Bonnaroo’s Lineup Shows What Festivals Become in the Age of Spotify
With acts ranging from Deadmau5 and Mumford and Sons to Billy Joel and Slayer, the music fest seems to be suffering from multiple personality disorder.
If there was any debating the fact that today’s music scene is all over the place, the lineup for this year’s Bonnaroo Festival should settle the matter once and for all. Headlining the festival, which runs June 11 through 14th in Manchester, Tennessee, are Pinot-pickled piano man Billy Joel, pint-sized rap wunderkind Kendrick Lamar, earnest neo-folky Mumford & Sons, and rodent-headed EDM titan Deadmau5. There is something for everyone and – to flip it around – something for everyone to hate.
The lineup shows how far afield the festival has wandered since its early days as a jam band oasis. Now, fans have a range of choice that simulates nothing so well as the experience of streaming music online. Attendees can stroll from stages dominated by indie darlings (Spoon, Belle & Sebastian, The War on Drugs, My Morning Jacket), hip hop faves (Run the Jewels, Childish Gambino, Shabazz Palaces, Dej Loaf), baby boomers (Robert Plant, Tears for Fear), METAL!!! (Slayer, Brown Sabbath (which is exactly what you think it is)), singer-songwriters (Sturgill Simpson, Strand of Oaks) and, yes, noodlers (SuperJam! Featuring Ed Helms!). By the end of the festival, Billy Joel will probably know who Kendrick Lamar is. It’s a sign of how far we’ve come and the very strange place we’re going.
Check out the full lineup for Bonnaroo 2015:
Billy Joel
Mumford & Sons
Deadmau5
Kendrick Lamar
Florence and The Machine
Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters
My Morning Jacket
Bassnectar
Alabama Shakes
Childish
Gambino
Flume
Hozier
Slayer
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Belle and Sebastian
Spoon
The War On Drugs
STS9
Ben Folds
SuperJam
!
Atmosphere
Atomic Bomb! Who Is William
Onyeabor
?
Tears for Fears
Brandi
Carlile
Twenty|One|Pilots
The Bluegrass Situation
SuperJam
featuring Ed Helms & Special Guests
Flying Lotus
Earth Wind & Fire
Caribou
Gary Clark
Jr
.
SBTRKT
Punch Brothers
Medeski
,
Scofield
, Martin & Wood
Tove
Lo
Run the Jewels
Dawes
G-Eazy
Trampled By Turtles
Sturgill
Simpson
Moon Taxi
AWOLNATION
Sylvan
Esso
Bela
Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Guster
Jamie XX
Against Me!
Odesza
SOJA
Jerry Douglas Presents Earls of Leicester
Bleachers
Rudimental
Mac
DeMarco
Tycho
The Very Best
Freddie Gibbs &
Madlib
Shakey
Graves
Shabazz
Palaces
Gramatik
Mø
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Jungle
Benjamin Booker
Houndmouth
The Growlers
Glass Animals
Ana Tijoux
SZA
Courtney Barnett
Rhiannon Giddens
Royal Blood
Tanya Tagaq
Woods
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Iceage
Temples
Between The Buried & Me
Rustie
Ryn Weaver
Dopapod
Pokey LaFarge
Priory
Bahamas
Strand of Oaks
Phox
Gregory Alan Isakov
Brownout Presents BROWN SABBATH
The Districts
Madisen Ward & Mama Bear
DMA’s
Catfish & The Bottlemen
Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Pallbearer
Dej Loaf
Christopher Denny
Hiss Golden Messenger
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
Unlocking the Truth
Photos by Ross Gilmore / Redferns / Getty Images