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 leafsfan7524 on Jan 4, 2008 11:08:07 GMT -5
I've been to quite a few festivals, and have never heard a stage sound so good. What do you all think of the What Stage and how does it compare to other festival main stages you've heard and seen?
I loved the sound at the one bonnaroo I've been too. I was completely surprised by how consistenly good the sound was. Lolla and other shows I've been to could learn something from their setup.
Post by spookymonster on Jan 4, 2008 11:27:16 GMT -5
Granted, I'm still a festie newb, but I thought it was pretty solid. Loud, (but not painful) good distance (you could hear it clearly well past VIP and into Tent-only). In comparison, Voodoo in New Orleans was unbearably loud if you were standing just about anywhere other than the front gates.
The only other Festie I can think of that I was MORE impressed with the stage setup was Echo Project in ATL....and this was their first year! The main stages were ALMOST as close together as the VooDoo main stages were, Spook ...well not quite....but MUCH closer together than just about ANY other festie and yet they played on them simultaneously. They were both AS LOUD if not LOUDER than the What Stage and the sound quality was EXCELLLENT!!! BETTER than 'Roo especrially as far as projection. AND...this was the REAL kicker...ALL the acts were on risers and tiered....so that you could actually SEE ALL the musicians - even from the back of the (granted VERY SMALL this year ) crowd! VERY impressive....
I thought the What Stage sounded the best out of any setup that I've heard. Vegoose had a LOT of sound bleed from stage to stage. Lolla's main stage was pretty good, but not as good at the What Stage.
I thought the What Stage sounded the best out of any setup that I've heard. Vegoose had a LOT of sound bleed from stage to stage. Lolla's main stage was pretty good, but not as good at the What Stage.
Lolla still fights a lot of bleed but its gotten better. Hopefully, they'll continue to improve on that this year.
Sound is great at the What Stage...but it still feels really impersonal to me....even more so than a regular stadium setting...generally if I'm split between two acts playing at the same time, I'll go see the one NOT playing on the What Stage.
Examples from last year....White Stripe over Wilco, and Manu Chao over the Roots.
Sound is great at the What Stage...but it still feels really impersonal to me....even more so than a regular stadium setting...generally if I'm split between two acts playing at the same time, I'll go see the one NOT playing on the What Stage.
Examples from last year....White Stripe over Wilco, and Manu Chao over the Roots.
100% agree... i wondered over to see a little bit of The Roots, just because well they're The Roots... but i made my way back to Manu Chao. I never left the stage for the White Stripes though... they were tight.
The thing I like about the sound quality of the what stage is how consistent it its throughout the field. Whether up really close for (in 2005) Toots and the Maytals, or mid field for Dave Matthews, or waaaaay out in a mist tent, dozing as we enjoyed Alison Krauss and Union station, it stays pretty consistent. Granted there's a little distortion all the way back, but certainly not enough to ruin our enjoyment of it. I've never felt the need to get all the way up close at one of the headliners, and I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the sets I've seen played on it.
Agreed, the consistency of sound is great. I was up close for the Roots, and not deaf afterwards, but could still hear the sound just fine when I was pretty far back for the Police. Granted, I haven't been to many other festivals but it's probably the best out of all of them and probably better than a lot of other venues I've been to as well.
Post by HoodooOperator on Jan 4, 2008 19:01:51 GMT -5
I thought ACL's set up was great at the main stage. The sound was great for every show I saw this year. Lolla was pretty decent as well, but there was some definite bleed from the other stages throughout the daytime (but not as bad as the previous year). In the end, I think the sound quality at the what stage is so damn spectacular because of its rather isolated position.
I'd say that the sound on the major stages at Roo are pretty great and without noticable bleeding. (Except for Regina Spektor last year -- too damn quiet.)
By contrast, any introspective artist at Lolla (at least years one and two in Chicago) tended to get run over. (Iron and Wine, Feist, Blue Merle, etc.)
Post by BrokenLight on Jan 4, 2008 19:31:11 GMT -5
I've been to Bonnaroo 05 and 07 and ACL 06. At ACL the sound was very bad for Van Morrison and Tom Petty. But the sound is usually good enough to get me by. I focus more on the layout of it. And how easy it is to make your way up front. Bonnaroo's What Stage seems much wider than the main stage at ACL. And at Roo in 05 is was very easy to get up to the very front of the stage. There was a path of boards leading right to it. At ACL the handicapped area was in a bad spot off to the right of the stage maybe 30 feet from the stage. It was pretty difficult to make it to the front actually I never did. I only made it to the handicapped area which sat several feet higher than the audience which blocked the view very badly. And at ACL there was an ungodly, unneccessary amount of lawn chairs very close to the stage. I've never seen that at Bonnaroo. ACL's mainstage seems like it is long and narrow. And Bonnaroo's is both long and wide. I remember the crowd at ACL for Tom Petty took up almost half the length of the entire park. And if you've never seen a helicopter shot of Zilker Park, there is one on their website.
I was only on the stage left side of the What Stage last year, but I could always hear all of the instruments. Not only did everything sound good, but the mixing was usually great. Even Wilco I remember hearing all the instruments.
I love the sound at the What Stage. Great from every place Ive ever stood and Ive posted up in quite a few different places at What in the past two years. Im not much for going too far upfront though, I prefer to pick a spot around the middle so we have enough room to spread out and chill.
But I agree with Bamabelle up there. Echo Project had some serious audio kickin. It was really LOUD but really good and clear...probably the loudest outdoor sound system I've heard. All the audience recordings from that festival all sound fabulous as well. The stages were close but there was no bleed over sound that I noticed. Echo project gets a BIG thumbs up.
Also, the sound of the South Korean Exploding whales could be heard clearly throughout the whole campground... the acoustics were perfect for it
Post by jumpinjamesbrown on Jan 5, 2008 14:32:38 GMT -5
what stage sounds awesome. i was 3 feet away from les claypool during oysterhead and wasn't deaf afterwards and it sounded just as good anywhere i was on the field during radiohead and i think both of those bands have pretty compicated sounds. i didn't see much of anyone last year but what i did see between the roots and panic was really good.
The main stages were ALMOST as close together as the VooDoo main stages were, Spook ...well not quite....but MUCH closer together than just about ANY other festie and yet they played on them simultaneously. They were both AS LOUD if not LOUDER than the What Stage and the sound quality was EXCELLLENT!!! BETTER than 'Roo especrially as far as projection. AND...this was the REAL kicker...ALL the acts were on risers and tiered....so that you could actually SEE ALL the musicians - even from the back of the (granted VERY SMALL this year 
) crowd! VERY impressive.... 
