Bonnaroo Music Festival VIP Passes

June 13th, 2007 | Music Guru | Music Festival

Bonnaroo draws 80,000 people to a farm in rural Manchester, 105 kilometres south of Nashville, but not all of them want to sweat through four days of music under sometimes inclement weather, crammed into the crowded tent city.

Summer music festivals attract fans by offering special VIP packages, promising a hassle-free weekend for an extra price, sometimes two to three times more than regular tickets.

Music fans will pay extra for two reasons – priority access and reducing annoyances, says Ray Waddell, who covers the touring industry for Billboard magazine.

“For some consumers, there’s no price tag too high for that,” Waddell said.

At Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park, private cabanas on the shore of Lake Michigan cost more than US$32,500 for a party of 30. Air-conditioned viewing stands were available for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Bonnaroo artists will perform a private show for VIP guests on opening night Thursday.

This year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival lineup are: The Police (as part of the reunion tour), Tool, Widespread Panic, The White Stripes, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, Manu Chao Radio Bemba Sound System, The String Cheese Incident, Franz Ferdinand, The Roots, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Damien Rice, Ween, Gov’t Mule, Ziggy Marley, The Decemberists, Kings of Leon, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Wolfmother, Regina Spektor, The Black Keys, Galactic, DJ Shadow, Gillian Welch, Spoon, Keller Williams (WMD’s), Sasha & John Digweed, STS9, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Hold Steady, North Mississippi Allstars, Fountains Of Wayne, Hot Tuna, Feist, Hot Chip, Lily Allen, John Butler Trio, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, Aesop Rock, The Richard Thompson Band, Dierks Bentley, Xavier Rudd, Gogol Bordello, Junior Brown, Tortoise, T-Bone Burnett, Mavis Staples, Clutch, Cold War Kids, Dr. Dog, Paolo Nutini, Brazilian Girls, RX Bandits, The Nightwatchman, The Slip, Girl Talk, Railroad Earth, Martha Wainwright, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Annuals, Tea Leaf Green, Sam Roberts Band, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Charlie Louvin, Sonya Kitchell, Mute Math, Apollo Sunshine, Uncle Earl, James Blood Ulmer, The National,The Little Ones, The Black Angels, Ryan Shaw, The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, Ornette Coleman, El-P, David Bromberg and Angel Band, The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, and Yard Dogs Road Show.