Ohmpark's Guide To Bonnaroo 2008

Less than a week away and I'm ready to go! If you're going to Bonnaroo this year, the following post will give you what I think is the crucial info and best acts. If you're not going, you might want to rethink that and buy a ticket. You can read up on some of my stories from the first 5 Bonnaroos here. You can read my review of last year's fest here. If you want to really obsess about Bonnaroo for endless hours, I highly recommend checking out Inforoo, the Bonnaroo message board. You can get pretty much every single bit of information you could ever imagine about the fest there. I'm going to give you a couple of nuggets that I think are particularly educational for first timers:

Currently, the Weather.com forecast calls for scattered t-storms all weekend right now (up to 60% chance of rain Saturday) and highs in the '80s. I recommend you get some good mud boots just in case, because even a little bit of rain is going to make that place a big muddy mess. The mud will literally eat flip flops off of your feet, so beware. All my hippier friends swear by wearing crocs during regular conditions, but I always feel more comfortable in socks and tennis shoes. Also on the rainy weather tip, I've seen the thunderstorms decimate some campsites, so prepare accordingly. Put tarps under/over your tents. Bring a poncho.

The gates usually open early Wednesday night, but ever since the 3rd 'roo (when they finally found the best way to deal with traffic), they send all of the first arrivals to the very, very far away Southeastern camping outpost. I've been the victim of this several times, and it was annoying. The more you walk, the more energy you're going to exert, and this will hinder your ability to all out party for 4 days. And don't expect to get a bunch of sleep, because usually by 8am it is too hot to sleep in your tent. It seems like if you get there late Thursday morning or early Thursday afternoon you can get a spot closer to Centeroo (the area where the stages are), especially if you are coming from the east (like us ATLiens). The downside, less time at the party and longer waits in the line to get in. Think about it.

Speaking of the party, this is a big-ass music fest with circa 75,000 people, so there is gonna be some craziness going on. BUT, this is not the Bonnaroo of your older cousin's. There will be police sparsely around inside the fest grounds looking to bust folks for illegal activities. The ban on unofficial vendors is heavily enforced now, so "Skakedown Street" is not what it used to be. If you're smart and just a tad bit careful, you are almost assured have a fun-filled week, just don't be too stupid.

Ok, so let's dig into the line-up. The first night has me really excited:

Thursday:

6:00 PM Troo Music Lounge: The Big Sleep

This brooklyn trio caught my ear when I was checking myspace pages of bands I didn't recognize, so I'm planning on checking this out:

THE BIG SLEEP - Slow Race
by lablogotheque

6:25 Pm Cinema Tent: Sigur Ros' Heima

Get yourself prepared for what I am already calling the best show of the fest, with a spectacular documentary on the band.


8:30PM This Tent: MGMT

While I thought their live show was a little lackluster when I saw them with Yeasayer earlier this year, now that I know and really enjoy their album, I'm excited to catch them again:




10:00 PM This Tent: Battles

This is my pick for Thursday's "can't miss show". Listen to the live show i posted recently here.


10:30 PM That Tent: The Sword

Black Sabbath-esque stoner metal/rock that is really good:




11:30 PM This Tent: Vampire Weekend

I'm glad I'll finally get to catch 2008's super hype band, if only to talk smack about them. Really, I don't think they are bad or anything, but their stuff just doesn't really hold my interest long enough. But maybe their live show will change my mind:




11:45 PM The Other Tent: Darkstar Orchestra

This is what I consider to be the best cover band to ever exist, so go get your artificial dose of The Grateful Dead.


1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Royal Bangs

I've just discovered these guys and I am totally into their album, We Breed Champions. I'll have more on these guys very soon, but I highly recommend checking them out:




Friday:

1:15 PM That Tent: Fiery Furnaces

We are big FF fans around here at Ohmpark, so even though I'd be interested in catching Jose Gonzalez, I can't miss another chance to catch the Friedbergers. I've got a bunch of Fiery Furnaces live videos I'm getting out of the vault soon, so I'll spare you for now.


