FUSE TV - Inside R. Kelly's Baffling, Absurdist, Frustrating, Brilliant Bonnaroo Set

There he was, perched 50 feet in the air and using a small crane platform as a makeshift stage, hovering over the Bonnaroo 2013 crowd like some leather hat-wearing God. R. Kelly. He is towering above the giant question mark signifying the Which Stage, which will, for 90 minutes, unwittingly double as a harbinger of Robert Kelly's absurd, baffling and brilliant set.

"It's the remix to Ignition," sings Kellz and the crowd, of course, loses its mind. After a minute, the music stops, and, either by design or mistake, no music is played while thousands of people awkwardly, silently, watch Kelly's crane make its tortoise-slow descent towards the stage. It's like seeing a clown perform at a circus, then watching him remove his makeup in full view. By the end of the set, it will be the first in a series of "Best intentions" moments—grand ideas, flawed executions—that mark one of Bonnaroo's most bizarre sets.