The 2014 festival run is in full swing, with Sasquatch right around the corner leading is into Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and beyond. With a staggering number of acts to choose from on each fest schedule, Crave’s helping you streamline the priorities with a run through 15 artists that shouldn’t be missed as you make your way through the music-marathon buffet this Summer.
6 Reasons Why Bonnaroo is The Best Festival in America
Festival Forerunners
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Arcade Fire
After catching their electrifying Coachella performance, we can’t wait to catch up with Arcade Fire again on the festival circuit this Summer. With a new album that rises out of the melancholy of their excellent previous release The Suburbs, AF have stepped up as superstars in a comfortable high stride. Expect a barrage of upbeat songs delivered with forceful excellence, and more than a few laughs as Win Butler and friends make a point of having a good time onstage.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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HAIM
The three sisters of Haim are the perfect festival rockers, with cartoonish cuteness defying their flat-out badassery, burning Zeppelin blues with Heart levels of, well, heart. They bring you inside their world, and you can almost see the Goonies posters on the walls as they rip shit up in the Summer sunshine. Countering Danielle’s Morrissette-meets-Silverman beauty-magnetics, bassist Este Haim's magnificent scowls are enough to keep fans entertained, even before their ears register the rockin’ goodness on display.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Queens of The Stone Age
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Desert wizards Queens of The Stone Age, easily the most revered gang in rock, are back with their first new album in seven years and a perfect formula for dangerously excellent festival intake. With fire in their veins and an unmatched sonic swagger, Joshua Homme and friends are a jovial wrecking ball of crush-trance riffs and hypnotic grooves with a broken-robot strut. Get those sexy devil horns up, and get ready to dance.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Phantogram
Digi-pop duo Phantogram, the New York outfit consisting of singer Sarah Barthel and partner Josh Carter, specialize in beat-throb eroticism which laces their infectiously catchy tunes. Straddling the double-edged sword of nascent indie-darling infatuation, the duo have made serious waves at SXSW, and will continue to through Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and beyond. We’ll be there.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Jack White
The bastard son of Willy Wonka and Orson Welles has a new album on the way and a revitalized energy onstage. He’ll be pulling out the big guns for his Bonnaroo and Governors Ball headline performances, and with a live set pulling from the White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather as well as his solo material, the sky’s the limit on what this electrifying blues-demon virtuoso will deliver.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Outkast
After a disappointing first weekend performance at Coachella, the reunited dynamic duo of Outkast were undoubtedly besieged by festival organizers and promoters around the country, worried that their big headliner get was going to be a main-stage dud. With their big-bucks festival headliner tour hitting damn near every market, it’s safe to say that the pressure is on. All the same, expect tongue-tied sing-alongs a’plenty during “B.O.B.,” serious crowd twerking during “Gasoline Dreams” and a strong bid for “Rosa Parks” taking over as the party-infused National Anthem, with tens of thousands of festivalgoers dancing their asses off. Get in there.
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Pearl Jam
A Pearl Jam show isn’t ever just a notch on the schedule. Their performances, while generally known to be marathon-style sets of ever-changing material and high energy, are amplified even more at festivals, featuring spectacularly high-energy, over-the-top shows that have left our jaws bouncing off the ground on more than one occasion. 52 times, to be exact. Yeah, we’re fans. But that does nothing to diminish the feeling of exhilarating, goosebumps-inducing anticipation that washes through the crowd once the lights dim and the band’s intro music - Philip Glass’ cinematically exciting “Metamorphosis 2″ - signals the Seattle quintet’s arrival onstage. When they take the stage to headline Austin City Limits, you can bet your ass we’ll be on the rail.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Beck
Sure, his new album may as well have been written by Elliott Smith, but make no mistake: Beck knows how to read his audience. The majority of Beck’s slower catalogue was missing from his Coachella set, replaced with live gems “Think I’m In Love,” “Nausea” and a positively stompin’ “One Foot In The Grave”. At a festival where tens of thousands of party-hungry people are waiting for the goods, giving people what they want is essential. Beck delivers.
Photo: Johnny Firecloud
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Calvin Harris
The momentum of Calvin Harris' "Summer" continues to build, as the track makes serious headway on the Dance/EDM charts. It’s just the latest in a string of high-profile accomplishments for the Scottish DJ, who enjoys a healthy slice of name recognition without the caricature stigma suffered by contemporaries Deadmau5 and Skrillex.
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CHVRCHES
Their triumphant run at SXSW as well as a string of stadium dates with Depeche Mode have pushed CHVRCHES into a slipstream of popularity, particularly in the festival circuit. Their Coachella performance kicked ass in the sweetest way, with tracks like “The Mother We Share” and “Gun” proving impossible not to dance to. With appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and Austin City Limits, to name just a few, we’re looking forward to a lot more CHVRCHES this summer.
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Lorde
17-year-old sensation Lorde took the stage at the peak of the wind’s power in the evening, but the New Zealand chanteuse commanded the stage in ways that go beyond defying her age; she’s downright spooky good. Saving the smash-hits “Team” and “Royals” for late-set treats, she pulled casual radio fans in much, much deeper, sprinkling in “Tennis Court” alongside the likes of “Glory and Gore”. Good luck getting anywhere near the Outdoor stage, however, as a lack of direct schedule competition and a whole lotta hype made for an intense fan bottleneck heading to the stage.
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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Pharrell
The man is in a state of pure bliss, with one of the world’s biggest songs (“Happy” from the Dispicable Me 2 soundtrack) still dominating radio in full force and racking up awards. With a wealth of material from his days with Neptunes, N.E.R.D. and his new album GIRL, Pharrell has a no-filler set to keep the party rockin’ from start to finish - and that’s to say nothing of the dizzying array of guests he’s already brought out to play this festival season.
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Kanye West
Everybody's favorite egomaniacal hobbit-loving hip-hop savant Kanye West has hit a critical mass of, well, criticism. Nevertheless, the cartoonish narcissism will likely be back in America’s good graces when his new album hits this Summer, which he’s compared to Bruce Springsteen’s legendary Born in The USA record.
Needless to say, 'Ye's got his work cut out for him this year. But with a spectacular touring live show in motion and a world of focused expectation on him, we'd say it's a safe bet that he'll rise to the challenge with Olympic determination. Never in history has a musician been so good at defying doubters – or been more in touch with what drives people out of their minds at a live show. We're calling it now – Kanye's Bonnaroo performance is going to be one for the record books.
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Eminem
Although he’s got a fantastic new album making the rounds and headlining sets scheduled for Lollapalooza, ACL and more, Marshall Mathers’ shows leave a great deal to be desired for fans of live performances. He’s caught a great deal of heat for lip-synching and/or rapping over a backing track so loud fans can’t hear his live voice, but even moreso, his onstage presence is limited to waving one hand around in angular, angry motions. We’re pulling for Eminem to step up his game for his spotlight performances this Summer, even if it only means we’ll see him adding a grain of spontaneity to his show.
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Skrillex
Love him or hate him, it’s undeniable fact that Skrillex puts on a damn good show. He knows how to read his audience, and with a strong new album making the rounds he’s got a wealth of fresh material to throw at the beat-drop junkies on the festival dancefloor. If all you know of Skrillex is a bad haircut and an even worse reputation in the media, do yourself a favor and carve out some time to check him out at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza or Outside Lands this year.
