Wednesday, February 15th 2012

News:  Bonnaroo

Bonnaroo 2012: The Right and Wrong of This Year’s Lineup

By Reverend Justito

Now in its eleventh year, Bonnaroo is the crème de la crème of North American music festivals. First held in 2002 as jam band festival, the event has grown both in size and musical diversity, with the Tennessee wilderness serving as the backdrop to four days of sweltering self-policing musical and comedic indulgence. After close examination, we here at Antiquiet have prepared a breakdown of the festival from a right and wrong perspective, exploring the evolution of the decade-old festival.

The Wrong:

The Beach Boys: Sure, we understand that The Beach Boys are (mostly) living legends, but in 2012 there’s just not a lot of liveliness coming from the pride of Hawthorne California. After a disappointing performance at the Grammy Awards one wonders what long-dusty favors were called in for them to claim solid stage time at the Roo. With all due respect to John Stamos’ side gig, we’d have much rather seen this spot filled by Prince, who was heavily rumored to take part in this years’ affair.

The Lack of Jam Bands: As we mentioned earlier, Bonnaroo got their start as a jam band festival looking to fill the void that Phish created when they went on hiatus. Bonnaroo 2012 ‘s lineup brings two major jam bands back to the bill (Phish and Umphrey’s Mcgee) and while acts like The Word have some jam tendencies, one must wonder if organizers have forgotten which fan base made their initial festival such an incredibly successful event.

The Lack of Heavy Metal: Over the past five years festival organizers have done an outstanding job of bringing metal to the Roo. In addition to headliners like Tool and Metallica, the annual event has featured the likes of GWAR, Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon cranking out ferocious metal madness for the hippie masses. Yes, Alice Cooper is a metal legend and a welcome treat, but the only act on the lineup that makes us want to get our circle pit on is the virtually unknown Norwegian six piece Kvelertak. Honorable mentions to both Bad Brains and Mariachi El Bronx (we can’t wait to see our boys again), but both fall under more punk than metal – especially with El Bronx. No metal to be found there – unless they take off the sombreros and kick into their hardcore material.

The Right:

Hip-Hop: From Bonnaroo vets The Roots to up and comers like Childish Gambino (once you get past the Kanye leanings, dude’s got promise) this year’s festival is jam packed with a diverse list of hip-hop royalty. Ludacris makes his Bonnaroo debut in addition to Mos Def and Talib Kweli joining forces once again as Black Star (not to be confused with the Radiohead song of the same name). Mac Miller is even on the bill which should make many members of the hippie mafia happy.

The Lack of Jam Bands: There is a reason why Phish sells out air force bases while other jam bands struggle to fill anything over a mid-size venue. The simple fact is when it comes to jam bands Bonnaroo got the best, so who needs the rest? With Bruce Springsteen joining the boys from Vermont during their 2009 appearance at the festival, let the speculation begin as to who will sit in with Phish in 2012.

Reunions: There is something to be said for checking a legend off your live bucket list. Bonnaroo 2012 has some great artists making sweet music together again. Exciting artists reuniting in Manchester and beyond include Ben Folds Five and The Word (who last performed in 2008). In the rare event that you’re not faced with scheduling conflicts or the desire not to see geriatric harmonizers on truckloads of antidepressants, you could even check out The Beach Boys.

The Experience: Even if you only catch a handful of bands, Bonnaroo is as much about the experience as it is the music. From comedy tents and movies to carnival rides and exotic eats there’s an incredible Summer experience just waiting to happen. Private security means cops won’t be harassing you (no promises about the drones in the sky), so you can dig into your inner hippie by taking part in a drum circle around your campsite or showering outdoors with the lovely patchouli ladies. Whatever it is you’re looking for, with 90,000 freaks descending upon the soil of Tennessee this June there is no doubt you will find it at Bonnaroo.