BONNAROO FULL OF NEW TALENT

Lily Allen, Cold War Kids, and Kings Of Leon were just some of the new talent that played Bonnaroo this weekend.

Bonnaroo 2007 took place this weekend starting June 14 and running through June 17. While The Police, Tool, and Widespread Panic took the headlines prior to the festival, it was newcomers who injected new life into the festival.

Lily Allen, the hot buzz artist from the U.K. made an appearance at the festival, and she stopped into the press tent prior to her set to give her take on what her ideal festival is like.

“I don’t know. I guess people being nice to each other for once. I kind of remember festivals when they were less corporate. I just got here, so I haven’t gotten out there yet, but festivals like Glastonbury and stuff that used to be much more hippie-ish with people walking around in long dresses, and it’s not so much like that anymore. But I’m excited to get out there and see what it’s like.”

Cold War Kids, who also were Bonnaroo virgins, talked how their music relates to the Bonnaroo crowd, who historically favor jam bands.

“Our songs are not that festival-y in a lot of ways because they’re so much [about] starting and stopping, and we’re really used to playing in clubs and that fee. So the Jammy feel, and to come into people expecting… or maybe not expecting that — it’s a different feeling. Yeah, people are accepting, whereas you feel like you have to win people over in clubs more. So, people are easier, maybe, and that’s a good feeling.”

Kings Of Leon, age wise, might be one of the youngest performers with their combined ages. The four Followills — brothers Caleb, Jared, Nathan and their first cousin, Matthew — are already veterans playing not only this year’s Bonnaroo, but also the 2004 and 2005 incarnations of the fest. Drummer Nathan said that it was good that Americans had a festival they can be proud of.

“Uh, it was actually… because we played a lot overseas in festivals over there and — by the way dental hygiene is the difference between European and American festivals, but besides that point — it was actually great to see American kids out there that grew up the same way we did that are actually like embracing this with something other than, we’re a novelty act just because our hair or our tight pants or we talk different or talk funny or whatever. It’s all good I guess. Everyone wants to be accepted by our own kind. I think yesterday was our homecoming in America actually being accepted by the kind of kids that we were when we were growing up and we would go to festivals and enjoy all these great bands that were playing. So, it was good.”

Other newcomers included Paolo Nutini and The Decemberists among others. For many the highlight of Bonnaroo was the SuperJam between Ben Harper, ex Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, and Questlove from the Roots. Check back as we’ll have more stories from Bonnaroo throughout the week.