Don't act like you didn't see this coming. Kanye West is lashing out at critics and bloggers labeled the producer/rapper as a bit of a disappointment at Bonnaroo. Fans booed West when he took the stage two hours later -- that's 4:30am for those keeping score -- than his scheduled appearance. West took to his blog for rebuttal, claiming the delay was not his fault and blamed it on his elaborate set that took hours to put together ... and he did it all in CAPS LOCK.

"I am sick of negative people who just sit around trying [to] plot my downfall," West wrote. "I understand if people don't like me because I like me or if people think tight clothes look gay or people say I run my mouth to much, but this Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I've ever had in my life. This is the most offended I've ever been ... this is the maddest I ever will be."

There's much more about the festival's 'f---ing idiots' who tried to coordinate West's setup, Pearl Jam's tardiness and five references to 'Stronger,' approximately, which we'd quote here if it weren't for all those exclamation points. Oh, Kanye. You keep us young.

Performing what they described from the stage as, in some ways, a "Sunday gospel" set, an acoustic collective featuring Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, session singer Teresa Williams, rising Americana star Jackie Greene, and multi-instrumentalist/multi-band member (from Levon Helm's, Bob Dylan's and Lesh's bands) Larry Campbell, sat on stage in chairs and took it easy in the shade of 'This Tent' for the final afternoon of Bonnaroo. Playing unplugged and understated, the specially-assembled group performed a number of specially-arranged Grateful Dead tunes, including 'Friend of the Devil' and 'Deal.' They also ran through some traditionals ('Deep Elum Blues') and traditional gospels ('I've Drifted Too Far From fhe Shore.')

Minutes before the set, Jackie Greene admitted to Spinner that he "was never really a Deadhead." When Lesh first started collaborating with him last year, after he heard one of Greene's songs on the radio, he gave him a "waste-high stack of stuff and said, 'Pick a bunch of them,'" Greene recalled. "Well, I did, and it turns out I ended up falling in love with a lot of the tunes."

A staple of the festival circuit and, now, a favorite with Deadheads even though he's not one himself, Greene says that "Bonnaroo is one of those festivals that you can come to with very high expectations and not be let down. There's Kanye West and there's Phil Lesh. There's all different kinds of music that you can go see and there's strange Russian groups from wherever. Maybe it used to just be this jam festival but it's not anymore -- and that's one of the things that's great about it. There's something for everybody."

Coachella: take note.

The Disco Biscuits took their late-night set to new heights on Friday at Bonnaroo, performing straight on 'til daybreak. A three-hour marathon that went more than an hour past their 4am scheduled stop, the Biscuits had special encouragement to play their hearts out -- it was a direct order from Tennessee's Cumberland County police department, who stopped them en route, searched their tour bus, and wrote citations to certain members of the band and crew for carrying personal amounts of marijuana.

During the song 'Nughuffer,' bassist Marc Brownstein recounted the events with his typical humor and flair, claiming the officer hugged him and told the band to "play the best set of their life," even after confiscating their pot and writing citations. Brownstein then asked the officer if he could have just a small amount of it back so he could twist one up for the final 90 minute stretch to the festival. When the cop obviously said no, Brownstein told him he was going to do a search of his tour bus twice as hard as the police because he was sure he could find something left, somewhere. We're pretty sure he was right.

In their home territory and, thus, in front of their people, Widespread Panic opened the first night of their tour on Sunday night by doing one of the things they do best -- closing out Bonnaroo. In years past, Panic employed special guests for the closing ceremony, including Steve Winwood and Herbie Hancock. Inside their backstage practice trailer, hours before their set, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann told Spinner, "There's stuff that's going to happen tonight that we don't know about yet."

By the time they took the main stage around 9pm, they had at least some of it figured out: They brought their own horn section (the Mega-Blasters) to assist on a number of songs, including a cover of the Band's 'Chest Fever.' Notably, Levon Helm, a founding member of the Band, performed a crowd-pleasing set the afternoon before -- a fact that members of Panic discussed with Spinner before the show.

Panic also invited pedal steel guitar hero Robert Randolph out for a four-song segue that included an entirely improvised jam somewhere in the middle. Following the wake of Kanye West, Metallica, Pearl Jam and Death Cab for Cutie, Panic was trying to make Bonnaroo feel like Bonnaroo again. And, in some ways, they succeeded.

Bonnaroo is a festival famous for bringing an eclectic line-up to a traditionally hippie-ish crowd, and the crowd is famous for embracing all of it (from Lily Allen to Tool), however one thing is for sure: Bonnaroo did not take kindly to Kanye West. Perhaps the only performer to get massively booed, West started his show nearly two hours late, at 4:30 in the morning.

