Have you ever heard of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard?

It turns out, neither have most people. Bonnaroo, a popular music and arts festival in Tennessee, released their highly anticipated lineup for their 13th annual event. Despite headliners such as Billy Joel, Mumford and Sons, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, the list also included head-scratchers such as Pokey Lafarge, Catfish & the Bottlemen, Phox, and Dopapod. A total of 125 musical artists and over 20 comedians are promised to be at the huge festival that spans over 4 days. Bonnaroo usually adds more and more artists to the lineup as the event gets closer.

Many advocators of the festival were slightly perplexed when looking at this year’s list of performers. However, there is a point to why there were several practically unheard of artists on the list. Apparently, the creators of the lineup specifically wanted to bring in even more unknown artists than in past years. Since the festival brings in so many people, the farm is expecting over 80,000 festival attendees this year, the creators decided to take advantage of the crowds and introduce some little known performers.

“I think it’s really cool that such a well known event is giving the smaller artists a chance at being well known too. I think after this festival the people will be a lot more popular.” said sophomore Abby Novo.

Something else about this year’s lineup was also different. Before the official lineup was released on the festival website, Bonnaroo enthusiasts were able to take part in the announcement. Fans called into a toll-free number to receive a name of one of the performers expected to be at the event, and share their name on social media using the ‘#bonnaroo’ hashtag. Once the fan got the name, they were able to get creative with the unveiling. One fan even spelled “Childish Gambino” in Sriracha sauce on a piece of toast. This aspect of the release was much more suspenseful and fun for everyone than announcements in the past.

“Giving the fans a chance to get involved in releasing something like that is one of the best things a festival can do. Once some fans are excited, the excitement spreads among more people and everyone anticipates it even more.” said sophomore Terry Tan.

FSA Connection Questions

1. What is the author’s main idea?
2. In the article, head-scratchers means what?
3. Select a sentence from the article that best supports the main idea.
4. How can the article best be summarized?
5. Do you agree with the author? Explain.