Langerado Out, Bonnaroo Continues
Struggling economy takes its toll on outdoor festivals

By Jeff Eason

In the twenty-plus year history of MerleFest, you could nearly always count on the fact that the event would draw a few thousand more people than it did the year before. That’s not the case this year as the struggling economy has forced many music fans to make some hard decisions about their entertainment choices.

This week it was announced that the Langerado Music Festival in southern Florida, set for early March, had been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The three-day festival, which had moved to Miami in recent years, was set to have an incredible musical lineup including Snoop Dog, Death Cab for Cutie, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, the Pogues, Dashboard Confessional, Umphrey’s McGee, Public Enemy, George Clinton and Parliament, Bad Brains, and many others.

The day after that sad announcement, music festival lovers in the South gained a bit of a reprieve when the Bonnaroo Music Festival announced the preliminary lineup for its four-day event in Manchester, Tenn., set for June 11-14.

Appearing at Bonnaroo 2009 will be headliners Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish, the Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Wilco, Al Green, Elvis Costello (solo show), Eyrkah Badu and Merle Haggard.

Others taking the stage at Bonnaroo include Paul Oakenfold, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, the Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gov’t Mule, Andrew Bird, Band of Horses, the Del McCoury Band, Bon Iver, Girl Talk, of Montreal, Lucinda Williams, moe, the Decemberists, Bela Fleck and Toumani Diabate, Allen Toussaint, Booker T and the DBTs, David Grisman Quintet, Neko Case, Robert Earl Keen, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Todd Snider, Toubab Krewe, Alejandro Escovedo and many others.

The 8th Annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will also feature a special comedy stage with some of the top comedians working today, workshops, art, activities, vendors and other attractions. The festival takes place on a 700-acre farm and allows on site RV and tent camping.

Tickets for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival went on sale last weekend and can be purchased at www.bonnaroo.com.