If you’re in the mid-South area and you don’t live under a rock, you’ll know that Bonnaroo is this upcoming weekend. The 3-day festival occurs throughout 700 acres and brings in over 150 performances on 10+ stages.
The giganterous Tennessee monster party is about to kick off, and there’s a lot of information to digest, but never fear! TVD is here to provide you with a concise list of the hottest heat and some underground slowburners that are must-see’s at this year’s festival.
This Tent will be the main attraction Thursday, pulling in Dirty Guvnahs (4pm), Left-of-center rap act Danny Brown (7pm), and alt hip hop phenom Yelawolf (8:30pm) immediately following Brown.
That Tent offers an equally tantalizing amount of talent with Orgone (7pm), Moon Taxi (8:30pm), Soja (10pm). The evening will be capped on this end when Big Gigantic (11:30pm) take the stage.
At The Other Tent, you could experience a late night watching White Denim (8:45pm), followed immediately by Phantogram (10:15pm), who in turn will pass the stage baton of to the chill-rave sounds of MiMosa (11:45pm).
FRIDAY
Friday marks when the big guns are pulled out. What Stage will have Avett Brothers (5pm) riding the wave of their budding success, later followed by Thom Yorke & Co. (10pm). (I’m assuming this based on their sound, but they changed their name from Radiohead, right?)
The Which Stage will fill out the big names for Friday, hosting Feist (6:15pm) and Foster the People (7:45pm).
This Tent will offer some creative acts that sit on street cred with Tune-Yards (1:45pm), Two-Door Cinema Club (3:15pm), and Little Dragon (5pm).
The Sonic Stage will be lit up with the bright sound of some great upcoming acts as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (12pm), Rubble Bucket (2:15pm), Imfamous Stringdusters (7pm), and more all roll through.
Late night Friday is when things get super fun. This Tent has jammy Umprhy’s McGee (2pm) following the Diplo/Switch collab Major Lazer (12pm).
ALSO, on what is probably the best one-two combo of Bonnaroo Black Star (12:30am) (yes, Black Star), will take That Tent’s stage followed by the master of the LA Beat World himself, Flying Lotus (2am).
SATURDAY
What Stage continues its uber-krunkness all Saturday with Santigold’s (5pm) lo-fi/hi-fi future island music, which puts up one of the strongest cases for shows that cannot be missed. Neosoul/hip hop pioneers The Roots (7:30pm) will be questing to get some audience love (it will be easily attained as well). Kings of modern-day surf rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers (10pm) are also set to play.
The Which Stage will be hosting the talent of Punch Brothers (4pm), Childish Gambino (6:15pm), and Dispatch (8:30pm), but my attention will be all but completely taken up by This Tent.
This Tent’s schedule is ridiculously awesome with comedy rap Das Racist (2pm) performing followed by math rock experts Battles (3:30pm). Btw, there’s more. After Battles, squeaky clean dance act SBTRKT (5:15pm) will drop his set followed by post-rock icons Mogwai (7pm)!
Late Night Saturday has some party music, brain food, or a strange trip depending on what you’re looking for. Skrillex (1:30pm) is playing rave music at Which Stage. ?uest Love (12:15pm) will be having friends over to show off his mad skills at This Tent, and Alice Cooper (12:00pm) is far from being 18 when he plays the That Tent.
Obviously Saturday has a lot of great material, but there’s also a ton of stuff flying under the radar. Be sure to check out Trampled by Turtles (3:15pm/Sonic Stage), LP (4pm/Miller Lite Lounge), Oberhofer (4pm/Sonic Stage), and North Mississippi Allstars Duo (4:45pm/Sonic Stage) sets if you’ve got some free time between headliners.
SUNDAY
Sunday’s acts worth seeing start at What Stage. Beach Boys (3pm) will be the perfect blast from the past to keep your spirits up during the last day’s festivities. Bon Iver (5:30pm) will make sweet love to his guitar on stage (err, figuratively speaking… hopefully) immediately following. The main stage has one final offer… but we’ll get back to that in a bit.
Which Stage will host a string of talent on the last day with The Black Lips (1:45pm), Ben Folds Five (4:30pm), and The Shins (6:30pm) all making appearances.
War on Drugs (3:30pm), The Joy Formidable (5:00pm), and Young the Giant (6:45pm) will give you plenty of reason to hang out at This Tent all day long.
Obviously there are roughly 4356 stages to the massive event that is Bonnaroo, so if you’ve got some free time, be sure to check out the sets of The Civil Wars (6:15pm/The Other Tent), The Antlers (3:30pm/That Tent), Fun. (6:45pm/That Tent), Here We Go Magic (2pm/That Tent), and Yuna (5:20pm/Miller Lite Lounge).
On a final schedule preview note, Gods of Jam-Bandary Phish will have a FOUR HOUR TIME SLOT to close Bonnaroo, 8PM at What Stage. Be sure you go and let loose for the final hours of the festivities.
