The Tenth Coming of Bonnaroo

I've often said that the most valuable people in the world are the ones who know something you don't. While I pay extreme attention to music, I know that there will always be others who know something more. Rather than get in a huff about it, I just become closer friends with these people.

I met one of these invaluable friends while taking a road trip to Halifax to see Broken Social Scene in 2007. A lover of music like anyone else, Sandy Conway seemed to have some mysterious source of band knowledge. Like Woodward and Bernstein, it was like someone was feeding him information about bands who were always on the verge of blowing up. He would reveal that source to me a year later. It was called Bonnaroo.

Conway has been trying to convince me to come to the massive musical fest in Manchester, Tennessee for years now. For reasons beyond my control (work, no money, living in England) I've never been able to make it. Finally this winter Conway reminded me that this year would be the tenth anniversary of Roo and should not be passed up. That constant dangling carrot in front of my nose finally became too much. I broke down and bought a earlybird ticket months ago. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

Like survivors of a plane crash in a desert desperately searching for water, the wait for a Bonnaroo lineup is agonizing. Every now and then the mirage of leaked artists would slip out, only to be shot down by online chatter. I actually fared quite well, but I'm afraid Mr. Conway may have gone a bit barmey in the final days of waiting.

This afternoon at 12 EST, the misery was to about to be over with the first lineup announcement. As one final and cruel act of depravity, the website crashed just after noon as thousands of people rushed to take a peek. In fact, I've been writing this post as a way to keep my mind off of it. Yes I could look on Twitter or even ask Conway who I'm sure is doing cartwheels around his living room at the moment. I would really rather see it straight from the horses mouth. By the way, did I mention that the horse was this man?

Watch the announcement by the great Conan O'Brien here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQS0ZVsN9g

Reading through the list, this is literally what I just said out loud: "Yes....yes! YES! YES!!! AWESOME! Yes! Nice! Oh, HA HA HA! AMAZING!"

First off, it looks like my Arcade Fire curse will finally come to an end. That alone has me over the moon. Add to that Big Boi, Neil Young with Stephen Stills, Rick Rosas and Joe Vitale, My Morning Jacket, Buffalo Springfield, the Black Keys, and Primus and you have a very happy man. That's nothing though really! The Strokes will be there as will Beirut, Twin Shadow, the Decemberists, Deerhunter, Sleigh Bells, Greg Allman, Cold Ward Kids and more. I let out a loud yelp when I saw that Justin Townes Earle was on the list as well. He's not my favourite by any means, but the idea of seeing his country twang while in Tennessee just seems too perfect.

For a full peak at what's been added today, go take a look yourself. Like what you see? Well guess what? More tickets go on sale this weekend at noon EST. Better hurry though, the last batch was sold out in two hours.

Now comes a new time to discover. As Conway told me last night his Roo routine consists of looking at the lineup and then hitting the internet to start listening to the bands he doesn't know yet. And that my friends, is how he is always in the know.