The 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was held June 12–15. Aside from the festival's opening year (2002), attendance at the 2008 event, at approximately 70,000, was the smallest in Bonnaroo's history.
Cancellations and rescheduling Bonnaroo had many cancellations and reschedules by artists both before and during the event. Cancellations included Black Kids, who appeared on the initial line-up but were later removed. Two months prior, due to health issues, The Allman Brothers Band cancelled their slot at the festival. Their cancellation led to the replacement band Widespread Panic being announced as the festival closer. Due to a schedule conflict, David Cross also had to cancel his appearance and was replaced by Louis C.K. in the Bonnaroo Comedy Theatre.
During the festival The surprise SuperJam was composed of Les Claypool on bass/vocals, Eugene Hutz (guitar/vocals), Sergei Ryabtsev (violin), Oren Kaplan (guitar), and Yuri Lemeshev (accordion) of Gogol Bordello, and Claypool's touring drummer (and Cake member) Paulo Baldi on drums. They were later joined by Kirk Hammett of Metallica on guitar for three numbers. Hammett was introduced by Claypool as "some guy that used to sell me weed back in high school." The set consisted of eleven Tom Waits covers ("Russian Dance" was performed twice, the second time as an encore), along with a single Claypool song, "D's Diner".
Chris Rock's main stage set was billed as being "one of the largest ever for a comedy show".
Kidz Jam, a non-profit organization out of Dayton, Ohio provided free entertainment, water, earplugs and safety information for the families which attended Bonnaroo in 2008.
Kanye West's Saturday night set, having been moved back and forth between stages by Bonnaroo promoters, eventually ran on the main stage. West was not on time due to a scheduling conflict. This, in addition to Pearl Jam playing over an hour longer than scheduled and taking a long time to remove their equipment, and the complex stage set-up for West's performance, meant the show started at 5:00 am.
Line-up
+2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival Line-upBP Artists VenueBP ArtistsVenue !!! That Tent The Avett Brothers The Other Tent Against Me! Aimee Mann The Other Tent B.B. King What Stage Back Door Slam That Tent Battles This Tent Ben Folds Which Stage Zappa Plays Zappa Broken Social Scene The Other Tent Dark Star Orchestra The Other Tent Death Cab for Cutie Which Stage Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival That Tent Donavon Frankenreiter Drive-By Truckers Which Stage Ghostland Observatory This Tent Gogol Bordello Grupo Fantasma Iron & Wine This Tent Israel Vibration Jack Johnson Jakob Dylan This Tent José González This Tent Kanye West What Stage Ladytron The Other Tent Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road The Other Tent Lez Zeppelin That Tent Little Feat Lupe Fiasco The Other Tent MIA That Tent MGMT This Tent Mason Jennings Mastodon That Tent Metallica What Stage Minus the Bear That Tent My Morning Jacket Which Stage Nicole Atkins OAR Which Stage Orchestra Baobab Ozomatli What Stage Pat Green This Tent Pearl Jam What Stage Phil Lesh & Friends Which Stage Rilo Kiley This Tent Robert Plant & Alison Krauss What Stage Robert Randolph's Revival That Tent Serena Ryder Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings Which Stage Sigur Rós That Tent Solomon Burke That Tent State Radio Steel Train The Swell Season This Tent Talib Kweli The Other Tent Tegan & Sara This Tent The Allman Brothers Band (cancelled) Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet feat. Bela Fleck Tiësto feat. Cary Brothers,José González, and Tegan & Sara This Tent The Felice Brothers The Fiery Furnaces That Tent The Lee Boys That Tent The Raconteurs What Stage The Sword That Tent MSTRKRFT That Tent Two Gallants This Tent Umphrey's McGee Which Stage Vampire Weekend This Tent Willie Nelson Which Stage Yonder Mountain String Band What Stage Chromeo This Tent The Disco Biscuits That Tent Les Claypool Which Stage Chali 2na The Other Tent Don DiLego The Sons of Roswell Newton Faulkner Stephen Marley What Stage Vampire Weekend This Tent Widespread Panic What Stage What Made Milwaukee Famous This Tent Phil Lesh, Larry Campbell and Jackie Greene The Bluegrass Allstars feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush,Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton
Somethin' Else- New Orleans:
Porter – Batiste – Stoltz Dirty Dozen Brass Band Big Sam's Funky Nation Morning 40 Federation Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk Walter "Wolfman" Washington Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Harrybu McCage Henry Butler and the Game Band Anders Osborne Soul Rebels Brass Band New Orleans Superjam led by George Porter Jr.
Bonnaroo Comedy:
Chris Rock Louis C.K. Janeane Garofalo Reggie Watts Zach Galifianakis Jim Norton Brian Posehn Joe DeRosa Mike Birbiglia John Mulaney Michelle Buteau Leo Allen
Cafe Acts
Alana Grace Amy LaVere Bear in Heaven Bombadil Carney Colour Revolt Cornmeal De Novo Dahl Dead Confederate Electric Touch Erick Baker Extra Golden Howlin Rain Jake Shimabukuro Jessie Baylin Jypsi K'naan Lord T & Eloise Mike Farris featuring Roseland Rhythm Revue The Nikhil Korula Band Nomo Person L Phonograph The Postelles Rotary Downs Royal Bangs Scissormen Sometymes Why stephaniesid Tennessee Schmaltz The Afromotive The American Plague The Big Sleep The Duhks the Everybodyfields The Greencards Weather Underground Your Vegas
Cinema Tent
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
References