Pitchfork: Vegoose on the Loose!

All right, this is all getting slightly embarrassing. The music festival has officially become a pandemic disease, sweeping with a ferocity that can only be compared to early 19th century cholera...or curly fries during the Clinton administration. With so many catering to the broadest audience possible, it's hard not to appear hum-drum, even if the lineup seems more ingenious than the usual festival fare. But, far be it from me to ruin your buzz, festivals are about getting as many people to come and get fried while frying in the sun, exposing your inner jackass, wearing unbearably stupid hats, spending obscene gobs of cash, and leaving quietly and without a fuss.

So here's another behemoth vying for your entertainment bucks: Vegoose. It's organized by the same people behind Bonnaroo (and probably by the same weed they were smoking when they thought up the name) and will be held on October 29 & 30 at Sam Boyd Stadium in chilly Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to perennial festival meal-tickets like Michael Franti & Spearhead, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, Flaming Lips, and the String Cheese Incident, the organizers have confirmed appearances by Pitchfork faves the Decemberists, Spoon, and the Shins, sets by the resurrected Digable Planets and Primus, a blast from the past in the form of this year's model of the Meters (aka the funkiest band in the world), and shows by a couple of guys who might know a thing or two about this whole festival thing, Trey Anastasio (Phish guitar ace) and Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead god-like bassist), the latter playing with his special friend Ryan Adams. Apart from the stadium shindig, there will also be a series of night shows running from October 28-31 at various hoity-toity Vegas venues like the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and the Orleans Arena. Tickets for these shows will be limited and details and lineup info will be announced soon. But since it's going to be Halloween, we really, really hope Gwar is playing.

There are acts to be added, but here is the initial confirmed artist list: Trey Anastasio, Atmosphere, Blackalicious, the Decemberists, Digable Planets, Flaming Lips, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Gov't Mule, Jack Johnson, Phil Lesh with Ryan Adams, Lyrics Born, the Magic Numbers, Dave Matthews & friends, the Meters (Art Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Potter, Jr., Leo Nocentelli), moe., North Mississippi Allstars, Primus, the Shins, the String Cheese Incident, Spoon, Ween, and Widespread Panic. And as the saying goes, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas", so needless to say, eternal gratitude goes out to anyone going to Vegoose who can "happen" Dave Matthews enough to "stay" him there permanently. Ah, dare to dream.