SPRINGSTEEN, PHISH, BEASTIES, NIN HIGHLIGHT 8th BONNAROO

Another heavy weight lineup is in store for Bonnaroo fans as Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment host their 8th Annual Music and Arts Fest

For the past seven years, AC Entertainment and Superfly Productions have brought together historical musical performances to their beautiful 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville and 2009 won’t be any different. By striving to bring a diverse lineup with round the clock activities, it’s no wonder Bonnaroo sits atop as one of, if not the best festival America has to offer. With over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days Bonnaroo has clearly elevated the American Rock Festival to a level never before seen in The U.S. Taking place June 11th-14th, Bonnaroo will pack an unparalleled amount of entertainment options into its four days and in 2009, Bonnaroo will bring together the immense talents of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish, the Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, Gov’t Mule, Wilco, Al Green, David Byrne, Snoop Dogg, Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams, Femi Kuti, Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Del McCoury Band, MGMT, moe., Paul Oakenfold, Elvis Costello, Bela Fleck, Alejandro Escovedo and Rodrigo y Gabriela to name just a small sample of the incredibly diverse lineup.

This will be Bruce Springsteen and his band’s only North American festival performance this year and this also will be Phish’s only festival performance in 2009, and their presence at Bonnaroo holds a great deal of significance — besides the fact that each of its members has shown the event great support, performing at the festival in various incarnations over the years, Phish’s own festivals were notably one of the major inspirations for Bonnaroo’s creation and operational strategies. Phish will play two shows at the festival, a full two-set performance as well as an additional late-evening set. We also caught up with official Bonnaroo photographer Danny Clinch, who was recently honored at the Grammy Preservation Music In Focus event, to get his thoughts on Bonnaroo becoming so much more than just a jam band festival.

“It should be a wonderful experience. Anytime you get that many good bands together in one place you’re going to draw a crowd of people who are serious music fans. That’s kind of the key with anything like this whether it’s Bonnaroo or any of these types of festivals. Each band brings it’s own crowd and each crowd gets to discover music that maybe they heard about or maybe not but it’s something that’s new for them and each band gets to play to people that have never heard them before, which is always a good experience.”

Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, The Dead and The Allman Brothers has played the fest since its inception. In a previous interview, he shared his thoughts on the serious music fans who flock to Bonnaroo each summer, making it a perfect place for musicians to gain new fans.

“I think Bonnaroo was initially pigeon holed as the jam band festival and that’s just not even fair to say that these days. I mean you look at the past about who they’ve had there, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Black Keys, Raconteurs and Phish and Dave Matthews and O.A.R. But you know, it goes on and on and on.”

Bonnaroo has offered its attendees the amenities and community spirit of a small city, boasting 24 hours of activities including a comedy theater, cinema festival, jazz club, silent disco, arcade, Internet cafés, restaurants, yoga classes and hundreds of high quality craft vendors. No other American Festival can make the claim of having round the clock activities for its patrons. Bonnaroo tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.