Bonnaroo 2013: Grantland Review

Next to the staid, dependable rock-and-roll offerings of Macca and Sunday night's closing act, Tom Petty, R. Kelly, who headlined Saturday, might have seemed like an odd choice. But it was actually perfect counter-programming, and I'm sure he made more than a few real-talk converts out of moe. fans this weekend; what’s more, he was surprisingly in sync with the narcotics-enthusiast crowd. I mean, you don’t need drugs to enjoy the man's vocal histrionics and deep, rich catalogue of hits (I bet you’ve forgotten exactly how good "I’m a Flirt" is. Go ahead. Give it a listen. We'll wait). But say you had just chomped down on a handful of mushrooms washed down with a few slugs of lukewarm Milwaukee's Best: Well, then, you were in the right place, my friend. By the end of the set, when Kellz was crooning "I Believe I Can Fly" with an entire white-clad gospel choir behind him and releasing flock after flock of plastic doves into the stratosphere, what could you have possibly rather been tripping balls to?