Sunday, February 3, 2008

Radio Bonnaroo Lineup Clues


Radio Bonnaroo, broadcast from the official Bonnaroo.com website, has stated a number of clues that can be deciphered to reveal some of the bands that will be playing this year's festival. The Internet has already been wildly speculating as to what these clues mean.

The clues are:

Clue #1 "There is more than one Manchester."

Clue #2 "Memphis isn't Albany"

Clue #3 "Clouds taste this way"

Clue #4 "Some Herrings are red, Jimmy"

Clue #5 "Hard Substance, Soft Substance"

Clue #6 "Janis Joplin's reserves will be preserved"

Clue #7 "Rumors are just rumors, but twist them sideways, grow your humor hair and they become a more yen reality. No, this is not about Fleetwood Mac"

Clue #8 "It's not sour, what is sowed in the earth"

Clue #9 "Three certain birds, add one"

Clue #10 "Look to the center of Europe to get the sound, but the band comes form all around."

Clue #11 "Here is another clue for you message board people. Open up the church and you will see the steeple. Some of your guesses have been way off but correct for the wrong clues. Now I must cough."

Based on what I've read so far, here are the answers that I think have the most merit:

1. Oasis / Verve / Manchester Orchestra / David Gray (please let it be Oasis AND The Verve. It should also be noted that Manchester Orchestra played the festival last year. LATEST: David Gray is from Manchester, England and is on ATO Records, home of many Bonnaroo artists of the past)
2. MIA
3. Metallica / Air / Roger Waters (I'm the only one to guess Air, but I think's its a good answer. I'm reading Roger Waters but I can't imagine he'd headline both Coachella and play Bonnaroo)
4. WSP (too obvious for me as well as many others) / Led Zeppelin / ARU
5. Iron and Wine
6. Pearl Jam (seems like a lock to me)
7. The Whigs (I don't get this one, but it's been repeated more than once)
8. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant / Sigur Ros
9. Counting Crows / Black Crowes / Ryan Adams and The Cardinals (I continue to see speculation on these three acts, but based on the clue, I don't agree)
10. Gogol Bordello
11. ??


I love that the Bonnaroo people have turned this into a puzzle to build up some Internet buzz leading up to Wednesday's reported announcement. It's just yet another move that proves they are thinking outside the box. I'll be in Manchester, TN in June no matter who's on the lineup, but I'm pretty pumped about Pearl Jam being included.

Do you have any guesses to add?

8 comments:

Ricky B said...

# 8 should be Allison Krauss and Robert Plant

Anonymous said...

#10 could be brazilian girls. they were killer last year and i'd love to see them back again

WeightStaff said...

Thanks for the correction IT Chimp.

Jeffrey Greenblatt said...

Good stuff. I'd think most of those guesses are right on.

Anonymous said...

#3 is probably Flaming Lips. Clouds Taste Metallic.

Jeffrey Greenblatt said...

I'm thinking that #9 might be Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood

WeightStaff said...

How does 'certain birds' tie in for them?

Jeffrey Greenblatt said...

The Black Crows was definitely my first guess, but that seemed too obvious.

So thought MMW are three certain birds and plus one meaning Scofield.