In June 2002, the first Bonnaroo was held in a giant, unused “farm” about an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee. The 10,000 locals in Manchester, TN, where The Great Stage Park is located did not believe 70,000 music fans would pilgrimage to their town because the last time a huge festival was attempted it flopped miserably.
Likewise, after watching the news reports from the disastrous Woodstock ’99, why would sweet souls subject themselves to the violence and mayhem that occurred in New York just a few years previously?
But 70,000 music lovers did show up, in part because it was the total opposite of the Nû Metal Woodstock. Instead of being held on an abandoned Air Force base, Bonnaroo was held in a lush wilderness.
Instead of Woodstock’s testosterone heavy Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Metallica; Bonnaroo hosted a Jam Band Valhalla where tunes by the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Widespread Panic blended effortlessly with blues, hip-hop and cajun.
In many ways Bonnaroo better mirrored the original Woodstock hippie vibes of peace, love and nudity than the failed ’99 sequel. It was not a shredfest or parade of power hits. It was a long weekend of dancing and grooving and acoustic guitars and percussion.
read more at: Setlist.fm
