This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Editor's note: This is a guest preview from Sean Maloney (aka Bawston Sean), a frequent contributor to both the Nashville Scene and Nashville Cream. Sean can be reached via email at sean@grandpalace.us.
Bonnaroo is great for the sole reason that you can catch a whole bunch of artists that for one reason or another skip over Nashville. Take Raphael Saadiq for instance. I spent most of last summer listening to his latest The Way I See It, a riveting piece of retro-soul and one of the best albums of 2008, and waiting for his tour to stop in Music City, and then – GAS-POCALYPSE!!!
Prices at the pump shot sky high and supply dried up – for no distinguishable reason, honestly. People were just hoarding gas because they heard there wasn't any gas, but the only reason there wasn't any gas was because people were hoarding it – it was all quite asinine.One of the more notable effects of this little freak out on the part of Middle Tennessee specifically and the Southeast in general was that Saadiq cancelled his Nashville appearance. Way to go, gas hoarders. Way to ruin it for the rest of us.
Fortunately, the national psyche is looking a little less frazzled this summer and The Way I See It still sounds as sweet. Saadiq's latest is masterful study in vintage R&B tones in the pre-psychedelic Motown vein, with Saadiq creating a piece of pure soul that stands firmly beside it's influences as an equal. The tone on the kick drum – flat, booming and completely out of step with modern production-- is worth the price of the album alone. Then you factor in killer party songs like “100 Yard Dash”, “Staying In Love” and “Let's Take a Walk, ” and you've got one stellar specimen of a summer album.
"100 Yard Dash"
"Staying In Love"
Raphael Saadiq performs in That Tent from 3:15-4:30 Saturday afternoon. Check out the Full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