Most surprising was Sunday's aftermath: it's an extremely rare occurrence that artists at Bonnaroo express negative remarks onstage, unless directed towards President Bush. Yet, several acts commented on West's poor performance, eliciting additional boo's from the crowd. Robert Randolph led a "F--- Kanye!" chant which was enthusiastically embraced. Broken Social Scene referred to a pause in their show (due to equipment problems) as their "Kanye moment." And Rogue Wave promised fans that they would never leave them waiting in a field until 4:30 AM out of respect for their audience. Anytime an artist (such as O.A.R.) mentioned West by name, from stage, it was met with a round of boo's.

It took Broke Social Scene 18 hours to get to Bonnaroo, but by the time they took the stage at the 'Other Tent' on Sunday, they were as amped to play as the crowd was to hear it. Although they came on late, the band were committed to putting on their full show. "We're going to play until they tell us to get off," said frontman No. 1, Kevin Drew. "And then we're going to say 'Woah! We were here on time."

An all-star band in their own right, featuring, in addition to Drew, Brendan Canning, members of Apostle of Hustle and Stars -- though sadly missing one-time members Feist and Jason Collett, the Scene ran through hits like 'Fire-Eyed Boy,' 'KC Accidental' and 'Super Connected.' They also pulled out new tunes like 'Churches Under the Stairs,' from Canning's new solo album, which is a 'Broken Social Scene Presents' production and, in some ways, is what their current tour is technically supporting. But at Bonnaroo, they were there purely for the spirit of the festival.

"On the count of three, you've got to say, 'I'm alive!'" insisted Drew. They even led a political chant custom-made for the 'Roo crowd: "Put down the bong and vote for Obama; You know you wanna." Fair enough, but unfortunately they won't be taking their own advice. Last we checked, Canadians can't vote, eh?

When Pearl Jam took the main stage at Bonnaroo on Saturday night, they were greeted by what literally looked like an ocean of people -- 70,000 for those keeping score. "There was a time we as a group didn't do these types of festivals," frontman Eddie Vedder admitted. But after enjoying a day watching Cat Power, Jack Johnson and others, then looking out from the stage, Vedder said the band realized that Bonnaroo got it right. "It can be done," he marveled, before leading the band into 'Small Town' because, as Vedder explained, "I'm basically looking out at a small town right now."

Vedder toned down his political rants in honor of a celebratory vibe, noting instead that this field in Tennessee felt more like Amsterdam. "If you as a whole crowd told me to f--- off in Dutch right now, it wouldn't surprise me," he joked. Between hits like 'Even Flow' and 'Rain on Me,' Vedder did manage to note that when Bush was elected President, the price of gas was $1.46 as opposed to the $4 it is today. "I'm not good at math," he said. "I'll let you do that." The only problem with that is that, well, hippies aren't always the best with math, either.

For his main stage set Saturday night at Bonnaroo, Jack Johnson got into the spirit of peace and love that the festival is so well known for, in theory anyway, by acknowledging a sign in the audience that said "Free Hugs!" Pointing it out to the rest of the 70,000 fans, Johnson said, sincerely, "You're just so far away -- I would hug you, but I can't do it."

Johnson spread the love onstage as well, not only giving his bandmate (and A.L.O. keyboardist) Zach Gill plenty of spotlight time, but also inviting special guest Money Mark to the stage for a version of 'Bad Weather' that segued briefly into a cover of 'Whole Lotta Love.' On it, Johnson used a wah-wah pedal that, he claimed, was loaned to him and has a special history -- it was originally Jimi Hendrix's.

Johnson continued his loving vibe by calling out to Pearl Jam fans by saying,
"I'm so excited to see Pearl Jam that I'm going to break the ice early." He then invited Eddie Vedder to the stage for an acoustic-duo performance of 'Constellations' that, later, Gill told Spinner, gave him chills.

Artist: Matt Morris
Song: 'Don't You Dare'
Album: 'The Un-American'

Sounds Like: Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley

Download: 'Don't You Dare' (MP3)

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During a press conference before his set, Ben Folds said he looks forward to seeing Bonnaroo on his tour scheduled because unlike other festivals, where "we take your money, put you on a field and then suck," Bonnaroo actually has a crowd he wants to bring his A-game for because the crowd is "more musical."

He responded in kind during his set: after playing hits like 'All You Can Eat,' Folds played the first song off his new album. As he explained to the crowd, it was about falling off the edge of the stage during a gig in Japan, getting a concussion and "bleeding on the piano all night." X-rays of his brain "are going to be a part of the album artwork, somewhere." The song itself pretty much explained all of that -- the only difference, according to Folds, "is that I made it rhyme."

On Bonnaroo's main stage Saturday afternoon, the legendary B.B. King bridged both the generational and genre gap, uniting the audience for a set of American classics. But the big news happened when the Mayor of Manchester, Tennessee, Betty Superstein, came onstage to present the key to the city to the King of the Blues. "I'd like to thank all of you, and especially the Mayor, for this beautiful placard," said the 82-year-old King.

