Photo by Jessica Pace
The brothers Orrall put on one of the best performances I witnessed throughout my Bonnaroo experience, and it was only partially because they were on a smaller stage and getting close to the front wasn’t such a horrific pain in the ass. JEFF the Brotherhood left their kraut rock numbers in Nashville, playing instead all the intense and hooky stuff to a dense and hyper crowd at the On Tap Lounge (i.e. a little white tent plopped into the dust) Friday night. I could hear the last of Primus’ bass lines gurgling from Which Stage while waiting for JEFF to get started. Once they did, the tent was blown out with “Bone Jam,” “The Tropics,” “U Got The Look,” “Hey Friend,” etc.
It was typical JEFF the Brotherhood business. Jamin was in a constant bouncy stupor behind the drums while Jake hopped up on amps to deliver relentless, riff-heavy jags before an audience that included a handful of crowd surfers, a creeper with a camera and some familiar Nashville faces. Even if some of their songs stuck together in a noisy audio blur, JEFF banged out scuffed-knees-and-cheap-beer jams with such enthusiasm and energy, nobody gave a shit. To prove the point, the crowd bent the rail separating them from the pit just to get a little closer to them throughout the quick and dirty set that ended all too soon. – Jessica Pace