Grant the Former Intern’s Three Standout Moments

Videos by American Songwriter

Ben Folds Photo Courtesy of Rick Diamond/WireImage/Timberland
Photos by Robert Clement

1. “Lay Low”/ “One Big Holiday” – My Morning Jacket, Friday 12-4 AM
Jim James controls the weather. I’m convinced. The entire crowd at this epic four-hour set was convinced. You should be too. Throughout the show, James used some newly acquired evil powers to mold the rain-which had held out until he and his band took the stage-like a Hollywood special-effects coordinator. A slow ballad brought light, atmospheric drizzle. During the set break, the skies cleared to let the dazed crowd of rain-soaked fans regroup and try to warm up. But during these two songs-these colossal feats of epic guitar-driven rock and roll (the latter featuring a guest appearance by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett)-the clouds swelled, and the rain came down in torrents. James and company leaned into and powered through the monsoon they had summoned as their energy surged across the entire grounds of Bonnaroo. The epileptic-nightmare light show made the thousands of glowsticks in the air jump and stutter across their arcs, which, combined with the driving rain, gave the entire scene the visual appearance of an old grainy movie. And oh, how they rocked. After “Lay Low” came to its crashing end-at which point the rain abruptly turned back from torrent to drizzle-a giddy teenager next to me put his arms around me and told me that that had been the greatest ten minutes of his life. I couldn’t disagree.

2. “The Battle of Evermore” – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Sunday 6:15-7:45 PM
As soon as I heard those unmistakable mandolin riffs, my heart skipped a beat. It was somewhat of a childhood dream-come-true to see Plant performing this one-probably my favorite Zeppelin song of all time-and it was made all the more memorable by the support of the angelic force of nature that is Alison Krauss. The bluegrass diva certainly left more of a footprint than Sandy Denny had on the original cut from IV, even stepping in at times to help mask Plant’s inability to hit the higher notes. Even though Plant’s vocals couldn’t reach the soaring octaves of his youth, his invincible stage presence and unparalleled rock star-confidence translated into an unforgettable performance of this Zeppelin classic.

3. “Transatlanticism” – Death Cab for Cutie, Sunday, 7-8:30 PM
As the sun went down one last time over Bonnaroo 2008, Death Cab for Cutie ended their set with the perfect metaphoric cap on the day and the entire weekend (sorry Spreadheads). By this point, it’s hard to imagine being more tired, dehydrated, dirty, sore, hungover, sunburnt, or just all around burnt-out, but for the briefest of moments during this song’s nearly ten minute span, all of that went away. Fans passed around incense candles as a cool breeze swept across the field hand-in-hand with Ben Gibbard’s epic rumination on separation and isolation. It was hard not to see the parallels, as thousands of Bonnaroo-ers prepared to set out on return trips to homes across the country and the world, and our oh-so-brief few days of community splintered into “thousands upon thousands” of separate worlds and lives that “made an ocean making islands where no islands should go.” Still, even as we pulled out onto I-24 with a tear and goodbye, the song’s hopeful conclusion rang in our ears.

Jim James