour, then that was it. Unfortunately, there was the possibility of more storms coming, so staff couldn't let the people into the VIP area. I do wish they would have given us the option of going in, instead of keeping us out, but not kicking out the people that refused to evacuate. It was frustrating to watch Alex literally climb INTO the nearly-empty VIP area and know that we could have been in there if we just hadn't followed the rules!

There's a good reason for that. VIP had a tent near by that would hold them if hail were coming down. Also they're a lot smaller crowd and more easily handled/funneled to a protective place.

Where would you put 40-50k GAers? What do you think the reaction would be if they were told to evacuate immediately due to a horrible storm bearing down on them? The sheer number of GA makes it into a mass panic/stampede situation compared to the relatively small VIP crowd that had somewhere to go.

Well yeah. I mean I just think I would be pretty upset if I were in VIP and they told me to evacuate during one of my favorite sets only to have barely anything show up. I get why they do it, but I think that would be frustrating. They obviously can't evacuate bonnaroo. It was just nice because I was on the fence behind VIP so I had a great view when it happened... I come in peace

I was in the VIP pit and had no clue they had evacuated people. Alex Ebert was literally a couple feet from me at one point - I may or may not have touched his back...haha. Amazing show!

Here ya go.

This was one of the best shows of the weekend. They're my favorite live band and I'd already seen them five times. I only decided to catch this one a couple weeks before Roo. I'm so glad I did. That moment during "Home" with the bone marrow kid telling his story made my eyes wet though it didn't quite turn into a cry. People were lobbing water balloons at the audience and I chatted with a fellow big fan who was recording for her husband who couldn't make it. The way they began their show reminded me of their 2010 tour which made me happy because that's when I discovered them. I saw them at Roo then and it was cool that I was seeing them there again with many shows in between. Their Sonic set was just a perfect thing that embodies what makes Roo so great. I get to see them again in five days and hope they're back at Roo soon. I hope everyone enjoyed this! I'll be watching the webcast of it to relive the memory the first chance I get.

You didn't notice that you had a kajillion feet of space behind you and there was a mob with pitchforks waiting at the entrance?!

Hahaha no I seriously didn't notice. I was in a very happy space talking to Alex about a$$holes and how we all need to try and not be a$$holes  

The Sharpe set was the most amazing thing I think I have ever seen at Bonnaroo. I was there with my whole family and we got so caught up in the moment that we were all in tears and just stunned.

But I have to ask a terrible question. I am familiar with Alex and his created persona of Edward, an alien Messiah here to save humankind. It kind of leads to a culty feeling thing that is very familiar, as a hippie kid from the 60s. But after I left the performance, I started wondering if the whole transplant thingie was staged. What do you think?

Whether it was or wasn't, it won't affect my memory of a very very beautiful performance by the entire band. Haven't been that moved emotionally at a concert in many many years, and now I am listening to Sharpe all the time.

I have seem him do this before and i would say it was not set up. Alex was looking for a "story" for awhile, plenty of people had the chance to speak up and tell their story. He was looking for something more than, "Put down your GD cell phones!!!"
He found it and it was magical . After the show I saw, on the live ustream, Alex talking with the kid. from hand gestures and body movements, it looked like they were discussing where the kid should go now, back that way to find his friends or...the camera panned away.

I believe a few of us talked about it in the secret shows thread. I was there and it was perfect. Such a Roo moment. As for the kid during "Home," they often pass around the mic looking for stories. It's real. They just happened to hit the jackpot this time. My other two favorite "Home" moments from different shows: In Portland someone rapping about the Ed Sharpe concert that made the crowd explode with joy. In Eugene a street busker telling how he was playing their songs outside the venue and someone gifted him a ticket. After the show I saw security handing him his massive pack and guitar. It's cool they held onto it for him and that he got to enjoy the show.

What was the deal with the whole A-hole thing? He kinda got derailed by that a bit and I was confused. What started that interaction with the crowd? Was someone being....an A hole?

He was trying to juxtapose VIP/GA with rich v poor at that time was the way I read the situation. With his hand motions and the way that started. In the end he tried to bring it full circle with the "Lets all get rid of our inner jerkstore kinda thing".  I was being sarcastic up there because I didn't get it either and I was in VIP pit.

Part of me wants to believe Alex was dismayed by the empty-ish VIP pit and not realizing it was cleared because of the rain and took it poorly. But, the larger part of me assumes Alex despises VIP regardless of the reasons why people did it or what they went thru to do it and given how outspoken he is was just trying to make a point. Anyone else notice all that. It was consistent elsewhere too like in the "Thru a jungle, thru a park" line as well as where he spent most of his stage time. 

I could be wrong that is just how I personally read that whole thing go down.