[Dixielandjazz] An Interesting Festival Approach

[Steve Barbone]

An interesting read, especially for Festival Producers. Several New Orleans
Jazz musician here in addition to the Rockers.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

FESTIVAL AIMING FOR STAYING POWER
NY TIMES - by Jon Pareles the chief pop music critic for The New York Times.

The Bonnaroo Music Festival June 16-18 is a multi-stage camping festival
held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn. This year's lineup includes Seu
Jorge, Radiohead, Beck, Tom Petty and Devendra Banhart, Preservation Hall,
Dr. John and The Neville Brothers.

MANCHESTER, Tenn. - A 21st-century music festival, like the fifth annual
Bonnaroo, starts long before the first note. It's a brand, a logo, a
website, and a commandeered local radio station broadcasting music and
(cheerful) traffic reports. It's a campground, a playground, an invitation
to cut loose. It's an environmental statement; Bonnaroo is using biodiesel
fuel and solar power (along with conventional power sources) and compostable
paper plates and utensils at the concession stands, and it plans to recycle
250 tons of garbage as construction material. This year, it was observable
from afar, announced by a device that shot giant dark smoke rings - or
Bonnaroo O's - into the clouds.

In its fifth year at its chosen location - a farm with enough open land for
two large stages, four large tents and plenty of side attractions - Bonnaroo
is aiming for longevity. "We want to be something that's around for 30
years, like a Glastonbury or a New Orleans Jazzfest," said Rick Farman, 30,
one of the partners in Superfly Productions and a founder of Bonnaroo. "We
want to be an iconic event."

Bonnaroo sold out its limit of 80,000 tickets this year. The 2004 Bonnaroo
drew 90,000 people, but the organizers decided afterward that bigger wasn't
better. The festival also restrains corporate sponsors, Mr. Farman said.
There are no "presented by" signs anywhere near the big stages, and sponsors
who set up exhibits have to provide some service to the fans, like the
telephone company that is offering webcasts of much of the festival (through
links from www.bonnaroo.com).

Bonnaroo started as a jam-band festival, selling 70,000 tickets its first
year by word-of-internet, without advertising. Past headliners have included
the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, the Allman Brothers Band, the Dave
Matthews Band and members of Phish. Today's audience was still a tie-dyed,
dreadlocked, backpacking crowd that came to dance.

But Bonnaroo decided, wisely, not to depend on one scene, even one as
organized as the jam-band community. Jam bands borrow from all over the
place, and Bonnaroo's producers have operated on the assumption that the
fans are happy to follow the music to its sources: bluegrass, funk,
electronica, jazz, hip-hop, world music, avant-rock. Bonnaroo has also
presented the likes of Ween, Herbie Hancock and Mouse on Mars. And this
year, the big draw isn't exactly a head-bobbing, hippie-flavored band: it's
Radiohead, a band of malaise connoisseurs and sonic experimenters, which is
due to perform on Saturday night.

Putting Radiohead on the bill has changed Bonnaroo's demographics; in ticket
sales, this year's second-largest state contingent (after Tennessee) came
from New York.

Still, it's the same festival, with confusingly named stages (Which and
What) and tents (This, That, and the Other) that promise disorientation and
unintentional comedy.

There's also a jam-band finale: Sunday's last set is three and a half hours
of Phil Lesh (the Dead's bassist) and Friends. But the lineup in between
includes hip-hop (Common, Blackalicious, the Streets), blues (Buddy Guy),
country (Bobby Bare Jr.), African music (Amadou et Mariam), Brazilian music
(Seu Jorge) and teenage punk (Be Your Own Pet). There's also a strong New
Orleans contingent, including the Neville Brothers and Dr. John (who had a
1974 album called "Desitively Bonnaroo"). The Preservation Hall Jazz Band,
and other groups that also perform at the hallowed, recently reopened New
Orleans club, has its own tent through Saturday.