Every year since it's inception in 2002, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has brought together thousands of music fans for a unique event that takes place on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. The festival brings together artists from many musical genres, and features classic acts along with up and coming artists from America and abroad. The event is produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, and includes a wide variety of special activities and sponsored events along with it's featured live music and comedy performances. http://www.bonnaroo.com/about.aspx

Inspiration for the name of the festival can be traced back to Dr. John, a native of Louisiana and an iconic figure in New Orleans music and culture. In 1974 Dr. John released an album entitled "Desitively Bonnaroo" ... "bon" is French for "good," and Bonaroo is translated as "the best on the streets." http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/music/bonnaroo-journal.html

In 2009, CNN honored Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival with inclusion in it's list of "The World's Best Music Festivals." Rolling Stone has likewise paid homage to Bonnaroo, giving the event it's award of "Best Festival" in 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/04/28/summer.festivals/index.html?eref=rss_travel

This year, Bonnaroo took a novel approach to announcing it's featured acts. On February 9th, the festival's promoters installed a cartoon animation of a cuckoo clock on their official MySpace page ...periodically the clock would open up to reveal a character who announced, one at a time, the many scheduled performers. http://mashable.com/2010/02/09/bonnaroo-myspace/

Headliners for this year's festival are Jay-Z, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon and Stevie Wonder.

Other highly anticipated performers include Conan O'Brien, Weezer, Phoenix, The Flaming Lips, Tenacious D, Regina Spektor, LCD Soundsystem, John Fogerty, Avett Brothers, Thievery Corporation, The Dead Weather, Tori Amos, The National, They Might Be Giants, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Prine, Zac Brown Band, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Jeff Beck, Ween, Kid Cudi, Margaret Cho, and Chromeo with Daryl Hall.

The full roster of performers has been posted on the event's official site, www.bonnaroo.com. You can also stay updated on last minute additions to the lineup and other news via the festival's official Twitter, MySpace and Facebook accounts. http://www.bonnaroo.com/artists.aspx http://www.myspace.com/bonnaroo http://twitter.com/bonnaroo www.facebook.com/bonnaroo

Please check out Mahalo's additional Bonnaroo pages (links given on the righthand sidebar of this page) for tips on planning your experience at this year's fest.