World Party, Andrew Bird Get Bonnaroo Moving

The three part harmonies of World Party soared over the field surrounding the Which Stage as Friday's opening act. The band's alt-folk sound originated with a duo of guitars, and an electric violin gave it a bluegrass twist. If the crowds of laid-back, relaxed people and frisbee players gathered around the stage don't paint an accurate picture, 17-year-old Emily Poe from Madeira, Ohio nailed it. "This is the best kind of music to dance in a meadow in Tennessee," she said. "I feel like there should be dandelions."

Andrew Bird
Photo by Colin Smith

Just a few dusty steps away, the crowds around the That Stage clapped and cheered as Andrew Bird started off his show by whistling the opening melody before launching into an electric violin solo. Bird again wowed the audience with his versatility, playing his own guitar and keyboard parts and occasionally pulling his violin off his shoulder mid-solo to pluck out the main line without missing a beat vocally. Jeff Sellars, an audience member seeing Bird for the second time here said he's got "a nice, smooth, melodic sound. He has a lot of different tones in his vocals that range all the way from top to bottom." KATIE GOLDEN

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