Day three started out pleasantly enough, with nice sets being turned in by Ziggy Marley, Spoon and Franz Ferdinand. It was Ween, however, that had the bad-ass set and the rowdiest crowd. Pretty cool considering Gene and Dean were probably the least rock-star looking act out here, and put on a set that was pretty no frills. But the connection forged between them and the audience made for pure musical magic.
Then we ran over to the Ben Harper set and made it just in time to catch a jaw-dropping run-thru of "Dazed and Confused" with John Paul Jones sitting in on Bass. Wow.



Then it was on to the big field for The Police. After opening with a rocking "Message In A Bottle," the rest of the set turned into an adult contemporary cheese rock set of the Police's greatest hits. Perfect for all the middle-aged chiropactors and attorneys paying 2,000 bucks a head to see one of their stadium shows, but in the middle of an tennessee cow pasture with 80,000 delirious, half-crazed, sunburnt and doped-up freaks who have been seeing musical miracles for the past three days, it was totally the wrong sound in the wrong place. Jesus, I kept expecting Paul Simon to come walking out.

Thank God for The Flaming Lips and Gov't Mule. the late night belonged to them.



"I heard a nasty rumour" Wayne Coyne leader of the Flaming Lips announced from the stage. I heard John Paul Jones' Bass was stolen just before he got here." The crowd booed, and he continues. "Sting, we know you took it. So, if you're out there, just bring it here and we'll have a little jam and work it out."

Needless to say Sting never showed up. But there was lots of balloons, millions of laser pointers, aliens, santas and a giant spaceship. They also turned in a killer version of "Kashmir." With Wayne playing some sort of Electronic Bugle instead of trying to sing it. Amazingly it was spot on, and set the tone for a fun-filled feel-good set under a gorgeous night sky.

Luckily, despite going on at the same time, Gov't Mule played for another hour after the Lips were done, including an encore that included one of the best versions of "Sweet Leaf" I've ever heard.

Tomorrow: Wolfmother, Wilco, and The White Stripes.
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