Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
please, this would seriously help make the fest epic, which I have a feeling it has a real possibility of being next year.
Eminem, Jay Z, Lil Wayne, they're all fine artists, but let's get real.........they really shouldn't be at Bonnaroo. Let's get back to what made Bonnaroo great and not go for what will get it on the main page of rollingstone or spin.com.
I was almost embarassed when someone would ask me who was the big act at Bonnaroo this year and I would have to respond with, Eminem.
I just don't get sentiments like this. There are over 100 bands at Bonnaroo. You can't find anything you like? Granted, Eminem was unopposed but that just gave me a chance to do some shopping for a gift for my wife, take a nap, and get a spot for Dr. John. What "back to its roots" do you want Bonnaroo to go to? Jam fest? You got Widespread and SCI in prominent positions this year. Insane musicianship? Did you see The Meters? Or Bela Fleck? You want Roots music? Hayes Carll and Old Crow Medicine Show put on great sets. Loretta Lynn and Wanda Jackson were there.
The thing I love most about Bonnaroo is that the diversity is there. I don't know anywhere else that lets me agonize about having to miss Wanda Jackson to see Opeth.
\ The thing I love most about Bonnaroo is that the diversity is there. I don't know anywhere else that lets me agonize about having to miss Wanda Jackson to see Opeth.
This. I feel like that really is what Bonnaroo is all about.... diversity. Honestly, I would get bored if it was just all jam bands for four days. Eminem and Lil Wayne are great artists, two of the greatest in my opinion, because their lyrics and raps are so hard and emotional. That's why they're "mainstream" I guess. It annoys me when people chastise a band or group because they become popular. If Widespread Panic is all you want to see, then just go to one of their concerts instead!!
Post by bonnarouser on Jun 16, 2011 7:09:34 GMT -5
As a 58 yr old Bonnarooer, I think the diversity of the festival is what makes it unique. I like the idea of having hip hop fans that came to see M, Wayne, BB, etc. get exposed to the type of music that I like....Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby, Grace Potter, etc. I saw a ton of young urban types dancing to MY music. Conversely, I caught part of M and had a great time. You may be worried hip hop's popularity will take over the festival but it is obvious that Bonnaroo is not going to let any one genre dominate.
As a 58 yr old Bonnarooer, I think the diversity of the festival is what makes it unique. I like the idea of having hip hop fans that came to see M, Wayne, BB, etc. get exposed to the type of music that I like....Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby, Grace Potter, etc. I saw a ton of young urban types dancing to MY music. Conversely, I caught part of M and had a great time. You may be worried hip hop's popularity will take over the festival but it is obvious that Bonnaroo is not going to let any one genre dominate.
Well said. I am, as much of my generation is, a very diverse music fan. I love hip-hop, classic rock, funk, blues, bluegrass, etc. and Bonnaroo is the only place I've been to that offers a great array of all those types of music in a single weekend. I've never been to Lolla or Coachella, so they may offer the same thing, but I'm happy that Roo doesn't get dominated by any single type of music.
Post by BelgianCumCrabs on Jun 16, 2011 7:37:14 GMT -5
Because of mainstream Hip hop you're embarassed?
Bonnaroo is never going back to what it was, because it still is what it was. They only added some more bands and that's the only thing they can and will do.
Could you see Bonnaroo being a 80.000 people festival with as headliners Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, The Allman Brothers,.. NO and Bonnaroo knows that.
So what do they do now? They book all these great bands from the first Roos: Widespread, String Cheese, Neil Young, Galactic, Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Del McCoury, Old Crow, The Meters, G. Love, STS9, Warren Haynes, My Morning Jacket,.. They all played in 2002 and/or 2003 AND played in 2011. So why are you demanding the festival to be as it was? You don't see they only ADD music just to attract more people?
Bonnaroo is a business. It might have started with only the jambands but they knew quickly that other genres are popular too and that people like the variety at Bonnaroo. Without making any money they couldn't organise something big as this.
Jay Z, in my opinion at least, is in the top 5 headliners Bonnaroo has had. The enthusiasm and love of music in that crowd was no different than for Phish.
I just don't get the obsession with things being "mainstream" or not. Music is music, either the sh*t is good or it isn't.
