This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Last month, I got the chance to see Phoenix here in Nashville for the second time, on the exact same university lawn where I was first introduced to the French pop band's phenomenal live show almost exactly five years prior. Two Rites of Spring performances at Vanderbilt five years apart would have been poetic bookends for my Phoenix live experience, but you can bet that I'm not going to let poetry prevent me from seeing what has become one of my favorite bands as many times as possible. I may not be front and center at the Which Stage next month at Bonnaroo for Phoenix's performance (those days of oh-my-god-I-absolutely-need-to-be-close-enough-to-touch-the-stage are behind me), but you can bet I'll be dancing my ass off and having my mind blown by the number of people dancing to Phoenix along with me.
A fun-fact-adelic Phoenix history lesson, if your exposure to the band only goes back as far as last year's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Back in the mid-90s, vocalist Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d'Arcy and guitarist Chris Mazzalai formed a garage band in the suburbs of Paris, and were quickly joined by Chris' guitar-playing older brother Laurent Brancowitz (who had been playing in a band called Darlin' with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the two of whom went on to form Daft Punk). Phoenix got its start playing covers in bars, but eventually the band worked its way up the food chain and got themselves signed to Source Records, a Paris-based label that was already the home of French duo Air. In 2000, they released their debut album United, got their track "Too Young" on the soundtrack of Lost In Translation (Thomas Mars has been with Sofia Coppola for years, and the couple is expecting their second child), and began their ascent to (relative) stardom.
My introduction to Phoenix happened circa Alphabetical, which was released in 2004. In the midst of Maroon 5's heyday, I used Phoenix's second album to help transition my friends into the world of "good" pop, and with songs like "Run Run Run" and "Everything Is Everything" leaning toward the gentler side of electronic-laced alternative pop, the introduction was easy. The following spring, I found myself venturing to the Vanderbilt University-hosted Rites of Spring music festival to see how their light-handed approach translated to the stage, and ended up shockingly enough having my face rocked off. Who knew Phoenix amped up the rock so much on stage? I came away from the performance raving, and I've been converting friends to the Phoenix cause ever since.
My work has gotten easier and easier over the years, first with 2006's single-laden It's Never Been Like That (I really hope new Phoenix fans dip into the catalog as least as far as that one, because "Long Distance Call" and "Consolation Prizes" are still two of my favorite Phoenix songs) and now with 2009's Grammy-winning (I mean, GRAMMY-WINNING! Seriously!) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which sees the band's recorded material finally ascending into blatant ass-shaking territory. It was almost a miracle that Vanderbilt landed the band for this year's Rites of Spring, though it was no surprise to see how remarkably packed the show was compared to the paltry audience of 2005.
Last year at Bonnaroo, I thought the crowd at Phoenix's tent performance was mind-blowing - shoulder to shoulder and mud puddle to mud puddle, kids were dancing like crazy and singing the lyrics to every single song. I can only imagine how much more infectious the scene will be like on Sunday night at this year's Bonnaroo, when Phoenix conquers the Which Stage.
Phoenix will play the Which Stage at 7:15 on Sunday night.
