photo from the Associated Press

Labels: 2008 Music Festivals, Bonnaroo

Jack Johnson performing at the second annual Bonnaroo (2003). Photo courtesy of evilvince.com

Thousands of music and arts enthusiasts are gathering in the beautiful foothills of Tennessee to enjoy four days of music, arts and plenty more. Bonnaroo is one of the largest festivals in the United States and the first major festival of the 2008 summer season.

In recent years, Bonnaroo has become as well known as other big music and arts festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella and Austin City Limits.

But Bonnaroo does not start of with a bang. The line up for the first day of the festival pales in comparison to the artists and bands set to perform this weekend.

For the Thursday kick-off, bands like Vampire Weekend, Superdrag, Battles, and MGMT are scheduled to play - all of these in the so-called "This Tent". The other 'stages', or tents, feature lesser known artists, or bands and musicians that have a comparably small or local following, such as Lez Zeppelin, Dark Star Orchestra, Grand Ole Party and The Felice Brothers.

MP3: MGMT - "Destrokk"

For music fans that have never heard The Battles, check out this driving electronic rock video titled "Atlas". It has been viewed over one million times.

It's not much of a surprise that the first day of the festival, being that it is a Thursday, is not loaded up with must-see bands. Furthermore, the music doesn't even get started until early evening.

Nevertheless, on Friday, June 13, Bonnaroo becomes the epicenter of a wide array of impressive bands and artists, including The Raconteurs, Metallica, My Morning Jacket, Drive-By Truckers, Steve Marley, Jose Gonzales, Rilo Kiley, Willie Nelson, Tegan and Sara, MIA, The Swell Season, !!!, MSTRKRFT, Tiesto, Les Claypool, Minus The Bear and almost a dozen others.

Tegan and Sara performing "Back In Your Head" (YouTube video)



The only problem, and this is the problem with most festivals that have multiple stages, is that you are almost guaranteed to miss some of your favorite artists or bands because they perform simultaneously in different locations. That's why pouring over the schedule in advance and mapping where you want to be and when is so important to maximizing your musical experience.

With that said, and to the credit of the organizers, Bonnaroo is one of the top music festivals at which who plays where and when has been scheduled in such a way that most festival goers will have the opportunity to see most of the 'big name' performers in their genre (i.e. indie rock) without too much overlap.

Another cool thing about Bonnaroo is that headliners play very long sets (Metallica is playing for 2 1/2 hours and My Morning Jacket is playing for three hours) and the music goes well into the wee hour mornings, when the summer sky is full of stars and the cooler night time air makes for a wonderful experience.

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Labels: 2008 Music Festivals, Bonnaroo

Labels: Bonnaroo, Music Festivals

Official Bonnaroo Fest line-up (no times yet)

Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Phil Lesh & Friends, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers Band, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Death Cab for Cutie, B.B. King, Sigur Rós , Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road, Ben Folds, O.A.R., The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton, M.I.A., Umphrey's McGee, Iron & Wine, Yonder Mountain String Band, Swell Season, Talib Kweli, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival, Gogol Bordello, Broken Social Scene (pictured at right), Robert Randolph’s Revival, Rilo Kiley, Mastodon, Lupe Fiasco, Against Me!, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Pat Green, Ozomatli, Tegan & Sara

Solomon Burke, Drive-By Truckers, !!!, The Avett Brothers, Israel Vibration, Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck, Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Aimee Mann, Ladytron, The Fiery Furnaces, Orchestra Baobab, Ghostland Observatory, José González, Dark Star Orchestra, Minus the Bear, Donavon Frankenreiter, State Radio, Battles, Jakob Dylan, Two Gallants, The Sword, Vampire Weekend, Little Feat, Nicole Atkins, The Felice Brothers, Mason Jennings, MGMT, The Lee Boys, Black Kids, Serena Ryder, Steel Train, Grupo Fantasma, Back Door Slam.

The folks at Bonnaroo have yet to release the schedule, times and stages for where and when the artists will be playing, but stay tuned and the details will be posted as soon as they are available.

During the next few months, there will be more profiles published of artists appearing at various festivals around the world in 2008.

The following MP3s are from three indie outfits scheduled to place this year:

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Iron & Wine - Boy With A Coin

Ladytron - AMTV

Labels: 2008 Music Festivals, Bonnaroo