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!!
Post by sparklybecca on Jul 13, 2006 13:54:37 GMT -5
I dont know if this has already been posted and feel free to delete if need be but Billboard magazine listed Roo as #1 for concert grosses in may-june.. it made:
$14,731,723 in tickets , with a attendance of 80,681.
next on the list is Madonna
oh and right next to the boxscore is a very interesting article about roo
Yeah that sounds interesting. I used to love reading Billboard when I worked at Universal Records. Now that I'm not there anymore I can't read it- and a subscription is WAY too expensive.
Post by jambandjohn on Jul 14, 2006 19:36:57 GMT -5
Here's some of the Bonnaroo coverage from Billboard -
Bonnaroo Day One: Petty, Oysterhead, My Morning Jacket
The annual, sun-drenched music-marathon that is the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival kicked off its fifth year yesterday (June 16) with more than 14 hours of music that began with the resurrected folk-rock of World Party and finally lurched to a halt early this morning with the conclusion to a jam band face-off featuring Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits.
In between, the deeply and increasingly eclectic festival began to spread its creative wings with sets from bluegrass torchbearer Ricky Skaggs, alt-rock sensations Death Cab For Cutie, "it" troubadour Bright Eyes and a hip-hop triple bill featuring Common, Lyrics Born and Blackalicious.
Indeed, if in its first fours years, the festival (sold-out this year at 80,000 people) has been known primarily as a jam-band event, last night's bill should do well to help redefine the event, as Bonnaroo's behemoth main stage featured not only one, but two classic rock icons: Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks.
Last night's headliner, Petty welcomed Nicks onstage to reprieve their hit '80s duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," and for several more songs, including the Petty staple "I Need to Know," sung by Nicks, who is performing this mini-set with Petty at each stop on his current U.S. tour. Ironically, during their two-hour-plus set, Petty and his Heartbreakers covered the pre-Nicks Fleetwood Mac rocker "Oh Well."
But of course there were jam bands, and with them plenty of the collaborations define Bonnaroo. The highly anticipated Umphrey's McGee and Disco Biscuits double-bill found the bands merging their sets, a transition where classic rock's appearance was felt once again. Opener Umphrey's played an hour-and-a-half before welcome the Disco Biscuits onstage for Pink Floyd and Beatles covers, which bled into the Biscuits' two-hour set. Joe Russo of emerging jam hot-shots the Benevento/Duo and Tom Hamilton of newcomers Brothers Past sat in for Floyd's "Eclipse."
Indie rock icon and jaded New Yorker Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst) adapted impressively to the surroundings, leaping into the spirit of Bonnaroo by bringing out lauded alt-country chanteuse Gillian Welch and her harmony partner/guitarist David Rawlings onstage for a few songs, one also featuring vocals from My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. Gruff Rhys, leader of the Super Furry Animals, also guested, backing Oberst and even delivering a solo acoustic track midway through the Bright Eyes set.
Yet while much of the Bonnaroo collaboration magic happens on the fly, the highlight teaming of last night wasn't exactly spontaneous. It was announced: Oysterhead, the supergroup side project featuring former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, ex-Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and Primus bassist Les Claypool, reformed for the first time since 2001 and offered a mighty performance on the mainstage.
In the many tents, Devendra Banhart, Cat Power and ex-Phish bassist Mike Gordon drew big numbers. Dubbing his band the "Tennessee Cops," Banhart seemed less nuvo-folk and more nuvo-Jim Morrison, wowing festival-goers shirtless and with ample necklage. Banhart and company at one point welcomed a fan onstage, while also previewing the new tune "Right Reggae Troll."
One of the heroes of the day was Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall), who, flanked by the Memphis Rhythm Band, beautifully recreated her acclaimed new disc, "The Greatest." In top spirits, Marshall skipped and bounced onstage as her crack soul band rocked behind her. In true old-school rock fashion, Marshall had the band play a few numbers prior to her arrival onstage. She also gave the group (featuring horns and backing vocalists) a lengthy break during her many solo numbers, each met with roars of approval from exhausted, bikini-sporting revelers.
Bonnaroo favorites My Morning Jacket ushered in the midnight hour with squalls of Crazy Horse-worthy fury. The quintet delivered a more than three-hour set that sported a guest turn from friend and singer Andrew Bird for an epic take on another classic rock moment, "It Makes No Difference" by the Band. MMJ recently recorded the track for an upcoming Band tribute album at singer/drummer Levon Helm's barn studio in Woodstock, N.Y.
As the night neared a close, celebrated rapper Common could be heard paying tribute to the art of scratching and paying respect to the root of hip-hop -- the DJ -- as My Morning Jacket roared on the other side of the festival grounds.
