Page 2 of 3

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA AND C.U.B.A.

So. Much. Win. It's like the Bonnaroo folks reached into our brains, grabbed all our favorite things and booked 'em in a prime slot on the main stage. One of the world's premier guitar duos performing their favorite-est tunes, backed by an insanely, incredibly, almost-overwhelmingly badass Cuban big band? On the really fucking huge sound system? Let us think about this for a second ... Yes, please. 7:30 p.m. at What Stage SEAN L. MALONEY

ST. VINCENT

A theatrical guitar whiz armed with music-school chops that she graciously doesn't rub in the listener's face all the damn time, St. Vincent's Annie Clark honed said chops as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' band. While the St. Vincent material doesn't feature the sort of hippie-dippy feelgoodery (ahem, Poly Spree) or heart-on-sleeve over-orchestration (cough, Sufjan) that music festivals are sometimes associated with (for better or worse), it's catchy, smart art rock, and that's fun to watch. 7:45 p.m. at That Tent D. PATRICK RODGERS

PUJOL

We have to say, we Nashvillians are pretty proud of our brainiest garage-punk export. Daniel Pujol and his outfit PUJOL's brand-new Saddle Creek debut, United States of Being, features (to quote myself), "reverse-engineered pop and whip-smart, big-picture lyrics" that are "fashioned into one cohesive, ambitious, smartly arranged piece, adorned with found sounds — falling rain, cell phones buzzing and beeping — that are perhaps there to remind us that no art is made in a vacuum." I go on from there, but the point is, we really dig this band. 9:20 p.m. at Great Taste Lounge D. PATRICK RODGERS

click to enlarge

• Radiohead

RADIOHEAD

Save the hemming and hawing over post-rock's all-time biggest band returning to Bonnaroo for the blogosphere. Any festivalgoer who skips Radiohead's Friday night headlining set — where the band will defend its sacred-cow status — is a fucking idiot. The first non-jam headliner to return to the What Stage, Radiohead promises to deliver a markedly different performance than the epic catalog sampler the band gave Bonnaroo in 2006. But don't let a set list likely to skew heavily towards selections from recent, decidedly more inaccessible records (or that ponytail Thom Yorke is inexplicably sporting as of late) scare you away — if the band's art-rockin', electro-tinged sonics fail to melt your mind, then their breathtaking stage production rife with towering, vivid video walls and levitating flatscreens definitely will. 10 p.m. at What Stage ADAM GOLD

VALIENT THORR

Bonnaroo might be a little light on metal this year, but thankfully Valient Thorr isn't metal lite. Another plus: They don't take themselves too seriously. The gentlemen, who go by names like Valient Himself, Eidan Thorr and Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees, take '70s hard rock and proto-metal and wrap it together in a fist-thrusting, head-banging, sweat-making ball of furious party rock (not the LMFAO kind). Midnight at Great Taste Lounge MATT SULLIVAN

MAJOR LAZER

Bonnaroo's hippie bona fides make it a must for sun worshippers and day trippers alike, but the seasoned festivalgoers know the most fun is to be had after dark. The heat dies down and the eyes light up, just in time for dancing. Major Lazer — producer Diplo's reggae/dancehall collaboration with fellow DJ, Switch — is this year's big moonlight draw. Whether you regard this set as late night or early morning depends on how you spent your day. 12:30 a.m. at This Tent ASHLEY SPURGEON

SATURDAY

BLACK STAR

As backpackers from way, way back, we count this as one of the greatest regrets in our rap life: We missed seeing Black Star immediately following the release of their one perfect album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. How were we supposed to know we wouldn't get another opportunity until a decade-and-a-half later? We're not making the same mistake twice, tell you what. Separately, Kweli and Yasiin Bey — formerly Mos Def — both occupy spots on our All-Time Best Shows list, so you can expect us right up front, freaking out. 12:30 a.m. at That Tent SEAN L. MALONEY

DARONDO

There aren't many things on God's green earth that make us happier than Bonnaroo's Saturday afternoon soul programming — it's always a perfect confluence of sun, sound and sittin' around, soaking in the vibes. And there's almost always one artist that falls into the "Holy shit, I never thought I'd see this!" category. In this case, it's Darondo, the San Francisco-based soul champ best known for three hard-to-find, timeless singles from the early '70s. 12:30 p.m. at This Tent SEAN L. MALONEY

CHARLES BRADLEY AND HIS EXTRODINAIRES

Whatever you do this weekend, do not — let me repeat, DO FUCKING NOT — miss the Screaming Eagle of Soul. The 62-year-old Bradley is one of the most soulful, entrancing and enthusiastic frontmen on the planet, and his debut album No Time for Dreaming is the sort of thing soul fans' dreams are made of. With a backing band jam-packed with Daptone Records all-stars, this set will provide you with enough good vibes to last the whole summer. 1 p.m. at What Stage SEAN L. MALONEY

