Wilco, Dylan, Dave Matthews Blow Minds at Bonnaroo

If Coachella is the hippest summer festival, then Bonnaroo is typically the hippiest. More than 90,000 fans packed into 7,000 acres of Tennessee cow pasture on June 11–13 for hacky-sacking, yoga classes and mind-numbing sets from the Dead and Trey Anastasio. The seemingly endless jam session was interrupted this year by performances from a few edgier artists, including Wilco, Danger Mouse, X-ecutioners and Rachael Yamagata—all this despite dreadful weather that alternated between blistering heat in the upper 90s and torrential rainstorms that created muddy grounds and slippery walkways and rendered flip-flops a health hazard.

Los Lonely Boys were scheduled to kick off the festival Friday morning, but tens of thousands of attendees showed up a day early, prompting the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to start things off Thursday night with an impromptu performance in the VIP tent. The New Orleans funky jazz outfit then led a parade through festival grounds into the wee hours of the morning.

An enormous crowd gathered to see Wilco the next day. It was the band's first summer festival appearance since the group canceled their Coachella performance so that singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy could complete rehab. With some newer band members in place, Tweedy haggardly belted out a set that leaned heavily on their new album, A Ghost Is Born, and 2002's Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, throwing only three songs to fans of their earlier work: "A Shot in the Arm," "I'm Always in Love" and "One by One."

Bob Dylan sauntered out on the same stage later in the day, donning dark shades and a shiny blue shirt. He mostly stayed pinned behind a keyboard or lap steel as he wove unpredictably through "Samson & Delilah," "Highway 61 Revisited," "Like a Rolling Stone" and others during his two-hour set.

Notable guest appearances dotted the festival. Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars hammered through their songs and bandleaders, as both their legendary father, Jim Dickinson, and bluesman R.L. Burnside lent a hand. Trey Anastasio also joined Dave Matthews and friends Friday as they worked through four hours of music.

Gomez dispelled any lingering hangovers on Saturday morning as the band rocked audiences awake from the Which Stage, while Rachael Yamagata erupted on the other side of the festival grounds in the Another Tent. Later that night, performances by Jem, the Dead, Galactic and others were interrupted by lightning storms that caused mayhem by blowing over tents and soaking everything in sight. The storms returned on Sunday, transforming the grassy farm into a lake of muddy water just as David Byrne and Trey Anastasio closed out the fest.