It’s not often Stevie Wonder and the absurd metal monsters known as GWAR can be seen in the same location. Although everything about them couldn’t be any more different, this year they will share a stop at a remote farm to play for up to 80,000 people.
During the second weekend of June, Bonnaroo will begin its ninth year of providing musical entertainment to an increasingly diverse audience in Manchester, Tenn.
The lineup is stacked with industry giants, somewhat the result of a growing MTV sponsorship. What began as a jam-band hippie festival in 2002 now caters to a much wider market.
Bonnaroo was first headlined by jam-band veterans like Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio of Phish, the String Cheese Incident, and Phil Lesh with Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.
These days it’s a lot less straightforward. A couple years ago Metallica, Kanye West and Pearl Jam showed up, marking a new era in the festival’s existence.
The Flaming Lips will perform Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” this year while Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder and Weezer make their first Bonnaroo appearances. There’s a comedy tent too — where Conan O’Brien will continue his efforts to entertain from off the television screen.
With a more mainstream and diverse lineup, the festival has evolved from its jam-band roots. As the spectacle gains more attention every year, the organizers attempt to keep up with the ever-changing American culture.
To discuss all things Bonnaroo, The Lantern was involved in a conference call with Weezer’s Scott Shriner, the National’s Aaron Dessner and Tim McIlrath from Rise Against.
All parties agreed the trip to Tennessee is changing.
The National played Bonnaroo in 2007, and this time around Dessner believes the turn toward more popular American music is not necessarily a bad one.
Even though he’s more interested in less mainstream music, Shriner said the festival offers “a little bit of something for everybody.”
It’s different for Rise Against. Because his band grew up in a punk and hardcore scene, McIlrath said it’s challenging to bring its music to places where it might not be expected.
“That challenge is something that I thrive on and something I look forward to. I don’t like playing shows in safe places where the response is predictable,” he said.
The pressures of playing a large-scale festival tend to be different from those at a typical show during a band’s tour, however.
“You’re playing to a wider audience so there’s going to be some people there that don’t know your music,” Dessner said. “Sometimes we play the songs where we kind of have to bang on the door a little bit so we’ll play the louder ones and play with more dynamics.”
At the same time, Dessner finds the situation relieving to a certain degree.
“You’re not in the fishbowl under the microscope as much,” he said. “Oddly, the bigger the crowd gets the more you don’t feel like people are staring right at you.”
In 2004, Bonnaroo raked in $14.5 million by bringing 90,000 people to the Manchester farm, according to a Billboard Magazine article. The production company lowered the capacity to 80,000 the next year to “improve fan experience.”
Regardless of the performance schedule, the festival has no trouble acquiring fans. From here, the future lies in the hands of the organizers. It remains to be seen whether Bonnaroo will maintain its hippie-friendly vibe or emerge entirely as a pop music mainstay.
