Rothbury schedule released (hope you like String Cheese Incident!)
The lineup for this year's Rothbury festival has been released, and if you find yourself going to the festival and for some strange reason you DON'T like String Cheese Incident, well, you better find something else to do on Friday night.
String Cheese Incident is occupying a nearly 4-hour block of time on Friday, July 3, playing unopposed from 8:45 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Thankfully, the band fits right in with the festival's rootsy, jammy sensibilities. But if you're the rare breed of Rothbury-goer whose top must-see acts are, say, the Hold Steady, Broken Social Scene, Girl Talk and Kid Cudi (which, let's face it, is no one outside of me), well, you've suddenly got plenty of time Friday to catch up on your reading.
Headliners at festivals are strange beasts. Bruce Springsteen is playing unopposed Saturday night at Bonnaroo, which I'm sure is a turnoff to many of the festival's die hards. So much of modern festivals is about counterprogramming, and finding that buzz band that's playing on a small stage when everyone else is checking out Brand X on the big stage. But when one act wipes the schedule clear, like Springsteen or String Cheese, the Dead or Bob Dylan, all of whom have the festival to themselves at Rothbury, it hurts that sense of discovery that helps festivals find their identity.