2:30 PM This Tent: Tegan And Sara

While these ladies only fall in my "like but don't love" category, I really want to see them. Get ready for this song to be stuck in your head all weekend:




2:45 PM That Tent: Minus The Bear

Minus The Bear were outstanding at Langerado, so I can't wait to see them again:




4:30 PM That Tent: !!!

Another band that was at Langerado, another great live act I'm excited to see again:




Midnight Which Stage: My Morning Jacket

While i have still yet to listen to it, I'm hearing good things about Evil Urges. Their late night set at Bonnaroo 2006 was epic, so I expect them to up the ante:




1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Howlin Rain

Thsi is the new project from Comets On Fire's Ethan Miller. Comets On Fire were badass, so this should be good (they are at the Drunken Unicorn tonight!):




1:30 AM This Tent: Tiesto

While he's not my favourite DJ in the world, he's not too shabby either. Also, he's going to have guest appearance by Tegan And Sara, Jose Gonzalez, and Cary Brothers.


2:00 AM That Tent: Disco Biscuits

Yeah, they are a jamband, but they are really good.


Saturday:

4:00 PM That Tent: Mastodon

Atlanta's own spectacular metal outfit. If you haven't seen these guys yet, this is a must see:




6:30 PM This Tent: Iron & Wine

I thought his Bonnaroo set in 2006 seemed a bit underwhelming, but the set I caught later that year at Lollapalooza was phenomenal. I think his album from last year is Sam Beam's best work to date, so this show is gonna be sweet:




10:15 PM What Stage: Pearl Jam

I made my case for them last post, so check that out.


1:00 AM That Tent: Sigus Ros

Could be the best show all weekend:

Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook


1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Dead Confederate

If you read us regularly, you know we are fans. If you don't, go look into these guys:




Sunday:

2:30 PM The Other Tent: Ladytron

I've yet to listen to the new album yet, but I do plan to catch them and give them the live show test:




6:00 PM The Other Tent: Broken Social Scene

I'm really stoked about seeing these guys. Word on the street is that they are doing half older stuff, hald Drew/Canning solo stuff. Sounds Perfect:

Brendan Canning : Hit The Wall


7:00 PM Which Stage: Death Cab For Cutie

We just dropped a review of Narrow Stairs, so you know how we feel.


Alright, that's enough Bonnaroo hype for now. We will have plenty of more soon.

Corndogorama 2008 Inital Line-Up

So I was on Lenny's website and I noticed they had some of the line-up for Corndogorama posted, check it out:

Thursday June 26:
Special Olympiad
Trial By Fire
Loose Screws
The Holland Dutch
Attractive Eighties Women
Tenth To The Moon
Thee Crucials
Heinous Bienfang
Blood Vessels (featuring Brent Hinds of Mastodon)
Grey Goo

Friday June 27:

Proton
Janelle Monae
Spy For Hire
Holy Faith
James Hall
Noot D' Noot
Judi Chicago
Dan Deacon

Saturday June 28:

Battle Cat
Jeff Myers
The Hiss
DJ Kwaku
Gringo Star
Snowden
The Life And Times
Dropsonic
The Howlies
Anna Kramer
Abandon The Earth Mission

Sunday June 29:

Dj Corvette
Caddle Summer
Birds In The Cellar
Bitch
Cassavettes
Blackberry Smoke
Cinemechanica
Maserati
The Georgia Satellites
The Khans (US)
Zoroaster

Looking like a great start. If you are unfamiliar with Corndogorama, it is probably the best music fest Atlanta has to offer, highlighting some of the greatest bands in the city each year.

