Bonnaroo Lineup announced
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:53 amMetallica, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson and Kanye West have been announced as the headliners for the 2008 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, scheduled for June 12th through 15th in Manchester, Tennessee. The lineup was posted at the official Bonnaroo site at midnight ET on Wednesday (February 6th). Other acts confirmed to appear include Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Phil Lesh & Friends, My Morning Jacket, the Allman Brothers Band, the Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Death Cab for Cutie, B.B. King, Ben Folds, O.A.R., Mastodon, Lupe Fiasco, Against Me!, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend and dozens more.
The British music news site NME.com, which first broke the news, erroneously reported that Led Zeppelin was going to headline the event. But in actuality the lineup includes Lez Zeppelin, an all-female Led Zeppelin cover band from New York. Nevertheless, dozens of other news sites picked up the erroneous story without apparently first bothering to check the official Bonnaroo site itself. Zeppelin's appearance at the event had been rumored for weeks.
The festival, which launched in 2002, will take place once again on a 700-acre farm 60 miles south of Nashville, with a total lineup of more than 100 bands and over 20 comedians. Tickets go on sale at bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 16th at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Metallica will headline the bill on June 13th. A statement at the band's web site said in part, "The Bonnaroo gang does an amazing job at giving you everything you could want/need for a great weekend...so hang out, soak up the vibe, and embrace the whole experience."
The choice of Metallica as a headliner is bound to cause controversy, given the festival's more relaxed vibe and past leanings toward jam bands, indie acts and prog-rock. Although Tool performed last year, the Metallica audience is often decidedly more raucous.
