Metallica to headline Bonnaroo

http://metallica.com/index.asp?1=1&item=600662

"This year we'll be joining Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant and others. How cool is it to be thrown into that company??"

Any one of those acts could headline.

There had been rumors that Metallica and Led Zeppelin would play the festival. I thought, and still think, that Metallica doesn't exactly fit into Bonnaroo's style. When Metallica (in its Alternica phase) headlined Lollapalooza, that was when the festival was dying on the vine and desperate to make a splash.

Surprising. Not that Metallica would take the paycheck, but that the offer was even made.

 

Sigh.

 

Has any band, ever, in the history of mankind, become a bigger caricacture of itself than Metallica?

At least the Stones seem to have some sense of irony.

 

Plus the Stones have Keef and Charlie, who will always, always be icons of cool, as opposed to Hetfield and Lars, the poster boys for National Doofus Week.

 

I'll probably one day come to regret never having gone, but I'm just too danged old for Bonnaroo. I can't imagine being nasty out in the nastiness for that whole time.

I'll stick with JazzFest, with all its nastiness conveniently located near civilization, er, I mean, New Orleans. I've done all three days of a weekend the last couple years, and that's almost too much for this old geezer.
http://www.nojazzfest.com/index.php?http%3A//www.nojazzfest.com/home/nojhf_pr_012408.php

 

Langerado is a much better festival this year IMO.

 

Pearl Jam's message board claims that that band is in fact the headliner for Bonnaroo.

The reason: they are playing the main stage in the Saturday night slot, similar to the Police last year and Radiohead before that.

Meanwhile, Metallica will be playing on Friday night, while Jack Johnson goes Sunday evening. It's probably all semantics and likely best to call them all "headliners".

Anyway, I've been going back and forth on whether or not to go (Pearl Jam is far and away my favorite band ever and I try to catch them whenever possible). But I don't know if going to another festival show after Lolla last summer (and get the requisite time off from work) is worth it. I literally tossed and turned for about an hour last night thinking about this.

 

Allow me to clarify that sigh.

I think Metallica will go over like a fart in church at Bonnarroo and totally mess with an always great vibe.

 

How's that file-sharing fight coming, Lars ?

 

Since many bands sell their music for cheap prices (including Metallica) on iTunes now, and since illegal sharing sites often get shut down by litigation . . .I would say it went just fine, for all concerned.

It's so cute when people here rip the Napster fight. I guess our work, our writing and reporting, should just be available for free too, right? Or are we not constantly talking about finding a way to make money off of posting our own work on the Web?

 

That's always been my reason for not stealing music.

And I'll be buying Bonnaroo tickets, for sure. I haven't seen Pearl Jam since June 2006 in East Rutherford, so I can't wait.

Fortunately, I live close enough that I drive over for each day I attend without too much difficulty.

 

Is this Cartman's way of breaking up the hordes of hippies? By having Metallica drive them off the property? Slayer would work better for that purpose. Metallica has gone far too soft in recent years (except for that pathetic abortion of an album called St. Anger.)

Jazz Fest is much better. Sleeping in tents surrounded by thousands of strange people with questionable hygiene and under the influence of psychotropic substances isn't my idea of fun.