The “Road to Bonnaroo” series was established last year as a coproduction between Mercy Lounge and BMI. The Cannery Row music venue will host four free monthly showcases, with eight bands in each showcase. A combination of fan votes and votes from a panel of judges will determine the winner of each showcase and who will be granted the chance to play one of the nation’s biggest music festivals.

The Features, Protomen and Heypenny emerged victorious from last year’s Road to Bonnaroo and all performed at Bonnaroo’s Troo Music Lounge, a smaller stage sponsored by Budweiser. In addition to performing, they were also covered by local and national media, including Lightning 100, NewsChannel5 and Vogue.

The dates for this year’s Road to Bonnaroo are February 22, March 22, April 19 and May 17—all Mondays. The shows are strictly 21-and-up only and only those who see every band in the night’s line-up are eligible to vote. The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will take place June 10-13.

According to a Facebook post made by Cheer Up Charlie Daniels singer Neil O’Neill, the Delta Saints will compete in the final installment of the series. On May 17, they will challenge Cassino, Cortney Tidwell, Space Capone, Tesla Rossa, My Tyger and Cheer Up Charlie Daniels for a shot at Bonnaroo glory. The remaining bands involved include:

AutoVaughn
Born Empty
Brenn
Caitlin Rose
Dozen Dimes
The Effects
Glossary
Hillbilly Casino
Heartbeater
How I Became the Bomb
The Kicks
Kyle Andrews
Leslie
Majestico
Mikky Ekko
Modoc
Mona
Moon Taxi
Nobility
Non-Commissioned Officers
Pico vs. Island Trees
Ponderosa
The Privates
The Silver Seas
Turbo Fruits

But, mysteriously, it isn’t happening this year.

Festival promoters announced last week that the festival is being postponed until 2011, ostensibly because they couldn’t book “the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect.”

I’ll be the first to admit that Rothbury isn’t my thing. It, like Bonnaroo, was conceived as a successor to Woodstock ’69—a four-day celebration of music and environmentalism, intertwining hippie music with hippie causes. There was a time when I’d happily accept the kind of dubious idealism that comes inherent in a music festival seeking to change the world. But these days, I find music that places its agenda above the craft tiresome, whether it’s punk bands supporting long-dead anarchists or Toby Keith supporting boots in peoples’ asses. Even at Bonnaroo, I bounce between rolling my eyes and pumping my fist in solidarity, depending on who’s on stage.

But, with that being said, I find the reasoning behind the festival’s cancellation fishy at best.

For one thing, Rothbury’s line-up hasn’t exactly been “cutting edge.” The bills for the past two years at Rothbury have been loaded to the gills with “festival safe” jam bands—Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio, former members of Grateful Dead and Zappa Plays Zappa chief among them. These are the kinds of bands with fans who will follow them along on tour without hesitation, they’re the glue that holds music festivals together and they’re not going anywhere. Outside of the usual suspects, the festival has pulled a few major acts into their fold—Bob Dylan, The Hold Steady and The Black Keys for example—but they’re not Pitchfork and no one expects them to be.

A commenter on the news Web site Michigan Live has another theory. Earlier this year, the Grant Township Board of Trustees considered an ordinance on “mass gatherings,” particularly aimed at Rothbury, that could shut down the party at 1 a.m., put strict limits on attendance and tie up venues and promoters alike in increased bureaucratic red tape.
Music festival-goers aren’t the hardest bunch of people to please. They’re more than happy to wallow in the mud and enjoy sub-refugee camp accommodations if the bill is right. At Bonnaroo last year, threat of tornado wasn’t enough to deter music fans from huddling under tents to see their favorite bands.

The one thing that is bound to send these otherwise supernaturally resilient fans into fits of rage is government interference. Attendees of the Wakarusa festival in 2006 complained about increased police presences in and around the festival grounds, including the promoter, who believed the festival had become a “police state.” The ill will felt by music fans nearly torpedoed the festival for good,

Governing bodies need to understand that there is a natural risk to hosting a music festival. Strict, regimented control runs counter to the peaceful free-for-all that music festivals represent. Look at Bonnaroo, for instance. Manchester’s police and government know that drug use happens at the festival, but outside of a handful of drug busts targeting dealers, festival-goers are largely left to their own devices while the city rakes in millions in revenue.

I’d like to believe that we’ve learned our lesson from Woodstock ’99, when mismanagement led to the festival being burned to the ground by rioting fans. I’d also like to believe that attendees have enough self-control to responsibly co-exist with tens of thousands of likeminded individuals for four days and that the residents would happily put up with the four-day hippie invasion to reap the benefits of economy and notoriety. But, then again, maybe I’m fooling myself into a new kind of dubious idealism.

