photo by Dean Budnick

“Is it way past your bedtime?” Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder posed to the faithful standing before him at the What Stage. The crowd answered with a resounding no, even if a nearly 90-minute weather delay threatened to throw a wrench in the evening’s festivities, which included some of the finest musical offerings of this, the 15^th annual Bonnaroo.

In the end, the heat lightning subsided and left in the eye of the storm was Vedder, McCready, Gossard, Ament, Cameron and Gaspar, the Seattle rock titans returning to The Farm for the first time since their legendary 2008 headlining slot. When perusing the annals of Bonnaroo, it wouldn’t take you long to land on that particular evening in 2008, when the band put on a historic show that included three encores.

On this night there would only be one encore, as Pearl Jam opted for a compact yet furious 22-song set that relied on some of their finest live staples like the frantic “Go” as well as the brooding “Corduroy” the anthemic “Given to Fly” and a fitting “Lightning Bolt.” Vedder, the ringleader throughout, constantly perched up on his front amp to get a better look at those he was working for on this evening, eventually stirring the crowd into a frenzy for finales of “Alive” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The band even welcomed out longtime producer Brendan O’Brien to play keys on the Ten cut “Black” and dedicated a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” to Dead & Company’s Mickey Hart while also shouting out Friday night headliners LCD Soundsystem and fellow Seattleite Macklemore.

The show was simply Pearl Jam getting fully in the Bonnaroo spirit, as Vedder remarked how honored the group was to be on that particular stage on this particular evening, with a dedicated crowd that braved an evacuation to be there. This stage previously hosted the likes of Band of Horses, who were a touring mate of Pearl Jam in 2010. BoH celebrated their new album Why Are You OK with an energetic set that relied heavily on the new material before leaning on some of their biggest hits like “No One’s Gonna Love You” and the finale of “The Funeral.”

photo by Dean Budnick

Also celebrating a new release was Brooklyn virtuoso Steve Gunn, who hit This Tent shortly before sundown and well before the weather delay. Gunn’s set felt like a perfect nod to the festival’s roots as he worked in cuts from his recent output Eyes on the Lines to a crowd that preferred to stay seated, catching a break from the blistering sun. Gunn joked late in his set that his goal was to “just try and drown out the disco band,” referring to Two Door Cinema Club who hit the nearby Which Stage about halfway through Gunn’s set.

Later on, Gunn also made another self-deprecating crack as he compared the rather small crowd in front of him to “our rehearsal space in Brooklyn.” “Do you guys get that one?” he added.

photo by John Patrick Gatta

While Saturday at Bonnaroo featured some storied acts from the festival’s past, like Grace Potter who appeared on the What Stage entirely reimagined into her solo outfit and worked in a snippet of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” before her hit “Stars,” the day also included a pair of notable groups making their debut on The Farm: Chris Stapleton and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.

Stapleton delivered cuts from his standout record Traveler throughout his performance. The Nashville singer-songwriter joked that “maybe a few of you bought this record,” a modest assessment of an album that has sold somewhere north of a million copies. The title track got everyone dancing and then Stapleton took everyone back with his take on “Tennessee Whiskey.”

Pearl Jam, Potter and Steve Gunn were not the only ones who returned to The Farm, as Jason Mraz played a surprise set earlier in the day. Mraz appeared at Bonnaroo for the first time since 2003 and relied heavily on the tunes he played on that very day. Coming out with an improv song that served as an appropriate starting point for the day, Mraz (who was playing his first gig in some time) peppered his solo acoustic set with tunes like “You and I” and “More Than Friends,” among others.

Meanwhile, kicking off This Tent early on was Anderson East, who further added to the decidedly Tennessee flavor with big band takes on tunes like Faces’ “Stay With Me” as well as Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel,” just one of many tributes to those legendary musicians lost this year as sister act HAIM also covered Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.”

photo by Dean Budnick

Other highlights from Saturday include Chance the Rapper joining Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for their song “Need to Know,” Rateliff adding Leon Bridges to his hit “S.O.B.” and Eddie Vedder popping up in the comedy tent with Judd Apatow to pay tribute to the late Garry Shandling with an acoustic song drawn from Shandling’s comedic material over the years. Speaking of Pearl Jam, Ellie Goulding prepped for the group’s set by donning a PJ shirt (she previously has  listed Ten as one of her favorite records ever and has also credited Pearl Jam as one of her favorite bands).

photo by Dean Budnick

The Superjam saw a core group led by Kamasi Washington explore the work of Tennessee songwriters, supported by guitarist Eric Krasno, some of Kraz’s bandmates in Lettuce and a rotating cast of players. Guests included Migel (“SexyBack”) GIVERS’ Tiffany Lamson (“I Never Loved A Man”), Third Eye Blind (“Ring of Fire”), Nathaniel Rateliff (“Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City“), GRiZ (“Morning” ) Oh Wonder (“Jolene”) and
Chicano Batman (“Theme From Shaft”).

All in all, Saturday at Bonnaroo was filled with some of the festival’s most timeless acts, once again reinventing themselves and reaffirming the collaborative spirit of this, the fifteenth Bonnaroo.