Wakarusa just wrapped up part three of its three-part linuep announcement, and judging from some of the Facebook comments, a couple-or-three of ya’ll dubsteppers are disappointed that there’s no Skrillex this year.
But fans of The Avett Brothers, Slightly Stoopid, Matisyahu, Ghostland Observatory, and, awesomely, Tinariwen (!) should be happy with this year’s lineup.
Other previously announced headliners include Pretty Lights, Primus, The Weir-Robinson-Greene Acoustic Trio, Umphrey’s McGee, Girl Talk, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Fitz & The Tantrums, The Del McCoury Band and Big Gigantic.
All these bands are good and I think it’s a great lineup this year and everything, but seriously, Tinariwen? The Tuareg group from Mali, whose nomadic members once rose up in rebellion against their oppressive government and who eventually gave up their AK-47s in favor of guitars to form a band that plays hypnotically rhythmic psychedelic guitar music that’s unlike anything else you’ve ever heard but is still hauntingly familiar, by turns joyful, mysterious, solemn and sad, but always deeply moving? And they’re playing two sets? I might have to get up there to Mulberry Mountain this year.