Sure I agree, but lets be fair if you take a "mainstream" radio station I am not going to like most of the crap they play. That being said I walked away saying Eminem was pretty good, and that Lil Wayne kind of sucked. I can handle lip syncing but now when you are a word behind.
For the most part though I am going to prefer more underground stuff from both the hip hop and rock and roll camps.
Mainstream is commercial. Couldn't prove it, but I bet there is at least a small correlation between a mainstream, commercially imprinted customer base, and propensity to dispose $$$ at a festival.
Sure I agree, but lets be fair if you take a "mainstream" radio station I am not going to like most of the crap they play. That being said I walked away saying Eminem was pretty good, and that Lil Wayne kind of sucked. I can handle lip syncing but now when you are a word behind.
For the most part though I am going to prefer more underground stuff from both the hip hop and rock and roll camps.
Agreed - I generally can't stand pop radio, though I will throw on the local hip-hop station. However, dismissing an artist because they're "mainstream" is ridiculous. If we're doing that with rap, let's do it with ALL genres. No more Dave Matthews Band, or Phish. No more Arcade Fire. No more Dead or Dead-related projects. Forget Radiohead, Tool, Pearl Jam or Metallica coming back, and why was Stevie Wonder there? Let's get rid of that thread on Paul McCartney, he's about as mainstream as it gets. Let's make sure the Foo Fighters aren't in consideration, either, or Muse.
Next year, Bonnaroo will have as headliners Animal Collective, Umphrey's McGee, and Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. The fest will sell about 10,000 tickets, but at least there won't be any "mainstream" music there.
Well I guess that depends on your definition of Mainstream, and where you live. The mainstream radio in Nashville would never play any of the artists you just mentioned though they are not "underground" or anything. On the other hand I would certainly go see Lady Gaga, so your point is taken, though I would say keep Ke$ha away. Living where I do it is a lot harder to judge what is popular in the Northeast, at least if you are going to judge by radio.
Last Edit: Jun 16, 2011 9:28:37 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
Agreed - I generally can't stand pop radio, though I will throw on the local hip-hop station. However, dismissing an artist because they're "mainstream" is ridiculous. If we're doing that with rap, let's do it with ALL genres. No more Dave Matthews Band, or Phish. No more Arcade Fire. No more Dead or Dead-related projects. Forget Radiohead, Tool, Pearl Jam or Metallica coming back, and why was Stevie Wonder there? Let's get rid of that thread on Paul McCartney, he's about as mainstream as it gets. Let's make sure the Foo Fighters aren't in consideration, either, or Muse.
Next year, Bonnaroo will have as headliners Animal Collective, Umphrey's McGee, and Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. The fest will sell about 10,000 tickets, but at least there won't be any "mainstream" music there.
Well I guess that depends on your definition of Mainstream, and where you live. The mainstream radio in Nashville would never play any of the artists you just mentioned though they are not "underground" or anything. On the other hand I would certainly go see Lady Gaga, so your point is taken, though I would say keep Ke$ha away. Living where I do it is a lot harder to judge what is popular in the Northeast, at least if you are going to judge by radio.
Within 5 square miles I have Williamsburg which listens to predominately indie rock and EDM. Harlem, Bed Stuy, Queensbridge I would bet anything listen to almost entirely hip-hop. Across the Hudson, in Jersey, you have rich kids listening to classic rock, guidos listening to awful, awful techno music, and country kids listening to bluegrass/country. In the Bronx, where I live, you walk down the street one way and you're in Little Dominican and hear nothing but reggaeton. Walk 2 minutes the other way and you're in Little Ireland and hear, well, Irish music.
The Northeast has such a wide variety of people in such a dense area it's hard to pin down what "people listen to in the Northeast" because people listen to everything. Also, no one really listens to radio around here, at least not that I know. I was visiting my parents a few weekends ago (they live an hour north of NYC) and I turned on the radio and almost threw up. One thing I do know, if my kids starting becoming fans of their generation's Justin Beiber and the like (I honestly only know him from the teeny bop genre) I will lock them in a room with Floyd, Zep, Beatles, Stones, Who, etc. until they appreciate real music. I think I'm giving myself a headache now. I hate the majority of my own generation quite a bit, it seems.