Bonnaroo Day Two: Radiohead Rocks, Everybody Jams
The long awaited and much-discussed collision of hipsters and hippies arrived at Bonnaroo last night (June 17), with a headlining main stage appearance from Radiohead, taken in by the vast majority of the 80,000 in attendance. The tie-dyed, hemp- and sandal-sporting masses matched vocalist Thom Yorke word for word on songs like "There There" and "No Surprises," and "Fake Plastic Trees."
At 28 songs, the set was the longest of Radiohead's brief North American tour, during which the critically adored Brits have been testing out new songs in the mix for their next album. On this night, these included the raucous guitar jam "Bodysnatchers," the "OK Computer"-era outtake "Nude" and the danceable "15 Step."
Radiohead's presence, as well as sets from Beck and others, further emphasized the five-year-old festival's evolution from an exclusive jam-band haven to a more all-inclusive party celebrating an increasingly expanding array of styles. That said, ticket sales and fan reaction to both also reflect that often ignored fact that, believe it or not, jam band fans actually like and listen to Radiohead and Beck, too.
But while Radiohead ruled the Roo during the primetime hours, the afternoon and late-nights sets found organizers blending a handful of international artists (including the Magic Numbers and blind Malian sensations Amadou & Mariam) with a healthy, sentimental dose of New Orleans funk and R&B, thanks to sets from the Neville Brothers, Dr. John and others. Meanwhile, the core jam bands booked for day two recalled the HORDE and Lollapalooza tours of the '90s.
Sexy, big-voiced multi-instrumentalist Grace Potter opened the proceedings with a fiery, soulful set of tunes from her debut album with her Vermont-based band the Nocturnals, "Nothing Like the Water."
Fifteen minutes later, at half past noon, New Orleans' favorite sons the Neville Brothers opened the main stage, while U.K. faves the Magic Numbers and lauded singer/songwriter Jackie Greene got things started elsewhere. Led by the famous falsetto of Aaron Neville, the siblings ran through a sunny funk set punctuated by Aaron's touching rendering of Sam Cooke's "A Change Gonna Come."
Throughout the afternoon, the smaller stages hosted some of jam nation's most core bands, from long-time members Rusted Root and Blues Traveler to the recently embraced Les Claypool and Gomez.
As New York's Steel Train tore it up on one of the festival's many tent stages, earning many new fans, the virtuosic Bill Frisell tuned up across the farm, and blues heavy Buddy Guy wailed, screamed and a howled through a rousing history lesson of the blues, one actually highlighted by a cover of a tender soul classic: Otis Redding's "Dreams to Remember" (which he recently recorded with John Mayer on his new "Bring 'Em In" disc). The ever-smiling, Energizer bunny of the blues, Guy, like usual, took his guitar into the audience and rock away amongst the commoners.
If the festival's organizers, the New Orleans-based Superfly Productions, felt compelled, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to ensure that the city's musical legacy was celebrated at this year's Bonnaroo, they nailed it on Saturday, bookending yet another marathon day of music with the Nevilles and late-night sets from younger brother Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, the Rebirth Brass Band and Dr. John. The latter took the stage in a full Indian head dress, sliding into a masterful set of slow-burning funk.
The hurt and pride of the Crescent City also shined through Elvis Costello's set, during which he performed alongside the forever regal New Orleans songwriting legend Allen Toussaint. Playing the bulk of their elegant new disc, "The River in Reverse," Costello and Toussaint took turns backing one another, while also dueting on the hip "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further." Both were flanked by the Crescent City Horns, whose talents shone throughout, especially during a rearranged take on "Watching the Detectives."
Performing several chestnuts without Toussaint, including "High Fidelity," "Pump It Up" and the forever relevant opener "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?" Costello made a brief, fanged critique of the Bush administration's slow response to Katrina victims, calling them "jackasses and nincompoops."
In an afternoon press conference, Toussaint hailed Costello for giving him one of the most memorable recording and touring experiences of his life. Comparing the Bonnaroo environs to New Orleans in terms of the humidity, he also pegged Katrina as "quite a booking agent."
Husband and wife team Amadou & Mariam delivered live renditions of songs from their hot Nonesuch release, "Dimanche a Bamako," (co-written and produced by fellow world music sensation Manu Chao), as a huge crowd welcomed Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, the first of Bob Marley's many musical offspring to appear at Bonnaroo.
The masses roared their approval to both his own "Road to Zion" and the title track to his recent Grammy-winning third disc, "Welcome to Jamrock." But of course the largest applause came for his sometimes brief takes on such Bob Marley classics as "We and Dem," "Lively Up Yourself," "War" and "Top Rankin'."
