Michael Lang & John Scher; heed this notice: a festival of monumental significance and musical magnitude can be a reality within the structure of today’s society.  Efforts to replicate the legendary Woodstock Art & Music Festival in Bethel, New York, 1969 have met with disastrous results and have tainted the image of comradery and cultural acceptance through the art of music.  Dysfunctional bands, lack of organization, inability to appease the diverse chronological factors and the tandem most responsible for the prototype of all festivals have emerged as the “maestros of mayhem.”.            

                                        Image By Don Aters

From the ashes of those failures, the emergence of Big Hassle Publicity..............Bonnaroo in 2002 began to pave the way for a contemporary three day event that once again would unite the masses through the power of music.  Success seemed to exceed all expectations and 2003 would verify the initial thoughts of how an annual event of this proportion can build a legacy not only defined by the musicians but by the efforts of those who correlate such a “happening”.

Self contained, the event was tempered by the weather elements and subsequent torrential downpour but, demeanor, diplomacy and the burgeoning hordes of fans from across the country would soon make the discomfort of mud and dampness a distant memory.  Multiple stages with an eclectic choice of bands and a myriad of storefronts with a range in product, i.e., clothes, images, shirts, blown glass, etc. in the temporary village were the reminders of yesteryear and the inclusion of icons such as The A.BB., Neil Young, The Dead, Emmylou Harris, Chicago folk singer Liz Hair, the neoteric lyrics and vocals of Lucinda Williams and the bands of the day, WSP, Nickel Creek, Robert Randolph, Bela Fleck, and a spattering of American Punk Rock with a still viable Sonic Youth.

Image By Don Aters

It’s been a 34 year odyssey to try and recapture the ambience of upstate New York with the 25 year reunion being the only beneficial reincarnate of any consequence.  The malady of that historic event was the exclusion of the music of 1994, a total abandonment of current air-play and all bands linked to a more noted, i.e.,. notorious decade.

Bonnaroo has diligently and successfully selected bands from various genres, attracted the aging icons most emulated and revered by the adoring fans and placed them accordingly in a three day menagerie of food, fun and music.

If such an event with in excess of 82,000 fans is perceived as criminal then it would have to be “crimes of the heart”.

Kudos and plaudits to all involved, from promoters, working staff, to gate attendance.  There is no festival in the northern hemisphere that can now compete with the efforts of this event.  For all those who can remember the euphoria of gathering together with music as the common denominator, “off your ass and on your feet”....there will be another Bonnaroo next year...and....that’s as good as it gets...

As always

peace

Image By Don Aters

Don Aters _ Haight Street Music News