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"\r\n\r\n\r\nTo kick off the first night of Bonnaroo &amp;apos;09, Rolling Stone did what we do best: we invited some ace up-and-coming acts to play our very own party, sponsored by Vitamin Water. At 8 p.m., Brooklyn synth-pop trio Chairlift heated up the fest as the sun set over the 650-acre Great Stage Park in Manchester, Tennessee. The crew delivered a mellow set of woozy, &amp;apos;80s-throwback tracks that was heavy on tunes from their gorgeous debut, Does You Inspire You.\r\n(Click above to catch Of Montreal&amp;apos;s Kevin Barnes hanging in a hammock with Janelle Monae and Chairlift explaining how it felt to brush against Phish&amp;apos;s Mike Gordon on the festival grounds.)\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;ve always wanted to do that &amp;#x2014; play these songs as the sun was setting over some giant field,&amp;quot; singer Caroline Polachek told us backstage. &amp;quot;I always thought our songs were suited to that.&amp;quot; The trio also pulled out a couple of neat tricks, closing their set with a gothic-disco version of Snoop Dogg&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Sensual Seduction.&amp;quot; A classically trained opera singer, Polachek effortlessly simulated Snoop&amp;apos;s Auto-Tuned vocals &amp;#x2014; and she did it without the help of the effect. As bandmate Aaron Pfenning told us, &amp;quot;She doesn&amp;apos;t need any Auto-Tune. Her voice is perfect.&amp;quot; Jay-Z would approve.\r\n(Dive into Bonnaroo in our gallery of live shots.)\r\nOnce the sun set, the weather turned nasty and torrents of rain turned the fest grounds into a giant pool of mud. But that didn&amp;apos;t dampen fest-goers from getting down to Lexington, Kentucky quartet American Princes, who mix Pavement&amp;apos;s slacker-hero romanticism with Weezer&amp;apos;s tightly wound, pop-rock hooks. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s finally cooling off,&amp;quot; singer David Slade said to the rain-soaked crowd. &amp;quot;I might run out there in a minute. It&amp;apos;s the only chance I&amp;apos;ll have for a shower all weekend.&amp;quot;\r\nSci-fi diva-in-training Janelle Monae wrapped up the party around 11 p.m. Apparently, the girl was transported to Bonnaroo from the 1950s via some sort of time-traveling machine. Sporting a stylish tuxedo, black-and-white saddle shoes and an Elvis-style pompadour, Monae turned out a terrific, high-energy set of retro-futuristic jams that touched on old-school hip-hop, Sixties orchestral pop and sexed-up funk. She played her role as the female counterpart to OutKast&amp;apos;s Andre 3000 with aplomb. You could tell the crowd &amp;#x2014; heavy on preppies and fratboys not to mention a cameo from Of Montreal&amp;apos;s Kevin Barnes and Bryan Poole &amp;#x2014; were all &amp;quot;WTF?&amp;quot; but that didn&amp;apos;t stop them from busting some serious moves to frenzied jams like &amp;quot;Many Moons.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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