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Jack Johnson Headliner


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What up with Jack Johnson headlining giant music festivals? He's headliner for Outside Lands, Bonnarroo, and Coachella. I just don't see how he tops the bill over Wilco or Beck (Outside Lands). I've never seen Jack Johnson live before but the music I've heard seems pretty mellow. Not the kind of music I'd expect to get thousands of people ready to party to start party'n. How will he follow someone like Wilco? He will follow them with a stool and an acoustic guitar. Sure, he sells a lot of records, but I don't see him as a festival headliner. I don't get it and I don't like it. Oh well.

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What up with Jack Johnson headlining giant music festivals? He's headliner for Outside Lands, Bonnarroo, and Coachella. I just don't see how he tops the bill over Wilco or Beck (Outside Lands). I've never seen Jack Johnson live before but the music I've heard seems pretty mellow. Not the kind of music I'd expect to get thousands of people ready to party to start party'n. How will he follow someone like Wilco? He will follow them with a stool and an acoustic guitar. Sure, he sells a lot of records, but I don't see him as a festival headliner. I don't get it and I don't like it. Oh well.

I agree..I can totally see him in an outdoors setting on his own or live in concert on his own but not for a festival...I think everyone would be drinking and start booing...

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His shows have a fair amount of energy from what I've seen. He's up there with a full band and they add a lot of swing.

But those songs.

 

You can't put racing stripes on a Hyundai and call it a race car.

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His shows have a fair amount of energy from what I've seen. He's up there with a full band and they add a lot of swing.

 

unless it's changed a ton in the last 5 years, there's not much energy there at all to be honest.

 

look, i like Jack, especially personally, he's one of the nicest and most down to earth dudes around. I got to know him and bandmates Adam & Merlo pretty well in 2001 when he was on tour opening for Ben Harper (prior to his first album blowing up) as I saw 4 or 5 shows that spring, but his music is pretty one dimensional and his shows are quite dull for the most part. he's showed pretty much zero growth musically over the course of his records. not saying he needs to pull a Kid A, but come on. the version of Breakdown that appeared on the Handsome Boy Modeling School record is WAY better than Jack's own version, he could do more stuff like that at least.

 

Jack is the Jimmy Buffett of this generation, pretty damn sure of that.

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There's that whole thread about the subjective nature of music down there you could check out for my opinion, but instead I'll just say that I enjoy his music (more so than 90% of this board) and don't find it dull at all.

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fair enough. there's just not enough going on musically for me to put up with the so-so melodies. his first record had some truly great/catchy songs, but those have been few and far between on the albums since (2nd one was OK).

 

like i said, i wish his music interested me more than it does, because personally he's fantastic, but oh well :/

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I like Jack Johnson alright. His last album was probably his best yet, and I've seen video of him playing live and it seemed pretty good. However, I don't understand his headlining. I don't care how popular he is. He just doesn't have the kind of energy that's needed to bring people to the main stage.

 

As far as Wilco goes, I'm not sure they'd be good for a headlining slot either. When I saw them at Bonnaroo last summer, they were the perfect late Sunday afternoon come down. They were relatively mellow and I was able to just relax and enjoy my favorite band. Although my foot will likely be in my mouth if they wind up headlining Lolla

 

And Beck headlining? I've never really thought of that, but he would be a perfect headliner at any festival.

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For the record, I think he's more suited to play the 5:30 set at most of these festivals, but I don't necessarily have a problem with him headlining. I actually think he might close out Bonnaroo with a nice chill performance, which would be perfect.

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My girlfriend loves Jack Johnson and he's one of my major musical turnoffs. The dude fails to develop as a songwriter from album to album and his albums continue to get more boring and lazy due to it. No matter how much I try, I can't make it through an entire album in a sitting. Just soooooo boring and so many lyrics that leave me cringing.

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Perhaps I'm a snob, or maybe I'm a wuss, but in the 5 times I've been to the ACL fest, I've stuck around for the headliner exactly once (Tom Petty, with a smirk). They always want someone with the broadest appeal, which often = not terribly interesting.

 

Yeah, I'm a snob.

 

snob.jpg

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Perhaps I'm a snob, or maybe I'm a wuss, but in the 5 times I've been to the ACL fest, I've stuck around for the headliner exactly once (Tom Petty, with a smirk). They always want someone with the broadest appeal, which often = not terribly interesting.

 

Yeah, I'm a snob.

 

snob.jpg

 

Indubitably

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My 6-year-old likes him because he did the music in the Curious George movie.

As to me, he's innoccous. Don't hate him, but I don't love him, either.

I'd much rather listen to Jack Johnson than to Dave Matthews.

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jimmy buffett, during his prime, at least had quite humorous lyrics!

Calling them "humorous" may be a stretch, but the fact is, Buffett didn't seem to take himself too seriously. That's why his name shouldn't be invoked when talking about Jack Johnson, who seems dead serious about his suckitude.

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