Bonnaroo: Music on a Farm Never Sounded So Good



The Bonnaroo Music Festival is now in its eighth year on a farm in Manchester, TN and it keeps raising the bar higher on how great a festival can be. One new addition this year was that one of the three large tent stages had a theme throughout the day, such as country, hard rock, an artist curated day or African musicians. The change allowed fans of those genres to stay in one place, which is a welcome relief when there are seven concurrent stages with music. Every year the lineup cuts across all music genres to build a broad roster of artists that create a rich musical community, much like ASCAP. Artists often play their sets at festivals and move on to the next city. This isn't always so at Bonnaroo, so many artists stick around for more than one day – some even come just to see old friends and catch music, even if they aren't on the bill. Take for example major ASCAP members Nas and Don Was – neither was on the lineup, but Nas performed with the Beastie Boys and Don Was backed Tom Snider. Bruce Springsteen performed on Saturday, but stayed for the rest of the festival to watch a number of artists and sit-in with the closing headliner. For a look at pictures of ASCAP members playing Bonnaroo and other views of the scene at Bonnaroo, view the slideshow.
- Words and Photos by Jon Bahr