Enough rambling, you are more interested in the show; Who was good, who met expectations and who disappointed me more than seeing that “Sopranos” series finale. Here is the breakdown of the best and not-so-good of Bonnaroo 2007:

BEST PERFORMANCE (Non-Headliner): The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello acoustic)

Dubbing himself the Nightwatchman. Tom Morello played a 50-minute set on Friday afternoon that dove back into Morello’s defiant roots. Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Morello played songs off his One Man Revolution that attacked the injustices of the country and the world. Morello railed against usual topics, such as the Bush administration and his issues with the recent G-8 conference.

As you know with his work with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, Morello is a compelling figure. His intelligence and knowledge about these topics helped break into one or two close minded people during his set. After teasing us with snippets of riffs from Rage classics “Bombtrack” and “Bulls on Parade,” Morello launched into an acoustic version of “Guerilla Radio,” which sent the 6,000 or so in the tent absolutely ape crap.

As Morello was winding down his set, he mentioned that he would try and make it back next year. One can only hope it's with that other band he plays with as well. As this set proved, when Morello is in his comfortable against the system mindset, you cant touch him.

RUNNER UP: The White Stripes

Even though neither Jack nor Meg White live in Detroit anymore, it hasn’t changed my opinion of the band. Playing to a packed Which Stage area on Sunday night, the Stripes came out looking like the 2001 version of themselves; right before fame, stardom and fist-fights with the lead singer of the Von Bondies. And the music never sounded so raw and fierce during their set. Jack showed that he has return more to his rock roots after dabbling with a little blues on the Stripes’ last record.

Starting their 80-minute set with “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” the duo sounded like their batteries were recharged throughout the set. The band ripped through the title cut of their Icky Thump album early on, as well as their first commercial single, “Hotel Yorba.” Meg White still beat the crap out of the drums in her usual aloof swagger. Unlike many of the bands at Bonnaroo, the White Stripes stuck to the music and didn’t try a 20-minute version of “Seven Nation Army.” With an encore of such tracks as “Black Math” and “Blue Orchid,” it was a fitting way to end Bonnaroo 2007 for me. I don’t care what you think, Jack White calling Tennessee “home” still sounds a little foreign to me.

PLEASANT SURPRISES:

Lily Allen: Something about Lily Allen just bugs me; I don’t know if just her snotty attitude, or that she’s part of a new wave of indie pop that just sounds rehashed. But for a bit on Friday, Allen impressed me with her set. It had a nice blend of reggae and electronica. She didn’t seem drunk yet (but was swigging a bottle of Jager, so maybe it was just early in the day), which had been a sticking point of a lot of reviews at festivals prior to Bonnaroo.

Gogol Bordello: Now this was just fun. Lead by Eugene Hutz , the collective played a great set which could have been the most energetic set on Saturday. The music is a blend of gypsy, rock and punk that can only be best described as the lovechild of “Fiddler of the Roof” and the first and last five minutes of Borat. Too bad Borat didn’t come on stage and ask for any of Eugene’s gypsy tears.

Kings of Leon: Lead by the love-‘em or hate-‘em vocals of Caleb Followill, the Kings sounded a lot better live than when I have heard their CD’s. The band sounded remarkably tight live and were just about the only band to play during a brief rainstorm in the rain-parched Manchester area.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Brazilian Girls: This was some whacked out stuff. Some woman with a flying saucer looking thing strapped to her back convulsing around, swearing up a storm over jungle and drum beats that was more to see as a spectacle than anything.

Alexa Ray Joel: I put her here not because Billy Joel’s daughter was good; but because I only saw 50-60 people at her performance at the Sonic Stage Saturday afternoon. It goes to prove just because you have famous genes does not automatically buy you success. Poor Alexa is gonna have to make a name for herself the old fashioned way, slugging it out in clubs for years and years.

The Hold Steady: Craig Finn and the rest of The Hold Steady are quickly becoming one of my under the radar favorites. For their hour-plus set on the last day of their North American tour, the Minnesota band played through the heavy dust that littered the Bonnaroo site. Playing songs like “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” and others, The Hold Steady are becoming the closest thing the new generation has to a Springsteen type band that there is.

Fountains of Wayne: I only had a chance to watch about half of their set, but what I did hear sounded like the most polished pop that didn’t come out of some Top 40 hit factory. Playing tracks like “Hackensack” and “Somebody Love Me,” Adam Schleisnger’s crew were very affable towards the crowd on Saturday. The best joke of the day came courtesy of the band when they covered a Kenny Chesney song and said “We would have had him help us out with the song, but he was too busy sucking somewhere else!” Great line!

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

Lewis Black and Friends: Now, now; I didn’t put this in the disappointments because Lewis Black was bad. It's because I couldn’t get in to see his set. At least 6,000 people were in line for a tent that held 2,000 people at most. I was part of the 4,000 or so that was shut out. I was given somewhat of a reprieve as I got to see Lewis Black’s press conference (with others) on Saturday, where he rattled off a few great lines (“The only reason come to my set here is because it has air conditioning; you have to be g-- damned stupid to not realize that.”)

The Roots: For a good 45 minutes, I just sat there and thought to myself, “When are they gonna stop screwing off and play “The Seed?” So, finally after a so-so rendition of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” and a snore inducing 12-minute version of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” the hip-hop collective launched into the song. But the rest of their set lacked that same fire.

Wilco: I’ve seen I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. I really want to like this band, but they’ve never done anything for me live. Their Sunday afternoon set did nothing to change my opinion of the band. As evident by the small number of people in the VIP bleachers, it seemed like some other people formed the same opinion as I did.

Franz Ferdinand: Usually these Scots are a fun band to watch and have some of the catchiest songs in rock today. But for 75 minutes Saturday evening, Franz Ferdinand lost track of who and what they were. Sure, they played “Take Me Out” and “This Fire,” but the band spent too long trying to appeal to the jam-minded crowd that was a majority on this night. And the band didn’t play “Do You Want To,” which was just plain wrong. They are better in a 40-45 minute dose, and had too much filler throughout the set.

I heard great things about Mute Math’s Thursday night performance, and the monster Superjam (with the Roots’ ?uestlove, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Ben Harper) after the mammoth sounding Tool performance. I heard not-so-great things about the Clutch performance, but given the audience, it may have not been the best festival for them to play at. So, when these artists rolled through Detroit in the near future, you know what to expect.