Adding a needed, and fully embraced dose of irony to the festival, Beck's set was full of hits, and, hilariously, saw his band literally put down their instruments to enjoy dinner onstage. However scripted, the genius move gave the singer a chance to dip ever so slightly into his hailed acoustic disc "Sea Change," before covering "Do You Realize" by the Flaming Lips, his backing band on the "Sea Change" tour.
And while jam nation's old-school was represented, there were also performances from newer members of the scene, including jazz-fusion giants Medeski Martin & Wood, who hosted a guest turn from DJ Logic.
Day two's mightiest jam came after midnight, when one-half of Phish reunited during the annual Super Jam. Previewing their summer tour, singer/vocalist Trey Anastasio and bassman Mike Gordon teamed with the Benevento/Russo Duo and the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh for the Dead's "Casey Jones" and the oft-covered "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad."
Bonnaroo Day Three: Lesh And Friends Bring It Home
If the fifth annual Bonnaroo initially raised eyebrows for booking Tom Petty and Radiohead, two mainstage headliners that have nothing to do with the current jam scene, the festival returned to its roots last night (June 18) during a set from ex-Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and his latest group of musical Friends.
Flanked by celebrated guitarists John Scofield and Larry Campbell and chart-topper turned earthy soul sister Joan Osborne, Lesh (who closed out the very first Bonnaroo in 2002) and company opened Bonnaroo 5.0's swan song with an epic rendering of the Dead favorite "Uncle John's Band" before spilling into "Fire on the Mountain" and an Osborne-sung take on Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
Fueled by incendiary wailing on both guitar and keys, courtesy of frequent collaborator Rob Barraco, Phil & Friends returned after a break with the later-era Dead swinger "Shakedown Street" and ran through a soulful reading of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," before closing out the event with Lesh's signature Dead tune, "Box of Rain."
Appropriately, Lesh's set was the only to be rained on this year, a rarity for the young, successful festival. In years past, Bonnaroo has been pummeled with showers that delayed sets and turned the Manchester, Tenn., farm into a mud pit. While baked in the sticky heat, this year's sold-out throng of 80,000 escaped without the hassles of years past. Instead, the biggest problem for the audience was picking which bands to watch.
It was a sentiment echoed even by the Roo's major league talent. "There's so many great bands, you can't see them all," Bonnie Raitt said from the stage yesterday, before sending out a cover of John Prine's "Angel of Montgomey" to Steve Earle, who was performing in a tent a couple hundred yards away.
The larger lineup made the beautiful collisions of sounds that mark Bonnaroo all the more eclectic. At one point yesterday, singer/songwriter Andrew Bird plucked a mandolin on the Sonic Stage as jam newcomers Brothers Past, Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Codetalkers, former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty and his band and Americana royalty Shooter Jennings rocked in the distance.
Later, while Hasidic reggae phenom Matisyahu and jam giants moe. split the majority of the audience between the two main stages, British MC the Streets (aka Mike Skinner), Son Volt and Stephen Malkmus filled the tents.
In a nod to Father's Day, Matisyahu took the opportunity to bring out his 10-month-old son during a set that reflected the heights he's soared since his pivotal performance at last year's Bonnaroo. Thousands swarmed the performance, during which he scaled speaker cabinets and ignited devoted fans and curious newcomers alike.
The Refugee Allstars of Sierra Leone, a recent signing to the Anti- label, injected the bill with an international flair, sending scores dancing with a gleeful, soul-stirring mix of Afro-pop, dance and group harmonies. Comprised of Sierra Leonean musicians who fled the country to the West African nation of Guinea during a rebel war in 1999, the group's members rotated lead vocals and solo dancing duties, leaving the crowd wanting more.
During a hit-laced set ("Thing Called Love," "Something To Talk About"), Raitt offered up guest turns from Jerry Douglas and Jon Cleary. Across the great field, the jam world collided with New York noise, as Sonic Youth was greeted like a rock god. In a set dominated by material from its brand-new "Rather Ripped," the group also dusted off "Pattern Recognition" and "100%." Stephen Malkmus joined the group for an encore performance of "Expressway to Yr. Skull," reuniting with his former Pavement bandmate Mark Ibold, who is now touring as Sonic Youth's bassist.
As fans made their way through the Centeroo shopping and food court area, music was all around them: from the Grammy-decorated sounds of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and jazzy jammers Soulive to the obscure hip-hop troupe Atmosphere and up-and-coming rock acts Be Your Own Pet and Deadboy and the Elephantman. Comedian Lewis Black made encore performances with others in the comedy tent, while the NBA Finals and "Star Wars: Episode III" played in smaller, chillout tents.