All photos by Evan Daniels for ATG
The first day of our 'head-first excursion into the heart of Manchester, Tennessee was a dizzying balance of highs and lows, consisting of more hours of driving than we care to remember, a credentialing snafu, an arduous attempt to pitch a tent with little-to-no requisite experience and, finally, a couple hours of high-energy, toe-touching, tag-teaming hip-hop.
After setting up camp in a collectivist village of what seemed like a gazillion free spirits and Obama lovers, we made it to the tent where the first round of hip-hoppers would be playing just in time for Janelle Monae. She was rocking her trademark high-collared white button-down, Colonel Sanders tie and perfectly primped pompadour and electrified the virginal crowd with a few more volts of ass-rattling space funk then they probably bargained for. Next up was California staple, MURS, who wowed everyone with physical feats like splits and toe-touches that belied his laid-back conversational style, lost his shirt in the heat, and satisfied the head-nodders with bass heavy coastal boom-bap. The highlight of the evening, however, came from tag-team Rah Almillio and Krispy Kream of The Knux, who hit the stage like bonafide rock stars, playing their own instruments, stage diving, inviting the crowd on stage and generally taking the roof up a couple notches. Check out photos and videos of the inaugural evening's festivities below.
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