Submitted by QuicklyThisWay t3_108mrzv in Music
Here is this year’s Bonnaroo lineup:
https://i.imgur.com/5Fc6IYO.png
I was planning on seeing Paramore / Bloc Party / Genesis Owusu in NC but tickets are not cheap. While festivals have always been expensive, it’s always been a great way to save time and money if you like most of the line up. Now it seems like a great deal even if you only want to see a handful of people.
I ditched Bonnaroo in 2011 after getting way too big and have been going to other smaller festivals in the southeast (Okeechobee, Hulaween, Voodoo, EDC). I’d love to checkout Electric Forest and some others, but are cost or travel prohibitive for me. To be clear, the lineups at Roo were mostly good imo, I just prefer less people.
Okeechobee looks ok, but I will probably pass. Coachella looks great, but I can’t afford to go to California. So right now I have my eyes on returning to Roo. I’m posting here hoping to get a more unbiased response than over at the Bonnaroo community as I am curious how things have been going on the farm recently to see if it’s worthwhile.
I spent a decade volunteering or working for festivals, so I’ve only paid for one or two in that time, but after Covid all those opportunities dried up. I’ll still apply for work, but thankfully I am at a point where I can (probably) afford to go since I can drive there.
So what are you thoughts and experiences about Bonnaroo, or really any music festival lately?
DevinBelow t1_j3t8q9r wrote
As bad as, but no worse than, normal.
I wish it would go back to being a little more focused like it was in the first few years. I'm not saying it needs to go back to being a jam band festival. I'm even not saying I want it to be some homogeneous festival where every band sounds the same and there is no variety to the music, but who exactly does this lineup appeal to? I see no more than 10 acts that I would pay to see, and that is not anywhere close to enough acts to possilbly paying that much to spend three days baking out in the sun, and I feel like I have very diverse taste in music.
Like if you love Kendrick (and I do). Like he's your favorite and the kind of hiphop he does is what you are most into...why would you buy tickets for this festival? There aren't really any other big hiphop acts of note, that are along the lines of Kendrick. If Foo Fighters are your favorite band and that kind of 90's/'00's post-grunge sound is your favorite thing...why would you choose to go see them here where there are really no other similar bands on the lineup? If you're going just for Umphrey's or Korn or Tyler Childers, and only like the types of music that those types of acts make, why would you go to Bonnaroo, where no other contemporaries of any of those artists are playing?
It's a diverse lineup, but to a fault, imo. It'd be cool if it were like, "Ok, this year is going to be Roots rock, Hip Hop and Funk", and you based the lineup aroudn that, but this is just a too many cooks thing imo.