Corndogorama Website

Lenny's Bar Website

Festival Madness

Summer is upon us and that means festival season is in full swing. 2008 is a banner year in the history of US Festivals, both in terms of quality and and quantity. It wasn't so long ago that Coachella and Bonnaroo stood alone as revolutionary festivals steering the US scene in new directions. As the touring fests dominant in the '90s began to lose their luster and become just another tour, a new model, or rather the reintroduction of the original model, began its ascension. 10 years ago neither Bonnaroo nor Coachella existed, and now there is like a billion fests all over this country that would never have been born without the two OGs. It is hard for me not to believe that over-saturation of festivals is on the horizon, but so far, 2008 is another high water mark. Some fest news:

Monolith fest, going down September 13 & 14 at beautiful Red Rocks, CO has an indie dominated line-up that hadn't existed outside of Pitchfork fest until now. I really think I may get tickets to this one:

Saturday, September 13
Devotchka
Silversun Pickups
Neko Case
Vampire Weekend
Mickey Avalon
Del tha Funky Homosapien
Cut Copy
The Fratellis
Superdrag
The Kills
Holy Fuck
White Denim
The Night Marchers
A Place to Bury Strangers
The Photo Atlas
The Hood Internet
John Vanderslice
Darker My Love
Cameron McGill & What Army
Blitzen Trapper
The Presets
Pop Levi
Pwrfl Power The Morning Benders
Boyhollow

Sunday, September 14
Justice
TV on the Radio
Band of Horses
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
CSS
The Avett Brothers
Tokyo Police Club
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
Akron/Family
The Bronx
Tilly and the Wall
The Heavy
The Cribs
The Ting Tings
Airborne Toxic Event
Bright Channel
Chester French
Grampall Jookabox
The Rosewood Thieves
Hearts of Palm
The Giraffes
The Elms

Tickets go on sale tomorrow. More info at the Monolith fest website.


Virgin Mobile Fest, going down in Baltimore, MD August 9 & 10 announced its full line-up this week:

Saturday, August 9

Main Stage

Bloc Party
Cat Power
Chuck Berry and The Silver Beats
Citizen Cope
Duffy
Foo Fighters
Gogol Bordello
Jack Johnson
KT Tunstall
Lupe Fiasco
The Offspring
Paramore
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
The Swell Season
Wilco

Dance Tent

DJ Dan & Donald Glaude
Erol Alkan
Ferry Corsten
Soul Wax
Steve Lawler
Underworld

Sunday, August 10

Main Stage

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
The Black Keys
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Bob Dylan
The Go! Team
Iggy & The Stooges
Kanye West
Lil Wayne
Nine Inch Nails
She & Him
Shudder to Think
Stone Temple Pilots
Taking Back Sunday

Dance Tent

Armin van Buuren
Chromeo
Deadmau5
Moby (DJ Set)
Pendulum
Richie Hawtin

Tickets for this one also go on sale tomorrow, so check out the Virgin Mobile fest website.

Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween weekend has announced its headliners will be R.E.M., NIN, and Stone Temple Pilots.

Awesome Festivals coming up this summer:

May 1-4: New Orleans Jazz Fest
May 16-18: No Fun Fest (New York, NY)
May 24-26: Sasquatch! (The Gorge, George, WA)
June 5-8: Wakarusa (Lawrence, KS)
June 12-15: Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN)
June 18-22: ATHFest (Athens, GA)
June 26-29: Corndogorama (Atlanta, GA)
July 3-6: Rothbury (Rothbury, MI)
July 17-19: Camp Bisco 7 (Mariaville, NY)
July 18-20: Pitchfork Fest (Chicago, IL)
August 1-3: Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL)
August 8-10: All Points West (Liberty State Park, NJ)
August 22-24: Outside Lands Fest (San Francisco, CA)
August 30-September 1: Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA)
September 19-21: All Tommorrow's Parties (Catskills, NY))
September 26-28 : ACL Fest (Austin, TX)

ACLFest Line-Up:

Click To Enlarge:




Foo Fighters, Beck, and Mars Volta with no Jack Johnson is a classy way to handle a line-up. More info at Austin City Limits Fest website.

Coachella 2008

April 25th-27th in Indio, Ca., Coachella returns. The headliners are a bit baffling to me (Jack Johnson is headlining both Coachellas? Seriously?) and overall it is a little off the mark from their usual ridiculously amazing line-ups, but this is still a deep list of great artists. Tickets go on sale this Friday for $269 plus fees. I really want to go, but with a Coachella East (with Radiohead supposedly headlining), the new Vineland, Lollapalooza, Pitchforkfest, ACLFest, and Bonnaroo with the chance to rival this line-up, it is going to be difficult to make it west for this one. Chances I Go now: 40%.

