I've been reminiscing lately about my summer travels to several of the U.S.'s best musical events, especially the many great bands I witnessed on my trek. One show in particular still stands out above the rest – Delta Spirit in This Tent, Thursday night at Bonnaroo 2009. Their set was initially scheduled for early afternoon on Thursday, but due to some technical difficulties with their plane at DFW, they couldn't arrive on time to fill their spot. Thankfully, they caught a later flight out, borrowed some instruments from an earlier band, and were dealt a prime slot – closing out the largest tent to a rain-soaked, fresh-legged first-day festival crowd. I'd been trying to get my group of about 10 others to see Delta Spirit all day, but due to the sporadic downpours, drunkenness and festival ADD, I'd lost my entire crew by the start of the set. Unfortunately, for them, they missed the best performance of the weekend, one that still sticks with me even more than the two major headlining spots by that favorite band of mine. I caught a few of the songs on video, but recently I found the closing duo of my favorite, "People, Turn Around," and the scorcher, "Crippler King," that sent the several hundred in attendance back out in the rain with a giddy stride to their step. Check it out:

I didn't catch it when I saw it live, but you gotta give much respect for the H-Town shout-out towards the end of "Crippler King" – "Holy cow, look at all of you...we've never played in front of this many people before, we're usually a bar band. So, if you could just image yourself at some fucking juke like Walter's on Washington in Houston, TX, you'll be doing great." I can assuredly tell you that I didn't need to put my imagination into Houston's best indie-rock club to be having a good time. I can't wait to catch them again live. By the sounds of it, they won't be skipping our fair city on their next tour, so I should be getting another Delta Spirit show sometime real soon.