Quick note

It's Dave Matthews week on Music Togetherness.

Check it out and see how non-Dave fans react ;)

The Flaming Lips to Perform "Dark Side of the Moon"

It's almost been a month since Lips frontman Wayne Coyne revealed to Spinner that he and the band would be at Bonnaroo 2010 playing a late night set of their own stuff (including new release "Embryonic") and then covering Pink Floyd's legendary "Dark Side of the Moon."

I'm listening to the "Money" cover as I write this, via Grooveshark. I'm not sure it's my bag, but The Flaming Lips have definitely put their own trippy twist on an old classic, that's for sure. I have a feeling, though, that regardless of how I end up feel about the covers, the Lips' Bonnaroo set will be one not to miss.

David saw their 2007 set, during the soundcheck for which they came out and played Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" as a special treat for everyone who came early for a good spot.

The Flaming Lips' live show, on top of being a circus of tangible happiness, is special to me, because it was the setting for the moment I realized I loved my boyfriend, as cheesy as that may be. I had gone to see them at the Pageant with two of my fellow roo'ers only knowing about two songs, one of which was Oklahoma's state rock song, "Do You Realize?" Among the people wearing Santa costumes and antennae, it would have been easy to feel out of place, but I was in my own little world enjoying it moment my moment. Suddenly, "Do You Realize" hit and the cannons on stage blasted us with confetti - I was instantly overwhelmed with love as I squeezed David's hand and grinned ear to ear. It was hands down one of the happiest moments of my life.

Since the show, I've come away a big fan, and even chose the Lips as one of my first weeks of study on Music Togetherness. (Check the list under "Artists Covered" to see what everyone thought.)

Here is a playlist with some of my favorite tracks:

Dave Matthews Band is headlining Bonnaroo

and I love it.

It's no secret that the Dave Matthews Band is my second favorite band of all time (after The Beatles), so it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm ecstatic they are headlining Bonnaroo 2010.

There are a lot of people (including myself) complaining about the lack of a "wow" factor artist playing this year, but what I can say about DMB as a headliner is thank god there will be no one opposing. (I think my heart would break if they played at the same time as the Lips, which I don't think would happen but you never know).

I first was introduced to the Virginia-native band as a young girl (think "Under the Table and Dreaming") whose best friend's older sister was a dedicated Dave fan. In high school, the guy I dated worshipped Dave and allowed me to purchase the albums only if I did so in the order that they originally came out. I'm not sure if it was an impression set upon me or if I would have fallen in love with the band eventually on my own, but my interest just stuck.

I got through "Everyday" just as "Busted Stuff" was being released, and I loved every album through that one. It was then that I saw DMB live at what used to be Riverport Ampitheater (now Verizon Wireless), an experience I'd never forget.

After that, though, things dropped off a bit. I got really into Dave Matthew's solo release, "Some Devil," but I just couldn't bring myself to listen to "Stand Up." It reminded me of "Everyday" and "Before These Crowded Streets" mixed and muted, but it didn't strike a chord with me. I fell off and became a bad fan.

Luckily, DMB has renewed itself and my interest in them with their latest release, the Grammy-nominated "Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King," and I couldn't be more excited to see them at 'roo.

You know what they say, you may have seen the band live, but you've never "seen" the band until they've played at Bonnaroo. And seeing that this band has roots at the Tennessee fest, I can't wait for what's in store.

2010 Playlist

One of the Inforooers put together a playlist with songs from all the initial 2010 artists.

I thought I'd share it here. Enjoy!

(Sorry if the load is slow.

Thanks to Grooveshark user NTellier85 for the playlist!)

P.S. This is the part where I start posting about individual bands that are appearing there, so I'll embed songs or playlists with those as well, if you stay tuned.

More surprises?

Bonnaroo's Twitter has been promising more surprises today.

At first, I thought it would be good PR to notice that more than 50 percent of the talk about the lineup is negative and make another large announcement. Neil Young maybe?

After Alex Young from CoS came on Inforoo and apologized for being wrong about several artists, it appears the site removed all of the artists that were "expected" except those that were not released officially, but had announced themselves that they would be at Bonnaroo 2010. Those bands, and Neil Young, who is the only unlinked artist. My thinking is that after being wrong about the others, they would have at least moved him to rumored unless they have a good reason to believe he will be added later. If he was a late add, or if they're still ironing out details, it could be plausible.

