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The announcement of the artists appearing at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., was like a wild scavenger hunt on Tuesday.

Festival organizers titillated fans from morning until 9 p.m. as acts announced their participation to fans through Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, fan clubs, Web pages and in interviews.

The 89 acts were confirmed (usually one every six minutes) on Bonnaroo’s official MySpace page, and hints were given out on the event’s Twitter account.

Headliners at the 2010 festival include: The Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Weezer, Phoenix, Tenacious D, the Flaming Lips, Norah Jones, John Fogerty, the Zac Brown Band, Jamey Johnson, GWAR, Jeff Beck, Regina Spektor, LCD Soundsystem, Isis, OK Go and Michael Franti & Spearhead.

“It seemed so old-fashioned to send out a press release,” said Bonnaroo co-founder Ashley Capps. “In looking to do something new we looked at the marketing effort behind the first Bonnaroo, which was the artists reaching out to their fans.”

Capps said organizers wanted to create an event.

“Initially we were going to have a band play a show in some city and then have a press conference, but then the question is ‘What city?’ Eventually, we just realized it should be online,” he said.

At one point during the day, “Bonnaroo” was the top search item on Google and “Bonnaroo 2010” was in the top 10 searches as well. Throughout the day, a significant number of Google’s top 10 searches was made up of acts set to appear at the event.

Bonnaroo seemed like a gamble when it began in 2002 with Widespread Panic as the festival’s headline act and an eclectic mix of support acts. However, the festival was a huge success, drawing 70,000 to tiny Coffee County in Middle Tennessee. In the ensuing years, Bonnaroo has shaken the image that it is a “hippie jam band” festival and become recognized as one of the top music festivals in the world. The 2004 festival drew 90,000 fans, prompting organizers to call the event a sell-out at 80,000 from then on.

The 2010 event will take place June 10-13 and a limited number of discounted tickets went on sale in December 2009. Sales resumed Tuesday at noon with tickets priced at $257.60, plus shipping charges. Ticket prices will rise to $272.60, plus shipping, sometime in the future. Tickets are only available at www.bonnaroo.com.

Capps said he was proud of the line-up.

“Having Stevie Wonder play is amazing. … Kings of Leon are fresh from their Grammy win, and they’re fantastic,” he said. “There’s a success story there, because they started playing in one of the (very small stages), and now they’re headlining.”

Capps said in a lot of cases the artists were very enthusiastic.

“The artists appreciated being able to communicate with the fans,” he said.

Scott Avett, of the Avett Brothers who is also a visual artist, created a stop-action video on the group’s MySpace page, featuring Avett removing one of his paintings from a wall and painting the announcement in its place.

Fans were mixed on the tactic, with many penning vitriolic posts on the Bonnaroo MySpace site and on fan sites. A few others seemed to enjoy the suspense.

Capps said the comedy acts for the festival would be announced in the near future, as well as a few other music artists. The 2010 announcement is the most acts announced for the festival at one time in the event’s history.

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444.

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel
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