BAD BRAINS

One of the takeaways from the 2006 documentary American Hardcore is that pretty much everyone in that '80s punk scene wished their band was half as good as Bad Brains. Very few were or have been since. Forget for a moment that period when they moonlighted as the Soul Brains, or pretty much everything they did from the early '90s onward — all it takes is one Rock for Light in a catalog to cement a band's legendary status. 1:45 p.m. at That Tent MATT SULLIVAN

click to enlarge

• Wild Cub

WILD CUB

We saw Wild Cub perform at the Road to Bonnaroo band competition at Mercy Lounge — a competition they subsequently won, thus earning them this slot — before we had ever even heard of them. We were pretty much instantaneously sold. Some investigation revealed that the Nashville band is a Keegan DeWitt/Jeremy Bullock musical production — the two are certainly respected men-about-town in former projects, but together? Perfect shimmery guitar pop with legitimate melodies. Check them out on Saturday afternoon, and make them a soundtrack to a kiss. 2:40 p.m. at Great Taste Lounge ASHLEY SPURGEON

BATTLES

They may have slimmed to a three-piece on last year's Gloss Drop, but the momentum that carried over from Battles' previous album, Mirrored, was more than enough to overcome the hiccup of losing founding member Tyondai Braxton. The proggy experimental band, whose ranks include alumni from Don Cabellero and Helmet, picked up the slack with a tangle of idiosyncratic grooves that might pass as dance music some other planet. 3:30 p.m. at This Tent MATT SULLIVAN

KHAIRA ARBY AND HER BAND

Hippies being the most open-minded music fans, Khaira Arby and Her Band should attract plenty of noodle dancers — and this is fantastic music for noodle dancing. That said, it's just plain fantastic music. Arby & Co. sample from the musical traditions of Mali and transmogrify those sounds into a fiery, original brand of funked-up, Afropop-laced, punk-infused post-psychedelia that is as electrifying as it is eclectic. Not to be missed. 3:45 p.m. at The Other Tent STEVE HARUCH

SANTIGOLD

Not that the immortally great, dearly departed Donna Summer's crown is up for grabs, but Santigold is one of the few artists going who comes anywhere close to the Queen of Disco in the realm of combining pelvis-grinding beats with a soulful singing style that rings with compassion and empathy. Her latest effort, Master of My Make-Believe, simultaneously bangs and beguiles, pulling texture and filigree from every quadrant of the pop music universe. 5 p.m. at What Stage STEVE HARUCH

SBTRKT

Retro-soul is all well and good, but we're forward-thinking people 'round these parts, and we've got our eyes on the horizon — we're not prone to nostalgia trips. And that's exactly why we're going to be front-and-center for London-based SBTRKT's set of future-soul. Far and away one of the best live electronic acts we've seen all year, SBTRKT keeps it funky and spaced-out while making some of the most danceable, most singable underground dance music around. 5:15 p.m. at This Tent SEAN L. MALONEY

CHILDISH GAMBINO

Donald Glover, man. 1: Writing for 30 Rock while still a student. 2: Playing the most lovable character on Community, one of the best sitcoms ever televised. 3: Maintaining a legitimate rap career, seen as separate from his comedy and respected on its own merits. Did we mention that this year he got the ultimate Bonnaroo upgrade, moving from his appearance in a tent last year to this year's Which Stage performance? What a guy. 6:15 p.m. at Which Stage ASHLEY SPURGEON

STEVEN WRIGHT

Given his celebrated role as "The Guy on the Couch" in the '90s cult-classic stoner comedy Half Baked, a stroll through Centeroo will probably be hell for Steven Wright — the only jokester in Bonnaroo's comedy lineup to hail from the 1980s heyday of stand-up. Wright's deadpan absurdist one-liners are sure to burrow through the brain like observational revelations as they split the sides of half-baked festivalgoers too far gone to follow the anecdotal, situational bon mots of Brian Posehn and Marc Maron. Wright shares the stage with comically Canadian political and pop-cultural commentator Glenn Wool. 6:30 p.m. in the Comedy Theatre; also Sunday, 5 p.m. in the Comedy Theatre ADAM GOLD

CHUCK MEAD

Chuck Mead was alt-country, roots-rock, Americana — whatever the fuck you want to call it — before those terms even existed. Since burning up Lower Broad with BR549 in the '90s, Mead has carved out a solid solo career. His latest album, Back at the Quonset Hut, features legendary Nashville session cats, and swings like Charlie Sheen at the Playboy Mansion. A fresh dose of vintage honky-tonk will be a breath of fresh air at Bonnaroo. And if you've never heard steel guitar on 'shrooms ... just sayin'. 6:40 p.m. at Great Taste Lounge JACK SILVERMAN

DANZIG LEGACY

It's easy to view the whole Danzig Legacy thing as Glenn Danzig's tacit admission that his best days are behind him, but a legacy that includes "Mother," Samhain and The Misfits ain't nothin' to scoff at. The Danzig Legacy band will hit those high points, winding their way through the muscle-bound namesake's pelvic-thrusting '90s output and ending up at the horror-punk genius that's yet to be replicated in the Danzig-less shell of a band currently calling itself The Misfits. 6:45 p.m. at That Tent MATT SULLIVAN