Now their account says "Faithful followers: Momma Nature is kicking NYC's @$ & our internet is down. Today's surprises have sadly been postponed. Sorry!" (posted at about 3:45 p.m.)

All the waiting... sheesh. And it probably won't be anything awesome now. :( If it was an artist addition one would think they'd drop it on Twitter or MySpace or FB like yesterday. That would probably be best for their public relations efforts right now anyway.

Moving ahead, I am trying to go on with life and let whatever happens happen but it's hard to keep focus. I'm going to have fun regardless, I'm sure, and I keep telling myself it can only get better.

Now that things have calmed down...

I think we jumped the gun on the 2010 initial lineup being "lame."

It's easy to jump on the bandwagon when two of your fellow festivalgoers are disenchanted with the headliners, when the message board you're reading is filled with negativity and when you have spent weeks reading amazing rumors and quasi-confirmations only to be handed a Stevie Wonder announcement at the end of an 8-hour wait.

1. Only 90+ artists have been announced so far this year, while there were 148 that played last year (not including comics). If the festival keeps growing, as has been the trend in past years, we're looking at 50+ additions.

2. While Paul Simon is no longer rumored, Neil Young remains on CoS's "expected" list with a bunch of acts that have confirmed their appearances themselves, but were not included in the site's official initial lineup. While CoS has apologized for being wrong about Neil, it appears they're not totally convinced themselves. They haven't taken it down despite numerous page updates. This, along with #3, leads me to believe he is still a possibility.

3. The "confirmation" on Inforoo was hearsay - but it was posted on/around Feb. 4 saying that Neil Young had just agreed to Bonnaroo a day or so earlier. If Neil was a late add, it is possible he will be announced later. One reason for the lineup being pushed back from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9? If so, why wasn't he included?

4. In 2009, we left the Beastie Boys early, missed both Phish sets, and I listened to Bruce Springsteen from the ground, sleepy after a long day. While it would be awesome to have more big acts - it appears the undercard is why I went last year anyway. Plus, Dave Matthews Band being a headliner means no Flaming Lips conflict, and Laura can die a happy woman.

5. The 8-hour long wait made it seem like we were going to get something amazing, but in reality was probably only there to generate conversation, which it did, and very successfully I might add. Good or bad, people are definitely still talking about it. During the release, the festival accounted for at least two trending topics on Twitter.

6. David and I went back and counted the acts we would have liked to have seen from 2007, 2008 and 2009, and surprisingly, 2010 is stacking up nicely. Without exploring any new bands at all, there are already 24 acts from the initial 2010 lineup I'd like to see versus the 21 I wanted to see in 2009's full roster (whether I got to or not), and I thought that was a great year.

I'm looking forward to the additions as much as anyone. I don't know when they might come, but someone on Inforoo noted that the MySpace animation clock is stuck on 2:55 (2/11), so maybe Thursday we could hear something? I donno. Until then, I have plenty of new music to check out so stay tuned.

2010 Initial Lineup... a bit of a letdown

I. am. Kinda Pissed. I took half a personal day for this??

I should say, for the record, that I didn't mind the lineup coming out one band every five minutes, because it allowed me to check out each and read/talk about them as they were announced. But that was when I thought we were building up to something big. To end 8 wasted hours of my life with a big "Stevie Wonder" is just cruel and unusual. I mean, I could have stayed at work and seen Dave Matthews Band within an hour of my lunch break and I would have been OK.

Would I have been as pissed if this same initial lineup had been released at midnight in poster form? Probably not. I want my time back.

I trusted Consequence of Sound. I thought "expected" meant these big acts - Neil Young, Paul Simon - were pretty much locks. I thought "Floyd-heavy year" wasn't just referring to the Flaming Lips. I see the site updated all their "expected" links to show where the bands themselves confirmed, but Neil is still blank.

I'm not saying there aren't bands I'm looking forward to, because there are, but this lineup lacks some serious oomph. I thought Bonnaroo was supposed to whomp some Coachella butt this year! Wasn't that the talk? This just isn't going to cut it guys.

To make matters worse, two of the 3 people going with me this year are downright disenchanted with the whole thing. I am too, to tell you the truth. I expected my mind to be blown, and what I got was a letdown after last year.