Female Headliner (2015)

On whether Beyonce's 'too big' to hold anything but the #1 spot --

That's sorta the problem. Beyonce's huge, she'd be expensive to book, and hard to place anywhere but at #1 on the lineup. She's not a perfect #1 for Bonnaroo's audience, though, and a lot of the typical roo-goers would be turned off (I'm a huge Bey fan and I say LET THEM but then again I'm not organizing this fest). Take a look at the past #1 names: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen. Beyonce doesn't exactly fit in with this mix of legacy rock acts. And sure, Paul and Elton are pop stars too, but there's a big difference between 60s/70s pop and current pop. I would be surprised and disappointed if Beyonce took the stage and sat at a piano the whole time while an old man tore some rippin guitar solos. Even if she played Tiny Dancer. And I love Tiny Dancer.

Look at how long it took Bonnaroo to ease hip hop into headliner status. Kanye's LN debacle in 2008, Beastie Boys pre-HL in 2009, Jay-Z LN in 2010, finally a hip hop headliner in 2011 -- and he's white. The highest billed contemporary pop act this year was. Frank Ocean at the #10 spot -- just outside of primetime on the mainstages.

So I think it's more likely that they'd ease a pop headliner in like they did with hip hop. I could see Gaga doing a LN What. Or someone like Miguel doing a LN tent or closing the Which one day, maybe doing LN Which or pre-HL What depending on how good/big his next album is. There honestly aren't a ton of pop acts I can think of that would both fit Bonnaroo and could hold down the right timeslot. Swift/Perry/Rihanna all wouldn't really work, for instance.

So I don't think it's as easy as just booking Bey. When booking a top act, AC & co tend to book legacy rock acts that have broad appeal to the kind of people who go to a 4-day music festival in rural Tennessee. They fill in their top four spots with other legacy acts, big-name contemporary rock bands, and high profile rappers. It's not easy or a surefire success to just throw a pop act in at #1, which is why they haven't done it.

The Super Bowl used to book exactly the same type of headlines you're talking about. And now they book stuff like Beyoncé.
It's a business, they will do what will make them the most dough. You mention the "kind of people who go to a 4 day festival", the way I look at it most of them are probably coming to roo no matter who it is, well how many of them might end up bringing a girlfriend or someone one else who would likely never go? That might make the difference between 85,000 and 95,000 and that's a win for them. Maybe not nessicarily this year but it's inevitable eventually.

Because a 4-day festival in the middle of Tennessee is different from a fest in New York or Chicago or Philly or right outside LA

As for the super bowl, they used to book all pop acts. Booking safe old rockers was an anomaly, and happened because of Janet Jackson's boob

Plus, a short concert at the most viewed TV event in the us is not the same thing as Bonnaroo

Location should have nothing to do with if the festival and the festival's fan claim to be accepting of everyone. If anything that fact that it's in TN should make someone like Beyoncé even more wanted bc god knows that she is never going to perform there without playing bonnaroo.

I haven't seen any other fests booking Beyonce either. Most of them tend to shy away from pop acts. I guess because the cost to book them? They don't think their fans would show up? idk, but I know if I ever say, they don't really fit at roo it's for those reasons. And I think there is a such thing as being too big for roo. There are acts that roo will just never get.

Another double, sorry. internet unorthodox NTT

What if Prince shaves his mustache and tucks his dick between his legs? Would that count? Or would he need to also change his name to Princess?

Speaking of princesses, what if the headliner one night was a Disney Princesses on Ice performance? How many times have you told yourself we need more small children at Roo?

Angela Merkel leads the fourth largest economy in the world. That's got to qualify for high billing. Maybe she sings a little?

C'mon people. Work with me!

She is sort of a shut-in nowadays. I hear she charges like $400 just to come to her little intimate performances she sometimes does. But, it'd be magical if she played Bonnaroo (not headline because she would probably get more boo's than Kanye I imagine) and brought out Neil Diamond and Kris Kristofferson for duets and see what you have done! Now I'm dreaming. It is fun to dream.

I hate to tell you but that's the way booking bands in regions goes.  You can't be mad at AC/e and Superfly for being apart of the market.

I'd like to see Missy Elliott and India Arie come to Roo.

And Trina, who has turned "indie" with her new album.

GO ON...

Could you imagine Trina doing a night show in one of the tents?   She'd have Rick Ross making a surprise visit and no telling who else.

#stillthebaddest

Because Bjork, McCartney, and Radiohead are regional acts in TN. Get out of here with that. The whole southern jam band bonnaroo is gone. There is no bounds to who bonnaroo can and should book bc isn't it a place where everyone with different cultures and music taste and life style can all hang out in harmony and be one? This roo and post Roo have really shed a light on the fact that bonnaroo's we love love everyone all time act has just been bullshit. That was the vibe for a while but it seems it was only that way bc until recently the hardcore bonnaroo fan base was never dealt any kind of change. So bonnaroo fans love everyone as long as they are the same as them. Not saying this about everyone. Just the large number of people who keep spewing bullshit around here

Look, it's not just about 'accept and love'. It's about money. Let's say Beyonce costs $1m to book -- a rough estimate, but that's not crazy. Will she bring in $1m in ticket sales? Will enough people look at a ticket with Beyonce and, let's say, Foo Fighters and Phish on it, and say, that's a 4-day festival I wanna go to? Or does it make more sense to spend that million on Prince or Springsteen or somebody?

You act like it's about 'love and acceptance', which is a neat topic, more so as it pertains to Kanye's reception, but not really as relevant when you're booking the top artist for a multi-million-dollar event. I worry about the same topic, and wouldn't want to deal with hearing a bunch or racist and sexist bullshit all weekend about an artist I really love.

Let's phrase this another way. Taylor Swift is another pop star who makes great music that people love. Why aren't people arguing we should book her for Bonnaroo? Is it maybe the fact that you can't count on Taylor Swift fans to spend $280 on a ticket to drive across the country for a 4-day festival that mostly features rock and hip hop acts? Beyonce sits somewhere between Kanye and Taylor here. It's a fit that could work, but harder to argue for at a $1m, #1 spot. Not something I would bet on if it was my $1m. Something I would go to with my $280, sure, but not something I'd put a million on. Not if I could put Bruce Springsteen or Prince alongside the Foo Fighters and Phish. It's a little staid, sure, but that's why I'd fill slots 4-6 with Lady Gaga, Drake, and a hot EDM act that isn't Skrillex.

That, in a nutshell, is why Beyonce might not work. When you're million-dollar headliner, not every venue makes sense. Looking at Bonnaroo's history -- and more importantly, its audience -- Beyonce would be a bigger risk at #1 than I expect the organizers would ever take.