Coachella Announce Line-Up!

After delays and such, they announced some of the line-up on a Mexican radio station. Here is what I have together from URB:

Fri

Jack Johnson

The Verve

Raconteurs

Sat

Portishead

Kraftwerk

Death Cab for Cutie

Cafe de Cuda

Sun

Roger Waters - Dark Side of the Moon

Love & Rockets

My Morning Jacket

and the rest...

Spritualized

Justice

Breeders

Fat Boy Slim

Tegan and Sara

Madness

National

Animal Collective

Mum

Pendulum

Sharon Jones

Stars

Battles

Aesop Rock

Midnight Juggarnauts

Does it Offend You, Yeah?

Spank Rock

Minus the Bear

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

Diplo

Adam Freeland

Santogold

Vampire Weekend

Dan Deacon

Sasha & Digweed

Rilo Kiley

MIA

Hot Chip

Cold War Kids

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Gogol Bordello

Chromeo

Metric

Danny Tenaglia

Booka Shade

Murs

Cool Kids

Sia

Les Savy Fav

Holy Fuck

Black Kids

Black Mountain

Man Man

I'm from Barcelona

Kid Sister

Horrors

Austin TV

Shout Out Louds

Luckyiam

Autolux

Modeselktor

Porter

The Bees

Professor Murda

Cut Copy

Busy P

Institube DJs

VHS or Beta

I'll wait to really get into what i think about the line-up until they have the official poster (which is supposedly tomorrow morning or sometime before then). Keep checking The Coachella website to keep up to date.

###EDIT###

Here's a more complete list from here:

Friday

Jack Johnson, The Verve, Racounters, Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, Swell Season, The NAtional, Animal Collective, Slightly Stoupid, Mum, Peendulum, Sharon Jones, Stars, Battles, Aesop Roc, MIdnight Juggernauts, Does it Offend you yeah?, Minus the BEar, Spank Rock, Dan le sac vs Scrombium pin, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Tokman, John Butter Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deaon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Proffesor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American GAng, Lucky I AM

Saturday

Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death cab For curite, Cafe Tacvba, Sasha and digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot CHip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus, DEvotchka, Floggin Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars On Brodway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin HArris, Boyz Noise, Junke Xl, Cinematic Orchstra, Jamie t, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Garbon/Silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo Majesty, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron Family, MGMT, Institubes DJS, Surkin, Orgasmic, James Zbiola, SEbastiAn, Kavinsky, Dready, The Birds and the Bees, Grand Ole party, New Young Pony, 120 Days, Yoav, Electrick Touch, UFFIE

Sunday

Roger Waters, Love and Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dimitri From Paris, Autolux, The Field, Lintop Kwesi Johnson, Les Savy Fab, The cool Kids, Sons and Daghters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kuls, Black Mountain, The Animals, Kid Sister feat. A TRak, Mon Man, Duffy, Im From Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The horrors, Austin TV, Shoout out Lods, Plastiscenes, Brett Dennen

Coachella Rumors

According to the New York Times, the promoters of the Coachella festival will be having an east coast festival this year in August:

The new festival, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 8 through Aug. 10, is to be presented by the promoter AEG and its Goldenvoice subsidiary. A competing event, the Vineland Music Festival, held by C3 Presents and Festival Republic, a unit of the concert giant Live Nation, is scheduled from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10 in Vineland, N.J. The band Radiohead and the singer-songwriter Jack Johnson have been mentioned as headliners at the Liberty State Park event, though a lineup has not been announced. Representatives for AEG declined to comment.

