Bonnaroo’s Roo Clues ’15: Numbers 1-6

For the last several years, Bonnaroo has been running a social media (and sometimes real world) clue campaign dubbed Roo Clues, providing hints of varying difficulty about its lineup in anticipation of the official announcement. While, historically, Roo Clues have begun in January and have occurred once or twice a week for six or so weeks, this year the fest shook it up a bit, launching the clues in December over the course of twelve consecutive days. While it caught us a bit off guard at the time, the new approach now makes sense: Bonnaroo will announce its 2015 extra early this year, next week, on Jan. 13, and they didn’t want us to miss out on the pre-announcement fun. Since we didn’t get a chance to play the Roo Clue guessing game last month, or over the holidays, we’re going to explore them now in two parts, ahead of the official lineup. Check out Roo Clues #1-6, below!

Roo Clue #1:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Roo Clue #2:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:59am PST

Roo Clue #3:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:02am PST

Roo Clue #4:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:59am PST

Roo Clue #5:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Roo Clue #6:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Let’s get to solvin’!

Roo Clue #1 depicts a toy, stuffed koala wrapped around the stem of a martini glass on what appears to be a floral table cloth. The Radio Roo hint was “cheers to our furry friends.” We think this one is easy:

• While it could be taken to mean Kid Koala, and he’s technically free, the plural “friends” part of the radio hint seems to indicate that it’s a group. [verdict: probably not]
• With that out of the way, the other obvious guess, and the better answer given all elements of the clue, is Glass Animals. They’re free in June, and were just announced as performers at Coachella, so they’re willing to do festival dates stateside. [verdict: almost definite]

Roo Clue #2 is a snow covered mountain in a wooded area, with the accompanying radio hint “Welcome to Springfield.” This one is definitely harder, but we have a few guesses:

• It’s easy to take it at face value, and guess bands with “mountain” in their name, such as The Mountain Goats, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Moving Mountains, among others. While Yonder seems like a good bet, none of those connect with the radio clue. [verdict: meh]
• The mountain has been identified as Buck Mountain, which is in Grand Teton National Park. Modest Mouse, a band we think have a strong chance of playing ‘Roo, have a song called “Blame it on the Tetons.” In the more complicated Roo Clue days of yore, this would seem more likely, but it feels like too much of a stretch this year. [verdict: maybe]
• While it also feels like it could be a leap, our best guess, given both clues, is local artist Sturgill Simpson. Sturgill’s first album was called High Top Mountain, and “Springfield” is most commonly associated with the town setting of The Simpsons. On top of that, Sturgill is set to play both Coachella and Governor’s Ball, so a fest in his back yard feels like a no brainer. [verdict: pretty likely]

Roo Clue #3 is also a tough one, and we like it. The clue is simply a photo of an octopus, and the Snapchat version contained a clip of “Little Drummer Boy.” Additionally, the Radio Roo clue was just “Race car.” Here’s what we’re thinking:

• The internet seems to think it’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Dale Earnhardt drove a race car with #8, and octopuses have eight tentacles. Not a bad guess, especially since the band have played ‘Roo before and have a new record on the way. [verdict: possible]
• While our other big guess seems less likely as a choice, we like their fit with the clue slightly better: Blink-182. Bassist Mark Hoppus has been using an octopus logo for years, and “Little Drummer Boy” could be a reference to the band’s famed drummer, Travis Barker. As for “race car?” Barker and guitarist Tom DeLonge formerly had a side project called Box Car Racer. Blink are prepping new music, and are expected to tour this year, and Bonnaroo likes to mix things up with punk acts every once in awhile. [verdict: possible]

Roo Clue #4 is a close up of a dog’s snout, and the radio clue was just “open wide.” We’re going to get cocky and only make one guess for this one:

• Houndmouth. It has to be Houndmouth, right?. They’re free, they’ve played the fest before, and the clue is literally a hound’s mouth. [verdict: definite]

Roo Clue #5 is a slightly blurry photos of a bunch of bottles of what appear to be bleach, with the accompanying radio clue “Billy Mays approved.” After a couple of tough ones, this seems like it could be another pretty on the nose clue:

• Billy Mays was famous for pushing the household cleaner OxiClean, which is something of an alternative to bleach. Just going by the general “stain remover” theme of the clues, Washed Out wouldn’t be a bad guess. However, they not only played last year, but were the subject of a Roo Clue. [verdict: no]
• A more literal guess, albeit an admittedly lazy one, is simply Bleachers. While it doesn’t feel like the most clever of guesses, they seem pretty likely to be there, and no other group makes better sense. [verdict: probably]

Roo Clue #6 depicts a tin bucket of what could be whiskey, beer, or something of similar color, containing three straws, and sitting on a floral tablecloth next to a beer. The radio clue was “Bucket list.” Here’s what we’ve got:

• A prevalent theory seems to be the John Mayer Trio, due to the three straws and their connection to the film The Bucket List. The blues group are poised to return this year, so that’s not a bad guess. [verdict: possible]
• We might be biased, but we think there’s a local guess that works even better, and that, perhaps, the beer and number of straws are irrelevant. If that bucket is a “bucket of whiskey,” as it appears to be, it could strongly indicate Nashville’s own Moon Taxi, who have a song by that name. The radio clue might just be reinforcing what part of the image to focus on, and, as Roo vets and already confirmed to play Governor’s Ball earlier in June, the Moon Taxi boys feel like a strong fit. [verdict: pretty likely]

Do you agree with our guesses? Think we’ll be seeing Glass Animals, Sturgill Simpson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Blink-182, Houndmouth, Bleachers, and Moon Taxi this summer in Manchester? Either way, it’s shaping up to be another exciting year!

Don’t forget to check out our 2015 Bonnaroo Lineup Rumors post, which is regularly updated with the lastest info and speculation!

More from Bonnaroo | Site | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify