Bonnaroo 2017-Change site name to INFOPOO?

Honestly forgot about that clash. Missed out on some good stuff there.

Hot take: booking critically acclaimed artists is important to the success of a music festival, even if they are booked at the expense of other, more statistically popular artists.

That may or may be a hot take, but, in the case of Bonnaroo, I think that was a crucial aspect of their success up until 2016. I think not only critics, but hardcore music fans and artists saw Bonnaroo as the real deal. It not only had some of the big draws, but it did not nakedly pander to the trends in its booking and booked some really cool, unique shit.

It's a shame because I think it's possible that the scenario simply worked out as:  they sold to Live Nation in 2015, were faced with a market in 2016 that did not allow them to follow their successful model, faltered, and now have lost control in booking to C3. Bonnaroo can churn out lineups that are essentially on par with Lolla and ACL, but it cannot compete with the massive population centers the other Big 4 festivals have access to. It's a shame, because they should be Live Nation's prestige and, in a way, boutique festival. Instead, we have Lolla on the Farm, and that sucks. I'll still take that over Lolla or ACL eight days a week, but that's because I've been. I saw that lineup in 2014 and my jaw dropped. I knew I had to be there. I don't know that many people like me will feel that way about Bonnaroo if the trend continues.

I see it in a slightly different shade:

I don't think the market had anything to do with AC Entertainment wetting the bed with the headliners in 2016 nor their tendency to more or less dismiss electronic for the past half decade.  

They must've spent a boatload on Dead/PJ/LCD... but they totally missed the mark... it's like Ashley Capps was trying to throw a party for his 50 year old beer bros instead of the shifting Bonnaroo demographic.  Even as someone in my 30's, I remember looking at the initial lineup and being disappointed there wasn't anyone with exciting new music until Line 3 - Tame Impala & M83.  Two great names, but too low on the totem pole.  

I know reddit is all about the fucking Kalliope - and I get it that there is magic about the super late night rave sets - but that was such a poor man's alternative to what every other major festival was doing with a dedicated tent/stage.  We now know, thanks to The Other, that it was borderline malpractice for AC Entertainment to not have The Other setup since ~2014/2015.

When I think of these two major missteps by AC, it then makes me think back to 2015... Billy Joel was 2 steps off the stage from the start and Kendrick/Deadmau5 was the worst Friday night tandem we've had this decade.  If MMJ/Mumford didn't kill it Saturday night, it would've been a worse year than 2016.  So maybe AC Entertainment now wet the bed two years in a row?  

I'm all for the 'fuck livenation' bandwagon... but if I'm being honest, 2017 was the best year we've had on the Farm since 2014.  It certainly wasn't flawless... the undercard was certainly more generic/less established and if it wasn't for the last-minute cancellations we would've had few EDM alternatives at late night.  But on the whole, I would much rather trust LN with Bonnaroo 2018 than whatever form of AC Entertainment gave us 2015/2016.

Young-ish person here. I'd rather Fleetwood than U2 any day. U2 is corny to the kids.

I don't know if that's any more compelling than comparing Twitter followers (where U2 has almost ten times more) or Facebook likes (where U2 has almost four times more).

In fact, one could argue that there is less call to stream U2's music via Spotify since it has been forcibly downloaded on a lot of people's devices already, allowing them to bypass that streaming platform. #Science

I know this is also only anecdotal, but almost every person I know around my age (25) knows and likes, sometimes loves Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks in particular. I think they get more brownie points with the hipster demographic, although I'm not entirely sure why. I really think more young people would be interested in Fleetwood than U2 though, again only anecdotal but most of my friends think U2 is a joke- corny, try-hard, etc.

Probably realistic lineup

Jayz - Calvin Harris - Frank Ocean - Gorillaz - Future - The National - Odesza - St vincent - Pretty Lights - Logic - DJ Snake

Goes against last years paradigm of the top two acts being bands but whatever

Also projecting st vincent will climb after her next album

I GOT BOXES FULL OF PEPE

I thought I read on pitchfork or some shiz a while back that Jack White was done doing festivals. And he had plans on only doing smaller venue stadium seating type shows on out. Maybe it was just that last tour though, or maybe I'm making it up.

I just follow the euro-market because I've learned in teaching American kids that they are quite stupid.

You're probably right, I can see him sticking to some weird  shit like that though. I think that show was in NYC somewhere and he didn't play a full hour.

I've seen Dead Weather twice, Raconteurs once, and his Solo show twice. All in New Orleans. And every performance I've seen him in the sets were lengthy and full on energy. I had a hard time believing he walked off after less than an hour if the crowd wasn't absolutely awful, not that I'm excusing it either though. 

I picture you watching The Wire in a Radiohead tee shirt whilst trying to decide whether to eat waffles or pancakes.

His shows are pretty great. I much prefer Raconteurs and Dead Weather show in the HOB vs festival settings, but when they played "Will there be enough water" at Jazzfest while it started to rain, it was magic. Here's a shit recording from my old MiniDV camera from back when I felt the need to make a recording of everything, we all went through that phase.