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Not sure how I missed this one, but this news hit a few days ago.  Hidden Track has the deets: “As we speculated two weeks ago, Rolling Stone’s sources tell the mag that Phish will headline two nights of Bonnaroo 2009 with Bruce Springsteen set to close the festival on Sunday night. What remains to be seen is whether the soon-to-be-reunited Dead join in on the fun. We can’t wait to see what Pitchfork and Stereogum would say about Phish and the Dead appearing at the ‘Roo. There goes the festie’s hipster cred.”  Except that Bonnaroo started as a jam-based festival and Trey has played five times over the years.

Nothing to get too excited about just yet, afterall no lineups have been announced.  But, you can begin to mark your calendars for 2009.  “The eighth Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will be held June 11-14, 2009, on its usual site in Manchester, Tenn., an hour southeast of Nashville. The first round of ticket pre-sales begins Thursday (Dec. 4); a lineup announcement is expected early next year.”  Also a first this year, tix can be put on layaway for five easy payments of $50.  Yay financial crisis!  [Billboard]

It was a relatively buzz free year for Bonnaroo, the music and arts festival down in Tennessee despite having Metallica rock hard, an extended set from Pearl Jam, M.I.A. announcing her retirement (yeah right) and lots of great sets.? Strange though when the most news-worthy event coming from down yonder was Kanye West refusing to go on until about 4:30 a.m. and then playing for only an hour.

People were equal parts upset about the diva-like behavior, but also thought it was cool seeing the sun rising with Kanye rocking the mic.

If you only care about the music, David over at LHB is doing his thing and compiling sets as they become available.? So far he has sets for Broken Social Scene, Rilo Kiley, The Raconteurs, Metallica and The Swell Season (the duo from Once).? Keep hitting refresh to see what surprises turn up.

The first wave of acts appearing at the venerable Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival, held each year in Tennesse were announced and there is no Led Zeppelin as rumors would have it, but there is the all-female cover band Lez Zeppelin! Metallica and Pearl Jam are the big headliners.

The festival will be held in Manchester, TN from June 12-15. Other acts appearing include Kanye West, Jack Johnson, the Allman Brothers Band, B.B. King, M.I.A., Drive-By Truckers, Phil Lesh & Friends, Death Cab For Cutie, Vampire Weekend, Levon Helm, the Raconteurs and Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. Bonnaroo’s Comedy Tent will host Janeane Garofalo, Zach Galifianakis, Mike Birbiglia, Jim Norton, Brian Posehn and David Cross.

Most of the lineup is pretty stellar and very strong top to bottom. Good mix of different acts that doesn’t lean too heavily on one particular genre. But Metallica? Really? Didn’t Bonnaroo see their unintentionally funny documentary Some Kind of Monster? I thought it was sort of the giant fork in their career’s back, but whatevs.

We’re excited to check out Mason Jennings, Ben Folds, Yonder Mountain String Band, Drive-By Truckers, etc.

The final Bonnaroo 2008 lineup will total more than 100 bands and 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through Bonnaroo.com on Feb. 16 at noon.

“I actually feel like it’s one of our strongest lineups to date and it strengthens our diversity within our programming,” Superfly Productions president Jonathan Mayers tells Billboard.com. Superfly and A.C. Entertainment are co-producers of Bonnaroo. “I know we still have a lot more to add, too, so I’m excited about it and feel like we’re going to have a very successful year.”

This year, Bonnaroo is offering ticket buyers the option to purchase a commemorative DVD of the 2008 festival that will be sent to them in December. These DVDs will feature exclusive performances and backstage footage from the upcoming event, in a 5.1 audio mix created from Bonnaroo’s soundboard recordings.

Complete list of acts so far after the jump. MORE »