Bonnaroo 2008

To Be Specific. . .

Hallie — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:11:00 GMT

The campground gates opened at noon on Wednesday and by Thursday morning the farm was packed for the night’s unofficial opening. What Made Milwaukee Famous, Newton Faulkner, Back Door Slam and Grand Ole Party were among the small group of artists filling the tent stages (the two largest stages, “What” and “Which” not opening until Friday,) with newcomers Vampire Weekend and Dark Star Orchestra both putting on excellent shows and attracting the largest crowds. When Dark Star’s set of carefully selected and brilliantly reincarnated Grateful Dead tunes wrapped up with “Tennessee Jed” the swell of excitement from the packed and overflowing tent made it pretty clear we were all about to have an excellent weekend.

Friday’s festivities began with the Drive-By Truckers opening up the “Which Stage” just after noon. Stephen Marley filled the largest “What Stage” right next door and the surrounding tents boasted smaller names but just as much crowd enthusiasm. I caught both Jose Gonzalez and indie rock goddesses (so named by me after witnessing their obsessively adoring fans sing EVERY word to EVERY song the twins played) Tegan and Sara before heading over to the main stage for the Raconteurs, by far one of my favorite sets of Bonnaroo. I’ve always been a fan of the White Stripes and loved their show at last year’s festival but as I watched Jack White strut around that giant stage, flinging his leather jacket to the side with his carefully sculpted hair style slowly disintegrating in the Tennessee summer heat I completely fell in love with the Raconteurs. And I don’t even know what the hell a raconteur is. White alternated yelling, whispering, spitting then giggling out the lyrics to “Keep it Clean” (also known around the internet as “The Coca-Cola song”) with magnetic gusto and personality.

Other notables of the day were Rilo Kiley, Willie Nelson, M.I.A., The Swell Season and The Bluegrass Allstars (ft. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Bryan Sutton,) all pretty indicative of the festival’s hugely wide range of tunes simultaneously blasting into the fields. Just before Metallica took to the main stage Chris Rock cracked up what appeared to be every single person currently on our side of the Mississippi River. My pals and I settled for listening to the comic from a spot approximately 137 miles away, as getting any closer was a complete impossibility. This was probably due in part to Metallica following Rock by only 15 minutes prompting people to line up for the show hours in advance.

Wrapping it up with WP

Hallie — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Bonnaroo’s seventh run came to a close last night with Widespread Panic’s three-hour set. With some decidedly not-so-jam-bandy artists filling the festival’s big-ticket spots (Metallica on the massive “What Stage” at 9 on Friday night and Pearl Jam in the same location on Saturday, both closing down all but one of the festival’s more than a dozen other venues) and with Kanye West’s show causing a bit of an upset (the show kicking off after 4 in the morning instead of at 8:15 as originally scheduled,) a hearty dose of John Bell (WP’s lead guitarist and vocalist) was just what the doctor ordered.

I came into this year’s festival excited about such a wide range of artists but after talking with some other attendees it began to look like inviting artists from across the board may have been a misstep for the festival organizers, and the concert’s 80,000 available tickets didn’t all get sold. But while we may have been able to pack a few more folks onto the farm, this year’s attendance was nothing to sneeze at and thousands of people braved the dust and the gas prices to trek to middle Tennessee.

Revving up for the 'roo

Hallie — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:09:00 GMT

It’s that time of year again- grab a granola bar, pack your cooler and SPF your bandana –clad forehead - we’re going to Bonnaroo. The line up for the seventh-annual music festival (held on a more than 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee) is as diverse as ever and covers such a wide range of tunes that even the choosiest music fans can find something to flail to. Melodytrip coverage of the glorified field party will be coming to you from a local gal and Bonnaroo veteran, guaranteeing you insider scoop as well as a healthy helping of pithy redneck jokes (I’m allowed to make fun of my own people. Anyone from above the Mason-Dixon Line will kindly keep his or her Yankee mouth shut. Just kidding. Not really.)

This year’s headliners include Pearl Jam and Metallica, two festival first-timers, and also features Bonnaroo basics such as Jack Johnson, Alison Krauss, My Morning Jacket and the festival’s very first headliner, Widespread Panic. Check out the full list of artists as well as info about other attractions at the official (and staggeringly detailed) website, http://www.bonnaroo.com/.

Get stoked.