Seeing Al Green was an absolute treat. I’ve missed out on the opportunity to see a lot of the performers my dad grew up enjoying and that he passed his appreciation down to me, but this is one I was thankfully able to catch. And decades after Al Green first wowed crowds, he proved more than up to the task at Bonnaroo this year.

When I’m old, bald and toothless, I’ll still remember Al Green’s giant smile as he took the stage late Friday afternoon. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone smile that big who wasn’t marrying their childhood sweetheart. And really, singing songs about love and religion to a bunch of happy people is what Al Green has been passionate about his whole life, so it shouldn’t be any great surprise that he looked as though he was having the time of his life.

The Reverend Green (you Animal Collective fans thinking what I’m thinking?) came out with a giant grin a few bouquets of roses to throw into the crowd. Unfortunately it was about ten feet from the stage to the fans and since roses aren’t the most flight-worthy objects, most of them landed in the photo pit. I hungrily grabbed one of the first ones thrown and quickly realized that the poor thing probably wouldn’t make it through the rest of Bonnaroo locked in my car. However, since it wouldn’t survive any longer if I gave it up, I kept it and still have it sitting on my desk. Thanks, Al.

And, oh yeah, Al Green sounded fantastic. Like most great singers, his classic voice will likely be with him until he dies. He hit every note and even had a little fun with some of his songs. And please don’t take the fact that I’m just now mentioning how Al sounded as any slight against him. It’s just that if I were to have made a list of what left the biggest impression on me it would have been #1: GIANT SMILE #2: ROSES #2 OH YEAH, HE SOUNDED FANTASTIC. So forgive me if I have to say, “oh yeah, Al Green sounded fantastic.”

More photos after the jump…