Also a preliminary lineup for Coachella is up on Brooklyn Vegan. It is as follows:

Death Cab for Cutie
The Breeders
Justice
Jens Lekman
Junkie XL
The Verve
UNKLE
Cold War Kids
Chromeo
Autolux
Spiritualized
Portishead
VHS or Beta
Dan Deacon
Brett Dennen
The Cinematic Orchestra
Battles
Kid Sister
Crystal Castles
Louis XIV


This is great news for festival lovers everywhere. I have never made it to Coachella myself so I am really excited that I will have multiple choices for Goldenvoice fests this year. I may skip Coachella since I'm going to SXSW but the east coast festival sounds promising and I'll probably be deciding between it, Lollapalooza, Virgin, Austin City Limits, and Vineland this year. Damn it's good to have choices!

Happy Bonnaroo Line-up Day

Screw this valentine BS. Today is about Bonnaroo. So it turns out that the widely circulated rumors were really off, the pre-confirmations were solid, and Bonnaroo has some serious amatuers running their website. Yesterday, a Bonnaroo message board dude named "Bonnaroodetective" found the line-up and exposed it and Billboard was the first to break the story. Props to those guys. Even today the Bonnaroo website is acting funny, and really it's a weak web design. So, I'm gonna break down the line-up:

The Police • Tool • Widespread Panic • The White Stripes • Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals • Wilco • The Flaming Lips • MANU CHAO Radio Bemba Sound System • The String Cheese Incident • Franz Ferdinand • Bob Weir & Ratdog • Damien Rice • Ween • Gov't Mule • Ziggy Marley • The Decemberists • Kings of Leon • Michael Franti & Spearhead • Wolfmother • Regina Spektor • The Black Keys • Galactic • DJ Shadow • Gillian Welch • Spoon • Keller Williams (WMD'S) • Sasha & John Digweed • STS9 • Old Crow Medicine Show • The Hold Steady • Lily Allen • North Mississippi Allstars • Fountains Of Wayne • Hot Tuna • Feist • Hot Chip • John Butler Trio • Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys • Aesop Rock • The Richard Thompson Band • Dierks Bentley • James Blood Ulmer • Xavier Rudd • Gogol Bordello • Junior Brown • Tortoise • T-Bone Burnett • Mavis Staples • Clutch • Cold War Kids • Dr. Dog • Paolo Nutini • Brazilian Girls • RX Bandits • The Nightwatchman • The Slip • Girl Talk • Railroad Earth • Martha Wainwright • Rodrigo y Gabriela • Annuals • Tea Leaf Green • Sam Roberts Band • Elvis Perkins in Dearland • Charlie Louvin • Sonya Kitchell • Mute Math • Apollo Sunshine • Uncle Earl • The National • The Little Ones • Black Angels • Ryan Shaw • Lewis Black & Friends • Dave Attell • David Cross •

First the headliners. Tool and the White Stripes are probably the two biggest-bands-I've-never-seen-who-still-tour-that-I-want-to-see so i'm pretty stoked about that. The Police is solid. Widespread is pretty lame, but i understand it. Overall, a nice follow-up to Radiohead, but I am dissappointed that Superfly couldn't land Roger Waters while he's touring around the Southeast US. But oh well, I'll catch him in Atlanta.



The line-up overall does a good job of balancing music tastes and for that I'm happy. Despite how much the hippies and wookies will cry about it not being an exclusively jamband line-up, the jam-heads are very well represented with WSP, String Cheese, Ben Harper, Bob Weir, Gov't Mule, Ween, Micheal Franti, Galactic, North Mississippi Allstars, STS9, Tea Leaf Green, Keller Williams, etc.



Bands that i'm excited about include: Wilco, The Decemberists, Wolfmother, Regina Spektor, the Black Keys, DJ Shadow, The Hold Steady, Lily Allen, Hot Chip, Aesop Rock, Tortoise, Cold War Kids, Girl Talk, and Mute Math.



The comedy acts I think are all really solid and probably the best comedy line-up at Bonnaroo thus far.

Overall, I give the inital line-up a solid B. Good job balancing the Pitchfork kids with the Patchouli kids but not Bonnaroo's best. Hopefully the artist additions will be good. 120 Days to go!

Go Check Out The Bonnaroo Site