BONNAROO 2008 FEATURES HEAVY, ROCK

With a heavier line-up in 2008, Bonnaroo, the nation’s premiere music festival, was able to balance musical integrity with bands like Metallica.

This past weekend Bonnaroo 2008 featured a somewhat heavier direction with bands like Mastodon, Metallica and Pearl Jam, with old mainstays like Widespread Panic, Les Claypool and Ben Folds still very much in the mix. The concert took place in Manchester, Tennessee, just outside Nashville, and the it even featured Kanye West, albeit at four in the morning.

Another component of Bonnaroo is its focus on comedy, and this year featured appearances by Louis CK, and the Metallica supported Chris Rock.

“Your Bonnaroo experience is just about to change for f***in’ ever. Because in about an hour and a half from now all hell is going to f***n’ break loose, and between now and then even more f***in’ hell is going to break loose. Give it up for the best comedian in the world, Chris f***in’ Rock, come on!”

While there were several first timers like Metallica in the mix, Ben Folds is one of the returnees, and he said that he’s glad the festival can change without losing its musical integrity.

“It’s musical. It’s hard to gather that many people together to collect their money and remain musical. In this situation it seems more like a gathering, and a lot of times it seems like a lot of times your tossing people into a field, taking their money, and then sucking it and then leaving. This one, I don’t know why. It’s probably because of the crowds. They’re more musical.”

As he usually does Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder urged the audience for political change. He also shared with the crowd that the band felt comfortable after vowing not to play a festival again after fans were killed at the Roskilde in 2000 during a crowd crush. Artisan News was on location and we’ll have more coverage and a full report in the coming days.