Bonnaroo: three musical days

MATT DONATO ASST A&E EDITOR MCD724@CABRINI EDU

Imagine approximately 75,000 screaming fans spread across 700 acres of farm land, cheering for at least one of the many bands that will be playing their hearts out for three days straight. This is just a glimpse of the mayhem that will take over Manchester, Tenn. June 16, 2006, for a festival of unprecedented madness. This high-caliber experience is known as Bonnaroo.

“Yeah, I’d go because I like music, and I would want to be introduced to some new bands. It would be a nice road trip too,” Cristina D’Amelio, a junior psychology major, said.

Bonnaroo brings together some of the best acts in the world of music. Performers bridge the gap between rock ‘n’roll, jazz, hip-hop, house, americana and close to any other contemporary sound that is around.

The performers at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival include Radiohead, Blues Traveler, Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Death Cab for Cutie, Moe, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, G Love and Special Sauce, My Morning Jacket, Rusted Root, Medeski Martin and Wood, Beck, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Robert Randolph and The Family Band and Oysterhead.

These names merely break the ice of the greatness that will take over Manchester in just a few months.

While Bonnaroo got its roots with the jam-band scene, it is try- ing to broaden its horizons with their new rock sound that they are pushing for, with bands like Radiohead and My Morning Jacket.

“From the beginning we’ve always tried to reflect people’s music collections. People have diverse musical tastes and that’s what we’re trying to showcase with our programming. While we’re not trying to get too far away from our core, Bonnaroo has been a great platform to introduce different music to our fans,”

Jonathan Mayers, president of Superfly Presents, said. Mayers has been producing Bonnaroo, along with A.C. Entertainment, since the beginning of the festival’s existence.

Not only is there going to be an excess of music, but there is going to be plenty of things going on during any downtime that happens to occur there. There is going to be an arcade, a silent disco, a comedy club, a beer festival, theater performers and a