Okay you’re right, I’m not heading there quite yet. It’s a little bit early to leave now, and I do agree completely with you about that. Plus, I still don’t know how to drive stick, so I have to wait for Brian to pick me up. And looking at the calendar, I guess that isn’t going to happen until June.
But yeah, after I saw the lineup for Bonnaroo 2009, I got a little discussion going with Brian and RADam, my traditional traveling companions for Virgin Festival, and we agreed that we need to start the festival fun a little bit early this year by going to Bonnaroo. Now of course, since Brian is a veteran of the 2006 edition, he had to twist the knife a bit with a little blurb about seeing Tom Petty (and Stevie Nicks,) Radiohead, Beck, and Ben Folds that particular year.
Brian was the nice guy who pulled out his credit card to grab four nights worth of hotel space for us. Brian’s not so much of a camper these days. Me? I wouldn’t mind camping under normal circumstances, but in this case, I’m not really jazzed about camping with a buncha unwashed Phish fans. Sorry Phish fans, nothing against those of you that actually do work on practicing personal hygiene – it’s the rest of your bunch that kinda ruin the idea for me. As I read more about camping conditions, and read how camping can extend out as far as 3 miles away, I decided that I really didn’t want to be the guy that was camping at the 3 mile mark.
And the lineup, wow – the lineup! My buddy Jack left the following comment here a few days ago:
Did you hand pick that Bonnaroo lineup yourself or what?
I don’t recall being involved in the decision making process, but I must have been, to wind up with a lineup anchored by Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Al Green, Govt. Mule, David Byrne….and that PHISH band playing two shows! The Bonnaroo folks have pulled off in my opinion, their best lineup to date. I’ve wanted to go each year, and this year’s lineup finally pushed me over the edge and made me figure it out. This is a big milestone, friends. Bonnaroo this year, and maybe I’ll FINALLY be at South by Southwest next year?
The MAN himself, Bruce Springsteen (or at least his people,) had the following comments regarding his upcoming appearance at Bonnaroo:
Tickets for Bonnaroo go on sale tomorrow. Let’s try to get Bruce fans
to take over the entire festival. We have a feeling this is going to
sell out quick, so don’t slack.
Anyone up for a massive caravan from Jersey?
Hmmmm, Bruce….
AMEN!
Speaking of Bruce – People have been asking me all week “What did you think of Bruce on the Super Bowl?”
C’mon, you saw it – it was AWESOME! I was both proud, and at the same time, a bit torn knowing that Bruce’s Super Bowl win was going to make it a lot harder to get tickets for shows this year. There’s a really nice summary/wrapup at Deeper Shade of Soul that captures my overall thoughts nicely.
I’m happy that I will be able to share in the experience of Brian and RADam enjoying their first Springsteen show at Bonnaroo. This is one of my favorite things in life, taking friends to see Springsteen for the first time.
I think that festival organizers can learn a lot from Bonnaroo, Virgin Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella – four festivals that come to my mind presenting a lineup each year that is UNIQUE. There have been an increasing number of festival cancellations in the past year with the cancellation of Langerado most recently announced this past week due to sluggish ticket sales. The problem remains, as I’ve written about in the past, that there are too many festivals.
(DISCLAIMER: The previous and following comments are my opinion. I could be wrong. But, I’m probably right.)
I think we’ll continue to see further cancellations that will leave the top dogs mentioned above, as the last men standing in the festival world. And although I think that there are too many festivals, I do think there is room for additional festivals – competition IS a good thing! The right promoter will look at the four festivals mentioned above, and figure out how to offer up something that is even better. Can’t wait to see the lineup on that one!
I’m looking forward to my first Bonnaroo. There are bands and artists that I haven’t seen that have been on my “wanna see” list for a long time. David Byrne is one, and believe it or not, Phish are another. For some reason, I’ve never caught a Phish show. I’m a “casual fan” at best, but I own enough of their albums making it a good time to cross them off my “haven’t seen” list.
Some of the other artists that I am excited about:
Al Green (!!!!)
Lucinda Williams
Down (Okay, I’ve seen Down…but it’s been a LONG time)
Merle Haggard
The Decemberists
Jenny Lewis
Alejandro Escovedo
Todd Snider
Mike Farris
And there’s so many more…..check out the complete lineup here!
Purchase your own tickets, and let it ROCK!
DUDE. You are SO lucky. Will you PLEASE get my $20 from Bruce? He’s avoiding my calls.
Um you are forgetting the best person there, the love of my life, Tift Merritt. I have all of her stuff if you want me to burn it for you. I’ll have to get a Surgeon General’s warning for it, though, as she can cause heart failure and priaprism.
And I wanted to go to SXSW more than anything but I discussed it with my bank account and apparently it wouldn’t be “frugal”. Don’t tell me what to do, wallet.
I think you’re right that the festival world is oversaturated now, but don’t rule out Bamboozle in that list of survivors. With Warped Tour’s lineups getting worse every year, Bamboozle’s getting all the bands who are too cool for Warped now. Plus, they’ve got the reunited No Doubt this year…always a plus
Yay for you 🙂 I continue to be jealous!
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