FAQ

frequently asked questions

Who are you?

Hi there! You might know me as Pepper (plasticpepper on Inforoo), but my name's Melanie, so if you prefer to call me that, that's cool. I'm in no way affiliated with Bonnaroo, Superfly, or Gary Chardonnay. I'm just someone from Inforoo who thought it would be handy to have a site listing all our clues.

What are these clues?

Before the lineup for Bonnaroo 2008 was announced, one of the DJs on Radio Bonnaroo, DJ JD Farmhand, started giving out cryptic little clues about the lineup. A bunch of us on Inforoo proceeded to spend several months hanging on his every word, neglecting our jobs and schoolwork, and generally devoting every moment to trying to figure them out. And it's now become an annual tradition, although in 2011 a new cluemaster, Gary Chardonnay, took over. The clues are all about the lineup, but we can never be sure of the details. Usually we assume each clue refers to one specific band or artist, but we also got some clues that were telling us an artist who wasn't playing and some other clues that as far as we know were total red herrings.

Where do the clues come from?

Radio Bonnaroo, for the most part. To listen, go to the main Bonnaroo website, look for the blue "Radio" rectangle, and click the play button. The clues aren’t hard to catch, they’re just spoken inbetween songs. If you heard something that doesn’t seem to make much sense, congratulations, you’ve heard a clue! Gary Chardonnay is also very good about helping us out when we're stuck. He posts on Inforoo as garychardonnay and he's got a Twitter account, and he uses both sources to provide feedback and hints to guide us in the right direction. Generally speaking his posts on Inforoo and on Twitter are NOT the actual clues, just hints referring to another clue.

Are all the clues listed here?

Hopefully. I’m only human and I do have other demands on my time, so I can’t always get new clues up here immediately. I will do my best to stay on top of things, but there could be a few new clues since I last updated, especially during the times when they start coming really fast.

Are these clues for the headliners?

Probably not. The first time around we solved the clues for the headliners much faster than was expected, so the powers that be have upped their game since then. Most of our clues seem to deal with non-headliners. Most recently (the 2011 clues), we had no clues for headliners or anything close.

Which clues are still unsolved?

Anything that doesn't have a checkmark next to it can be considered unsolved - or check the dots at the top of the clue page and look for dots that are red (unsolved) or orange (potentially solved).

I know the answer to one of these!

Great! Come on over to the discussion at Inforoo and share your thoughts with us. Check the info under each clue for a link to the thread for that clue. But first, do us a favor and check the guesses that are listed and see if your guess is listed already. Our clue threads tend to get long and move VERY fast when the clues start coming quickly, so we know reading through everything is quite a task. I won't list every single guess here, but I'll try to list our best guesses as well as linking back so we can keep track of who deserves the credit if they turn out to be right!

What do the icons next to the clues mean?

Those icons indicate what sort of clue you’re looking at. For the most part, in the past official clues have come only from Radio Bonnaroo, so we'll mostly only be seeing the first icon. But if something changes, these will be the icons to differentiate:
This one means the clue was heard on Radio Bonnaroo.
This one means the clue was posted on Inforoo or via Twitter.
This one means the clue was something completely different.

This is stupid. You people are just wasting your time, you still don’t actually know anything.

We don’t think we’re wasting our time, because we’re having a lot of fun. If you don’t find it fun, you don’t have to pay any attention to these clues, that’s all.

Is (insert band you love) going to be at Bonnaroo in (insert year)?

I probably don’t know anything you don’t know. You could check Consequence of Sound; they have a great list of all the bands who are confirmed to be playing various music festivals. Also, be sure to check out the discussions on Inforoo for the latest news and rumors. That said, a lot of rumors are just rumors, and a lot of supposed lineups that get leaked are just fakes. Certain rumors spring up every year, so until you see some official confirmation from the artist or from Superfly, take everything with a grain of salt.

Do you need any help with this?

What I need most is just for you guys to let me know when I screw up. If I miss a clue, a guess, or anything else you think should be posted here, please let me know! There's a lot to keep track of and I'm sure I WILL miss stuff, so I can use extra eyes telling me what should and shouldn't be up here.

I’ve got a question / complaint / comment / suggestion about the site.

Awesome, I love getting feedback. You could send me a message on Inforoo or email me at plasticpepperband@yahoo.com.

BONNAROOOOOOOO!

Bonnarooooooo!