It’s that time of year again! Bonnaroo is right around the corner, starting next Thursday and taking over Manchester, Tennessee until June 14th. If you’re still adding, deleting, and squeezing in some sets on your schedule to get the most out of your weekend on the farm, you may have just noticed the overwhelming lack of female performers on the line up. The list is published on a pastel, polka-dot background and it’s somehow totally dominated by men’s names.
We’re not just talking about female musicians, either. According to Bonnaroo’s website, only 78 people have added comedian and Girl Code cast member Jamie Lee to their schedules. This is not to say that female artists are the only ones getting no love; The Lonesome Trio, fronted by former star of The Office, Ed Helms, has only 24 planned attendees as of now. But if you compare the schedule numbers of planned attendees between male and female performers, the sets drawing the biggest crowds will be overwhelmingly male.
Back in January when Bonnaroo first released its 2015 line up, PandoDaily created a list ranking each artist, separated into eight categories: “Must-sees,” “Should sees,” “Maybe-sees,” “If nothing else is going on…,” “Nice, but probably not,” “Take a nap,” “#Drugs,” and “Just Don’t.” There is no mention of any solo female artist until you scroll all the way down to number 22, where Swedish singer Tove Lo is listed. You might have to do a double take when you get down to the bottom of the list, where Flo comes in at number 95 under “Just Don’t.”
Rumors floated around the internet earlier this year when fans noticed the planned day off on Lana Del Rey’s summer tour date between her shows in Virginia and North Carolina. Many hoped that Lana would make an appearance on Friday night at the farm, and it would be nice to see some more big name babes spicing things up at Bonnaroo this year. Here’s hoping that Lana shows up after all to do a surprise set, but if not, don’t miss the opportunity to check out some of the women we love at Roo:
PHOX’s Monica Martin
SZA
Ryn Weaver