Bonnaroo confirms Kings of Leon, Jay-Z, Dave Matthews Band
Kings of Leon, fresh off their wins at this year's Grammy Awards, will perform at the Bonnaroo Festival in June, joining a headlining crew that includes Jay-Z, the Dave Matthews Band and The Flaming Lips performing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."
In a clever yet time consuming exercise that involved MySpace and Twitter, Bonnaroo promoters announced the lineup one act at a time every six minutes on Tuesday (2/9), beginning at noon on the East Coast. In the week prior, they had tweeted obscure clues about the acts that would be playing for the June 10-13 festival in Manchester, TN.
By late Tuesday, about 75 performers had been listed--but without dates or times of their performances. Expected headliners Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon had not yet been confirmed.
As in the recent past, the festival continues to present a mix of genres and stretch far beyond its jam band beginnings, which it holds onto with the presence of acts such as the Dave Matthews Band.
Among the veteran acts on the bill are Jeff Beck, John Fogerty and John Prine; international "world music" acts include Tinariwen, Baaba Maal and Jimmy Cliff. Kid Cudi and the duo of Damian Marley & Nas join Jay-Z in the hip-hop camp.
Naturally, alternative rock bands filled the bulk of the announcement. On the bill are Phoenix, Rise Against, The Dead Weather, Gaslight Anthem, Blitzen Trapper, Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys, Thievery Corporation, Wale, Tori Amos, The Melvins and The National.
Roots-oriented acts include Norah Jones, The Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jamey Johnson, Steve Martin's bluegrass project, Zac Brown Band and Cross Canadian Ragweed.
For now, the event's signature event is The Flaming Lips' performing a set of their material and following it with a full rendering of Pink Floyd's 1973 classic "Dark Side of the Moon" with an assist from Stardeath and White Dwarfs.
The Lips' have performed "Dark Side" live only once--New Year's Eve in their hometown of Oklahoma City, OK--and in late December released their version on iTunes. They have not scheduled any other performances of the album.
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