Jess's Constructive Criticism thread.

Im with you man. I'm basically an everything except for pop, country, hip-hop, guy myself

at least we can agree on something... pinkerton's still better:)

Weezer is not a pop band by any stretch of the imagination. If you listen to their stuff, you will agree with my statement.

KOL until this last album was also in that same boat.

AT LEAST JOHN MAYER WON'T BE THERE!

for Mayer haters and people who can objectively READ:
www.hecklerspray.com/john-mayer-bangs-on-about-his-racist-penis/201043714.php

Here's to hoping for Spoon, Further, sTs9, and Neil Young on the artist additions.

Interestingly this is all it would take for this to go from an OK lineup to an awesome one for me...

OK. That was off the hip. There are a few (probably more than that) that I would love to see. I guess I'm just missing something this year. As others have said, there's just some ZINGER that is usually present in the line-up that I'm not feeling this time around.

Nice! +1

So on the way home I thought of an inexpensive (cheaper than Furthur) thing Superfly could do that, while it would not make me run around in circles, it would make me back way down on the criticism. Get Roger Daltrey for an artist in residence/Superjam leader this year. If I thought I was going to get a good Daltrey led Quadrophenia one night I would be a lot happier. Plus if I knew he would be popping in and out of shows it would make me a lot more excited even for some of the stuff like DMB that I am pretty meh about. His Superbowl performance was a little lackluster, but I saw him at the Ryman in December, and for the most part he has still got it.

I'd really like to see them have another superjam whether they announce who's gonna be in it or not. The 08 jam with Eugene Hutz, Les Claypool, Kirk Hammett, etc... was FREAKING AMAZING.

Ok so here's my 2 cents on the lineup this year: I think this lineup is a fantastic supporting cast lacking a couple of killer "can't miss" acts. There are bands that put on great, highly original live shows (which I think is what Roo is all about, not jam bands or the much argued over "diversity") like GWAR, the FLips, and Dan Deacon, TONS of good roots music, bonafied legends (Stevie, Jeff Beck, Steve Martin, etc), all bolstered by solid new acts. The first thing I thought when I saw the full lineup was that this is an absolutely killer year for hip hop (the best yet, IMO), and though it may not be everyone's cup of tea here, it deserves to be mentioned and should be put in the "pro" column for this year. As for the lack of jambands (I know I'm gonna get blasted for this one), I think the jam genre has kind of run it's course for now (It'll be back though, it always comes back). If you're gonna put on a forward thinking festival, you can't lean on bands that have been doing essentially the same thing for 15+ years and have played the festival countless times before. Sure, a Grateful Dead or Allman Bros-linked act would be awesome, but there's enough good music this year to make up for their absence. As for the complaints of too many "whiny femnazi" (that's flat out sexist, btw) and "hipster" acts, it really just sounds like the people complaining haven't actually given them a good listen and are just labeling and categorizing for the sake of negativity.
Now for the cons: The headliners are weak. KOL is (and has always been, IMO) terrible, and are proud sellouts. Weezer hasn't been good since Pinkerton (maybe the Green Album, depending on you opinion), and Tenacious D, as funny as they are, are a novelty act. None of them deserve to be on the top line of the Bonnaroo lineup. My biggest issue with the lineup is the amount of punk on it. In my opinion, punk is deader than disco and doesn't need to be represented at America's greatest music festival. In short, though the lineup isn't perfect, it's definitely solid and only in need of a few strong adds to make it really great.

they need one solid jamband (Furthur), one more indie act with credibility (Spoon) , one high billed bluegrass act (Allison Krauss), and one act that bridges the pop acts with the more jam oriented stuff (311)

I like the idea of a Daltrey superjam, but like the idea of a Jack White-Jeff Beck blues superjam even better.

To clarify, I wasn't saying that jambands are obsolete, I just think the scene has plateaued for the time being. I would certainly love to see Furthur or The Brothers at the farm, but I think they transcend the whole "jam" genre. I also think that jammy acts have their place at Roo (MMW is on my must see list, as is Les Claypool). I just think it's unreasonable to expect Roo to be predominantly jam acts, if only because there just aren't enough good ones out there right now. They do deserve credit for the live following they've developed and there's no way I could say that they don't put on a good show, regardless of my personal opinion about their music. I just think an all jam Roo would be a little stale.

PS I have to give you credit for making this thread, I think it's the first time I've seen the phrase 'constructive criticism' on this board

Ok I totally forgot about STS9. I'd love to see them at Roo, although this doesn't look like their year. I think our issue may be our definitions of jambands. I love ABB, DTB, Galactic, and Mule, but I've never really considered them jambands (ABB is pushing it, but still). They're a little more structured than bands like Phish, SCI, or Umphrey's McGee. I guess consider a modern jamband to be something born more out of Phish, rather than blues/jazz/rock bands that pack on some extended solos.