Phish, The Lonely Island, Hobo Johnson & The LoveMakers, More To Play Bonnaroo This Year

It’s music festival season. Many festivals have already unveiled their lineups, and today was Bonnaroo’s time to shine.

The Tennessee based music and arts festival unveiled its bands and artists who will be playing the eighteenth annual event. Acts like rock ‘n’ rollers The Nude Party, boy band Brockhampton, comedy trio The Lonely Island, and rapper Cardi B will be attending. Headliners include Phish (playing a set on Friday and two sets on Sunday), Childish Gambino, Post Malone, Odessa, and The Lumineers.

Bonnaroo 2019 starts Thursday, June 13 and ends Sunday, June 16. It will take place in Manchester, Tenn. Tickets go on sale Thursday at noon est.

Since 2002, Bonnaroo has featured a diverse lineup consisting of bands in multiple genres such as punk, folk, rock, metal, rock, and rap. Bands who’ve played Bonnaroo in the past include Umphrey’s McGee, Jason Mraz, The Black Keys, Ozomatli, Death Cab For Cutie, RX Bandits, !!!, Portugal. The Man, Manchester Orchestra, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Father John Misty, Robert DeLong, Unlocking The Truth, Pearl Jam, U2, and *repeat repeat.

“Oh Dearism” Is One Of The Finest Debut Albums Of 2018

You ever find a band with such a weird name that you have to listen to them? In a world with such common name bands like State Champs, The Beatles, or New Found Glory, it’s hard to stand out. But there comes a bunch of bands who’re here to challenge the status quo with odd names like dance group !!! (pronounced as Chk-Chk-Chk), experimental indie band The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, and †††, aka Crosses, the dream pop side project of Deftones’ Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez. Case in point: itoldyouiwouldeatyou.

This British troupe consisting of seven individuals (three of them are in charge of programming, including vocalist Joey Ashworth) are dealing with a world that feels like it doesn’t care about them. Channeling in their hardships with life and love, the band paint on their canvas songs that can connect to an audience dealing with the same feeling, and they titled that painting Oh Dearism.

On their debut record, the septet bring in elements of emo, math rock, and indie-punk, mixing it in with emotional songwriting and lyrics that are as good as chicken noodle soup for the soul. Oh Dearism is an album filled with everything from working class aspirations, to how hard young love and life is. It’s the perfect soundtrack for the Millennial generation who either want to die or party themselves to death.   

Throughout the nearly 43 minutes, we hear not just only pure emo, but sprinkles of other genres such as spoken word (“Goodbye To All That”), indie (“Craiglockhart”), and math rock (“Greek Fire”). Each song is able to stand out like a sore thumb, no two tracks sound alike.

The finest tracks off of Oh Dearism would have to be the indie-punk song “Young American” which features some fine programming that feels like it was lifted from Joy Electric, the emo gem “Gold Rush” with it’s lovely little riff found at the very end of the four minute track, and “Gathering Things Together And Not Dividing Them”, the five and a half emotional rollercoaster that would make TWIABP blush.

“Gathering Things Together And Not Dividing Them” is a fascinating song to dissect, feeling like the soundtrack to the person who is crying in their room with the lights off, going through a rough time in their lives. Ashworth croons that “all my friends are gone” while strings add the emotional drive they bring to the track. It gives off this funeral sort of vibe that makes you want to shed a tear or two.

Overall, Oh Dearism is a solid debut for this upcoming emo troupe. Each track puts us on a rollercoaster of emotions, and it’s a ride you want to keep on riding for the rest of your life. Whatever itoldyouiwouldeatyou are doing, they’re absolutely doing it right. These guys might be the new face of emo when that time comes.