Barry CourterThe lineup for Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival was announced at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, which means that by 8:01 a.m., the opinions were already flying. "Worst ever." "Best ever." And, my very favorite one, "Bonnaroo stinks. I never go." I love people who comment on things they know nothing about.
We actually did a Facebook Live session with local podcast/radio guys and 'Roo veterans Brad Steiner and Bryan Stone at the time of the announcement. You can watch it here: facebook.com/timesfreepress/videos/ 10159921198620046/
I think between us, we've attended 46 Bonnaroos since the first one in 2002, so it's been interesting over the years to get their perspective on the evolution of the lineups, the site and the festival scene in general.
In some ways, discussing music festival lineups is about like discussing favorite foods or TV shows. No two people are going to have the same list, but there is a big difference between talking about those and talking about music. Many music fans, for some reason, are not only passionate about the music they love, they revel in hating your music. And, they labor under this belief that dissing your favorites makes them cool.
In some people, the level of passion for what they hate far surpasses what they love. And, sadly, I get it. I was that guy for many, many years.
I'm not nearly the music snob I used to me. These days, my attitude is if it makes you happy in any way, rock on. That doesn't mean I can't or won't criticize the event or the artist, it just means I'm not going to waste any time trying to convince you how cool I am because I hate your favorite band, even if it is terrible.
It's been fascinating to watch how the musical landscape has changed since 2002. Live music was not a big thing then and there were only a handful of successful festivals in the U.S.
Bonnaroo came along with the goal of becoming a destination event like the big festivals in Europe and it pretty much has done that. It has become a rite of passage for young folks and a chance for older folks who missed the original "Woodstock" in 1969 to try to capture something they missed.
It also made people want to see and hear live music again, and the number of giant, multistage festivals has grown into the hundreds. Bonnaroo remains one of the few that involves camping (like in a tent camping), though that has changed somewhat with the addition of day passes and VIP accommodations and RVs. You don't have to rough it, in other words.
The other thing about lineups is, sometimes you aren't the target audience.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.