Before launching into his next song, King took stock of an overhead helicopter that swooped in. "Is this vietnam?" he asked, then starting the classic 'Let the Good Times Roll.' Most of the 70,000 in attendance were way ahead of him on that front, but it was nice to get the good King's blessing.

My Morning Jacket surprised nobody when they pulled out surprises and general awesomeness for their nearly four hour Bonnaroo performance late-night at the Which Stage on Day Two. Can we just call them the Band of the Year already? Despite a downpour, and a time-slot immediately following Metallica, frontman Jim James led his band through yet another historical My Morning Jacket Bonnaroo performance. The band has played at this festival almost every year, and came onstage to cheers of, "We missed you last year," and the like.

Opening with the title track from the new album, 'Evil Urges,' and getting right down to business with 'Off the Record,' the Jacket performed virtually the entire new album and a smorgasbord of everything else under the sun including covers ('Get Down on It'), a horn section (feat. Jeff Coffin from Bela Fleck's Flecktones), and, um, oh yeah - -did we forget to mention that Metallica's Kirk Hammett sat in during 'One Big Holiday'? He did. And it was great. But the actual highlight was whatever it was they played between taking the stage at midnight and taking their final bow around 4 in the morning.

Looking surprisingly fresh on Saturday afternoon, considering his band slayed it until 4am the night before, James caught up with Spinner while sipping drinks in the artist lounge. Discussing the guest appearance by Kirk Hammett, James said, "I grew up listening to Metallica. So playing with him, I felt like we won the lottery." As any in the audience can attest, they certainly hit jackpot.

When dance-punk band !!! took to the stage on Day Two of Bonnaroo, many newbies in the audience were a bit confused. It could be that the band was named after three exclamation marks or the fact that the stage was called 'That Tent' (as opposed to 'This Tent' and 'The Other Tent' across the Centeroo field), or that singer Nic Offer was in short shorts, prancing around the stage like a fairy-gnome-wookie hybrid. The band tore through hits, including the trifecta of 'All My Heroes Are Weirdoes,' 'Must Be the Moon' and title-track 'Myth Takes' off the band's latest, while a kinetic and awkward Offer made sure he covered every inch of the stage at least twice.

Immediately before taking the stage, Offer told Spinner that when !!! performs at festivals such as Bonnaroo, "I definitely keep it in mind that somebody out there might be tripping balls and I try to keep it especially trippy for them." A minute later, and literally as he was walking onstage, he came back to say, "And I've been proven right because people have come up and told me, like, 'That festival that you did last year, dude, I was so f---ed, and then you guys came on, and I was like, 'Woooooah.'" Suffice it to say, next year he'll have plenty of fans saying "Woooah" to him in regards to this year's Bonnaroo set.

Chris Rock introduced Metallica as "the baddest rock 'n' roll band in the world" for their Friday night headlining set at Bonnaroo 2008. Coming on with 'Creeping Death,' and playing through the songbook, including classics like 'For Whom the Bell Tolls,' 'And Justice for All,' 'The Unforgiven,' 'Master of Puppets' and 'Harvester of Sorrow.' Metallica answered the question, "But can they win Bonnaroo?" with a unanimous, "Hell yes."

Playing in front of an audience more used to noodle dancing than stage diving, frontman James Hetfield asked the crowd for a show of hands for how many people were seeing the band for the first time. The vast majority raised their hands, er, fists. "We love that," said Hetfield. "We thank you for having us at your festival. We're glad to be here and we support live music. That's why we're here."

After running through hit after hit, the band launched into 'Fade to Black,' a tune that was once accused of encouraging teen suicide. Almost paralleling the harmonious contrast between Metallica and Bonnaroo at large, in the middle of the tune, Hetfield asked, "Bonnaroo, are you alive? How does it feel to be alive?" The response, like the band, was greeted with enthusiastic cheers.

Yet, we couldn't help but notice, that in the back of the field were a lot of dazed and confused hippies. None-the-less, when Hetfield asked the crowd if they wanted to hear older material, chants of 'Kill 'em All' broke out. 'Kill 'em All?' asked Hetfield, surprised. 'Nobody has that album.' Metallica then launched into 'No Remorse.' That sentiment could be said all around, for sure.

Having Willie Nelson play the evening set on Day Two of Bonnaroo is a no-brainer. It was a seamless transition from Nashville's Raconteurs, with the crowd singing along to classics like 'Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.'

Although it was counter-intuitive for certain types of folk, Bonnaroo can be a family affair. Nelson brought out all his kin for the occasion, letting son Luke lead guitar and vocals for the blues number 'Flooding in Texas.' Son Michael handled drums. Afterwards, Nelson's sister Bobby performed a song on piano before he launched back into hits like 'Help Me Make It Through the Night' and 'Me and Bobbie McGee' -- a tune the large hippie contingency in the audience certainly appreciated.