The best of the best from Bonnaroo 2011 according to Kim from The Wild Honey Pie.  Were you at Bonnaroo?  What were you unforgettable memories?  Leave a note in the comments.

Jovanatti: I had never seen or heard of Italian artist Jovanatti. His performance was before DeVotchKa, though, so I was going to damn-well make sure that I got there early and was close to the stage. Man, was it worth it! There was a crew of Italian guys next to me going on and on (barely able to even speak English) about how amazing Jovanatti is and how everyone in Italy just LOVES him. I was skeptical at first, but then pretty much blown away by the charisma of this guy. He came onstage looking uber-flashy, then put on an amazing high-energy performance sure to make any girl (or guy!) sweat and dance like crazy. I would call it a fusion between salsa and hip hop, all in Italian. There was so much sexy hip-moving action going on in this tent (The Other Tent, to be exact).

Gogol Bordello’s acoustic set before DeVotchKa: I wasn’t too familiar with Gogol Bordello before, but front man Eugene Hütz came out and performed a song with Jovanotti. He then announced that the full band would be back to perform an acoustic set before DeVotchKa. This stripped-down take on their gypsy-punk style was absolutely amazing and a superb introduction to the band.

DeVotchKa: I might be a bit biased because I’m a huge fan of DeVotchKa, but beyond that, their performance was perfect in every way. A couple members of Gogol Bordello accompanied them for their first song, which jump-started this fantastic show. The music was impeccable, the band was engaging and there was even a banana shaker and an aerial performance. Nick Urata playing the theremin with the neck of his guitar was the icing on the cake, and the crowd went crazy. I locked this imagery away in my “favourite concert moments ever” stash. It was everything I could have hoped for and more.

Mission Icefly: I know this seems somewhat irrelevant, but I feel the need to share how far companies are going to advertise at festivals now. Right before the AMAZING performance by Arcade Fire, I look up into the sky and see three paragliders. Pretty cool in itself, but suddenly, it appeared as though the sky was swarmed with blue fireflies, all twinkling. There was a cluster of at least a thousand of these flashing blue lights, which slowly spread as they fell toward the ground. The paragliders released these clusters about five or six times. You could look out at the crowd and see people all looking up and pointing at them. Finally, they grew closer and closer and until they began falling on the ground. They were blue LED lights attached to pieces of paper that read “Mission Icefly” and each one had a barcode on the end of it. The website is very eerie — definitely worth checking out.

Arcade Fire: This set was simply phenomenal.  I was able to get a prime spot very close to the stage , which was fortunate considering the crowd during this set was insanely huge. Everything, from the performance itself, to the visuals and enthusiasm of the crowd — everything — was perfect. The setlist was incredible, and whenever they came back onstage for the encore, “Wake Up”, I felt united with everyone there who was singing along. It was euphoric, to say the least.

STS9: After a long, tiring day of walking around in the heat, the last thing I expected to do was stay up all night dancing. Well, that’s what happened. STS9 was awesome! The electronic tunes ebbed and flowed from classic techno beats, to hip hop, to trance, etc. Around 4 o clock, they announced that they were finished for the night, but then they came back onstage and asked us if we wanted to party some more. Of course we did! Dancing until sunrise with my feet in the sand and drunk on Blue Moon was one of the highlights of my Bonnaroo experience.

Iron & Wine / Florence + The Machine: These were two of the performances I was the most stoked to see, and unfortunately, two of the performances that I basically said “fuck this” to. The crowds were so ridiculously packed that the only option was to sit VERY far back. So far back that hearing or seeing anything was a long shot. Heartbreaking, but I’d rather catch these two at a local venue anyway.

Beirut: Thank God I saw Beirut! This performance was fantastic. The energy of the band, the energy of the crowd — all of it was great. I’m going to be buying their next album as soon as the clock strikes midnight on August 30.

Runners up: The Head and The Heart / Matt & Kim

This goes out to the 6’3” half naked guy covered in silver glitter who decided to shove his way up and stand RIGHT IN FUCKING FRONT OF ME during Jovanatti — and then didn’t even dance AND got his silver glitter sweat all over me. HEY, FUCK YOU! I wanted to give this guy a stern ‘talking to’.

Jessica Lea Mayfield, Sharon Van Etten, GIVERS, Explosions In The Sky, !!!, Eminem