Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

Bonnaroo logo of 2008

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment. It was first held in 2002. The festival is held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre (2.8 km²) farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, and 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

"For us, it was one of the first big festivals we got to play. When you get to do those things for the first time -- I'm trying to think of a term that's not cliché -- but you want to say (it's like) a kid in a candy store because we came into that thing so wide eyed and so in awe of everything. I don't know if it's just because it's close to our home, it's like three hours away from where we live, but all of our friends at home are excited about (Bonnaroo). It always seems like a really special thing to us."

- Jim James
(CNN interview, June 2011)

My Morning Jacket has played at this festival five times, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.

"I hear that from people more often than anything else, like “dude I saw you I saw you at Bonnaroo, it was fuckin’ awesome” more than I hear “I saw you guys headline somewhere” or I saw you open for the Foo Fighters or whatever. It’s always “I saw you at Bonnaroo” so I definitely think we probably picked up a few more fans doing it. And we’ve done festivals everywhere. We’ve done Redding and Leeds, Glastonbury, we’ve done festivals in Japan, Norway and it’s definitely the best festival we’ve ever played as far as the they way they treat the artists, the vibe of the crowd. You don’t have to worry about some weird drunken brawl. Everybody’s there for the same reason, to enjoy the music and to have fun. It’s not like that at every festival. I think the vibe is the biggest thing, it feels great being there."

   - Tom Blankenship
(College Tower interview, June 2005)

"It definitely has played a part in shaping what we do. For us it has been so enjoyable because it has been a family affair. Our friends come from Louisville, and from regions close to there. I think that's really the biggest thing about a festival like Bonnaroo, and Bonnaroo in particular, is that people get to escape their normal reality for three or four days and come and be whatever they want to be. They don't have to live by society's rules. They can come and throw and tent out, and just hang out and let their hair down and just go nuts."

- Jim James
(CNN interview, June 2011)