Inside R. Kelly's Baffling, Absurdist, Frustrating, Brilliant Bonnaroo Set
There he was, perched 50 feet in the air and using a small crane platform as a makeshift stage, hovering over the Bonnaroo 2013 crowd like some leather hat-wearing God. R. Kelly. He is towering above the giant question mark signifying the Which Stage, which will, for 90 minutes, unwittingly double as a harbinger of Robert Kelly's absurd, baffling and brilliant set.
"It's the remix to Ignition," sings Kellz and the crowd, of course, loses its mind. After a minute, the music stops, and, either by design or mistake, no music is played while thousands of people awkwardly, silently, watch Kelly's crane make its tortoise-slow descent towards the stage. It's like seeing a clown perform at a circus, then watching him remove his makeup in full view. By the end of the set, it will be the first in a series of "Best intentions" moments—grand ideas, flawed executions—that mark one of Bonnaroo's most bizarre sets.
2m
41m
5m
41m
7m
41m
41m
41m
41m
41m
41m
41m
2m
41m
4m
20m
5m
1m
3m
41m
1m
5m
6m
7m
2m
21m
45m
45m
3m
1h 28m
2m
1m
1m
2m
55m
41m
2m
1m
45m
57s
1m
1m
1h 20m
44m
12m
20m
1m
12m
1h 27m
22m
22m
50m
5m
8m
22m
21m
20m
9m
16m
11m
10m
8m
9m
1h 42m
3m
8m
8m
1h 36m
46m
1m
8m
16m
13m
10m
22m
1m
1h 2m
10m
6m
10m
1m
22m
10m
5m
7m
21m
5m
40m
14m
11m
2m
17m
11m
41m
41m
6m
41m