With time on the brink of summer, outdoor music festivals are gearing up for another season in the sun even more jam packed than the last. Music enthusiasts are packing their bags, savings and grilled-cheese makers for yet another summer of touring and festival hopping while promoters and organizers rush to outdo the previous year’s festivities.
The 2004 Bonnaroo Music Festival, which will take place June 11 to 13, is doing just that. The festival is set for another go as the world’s ultimate music experience, drawing more than 70,000 people and 60 bands for three days in lovely Manchester, Tenn.
However, the 700-acre farm spot is not what manages to draw these top acts and up-and-coming bands every year.
“It’s the largest festival of the year … it’s huge,” moe. drummer Vinnie Amico said, explaining the draw to the festival. ” … and the vibes are good too.”
The vibe of a festival greatly influences its end success, which is something artists often note as imperative to their participation. Both Amico and North Mississipi Allstars’ frontman Luther Dickinson stressed the incredible Bonnaroo vibe and the amazing time both of these bands have had in past years.
“It’s like the party of the South,” Dickinson said. “It’s always great, always great bands … great sit-ins.”
NMA and moe. are both veterans of the Bonnaroo scene, with moe. partaking in all three years of festivities. However, both Dickinson and Amico stressed they not only love playing the festival but equally enjoy soaking in the surroundings for as long as possible.
“We will definitely be taking in some of the festivities,” Amico said. “You can easily burn yourself out being there the whole weekend, though … so we’ll take just a taste.”
The third annual festival, known and praised for its eclectic mix of genre-bending bands and acts, will feature Trey Anastasio, Bob Dylan, The Dead, moe., The North Mississippi Allstars, Primus and Willie Nelson, showcasing a wide array of talents, styles and ages.
“The first year we had such a great set. It was four or five hours … we cranked,” Amico said. “We won the jammy for the live show of the year, and we get a better spot every year and a bit more respect ever year. We’re playing in front of the largest audience of this time.”
Amico also said moe. will take the stage Sunday this year at the main stage in Centeroo for either an hour-and-a-half or two-hour slot.
The music and promising lineups are clear with bands playing from around noon until the wee hours of the next morning ending between 4 and 6 a.m. Bonaroo, however, is not the typical rock and roll festival. Bands gear up to put on their best show of the year and experiment with styles and techniques tailored to the event.
The ‘roo features the core and essential elements of a festival, focusing on the music and wide array of bands and styles. However, the event ventures further, featuring a number of old and new faces along with Centeroo favorites such as yoga classes, batting cages, the cinema tent and the beer-tasting “Brooer’s Festival.”
Shakedown Street is always a hot spot as well for shopping and the selling of homemade goods and clothing, which attracts sellers from all over the nation. Surprises and band announcements will continue up until the festival.
In a mere three years, Bonnaroo has taken the jam and improvisational music scene to a new level, incorporating other genres into an appealing and genuinely exhausting three-day festival. The bands dig it, the fans dig it and the friends that have all been dragged along for the ride learn to love the atmosphere one has never seen before. One cannot truly understand it until one has experienced it firsthand.
Bonnaroo stands as the one festival a year that takes away the drama of a highly secured event and brings together thousands of people for one thing and one thing only: the music.
