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Bonnaroo, probably the best weekend a music lover can ever hope to spend on a farm. The festival hosted a lineup of over 120 bands as well as artists and comedians who performed in creatively named spaces such as That Tent, the Other Tent, and What Stage. Every time I wanted to see a band, I felt as though someone were playing a cruel joke on my poor over-stimulated brain. On Thursday, WBRU DJ Bart and I established our lay of the land and caught a set from Massachusetts natives Passion Pit. Later on I was fortunate to run into their singer, Michal Angelakos, who turned out to be a very sweet and personable guy.

On Friday I was treated to three of my favorite bands performing all in a row at Which Tent, a charming venue which appeared positively radiant at sunset. First up, Baltimore’s Animal Collective graced us with a gently lilting sonic ocean. Although they did not play songs from Feels, my personal favorite album, my desire to hear well-loved tracks was soon fulfilled by an electrifying show from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Toward the end of the set, Nick Zinner’s guitar malfunctioned, bringing an unwelcome interruption to the opening of “Maps.” Encouraging words from Karen O. and resounding cheers from the audience inspired Zinner to saddle up a new instrument for a beautiful acoustic rendition of the popular love song.

After refueling on water and granola, I headed back to Which Tent to catch TV on the Radio’s set, which featured an alternate version of “Staring at the Sun” that the band played during their show at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel last October. Even with such an epic triple-header, the real star of that evening for me had to be David Byrne, who played an outstanding set comprising mostly Talking Heads tunes, much to my delight.

Friday proved to be the musical highlight for me, although I caught many great sets on Saturday, including the increasingly adorable Jenny Lewis and legendary Elvis Costello, who joined each other on stage twice. On Sunday Bart and I awoke early (before noon!) to catch Cage the Elephant’s set. In true rock ‘n’ roll fashion, singer Matt Shultz climbed some scaffolding and nearly electrocuted himself, but continued his high-energy performance as though nothing had gone wrong.

The weekend ended with a marathon set from Phish, who stopped at Bonnaroo as part of their sold-out summer tour. Phish surprised us all when they invited none other than the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, onstage to join them for three songs. Gazing out over the nearly 100,000 festival-goers during this performance was truly breathtaking, and proved an appropriate end to my time at Bonnaroo. After such an eventful four days, I was glad to return home to Providence for a shower and clean sheets, but I’m still wearing my wristband in memoriam of this unforgettable festival.