Well I guess that depends on your definition of Mainstream, and where you live. The mainstream radio in Nashville would never play any of the artists you just mentioned though they are not "underground" or anything. On the other hand I would certainly go see Lady Gaga, so your point is taken, though I would say keep Ke$ha away. Living where I do it is a lot harder to judge what is popular in the Northeast, at least if you are going to judge by radio.
Within 5 square miles I have Williamsburg which listens to predominately indie rock and EDM. Harlem, Bed Stuy, Queensbridge I would bet anything listen to almost entirely hip-hop. Across the Hudson, in Jersey, you have rich kids listening to classic rock, guidos listening to awful, awful techno music, and country kids listening to bluegrass/country. In the Bronx, where I live, you walk down the street one way and you're in Little Dominican and hear nothing but reggaeton. Walk 2 minutes the other way and you're in Little Ireland and hear, well, Irish music.
The Northeast has such a wide variety of people in such a dense area it's hard to pin down what "people listen to in the Northeast" because people listen to everything. Also, no one really listens to radio around here, at least not that I know. I was visiting my parents a few weekends ago (they live an hour north of NYC) and I turned on the radio and almost threw up. One thing I do know, if my kids starting becoming fans of their generation's Justin Beiber and the like (I honestly only know him from the teeny bop genre) I will lock them in a room with Floyd, Zep, Beatles, Stones, Who, etc. until they appreciate real music. I think I'm giving myself a headache now. I hate the majority of my own generation quite a bit, it seems.
As the father of a 14 year old boy, and a 11 year old girl I am pretty happy with their musical tastes. Peer pressure from school has made them like some questionable bands, but I remember liking Poison for the same reasons at their age. I did take the daughter to see Hannah Montana a couple of years ago though. She was going to a snotty private school at the time so having a dad that can get you side stage for Hannah, or Taylor Swift got her a little bit of needed cachet at that point in time.
Last year I took them to Phish at Deer Creek, and this year we did Hangout so if they end up having terrible taste in tunes it should not be my fault. There is something great about taking kids to MMW, Flips, DBT etc.. that made me appreciate the music in a new way. Also both are pretty die hard LCD fans.
Man, I'm hanging my head in shame over this thread, haha, not really................well maybe a little.
I actually like hip-hop alot, that was kind of my point, Bonnaroo can do much better in the rap and hip-hop catagory. They do so well in booking bands in other genres, it just seems to me that they kind of phone it in when it comes to hip-hop, that's all I was trying to say. Get Tribe to play Bonnaroo, now that would be awesome.
Hope you all still allow me on the farm next year.
Hip Hop is not the problem. Jay-z had one of the best sets I've ever seen in my 5 years at roo and in general one of the best shows I've seen. Also Lupe Fiasco came on year and that was a stellar performance as well.
Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa are just horrible performers. As much as I hate commercial music, there are songs that I like by each of those artists...and thats hard for me to admit openly. You can have a good fan base and some good songs but if you don't have a remotely decent live show you should not even be invited to Roo. Up until recent years it seemed like Superfly had a standard for artists they would bring no matter what genre of music, and now they seem to sacrificing that to sell tickets.
As the father of a 14 year old boy, and a 11 year old girl I am pretty happy with their musical tastes. Peer pressure from school has made them like some questionable bands, but I remember liking Poison for the same reasons at their age. I did take the daughter to see Hannah Montana a couple of years ago though. She was going to a snotty private school at the time so having a dad that can get you side stage for Hannah, or Taylor Swift got her a little bit of needed cachet at that point in time.
Last year I took them to Phish at Deer Creek, and this year we did Hangout so if they end up having terrible taste in tunes it should not be my fault. There is something great about taking kids to MMW, Flips, DBT etc.. that made me appreciate the music in a new way. Also both are pretty die hard LCD fans.
Well, in 5th grade I bought the Spice World (Spice Girls) album. I don't think I've ever seen my Dad so disappointed. But you seem to be doing what my Dad did for me, which is open the eyes of younger people to music not mainstream in their age group.
I had fun at Eminem, had one of the best times ever at Jay-Z. With that said, there's no one left to headline. Who says Outkast wouldn't be subs? I must say I had plenty of room at Big Boi. Dre? If Detox actually delivers and he puts money into an actual live production team? Possibly. The dudes got tons of hits and could easily handle an hour and a half. He'd need lots of guests for the show to actually be entertaining and that'd be a nice change to the other hip-hop headliners who handled it on their own.
