Random Feelings & Thoughts 1 Day After the Lineup Drop
These are a bunch of random feelings after digesting the lineup for a day. What do you agree or disagree with? What random musings about the lineup do you have?
Overall, I like the lineup a lot. I think there’s going to be a lot of acts get super popular in the next five years that are playing this fest. I think we will look back and go, “Wow, so and so was like 17th of their day and now they headline fests.”
Even though I like the lineup, this is the first time since my first Roo in 08 that I’m not excited about any of the top 3 (top 4 too if we include the newer Thursday headliner.) Hozier is great, but i’ve seen him 4 times. 2 of them were on the farm too. If you’ve never seen him, then you’ll have a blast. Olivia is cool, and I think I would have welcomed her more if she was second of the day, but it feels slightly less exciting taking up the coveted top headliner spot. I hope she surprises me. I respect Tyler, The Creator but I just can’t get super into him. He has a bop I like on occasion, but not a ton grabs me. I actually saw him live before he blew up back in 2015 @ The GA Theatre. It was fun, but i’m just not excited to see him again. I also hope he surprises me. Finally, I’m just not a pop country guy, so I don’t remotely care about Luke Combs.
I said it on the leaked poster thread 2 days ago, but I’m still surprised by some of the placements of acts. For example, Modest Mouse & Foster The People feel low. On the other hand, The Red Clay Strays & Beabadoobee feel high. Who did Nelly pay under the table to be fourth of his day. Wasn’t he twelfth on the 2020, and I don’t think he’s gotten any more popular. Also, I know John Summit massively blew up, but I did not expect him to be #2 of the day and ahead of Glass Animals.
ICP is still wild to me. I’m truly curious how many Juggalos will be convinced to buy a ticket.
I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll, but when I think of that Infinity Stage, I immediately think of the sound bleed. If you were at Hulaween, their new 360 stage caused soooooo much sound bleed. I fear the same with this one, kind of like the Lunar Stage back in 2012 I believe.
I always want at least one legacy act on a lineup, and Megadeth is a super cool one. I approve.
I’ve been wanting Roo to get more classic EDM on the lineup. While not the most exciting to me personally, booking Green Velvet is a great start.
On that note, the EDM lineup is definitely strong. Tipper, Justice, and LSZee alone are amazing bookings. I still think Coachella edges them out. It’s hard to beat The Prodigy, Kraftwerk, and Basement Jaxx as three killer classic edm bookings.
I love the superjam. Remi Wolf band leading a 70s cover show is going to be killer. I know I’m going to get hate from the jam fans, but I’m glad the Billy Strings Dead Superjam was false. Billy Strings leading a superjam would be rad. I’ve just heard sooooo many grateful dead cover shows over the years. I want something super unique for the superjam. If there were three superjams like back in the mid 2010s, then, I’d welcome it. If there’s only 1, not as exciting to me.
There’s a tradition that died on this lineup which makes me sad. There’s no west african blues artist this year. I went to almost all of them over the years. Mdou Moctar was killer last year. Actually, world music in general is lacking. Yeah, bummer.
This lineup confirms thursdays will probably be a bigger affair moving forward. It wasn’t just a fluke with Pretty Lights. If you notice, the names aren’t in alphabetical order this time.
In 10 years, we will be looking back at the King Gizz residency as a legendary booking. I really hope they do a thrash metal set before or after Megadeth’s set. That would be mind blowing.
Even though it’s not my favorite design, I’m very happy they didn’t use the same art for a third year in a row. That would have made Roo really feel less like an art fest.
Edit: * One other thought. Friday’s late night is going to be one of the worst conflicts in Roo history. There’s too many incredible acts that day that would be perfect for the late night. I don’t know what I’m going to do.