Aussie artists have already invaded a number of big-name international music festival lineups (Primavera, Field Day, Sasquatch! et al.)
Now there’s another name to add to that list: the Bonnaroo 2014 lineup.
Unveiled today, the list of bands headed to Manchester, Tennessee to play the four-day camping event is nothing short of huge, big enough rival fellow American music events such as Sasquatch!, Firefly Music Festival, and Coachella – fitting given Bonnaroo is often described as the “Coachella of the East Coast.”
Topping the bill for the festival’s 12th edition – set for 12th – 15th June this year – is an eclectic mix of headliners, including the Australia-bound (pun intended) Kanye West, White Stripe/Raconteur Jack White, Brooklyn indie royalty Vampire Weekend, and interesting left-field choices: Elton John and Lionel Richie.
Further down the 120-strong Bonnaroo 2014 lineup, there’s plenty of other music heavyweights, including BRIT Album of the Year winners Arctic Monkeys, the forthcoming Groovin The Moo-billed Disclosure, Future headliners Phoenix, The Flaming Lips, Frank Ocean, Damon Albarn, Neutral Milk Hotel, Mastodon, the recently freed Fugees’ fem-maverick Ms. Lauryn Hill – just about everything for every kind of music taste.
Including those with a penchant for Australian music – with a contingent of local artists both established and emerging – appearing on the Bonnaroo 2014 lineup. …familiar to anyone that’s followed the ream of overseas summer festival announcements: Cut Copy, Vance Joy, and The Preatures.
Nearing the top of the bill is none other than Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The gothic prince of Aussie rock (who is the subject of fascinating new doco-come-psychological portrait, 20,000 Days On Earth) and his band of not-so-merry men are adding to their globetrotting pedometer off the back of their triumphant, AMP-nominated Push The Sky Away, The Bad Seeds’ first-ever #1 album in their 30 year history and named the #1 Aussie album of 2013 by Tone Deaf readers.
Also jetting their way to Tennessee this June will be the John Butler Trio. The legendary roots-rock trio have a new drummer and a new sonic direction for their sixth and latest album, Flesh & Blood to take to North America with them. But first, JBT are locked in for a massive national tour this March/April, which includes their appearance in Byron Bay over Easter for a headline performance for the 25th birthday edition of Bluesfest.
Rounding out the Aussie artists on the Bonnaroo linep is three names that will be familiar to anyone that’s followed the ream of overseas summer festival announcements: Cut Copy, Vance Joy, and The Preatures.
Cut Copy’s addition to the Bonnaroo bill expands their list of 2014 festival appearances; the indie electro favourites play The ‘Sup for March’s Golden Plains to give audiences a taste of their latest album, Free Your Mind – their first live national dates for some time – before heading overseas in May for Sasquatch! and then Barcelona’s Primavera Sound.
The Preatures are also striking out internationally, already locked in for appearances at Coachella and SXSW 2014, as one of a record-breaking 55 Aussie bands headed to the Austin, Texas industry conference this year, they’ll now be extending their American visit for an appearance at Bonnarooo 2014. …there’s also dubstep linchpin Skrillex “And Friends,” which could very well include a guest cameo from Sydney producer Flume.
The dynamic Sydney five-piece have also fresh from inking a deal with Mushroom Music Publishing and international deals with Harvest Records in the US and Virgin EMI in the UK for distribution of their full-length debut album. Due later in 2014, fans already have a taste in the follow-up to the storming ‘Is This How You Feel?‘ in new video/single ‘Better Than It Ever Could Be’.
Uke-straddling sensation Vance Joy is also set to rock Bonnaroo. Having finished up on the Laneway Festival circuit after topping the Triple J Hottest 100 with ‘Riptide’; the single has also made waves with US and UK radio leading to the Melbourne singer-songwriter heading over to Europe for sold out headline shows before embarking on an extensive US jaunt that includes an appearance at SXSW 2014, and squeezing in dates with Groovin The Moo in April.
Another interesting curio on the Bonnaroo 2014 lineup is a series of ‘Superjams’, with one featuring dubstep linchpin Skrillex “And Friends,” which could very well include a guest cameo from Sydney producer Flume.
It’s pure speculation at this stage, but given that Skrillex jammed live with Flume and his What So Not partner Emoh Instead Down Under over New Year’s – even finding time to hit the studio together for a collaborative three-track EP – don’t be surprised if that ‘Friends’ suffix includes Flume once the full lineup is revealed.
If you’re keen on making the international trek and help fly the flag for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Cut Copy, John Butler Trio, The Preatures, Vance Joy (and maybe Flume), then festival tickets go on sale 22nd February at 12 noon EST. Check out our complete travel guide to Bonnaroo here.
Given the calibre, size, and variety of the lineup however, (Broken Bells, Janelle Monaé, Ice Cube, Cake, Jake Bugg, Chance The Rapper, Deafheaven, James Blake, Warpaint, Cloud Nothings – we could go on…) don’t expect the box office to be open for long.
View the full lineup below (or at the official Bonnaroo website). Aussie artists in bold.
Bonnaroo 2014 Lineup
Elton John
Kanye West
Jack White
Lionel Richie
Vampire Weekend
The Avett Brothers
Phoenix
Skrillex
Arctic Monkeys
Frank Ocean
The Flaming Lips
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Kaskade
Damon Albarn
Neutral Milk Hotel
Wiz Khalifa
SuperJam with Skrillex & Friends
SuperJam “?”
The Bluegrass Situation Superjam hosted by Ed Helms
Disclosure
Cut Copy
The Head and the Heart
Zedd
Ms. Lauryn Hill
Funkiest Dancer
Chromeo
Broken Bells
Tedeschi Trucks Band
James Blake
Bobby Womack
Umphrey’s McGee
Ice Cube
Ben Howard
Slightly Stoopid
Fitz and The Tantrums
Cake
Janelle Monáe
Grouplove
Amos Lee
CHVRCHES
Cage The Elephant
Die Antwoord
Andrew Bird & the Hands of Glory
Mastodon
Capital Cities
Jake Bugg
Chance The Rapper
Dr. Dog
Yonder Mountain String Band
John Butler Trio
Little Dragon
City and Colour
The Glitch Mob
The Naked and Famous
Taran Killam
Phosphorescent
Drive-By Truckers
Washed Out
Danny Brown
Warpaint
Sam Smith
A$AP Ferg
Darkside
Seasick Steve
Shovels & Rope
Lucero
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Wood Brothers
The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar, with special guests Billy Martin, Marc Ribot, DJ Logic and Shazad Ismaily
Pusha T
Meshuggah
Poliça
DakhaBrakha
Goat
ZZ Ward
Seun Kuti
Blackberry Smoke
MS MR
Hannibal Buress
First Aid Kit
Rudimental
A Tribe Called Red
Omar Souleyman
The Bouncing Souls
Greensky Bluegrass
Ty Segall
Sarah Jarosz
Vintage Trouble
Okkervil River
White Denim
Jonathan Wilson
Robert DeLong
Cloud Nothings
Typhoon
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
Valerie June
King Khan & The Shrines
Cherub
BANKS
Break Science
The Black Lillies
Real Estate
The Lone Bellow
Caveman
Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Jon Batiste
La Santa Cecilia
Classixx
Allah-Las
Cass McCombs
Vance Joy
Haerts
J. Roddy Walston & The Business
Those Darlins
Deafheaven
Lake Street Dive
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
The Wild Feathers
The Preatures
Blank Range
