Like all RFID tech, it requires readers to scan. Those readers will be at all entrance points to the festival. If a band lacks a working RFID chip, the wearer will not be allowed in. The festival is also allowing festival-goers to use the bracelet for a lot more, however.

Updated after the jump.

Given that the festival drones on for four days and people camp out and bring their gear and given that out of almost 100,000 people there are going to be some baddies, Bonnaroo has made it possible for patrons to load their wristband with information, including their credit card number, through the website. The latter element should make it a great deal easier to make purchases at the festival.

So, what's the problem? Adam Gold, writing for the Nashville Scene, puts it best.

"It's inevitable that many a block-headed hippie among the Bonnaroo faithful are likely to cry foul and loose a collective shit fit of conspiratorial, theoretic poppycock bemoaning the addition of Big Brother (sans Holding Company) to this year's lineup...I can imagine that, in the midst of the wrong mid-trip moment, a festival-goer or two is likely going to gaze upon the wristband with his or her third eye and subsequently freak out...(I)f this happens to one of your friends, just remind them that they're probably on Facebook, and the marketing man already knows their lifestyle habits; they have a cellphone that pings their location off their brains at all times anyway; and that their family will find some closure when the puddle their body melted into is found, wristband intact."

You kids have fun.

UPDATE:

Ken Weinstein of Big Hassle Media, contacted me on behalf of Bonnaroo. He told me that my central assertion, which I read in Nashville Scene, was incorrect.

I regret not having contacted Bonnaroo, something I usually do.

Feet photo by Jason Anfinsen

Buzzd is one of an emerging breed of mobile apps, that basically enables real-time social networking using phones. Apart from powering Bonnaroo Mobile, Buzzd allows people to use their mobile phones to find an event near where they are, then buzz their friends to meet them there. It operates under the catchphrase: "Your city, in real time".

80,000 people are expected at Bonnaroo, and the festival features some awesome music artists - such as The Raconteurs, Kanye West, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson and many more. According to Buzzd CEO Nihal Mehta, Buzzd at Bonnaroo will bring "user-generated real-time updates" to music festivals for the first time. Bonnaroo Mobile will be accessible through the Mobile Web browser of consumers' handsets, as well as SMS. It is a free service at Bonnaroo and the company says it will work "across all cellular carriers".

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is described on its website as "a four-day, multi-stage camping festival", being held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, on 12-15 June.

Other than Buzzd, there are a number of interesting Web-media things happening at Bonnaroo. Some examples: Bonnaroo Radio channel is a radio station for the festival, powered by Microsoft's Flash-like technology Silverlight; Nokia and film-maker Spike Lee are creating a "massively collaborative film", which will have a presence at Bonnaroo; FM Publishing (which provides adverts for ReadWriteWeb and other blogs), has created a "collective, crowdsourced media campfire of sorts" called CrowdFire.

Update: Social Media platform KickApps sent us a note to say that they are powering the online community and media management system for Bonnaroo.com.

Are any RWW readers going to Bonnaroo? If so please leave a comment telling us what you're looking forward to experiencing - especially if it's Web-based!

See also: The Future of Mobile Social Networks: 4 Promising Services