The Road to Bonnaroo

Three the Hard Way

To hear AC/DC tell it, there's only one way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll—but for three Nashville bands, taking the side road has worked out just fine, thank you very much.

This year, Mercy Lounge and BMI took their weekly 8 off 8th showcase and dangled a brass ring that looked downright golden to the 24 bands that ended up vying for it: a chance to play their way onto a Bonnaroo stage. Voting—weighted 50/50 between audience ballots and a judges' panel made up of media and former 8 off 8th hosts—would decide the winners. As the first date approached, the deal got even sweeter: The band with the most overall votes would get a free run of 300 7-inch records courtesy of United Record Pressing.

When the Scene first announced the lineups for the three decisive shows on our music blog, Nashville Cream, it was immediately apparent from the comments that these would be high-intensity affairs—we just didn't know how intense. On March 23, power-pop vets The Features were clear favorites to take the first Bonnaroo slot, and their tight, articulate set, played to maybe the biggest Monday night crowd we've ever seen at Mercy Lounge, certainly made their case convincingly. When the votes had all been cast, we were informed that they had indeed bested the rest, and just edged out young upstarts Kindercastle—by a single vote.

By the time April 20 rolled around, the word on most everyone's lips was that either The Protomen or How I Became the Bomb would leave the pageant with the flowers. Both turned in showy, impressive performances, and on the Mercy Lounge deck, the judges were divided. Would The Protomen's video game-inspired epics play as well on a hot, dusty afternoon? Ultimately, the answer was a resounding yes. Just as resounding was the message that reached the final eight performers: Who puts on the biggest spectacle wins.

From bikini-clad backup dancers to a marching band procession through the crowd, the May 18 contest was a battle of showmanship as much as anything. And for weeks after Heypenny were crowned the winners, debate raged in the Nashville Cream comments over what constitutes a "gimmick," what constitutes "authenticity," what constitutes a "democracy" and so forth, with much bad punctuation along the way, until cooler heads or (more likely) fatigue prevailed and we were left with what mattered: Three Nashville bands were playing Bonnaroo, and we had to admit that was pretty damn cool.