One of the biggest things that sets Bonnaroo apart from “all the other festivals” is that those other festivals have a curfew. At Bonnaroo, they don’t tell the bands they have to stop at a certain time, although bands are typically scheduled until 4 am. In the past, some bands and fans have managed to last until the sun rises the next morning. The party, music and overall experience of Bonnaroo is something you have to be ready for every second of the day.
Bonnaroo has just announced what bands will be performing during the late night hours this year, and as always, it won’t be free of hassles and conflicts. We already know that Jay-Z will be the sole late night performer on the festival’s main stage this year (the What Stage) on Saturday, and that the Flaming Lips will be performing two late night sets on the second largest stage (the Which Stage) on Friday night. The Lips second set will be covering Pink Floyd’s Darkside of the Moon album in full with special guests Stardeath and White Dwarfs, who accompanied them on the album version of Darkside.
Many who have predicted what they thought the schedule may look like are now deemed right because bands like LCD Soundsystem, Deadmau5, Bassnectar and the Dan Deacon Ensemble will all be performing late night sets this year. Other bands slated to perform late night this year are the one-off collaboration of Daryl Hall and Chromeo, Thievery Corporation, Galactic, The Black Keys, GWAR, Clutch, The Disco Biscuits, Kid Cudi and B.o.B.
Now I’m just wondering whether or not they’ll bring the SuperJam back this year and where they’ll put it at on the schedule. In the past, the SuperJam has typically been held at night, featuring very special and rare combinations of artists together that you won’t see anywhere else. Some of those SuperJams have included Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Les Claypool and some of the members of Gogol Bordello who in 2008 played a set in tribute to Tom Waits, while Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones teamed up with Ben Harper and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Kirk Douglas of The Roots in 2007, for mostly Zep covers and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”