Bonnaroo’s Roo Clues ’15: Numbers 7-12

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, with the full unveiling coming TONIGHT, 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 took a look at the first half last week. Today, we’re finishing things up, so, while you count down the hours until BLAM, take a look at Roo Clues #7-12, below!

Roo Clue #7:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 18, 2014 at 8:59am PST

Roo Clue #8:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 19, 2014 at 8:59am PST

Roo Clue #9:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 20, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Roo Clue #10:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 21, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Roo Clue #11:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 22, 2014 at 8:59am PST

Roo Clue #12:

A photo posted by bonnaroo (@bonnaroo) on Dec 23, 2014 at 9:00am PST

Let’s get to solvin’! Since we’re down to the wire, we’re just going to take you straight to our conclusions.

Roo Clue #7 depicts a flat turtle on a road side. The accompanying radio clue is “Watch out at midnight.” This one feels easy:

• The sign seems to inform so as not to trample turtles, and, really, while there are other turtle referencing bands, Trampled By Turtles is the only one that makes a lot of since. Plus, they have a song called “Midnight on the Interstate” and are wide open Bonnaroo weekend. [verdict: almost definite]

Roo Clue #8 is a what appears to be an old photo of a family riding on a log flume ride, with the radio clue “Getting back to our roots.” While not as easy as #7, we think we have this one too:

• While we entertained some wilder theories, especially in trying to connect the radio clue (which is still throwing us for a bit of a loop), we’re going with our cut and assuming that the most obvious answer is the correct one. Australian electronic artist Flume would be a good fit for Bonnaroo, and he seems to be available. [verdict: pretty likely]

Roo Clue #9 is continues the trend of fairly easy clues, depicting a photo of former first lady Nancy Reagan with the radio hint “Don’t be afraid to see what you are”:

• The radio clue is a quote from Nancy’s husband, president Ronald Reagan. She’s famous for championing and he’s famous for pushing the so called “war on drugs” in the ’80s. The War on Drugs are a band we already strongly believed would appear at ‘Roo, so this one seems locked in. [verdict: definite]

Roo Clue #10 is a weird one, displaying a crying baby wearing a shirt with some sort of coffin-shaped car with a “666” license plate. The radio hint is “Looks like someone needs a bath.” Here’s what we’re thinking:

• Taken at its most literal, the image on the shirt vehicle that embodies death. Since we already expected Death Cab For Cutie to make an appearance, and since they just announced a new album, they seem to be the best guess. Perhaps the baby is the “cutie,” and the radio hint is in reference to one of their songs (“Soul Meets Body”?). [verdict: pretty likely]

Roo Clue #11 is another old photo, this time of Sylvia Plath, and the radio clue is “Ariel’s trusted adviser.” This one’s clever, but we’re pretty sure we know:

• While Sylvia Plath brings to mind Ryan Adams, who we’re pretty sure we’ll see at ‘Roo, “Ariel” immediately makes of think of The Little Mermaid, and her trusted advisor is Sebastian. How else could we make Belle & Sebastian work? Belle & Sebastian have a song called “Enter Sylvia Plath,” and Sylvia Plath has a poem called “Ariel,” which brings us back to the Sebastian thing. [verdict: probably]

Roo Clue #12, our final puzzle of 2015, is a tag that says “Bobby” in front of a plant in a garden. The radio clue is “One of our favorite coworkers, he’s spent some time in the garden.” This one’s an easy but exciting one:

• Robert Plant. What else could it be? “Bobby” = Robert, and it’s literally a name tag for a plant, plus Plant has performed ‘Roo on multiple occasions, meaning he’s “spent some time” there, and is surely a festival favorite. We’d already been hearing buzz that he might make an appearance, so this one seems all but sure. [verdict: almost definitely]

Do you agree with our guesses? Think we’ll be seeing Trampled By Turtles, Flume, The War on Drugs, Death Cab for Cutie, Belle & Sebastian, and Robert Planet 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!

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