Last Edit: Jun 16, 2011 12:44:05 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
I can see where he's coming from. I don't think Bonnaroo should get rid of hip-hop altogether, but its been 4 years in a row now that a huge hip-hop act was a near-the-top billed Bonnaroo act. This year there were 2 of them.
I can agree that its time to change things up and not rely on that big name hip-hop act to be near the top of the lineup.
You could also make the same argument about wanting to change up the Sunday jam headliner format they've been using.
Well for me and most of my Bonnaroo veteran friends, the dislike for Em and Wayne is because of the obvious lip syncing or back track vocals like Britney Spears uses. The over production by Eminem just made it seem like a giant video. I sat through all of Em and the 1st part of lil Wayne and neither compare to the energy, crowd interaction and enjoyment that was put on by Jay-Z, Public Enemy and Snoop Dog
I like how you guys refer to the lip syncing as a "brittney spears type thing" and not a "Roger waters type thing" or other artists who use a backing track.
I like how you guys refer to the lip syncing as a "brittney spears type thing" and not a "Roger waters type thing" or other artists who use a backing track.
Eminem had a backing track, Wayne was lip syncing and at one point was at least two words behind. If you are going to do it I at least expect you to do a good job of it.
I like how you guys refer to the lip syncing as a "brittney spears type thing" and not a "Roger waters type thing" or other artists who use a backing track.
Eminem had a backing track, Wayne was lip syncing and at one point was at least two words behind. If you are going to do it I at least expect you to do a good job of it.
I was in the pit for Eminem, it was used and at times it wasn't. As I've said before I didn't really expect much out of the guy but he deserves a little bit more credit than what everyones giving him. LOTS of people had fun at that show, that's all that really matters...
I can see where he's coming from. I don't think Bonnaroo should get rid of hip-hop altogether, but its been 4 years in a row now that a huge hip-hop act was a near-the-top billed Bonnaroo act. This year there were 2 of them.
I can agree that its time to change things up and not rely on that big name hip-hop act to be near the top of the lineup.
You could also make the same argument about wanting to change up the Sunday jam headliner format they've been using.
And every year they have a bigger name "alternative" rock headliner. Why not change that up? Or why not dump the big name classic rock headliner that we seem to get every year?
If that were the case i'd agree with you, but if you look at the headliners over the past 3 years you'd see that simply wasn't true.
Who would be the big alternative rock headliners? Kings of Leon & Arcade Fire? I'd hardly say they are bigger than Pearl Jam, Metallica, Tool, or Radiohead.
When was the last we got a classic rock headliner? The Police?
If we were to have those styles of headliners 4 years in a row I'd be saying the same thing.
Eminem had a backing track, Wayne was lip syncing and at one point was at least two words behind. If you are going to do it I at least expect you to do a good job of it.
I was in the pit for Eminem, it was used and at times it wasn't. As I've said before I didn't really expect much out of the guy but he deserves a little bit more credit than what everyones giving him. LOTS of people had fun at that show, that's all that really matters...
I don't like his music, and I still had a great time at his show.
I think there might not be any mainstream hip hop in '12 because there might not be an artist big enough to be an unopposed headliner that hasn't played recently. Unless we get a Outkast reunion or Kanye returns, and both seem unlikely. Maybe we just get more hip hop on the bill, and less toward the top, I'd be fine with that.
Could you see Bonnaroo being a 80.000 people festival with as headliners Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, The Allman Brothers,.. NO and Bonnaroo knows that.
Well, the first years sold out on strictly jam bands, so yeah, I could see that happening...
I tend to agree with the no more hip-hop headliners sentiment. Between Kanye '08, Beasties '09, Jay-Z '10 and Eminem, Lil Wayne and Big Boi '11, they've just gotten too far away from the standard rock headliners for my tastes (and many others). I love hip-hop, but the Eminem and Jay-Z headliner sets just can't compare to the life-changing, epic sets that Radiohead, Tool and Pearl Jam delivered. Bonnaroo needs to spend all that $$$ that the rappers demand on more ROCK BANDS! I'm not saying we need to clear the hip-hop out of Roo entirely, but I disagree with the sentiment that there needs to be a hip-hop headliner every year.
