Sickness: Bonnaroo Lays Down The Gauntlet
Six years after sprouting as some hippie jam fest, Bonnaroo has blossomed into the best festival this country has to offer. Despite the barrage of new festivals threatening their market share, AC Entertainment and Superfly Productions continue to put together the best lineups.

Where else can you see such a diverse lineup of the best artists from music’s past, present and future. This year we have Levon Helm, Phil Lesh and Robert Plant representing Team Fiesty Vet; The Raconteurs, Kanye West and My Morning Jacket as the current purveyors of the good stuff; while The Felice Brothers, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, !!! and Back Door Slam offer a taste of where we’re going.
(NME and the Associated Press both reported Led Zeppelin will headline the event, but the Bonnaroo site doesn’t have them on the bill. Yikes, sweet work there, fellas. That “d” is a “z” — Lez Zeppelin will be in Tennessee.)
The one thing that sticks out from looking at this year’s lineup is just how many acts they’ve booked. Where else can you see so many of the top touring acts in the country at one location? The 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival takes place in Manchester, Tennessee on June 12 – 15. Tickets go on sale soon, and if you’re expecting to go, we’d buy ‘em early this year.
Enough of the prelims, read on after the jump for the full lineup…
Pearl Jam
Metallica
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Phil Lesh & Friends
My Morning Jacket
The Allman Brothers Band
The Raconteurs
Willie Nelson
Death Cab for Cutie
!!!
A Very Special Acoustic Performance by Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Phil Lesh & Teresa Williams
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck
Against Me!
Aimee Mann
B.B. King
Back Door Slam
Battles
Ben Folds
Black Kids
Broken Social Scene
Dark Star Orchestra
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival
Donavon Frankenreiter
Drive-By Truckers
Ghostland Observatory
Gogol Bordello
Grupo Fantasma
Iron & Wine
Israel Vibration
Jakob Dylan
Jose Gonzalez
Ladytron
Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road
Lez Zeppelin
Little Feat
Lupe Fiasco
M.I.A.
Mason Jennings
Mastodon
MGMT
Minus the Bear
Nicole Atkins
O.A.R.
Orchestra Baobab
Ozomatli
Pat Green
Rilo Kiley
Robert Randolph’s Revival
Serena Ryder
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
Sigur Ros
Solomon Burke
State Radio
Steel Train
Talib Kweli
Tegan & Sara
The Avett Brothers
The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton
The Felice Brothers
The Fiery Furnaces
The Lee Boys
The Swell Season
The Sword
Two Gallants
Umphrey’s McGee
Vampire Weekend
Yonder Mountain String Band
Bonnaroo Comedy:
Bonnaroo Late Night Chat About with David Cross
Janeane Garofalo
Zach Galifianakis
Jim Norton
Brian Posehn
Mike Birbiglia
John Mulaney
Michelle Buteau














February 9th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
[...] Bonnaroo lays down the gauntlet — hey, that’s quite a sweet lineup [...]
February 7th, 2008 at 1:48 am
i don’t care what production company does what where…
my whole thing is the ability to be lost in exceptional music in a setting DIFFERENT from everyday, scurrying, fast-paced, bustling, corporate LIFE…
i want the equivalent of a musical – small hamlet/village where by the end of the weekend, i feel connected to just more than fleeting notes of music.
truthfully and granola-esque aside.
my hard-earned dollars will go to smaller, tighter, easier way of the friendly regional festies this summer.
cheers.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Metallica, Kanye????? langerado is the new true bonnaroo.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
That lineup of the Bluegrass Allstars is lethal.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Now if they could only move it to a place with a decent climate…
February 6th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Sick! I only hope that should I be working, I’ll get to see some of it.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:54 am
$250? its been a few years but when we went in 2003 we got two tickets for less than 1 this year
February 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Warren will be there with the Allmans, wouldn’t be surprised to see Mule added later.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:59 am
No Micheal Franti or Gov’t Mule?
Be still my heart!
February 6th, 2008 at 9:51 am
[...] BESIDES BONNAROO, let’s see what’s been happening around the ‘nets: [...]
February 6th, 2008 at 1:31 am
really good lineup, but not any better than the past two years in my opinion.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:12 am
NME has now made the correction
February 6th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Seriously, that lineup is absolutely nuts. Dare I say, CRAISINS.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:52 am
wondering if they didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag on Zeppelin before putting tickets on-sale since they alone will sell the fest out pretty darn quickly.
this could be the second year in a row with a snafu in revealing the line up
February 6th, 2008 at 12:48 am
It’s the full monty
February 6th, 2008 at 12:46 am
fantastic line up. great to see how many new bands they’ve booked this year that haven’t been on previous bills.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Zeppelin or no Zeppelin, that’s the best lineup of talent in one place I’ve ever seen…
February 6th, 2008 at 12:34 am
im pleased my morning jacket is all a man can ask for..