2008 rock lineup rundown

By Ross Moody

Lollapalooza is still holding out, as are some of the late season events like Austin City Limits and Vegoose, but by now most of the big-time rock events have named their 2008 rosters. That includes two of the three big new festivals, All Points West and Rothbury, while Outside Lands has named its headliners but not a full lineup.

So this gives us a chance to take a run through most of the big festivals, looking at lineup highlights and getting a hit on which are likely to be the hottest tickets of the season. Well, which will be the hottest in addition to Bonnaroo, which just keeps getting better and sets the standard for all the rest.

But we'll get to that. Let's tackle this chronologically, starting with the just concluded Langerado, which is sort of the season opener. While Langerado started five years ago as a decently sized jam-centric event more along the lines of snoeDown or 10,000 Lakes, it now pulls artists like the Beastie Boys, 311 and of Montreal and features more than 60 performers (about 20 more than last year). This year, Langerado relocated from Miami to an Indian reservation in the Everglades, and while the initial run was not without some problems, the new site gives the festival a base for continuing its climb toward the top ranks of festivals.

Later in March comes the Ultra Music Festival, which definitely hasn’t lost its step, though last year’s visitation by The Cure decidedly proved not to be a harbinger of future lineups. The Bravery are the only sure stylistic outlier in 2008, though this will probably be lost on the roughly 70,000 people who are expected to come to see Tiesto, The Crystal Method, Underworld, Paul Van Dyk, Junkie XL and more than 80 other performers that make this a veritable American one-stop for dance and electronica.

Next isCoachella in late April, which sadly does not measure up to last year. First of all, there’s no big reunion along the lines of Jane’s Addiction (in 2001) or Rage Against the Machine (last year). My Bloody Valentine will not reunite at Coachella this year, as had been rumored. Second, it’s safe to say the average Coachella fan has probably heard Dark Side of the Moon enough to last five lifetimes, so Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters might be hurting things more than helping them by performing the album in entirety. Nor do the other two headliners, Portishead and Jack Johnson, deliver a got-to-be-there urgency. Perhaps Coachella’s relative weakness can be partly explained by the organizer Goldenvoice's focus on its new project, All Points West (see the dish on that below), but it still has to rank as the disappointment of the year, compared to many others on this list.

In May we have the 7th edition of Sasquatch, Washington state rock fest now owned by Live Nation that has done pretty well for itself. Located at The Gorge, which has been voted by Pollstar Magazine as the best outdoor music venue nine times over, the festival’s lineup increases by more than 15 artists. They also managed to get M.I.A., who pulled out at the last minute in 2007, so that shows some reverence-- either on the singer’s part or that of producers-- which bodes well for the future. With headlinders R.E.M., The Cure, and The Flaming Lips, I'll give it an A- as things stand now.

In June comes Bonnaroo-- “finally” because it really is the festival to look forward to this year. Four days of camping in the middle of Tennessee might sound a bit dull and/or exhausting, but this is the necessary span of time needed to guarantee that you’ll get sick of being entertained by the end. First, there’s the 71-artist musical lineup, which is insanely strong. There’s no one selection this year as adventurous as Ornette Coleman, but Sigur Rós and Lupe Fiasco, Metallica and Jack Johnson and other quite eclectic pairs can be found in this year’s lineup, and we’re concerned with the best rock festivals right now, anyway.

That said, what makes Bonnaroo the champ this year is how it manages to put so many big rockers (Metallica, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers Band, to name a few) with the so many big names of another ilk (B.B. King, Bela Fleck, Kanye West, Solomon Burke). The point: it’s more likely at Bonnaroo than any place else this year that you won’t just be overjoyed by seeing your favorite bands, but you’ll probably have five or 10 new favorites that you’d have never thought to check out before as well.

In addition, there’s a comedy component that seems to grow every day, and it’s full of people you actually know-- Chris Rock, Lewis Black, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo-- rather than just a collection of random faces whose maximum exposure amounts to a Comedy Central special. Thus, while we won’t really know which is the best until summer’s over, Bonnaroo looks the best on paper.

Perhaps the most interesting and risky new festival isRothbury. Set for early July, the festival frankly deserves more attention this year than either of the other two big new ones, All Points West and Outside Lands, partly for the fact that actually seems sincere about sustainability. The festival includes its own think tank for environmental change, in addition to a system that will offset its carbon footprint and install solar panels for local schools. The program is anchored by a panel of four environmental scientists. The surprisingly robust musical lineup (more than 60 acts, including artists like Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, and Snoop Dog) is more than respectable, so all in all, it looks like Rothbury could be the pick of the new festivals this year.

August brings a succession of big events in major cities-- Lollapalooza, All Points West, Virgin Baltimore and Outside Lands. As noted, Lolla and Virgin are so far mum on their lineups. For the two new eventsm, the jury is still out. Granted, both of them can boast two of the world’s most popular bands-- Radiohead and Jack Johnson (and Tom Petty as well for Outside Lands)-- as headliners, but the rest of the lineup for APW is fairly unremarkable. (OL has yet to announce beyond its three headliners.) It leaves me to wonder if Goldenvoice would have done better adding some its to top APW names to the underpowered headliner list at Coachella, and ended up with one powerhouse festival instead of two with question marks.

So, there you have it so far. It may be too early to reach definitive conclusions, but the look of the year going in is that Bonnaroo has the mojo, Coachella is dim by comparison, and the pick of the new fests might well be darkhorse Rothbury in Michigan.