The Must-See Acts in Electronic Music at Bonnaroo 2017
We are a month out from Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, and thousands of us are awaiting four hazy days under that Southern summer sun. The schedule came out in the last few days, giving us the time to gameplay for what kind of weekend we all want to have at this year’s festival. With a rich history for jamband culture and having some of the world’s largest acts invited to the farm, this year’s festival and its line-up has many people putting the schedule to the light and comparing it to the last fifteen years of Bonnaroo.
The acquisition of Bonnaroo by LiveNation has left many Roo veterans with a sour taste in their mouths over what direction the festival is taking. Since that acquisition, the festival has seen some changes to the music it invites to the festival. This is not to say that the festival has changed from one genre to the next, but not everyone welcomes all kinds of music to intensify the diversity of the festival’s line-up. This year we will be seeing one of the most unusual lineups in Bonnaroo’s history with its approach in attracting music of all genres and generations like never before. For those who like music of all kinds, they are now able to explore a diverse collection of electronic music.
With Bonnaroo’s recent interest in attracting electronic music lovers, it also dedicated one of its late-night stages for those artists. This will allow those who plan to rave all night long to not feel torn between some of their favorite acts. Instead, we will be able to see these acts back to back. We have to constantly remind ourselves at festivals that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but, with The Other Tent fully dedicated to electronic acts, we have somewhere to forget about that and headband all night long.
For those looking to get to Bonnaroo to explore this kind of music, there is plenty to look forward to, and below are some of the acts to look out for while you’re tripping at Bonnaroo this year.
The electronic line-up will be hosted at The Other Tent except for a handful of headliners. For the majority, it will be starting on Thursday night. Thursday will be a non-stop party with a star-studded line-up of DJs who will have many of us partying for hours on end and regretting how hard we went on the first day. Thursday will have back-to-back sets from electronic acts Haywyre, Herobust, G Jones, and Ookay.
This is a video of Flume performing at Bonnaroo back in 2015. His show has since had a major upgrade and is a must to experience.
The biggest conflict in this genre is the collision of Flume and Snails. Although they are completely different acts, these are both two of the most sonically impressive producers in the scene today. While with Flume you will expect more spaced-out trip-hop music, Snails is known to have heart-racing filthy bass known as VomitStep. It will be hard to choose between the two; both will be very fulfilling. For those trying to catch something visually striking, Flume is known to have staging and lighting that makes his music bigger than life itself. If you are aching to see both, consider the chances that Snail will do another set. Snails is known to do late-night secret sets at festivals, and, if this happens, it will give us the opportunity to see both acts.
Major Lazer is known to attract very large crowds for one of biggest dancehall parties you could ever attend.
Another conflict for electronic acts will be Major Lazer playing late-night at the same time as Claude VonStroke. Both are light years apart, and it will be a matter of what kind of show you want at the moment. Major Lazer will be a late-night party that will have a very large crowd with crazy pyrotechnics, dancers, and the most interactive group of DJs out there. On the other end of the spectrum, Claude VonStroke will be offering a smaller crowd the chance to get down with a late-night Deep House set. If you are committed to losing yourself to dance, consider joining CVS followed by a set by Big Gigantic to close the night. If you do choose to see Major Lazer, watch out for Barclay Crenshaw on the schedule to check out a little bit of what Claude VonStroke is like (considering they are the same person).
Ganja White Night, like many of the other Silent Disco acts, will be playing multiple sets throughout the weekend. However, Ganja White Night is not known to be very “silent.” They will be performing one set at The Other and one at the Silent Disco stage. It is not common for GJW to appear on a schedule for two sets, let alone one of them being a two-hour set. If you really want to see some unique music, check out Ganja White Night at either of their sets. If you really want to lose yourself to dancing, check out a rare two-hour Ganja White Night DJ set on Friday from 8-10 PM.
With the ways we receive content rapid growing, and with new music coming out more than ever, the music industry has changed on us in ways we can’t imagine. To some of us, it scares us to see festivals changing. To others, its exciting to get lost and explore new acts at festivals. Something we all can agree on is that no matter how quickly and unexpectedly things are changing, the feeling of being free with thousands of other people at Bonnaroo will never change. The outfits we wear will change, the music will change, even we will change through the years, but Bonnaroo embracing electronic music more reflects exactly what this festival is all about: the feeling of exploring new music with thousands of other unique people and not having a care in the world.