Bonnaroo Drops a Clue (and We’ve Got It Figured Out)

Yesterday on their official Facebook page, Bonnaroo posted this, their first lineup clue:

Any guesses as to what it could mean?

Here’s our best bet:

I’m going to go ahead and call this one for Japandroids. Lots of people are making claims like David Bowie (wouldn’t that be rad), Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Atoms for Peace, and Paul McCartney. Although we think there’s a chance that any of those acts could wind up on the bill, Bonnaroo’s clues in previous years have historically been for smaller to mid-sized bands. Most people are getting overly-excited and thinking too big for this one. It’s not unheard of for them to hint at headliners, but I just don’t think they’re ready to give up the goods this early.

Here’s our rationale:

“Rising Son of Man” is a double entendre (bridged by a homonym, for good measure). Japan is the land of the rising son. The son of man is Jesus. Jesus rose and ascended into heaven. Japandroids’ biggest single from Celebration Rock is “The House that Heaven Built” (and much of the record focuses on good and evil, heaven and hell). “Human Contact is Gone” is reference to androids, which are robots built to resemble humans (and are often portrayed in future or post-humanity societies in science fiction). “The Future Was Less Certain” is probably a reference to Japandroids’ own history. I think “was” is the important part of that line- the band actually had broken up before their first record even saw proper release, got pulled back in to tour then reluctantly made Celebration Rock. The future of Japandroids has always been (and still kind of is) uncertain, but it was less certain until the past year or so.

So there you go. We’re pretty confident in our announcement that Japandroids are going to be making a stop at the farm this summer. Not a bad start!

Bonnaroo rumors, clues, and info are sure to start popping up with more frequency now that it’s 2013, so be sure to check out our BONNAROO LINEUP RUMORS post frequently for updates!