Lance Conzett, a senior in the
journalism program, is editor of the Vision.

“The main reason I bought a ticket this year was because I had to see Springsteen,” said sophomore Stephen Turney.  “I’ve been wanting to see him for years and now I’ll get to see him in front of 30,000 people, which I imagine is probably the best way to see him. I also am really looking forward to seeing David Byrne, Wilco, Erykah Badu, the Decemberists, Girl Talk, Bon Iver, Neko Case, and Okkervil River.”

“I’m ecstatic that Phish is on the list,” sophomore Nick Floyd said. “Some people judge Bonnaroo by the headliners, but what really matters are those who are playing during the daytime. That having been said, I think this lineup is great and I will definitely have some scheduling conflicts…I’m looking forward to Gov’t Mule, Phish, Springsteen, Bela Fleck, and Rodrigo y Gabriela among others.”

Both Turney and Floyd are returning attendees of the festival, which has been running every year since 2002.

“Most Bonnaroo memories are made around the campsite,” said Floyd. “I’m lucky enough to go with an ever-growing group of friends and family from home, and each year it gets better. It’s almost like picking up a conversation we left a year ago. There is a definite level of camaraderie at Bonnaroo. Yeah, the music is amazing, but that slow walk back to the tent as the sun rises while everyone yells profanities about the very late Kanye West is what memories are made of.”

Bonnaroo is a camping festival, held on a 700-acre farm. Roughly 100,000 people attend every year. Some stay in hotels or RVs, but many camp out for the weekend.

“Must have [camping] items include above all a tarp, preferably a really big one that you can spread out to give you shade,” Turney said.  “If you don’t have a tarp, you will probably be miserable at your campsite.”

“You need a tent of course, but also bring enough sleeping gear to ensure a comfortable night’s rest,” Floyd added.  “Sometimes it’s hard to sleep beyond 8 a.m. due to the weather, and if you hadn’t crawled in the sleeping bag until 3 a.m. that morning, you are going to need the most solid sleep you can get.”

Tickets for the festival are currently on sale. General admission tickets are available for $249.50. VIP packages are $1,349.50 per pair of tickets.

The initial line-up for the 2008 festival was announced on Feb. 5 by the festival organizers. Most prominently on the bill are headliners Pearl Jam and Metallica, who had both long been rumored as performers for the festival. Metallica in particular was tied to an insider tip that surfaced in December which also named Led Zeppelin as a confirmed act on the bill.

Zeppelin, who recently reunited in a one-off gig in London, was suspiciously absent from the line-up, although Led Zep singer Robert Plant is performing with Alison Krauss in support of their collaboration record, “Raising Sand.” But the festival isn’t without a Led Zeppelin presence: all-girl tribute band Lez Zeppelin is scheduled to play.

“There will be Zeppelin at Bonnaroo and I think it will surprise people,” said Lez Zeppelin guitar player Steph Paynes. “And there’s a twist. It’s all girls. It’s a female singer. We’re disciples in a way, of the band; I think we understand the certain elements that are important.”

The band, which author Chuck Klosterman said could be “the most powerful all-female band in rock history,” was booked some time after the Zeppelin rumors fired up, but Paynes is not confident that the real deal will perform at the festival.

“It’s not going to happen,” said Paynes about the rumors. “Everyone concocts the impossible scenario, it doesn’t matter what facts you feed somebody. It doesn’t matter what truth you print, they still want to believe what they want to believe.”

As far as rumors go, however, the Led Zeppelin one still has legs. Only 80 artists were announced, compared to 117 in 2007. Among all of the Bonnaroo stages in 2007, a total of 137 artists, bands and comedians performed, leaving more than 50 artists to be announced. Little over a week after the initial announcement, comedian Chris Rock was added to the main stage and more is expected to come in the future.

Though they aren’t legendary British rock bands, artists also performing include Jack Johnson, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Folds, Sigur Rós, Talib Kweli, Rilo Kiley, Aimee Mann, The Avett Brothers, José González, Battles, !!! and Vampire Weekend. Willie Nelson has also been confirmed after being forced to cancel his 2004 Bonnaroo appearance due to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Tickets for the festival are only available through www.bonnaroo.com. The first set of tickets went on sale Feb. 16 at the starting price of $209.50 each plus service and shipping charges. As each pricing tier runs out, prices will increase “without notice” to $229.50, then to $244.50. An optional DVD containing highlights of the 2008 festival is also available for a limited time at $9.95.