When Praxis took the stage at Bonnaroo in 2004, it wasn’t simply another late-night jam set — it was a sonic detonation that still lives in festival folklore. The performance became one of those legendary moments when genre lines disappeared, expectations were obliterated, and a crowd already primed for musical adventure was handed something truly unrepeatable.

Tonight, that legendary set returns in full as Live Nuggets Radio presents a very special handpicked broadcast of Praxis – Live at Bonnaroo 2004, airing in its entirety every Tuesday night at 9PM EST. For longtime fans and new listeners alike, it is a rare opportunity to revisit one of the most daring performances ever to echo across the Bonnaroo fields.

A Band Built to Break the Rules

Praxis has always existed outside of classification. The group’s rotating lineup of musical renegades — led by bassist and sonic architect Bill Laswell — functions more like a laboratory than a conventional band. By the time Bonnaroo 2004 arrived, Praxis had evolved into a combustible fusion of experimental funk, metal, dub, free jazz, hip-hop, and ambient textures.

This wasn’t music designed for passive listening. Praxis performances were confrontational, immersive, and intensely physical, built on improvisation and collective instinct rather than predictable song structures. Bonnaroo, with its open-minded audience and marathon overnight energy, was the perfect environment for that philosophy to explode.

The Bonnaroo Set That Changed Everything

By the time Praxis took the stage, the festival was already humming with that special post-midnight electricity — when the crowd is tired enough to be fearless and awake enough to chase something new. From the opening notes, it was clear this would not be a background performance. Thick bass lines rumbled through the field, fractured guitar stabs cut through swirling effects, and rhythms mutated in real time, pushing the music into strange, beautiful, sometimes chaotic new shapes.

Rather than delivering a predictable setlist, Praxis leaned into extended improvisational passages that stretched grooves into hypnotic journeys. Moments of thunderous heaviness would dissolve into dub-soaked space, only to be rebuilt into jagged funk or cosmic noise, all driven by the band’s uncanny ability to communicate without words.

The crowd didn’t just watch — they moved with it, shouted with it, and surrendered to it. It was a full-body experience that blurred the line between performance and shared ritual.

Why This Show Still Matters

In a festival landscape that has grown increasingly polished, the Bonnaroo 2004 Praxis set stands as a reminder of what true musical risk sounds like. It captured a moment when experimentation was not a side attraction, but a headline event — and when audiences were willing to be challenged, not just entertained.

For many fans, this show became their gateway into the deeper underground worlds of dub, avant-jazz, and experimental fusion. It also reaffirmed Bonnaroo’s early reputation as a place where the unexpected could become the unforgettable.

Relive the Sonic Collision Tonight

Live Nuggets Radio brings this legendary performance back into the present with a full-length broadcast of Praxis – Live at Bonnaroo 2004, airing every Tuesday night at 9PM EST. From the first seismic bass hit to the final echoes fading into the Tennessee night, it is a front-to-back immersion into one of the most daring festival sets ever captured.

For anyone who believes music should challenge, surprise, and occasionally overwhelm, this is not just another replay — it is a return to a moment when the rules were off, the volume was up, and anything could happen.