has officially confirmed that, as rumoured, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Phish will anchor the 11th incarnation of the iconic music festival, which will take place from June 7th to 10th in Manchester, Tennessee. The above headliners will be joined by recent Grammy winners Bon Iver and Skrillex, a reunited Beach Boys and comedian Aziz Ansari. All told, more than 150 bands and nearly two dozen comedians will offer fans continuous entertainment on 13 stages over the course of four sleepless days and nights.
True to its formula, Bonnaroo's lineup breaks away from other major U.S. festivals who have often been accused of homogenous programming. This year, shock rocker Alice Cooper will join the party. So will rapper Ludacris. The festival will honour its jam band roots with performances from Umphrey's McGee, ALO and Dispatch, while also making room for electronic acts with sets by Flying Lotus, Major Lazer and Big Gigantic. Hardcore group Bad Brains will make their inaugural Bonnaroo appearance as will Spectrum Road, an all-star band featuring Cream's Jack Bruce, Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Carlos Santana's wife Cindy Blackman, and revered organist John Medeski.
Indie rock royalty will appear alongside current up-and-comers with sets by the Shins, the Avett Brothers, Foster the People, Feist, tUnE-yArDs, Little Dragon, Mogwai, Dawes and Alabama Shakes among many others.
When Bonnaroo launched in 2002, it imagined itself as a cross between Phish's homegrown parties in the Northeast and the New Orlean's Jazz and Heritage Festival in Louisiana. In fact, Bonnaroo organisers brought in some of the creative team behind Phish's events, while creating a format that was directly inspired by what they saw at the fairgrounds in New Orleans. In keeping with the spirit that the festival was built upon, when Phish finally performed at Bonnaroo, in 2009, they brought out Bruce Springsteen to jam.
But it's not only jam bands who jam at Bonnaroo – collaborations are frequent and bands often feel free to take more risks than they might otherwise. A large part of that has to do with the vibe. Fans who make the annual pilgrimage to Tennessee tend to listen to bands, not hype. Multiple musicians seem to comment on this from stage every year and the band-fan respect is so high that it is not uncommon to see artists roaming the grounds and watching other sets from out in the field, when their own duties have been fulfilled.
Tickets will go on sale Saturday, February 18th at noon ET, at bonnaroo.com.
Here is the complete 2012 Bonnaroo lineup as announced at this time:
Radiohead
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Phish
Bon Iver
The Beach Boys (featuring Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks)
The Avett Brothers
The Shins
Foster the People
Skrillex
Aziz Ansari
Dispatch
Feist
The Roots
Alice Cooper
SuperJam
Black Star
The Word (featuring John Medeski, Robert Randolph and North Mississippi Allstars)
Ludacris
Ben Folds Five
Flogging Molly
Spectrum Road (featuring Cindy Blackman Santana, Jack Bruce, John Medeski, and Vernon Reid)
Mac Miller
Childish Gambino
Major Lazer
tUnE-yArDs
Afrocubism
Flying Lotus
Umphrey's McGee
Little Dragon
St. Vincent
City and Colour
The Civil Wars
Young the Giant
Two Door Cinema Club
Punch Brothers
NEEDTOBREATHE
Fitz & the Tantrums
Bad Brains
Yelawolf
Dawes
Battles
Danny Brown
The Black Lips
SBTRKT
Phantogram
Kendrick Lamar
Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires
The Kooks
The Joy Formidable
The Antlers
Kathleen Edwards
Mimosa
Kurt Vile & the Violators
Alabama Shakes
Das Racist
Delta Spirit
Gary Clark Jr.
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
Laura Marling
Trampled by Turtles
Mogwai
The War on Drugs
Ben Howard
Grouplove
Blind Pilot
ALO
The Devil Makes Three
White Denim
EMA
Here We Go Magic
K-Flay
The Lonely Forest
Mariachi El Bronx
Big Freedia
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
The Soul Rebels
Kvelertak
SOJA
Steven Bernstein's MTO All-Stars Play Sly
Big Gigantic
Sarah Jarosz
Orgone
Darondo
Fruit Bats
Moon Taxi
More to be announced