MANCHESTER, TN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) –Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are proud to announce that the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has completed another fantastic weekend that was just shy of a sellout. With Bonnaroo as the traditional rite of passage to the rest of their summer, nearly 80,000 fans experienced an incident-free weekend with over 140 bands performing more than 200 shows, 21 comedians, exclusive film premieres and so much more. Media from TV to print to blog were on hand to report on what has become the elite summer festival of every year.
The Wall Street Journal called Bonnaroo "one of rock's best festivals," continuing to hail that the 2009 lineup "fairly bursts with some of the most gifted acts in rock and pop." Entertainment Weekly called it "the best of all sonic worlds," while the New York Times said, "Bonnaroo's very loose mandate – and a wise one for any festival – is to choose performers who deliver in a live performance, with current hits and studio expertise as lower priorities. One of the pleasures of the festival is that it defies narrowcasting: It's not an Americana festival, an indie-rock festival, a gathering of 2008-9 hitmakers or anything but what its producers and, presumably, ticket-buyers are happy to hear."
With ticket sales up from last year, festival producers are also very pleased. "Considering the current economic situation, we feel incredibly fortunate to be in this position," said Superfly's Rick Farman. "We don't take anything for granted."
The weekend was full of so many incredible highlights. Notable ones included epic performances by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for his one-and-only North American festival performance, as well as two by Phish, for their only 2009 North American festival performances. As Bonnaroo is the pioneer and leader in terms of stretching the notion of diverse festival programming, great performances this year came from all over the world and from various musical genres. From Femi Kuti to Girl Talk to Public Enemy to TV on the Radio to David Byrne and the stage he curated to Merle Haggard to Wilco to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Snoop Dogg to St. Vincent, Dirty Projectors, Coheed and Cambria, Bon Iver, Lucinda Williams and more.
Year in and year out Bonnaroo has a grand tradition of inspiring new and unique collaborations as well as bringing together old friends who don't get to see each other too often. This year was no different. Among the many wonderful moments the fans were treated to were: Bruce Springsteen performed three songs with Phish, Nas did a song with the Beastie Boys, Erikah Badu sang with Snoop Dogg, Allen Toussaint and Jenny Lewis played with Elvis Costello, David Byrne sat in with the Dirty Projectors, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog joined Neko Case during her set and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver sang with Elvis Perkins.
The largest and most revered music and camping event in the country, Bonnaroo has elevated the American rock festival to an unprecedented level. As the only round-the-clock major U.S. music festival, Bonnaroo packs an unparalleled amount of entertainment options into its four days. The event has offered its attendees the amenities and community spirit of a small city, with 24 hours of activities including a comedy theater, cinema festival, silent disco, arcade, internet cafés, restaurants, yoga classes and hundreds of high quality craft vendors. Since its inception, Bonnaroo swiftly earned its status as the country's premier music and arts event. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
