Bonnaroo Festival 2005

[randissimo]

I've been hearing about this festival for years. I went to their site and found no place to get an address or any info for submitting a presskit..

Anybody know about this festival and how we might get a gig there?

[Jim Alfredson]

Have a record label?

[Jim Dye]

It's held 25 miles right down the road from me. I know they book it way way in advance. I'll see if I can find some information for you guys.

[Jim Alfredson]

It's a huge festival. Lots of $$$ involved. I'm sure you have to know the right people and/or have some serious managment/label power behind you.

Of course it's worth a shot.

[Rooster_Ties]

I'll admit I've never been to Bonnaroo, nor any other "huge" festivals. But most of the one and two-day fests I've ever been to have had side-stage acts. (Iowa City, various Kansas City festivals, and I'm pretty sure Chicago has 'em too.)

Probably doesn't pay nearly as much as the "main stage" acts, but it might maybe be worth a try. (Or maybe side-stages are for "local" acts only, or people that'll play really damn cheap, just for the exposure -- or both.)

[Soul Stream]

I think you simply have to be on a label and have good management that's tied into that. Just my jaded hunch.

[cannonball-addict]

I know a person at Relix Magazine if you want me to forward a CD, Jim. They pretty much cover the jam band scene.

[jazzypaul]

Bonnaroo has been pretty cold to jazz in years past. I have heard (this isn't confirmed) that Nicholas Payton tried to get in with his Sonic Trance band (and that band would have been PERFECT for Bonnaroo) and they didn't even consider it.

And, my friends, THAT is what is wrong with the jam band scene. Every last one of those bands wants to claim that they're "jazz influenced" but no one actually wants to hear the real thing.

Best of luck, guys. These jam band kiddies need to hear what a REAL organ trio sounds like.

[sal]

Medeski Martin & Wood, Soulive, and Karl Denson are the closest thing to jazz that I know of who have performed at Bonnaroo. And both are signed to the majors. I was at the first Bonnaroo festival, and there was a complete absence of jazz. I, for one, would have loved to see a group like Organissimo or any other "jazz" artists perform there.

[Joe G]

That's why Jim and I have had discussions about not billing ourselves as a jazz group. People have a lot of preconceptions about jazz, most of it negative. Our posters say "original organic grooves", which seems ambiguous enough.

At the FireFly last Saturday, I made the comment, half-joking, that we aren't really jazz. Chuck Nessa had a zinger ready for that: "That's what those people who left were saying."

D'oh! That was cold.

[.:.impossible]

I don't have any connections or anything, but I think its a great idea for exposure.

Try this:

http://www.superflypresents.com/

and

http://www.acentertainment.com/

Good luck!