Paste's Guide to Bonnaroo 2009

June 11-14
Manchester, Tenn.
Bonnaroo.com

Music Highlights: Wilco, Al Green, Phish, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Lucinda Williams, Gomez, Public Enemy, Ani DiFranco, Santigold, Booker T & the DBTs, Alejandro Escovedo, Merle Haggard, Nine Inch Nails, Janelle Monáe, Okkervil River, Neko Case, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Snoop Dogg, Robert Earl Keen, The Mars Volta

Comedy Highlights: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog; The Daily Show’s John Oliver, Rob Riggle & Rory Albanese; Michael Ian Black & Michael Showalter, Aziz Ansari, Todd Barry, Jimmy Fallon

When the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival debuted in 2002, it revived the massive music fest of the 1960s, but instead of leaving chaos in its wake, it operated in a responsible, sustainable way. Seven years later, the fest has expanded to include music from virtually every genre, and for every range of tastes.

While many other excellent music festivals have emerged or re-established themselves over the last half-decade, Bonnaroo is the model: the most smoothly run, with the most consistently excellent lineups, and the best extracurriculars—from the film tent, beer garden and art installations to the MLB Roadshow, fountain and Ferris wheel, not to mention the unmatched people-watching as you trudge across the fields through the mud or dust in the heat of the Tennessee summer.