All right, everyone, you can roll up your sleeping bags, throw away your bagged lunches and hit the trails — the Bonnaroo lineup is here.
At the Beacon, the tradition of counting down the seconds until the lineup drops is long and storied, and for once, the wait is well worth it. The tent pole acts are either previous headliners (Radiohead, Phish) or fairly predictable festival bait (Red Hot Chili Peppers), but the synergy of the acts this year might top at least every year I’ve gone in the past.
For a festival grown from jam bands and roots music, Bonnaroo is a monster of a different shade these days. While perennial Summer Tour torchbearers Phish and newly-minted supergroups like The Word (featuring John Medeski, Robert Randolph and the North Mississippi Allstars) and Spectrum Road (featuring Cream’s Jack Bruce) represent the heady grooves of the festival’s early years, this year’s bill appears more the culmination of the trends of the last decade into one holistic mass.
Starting around 2006, a slow push from the indie rock world began to morph Bonnaroo, with Radiohead performing a marathon headline set of classics and cuts from the then-embryonic “In Rainbows,” and a climactic set from Sonic Youth that ended with Stephen Malkmus onstage singing “Expressway to Yr. Skull.” With a healthy dose of alternative rock (Tool’s 2007 headline slot) and a right-field infusion of metal (Metallica’s controversial, gut-churning 2008 set), Bonnaroo became anyone’s game, and in doing so lost some of its luster.
While 2009 seemed a mercurial year and somewhat a return to form with Phish’s reunion and the E Street Band’s massive closing show, the scheduling conflicts between great bands made checking out your favorite bands a nightmare. 2010 presented less of a problem in this regard, allowing that the lineup was considerably weaker.
Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the festival and some true gems in the lineup crown — Buffalo Springfield, anyone? The Strokes? But overall the question whispered among fans was how long the festival could sustain any consistent fanbase, when for the prowess displayed in shrewd picks like Springfield, the organizers top the bill with polarizing choices like Eminem.
At first glance this year appears to finally mark a period of stability and perhaps a new platform for the festival. To some it may look like the indiest year yet, with recent Grammy-winners Bon Iver in the second tier of acts and acts from every genre of the left-of-the-dial constellation popping up, from St. Vincent to Childish Gambino.
But lest we forget the heroes of yore returning to prove they have jams to kick yet. The rare reunion of surviving Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston at least equals the surprise of Buffalo Springfield’s appearance last year, and affable shock-rock godfather Alice Cooper will undoubtedly offer thrills and chills to combat the summer heat. Some younger acts who nonetheless have a long history, like D.C. hardcore legends Bad Brains and ’90s power trio Ben Folds Five, represent the patchwork heritage the festival and its organizers, AC Entertainment and Superfly Presents, have forged through trial and error. And of course audience response.
Where the festival will go from here depends on those warm-blooded pilgrims who flock to Manchester year after year. Bonnaroo has carved its niche as a middle-of-the-road gathering from every corner of the music world. While Coachella may bring larger crowds and some more prestigious acts (Godspeed You! Black Emperor this year), and other ACE and Superfly ventures like Big Ear and Moogfest have drawn in eclectic crowds and deities of the rock snob pantheon, their mass appeal is considerably more limited. Bonnaroo is truly the festival for everyone because it’s never been afraid to fall in the attempt to fly.
— Jake Lane is a creative writing graduate. He can be reached at [email protected].
