3. Bonnaroo: Unless we've missed one, this is probably the coolest name for a major American music festival you're likely to find. One of the guys who started the Tennessee festival, Jonathan Mayer - not the ladykilling white bluesman - told Spin he was living in New Orleans and found an old Dr. John album called Desitively Bonnaroo online. The old Night Tripper, himself, amidst a minor career renaissance with new Dan Auerbach-produced Locked Down, titled that 1974 LP (featuring a key supporting role by the Meters) after an old New Orleans word that means "fun." Another old New Orleans word that means "fun."

4. All Tomorrow's Parties: Or this one, started in 1999 in London and named after the drone-heavy song on the Velvet Underground's 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. ATP's organizers add a twist, much copied now, by letting an artist they admire book the festival (called "curating"). Sonic Youth did the honors for ATP's first American edition, held at UCLA in 2002. It relocated to the East Coast in 2008, when My Bloody Valentine did the honors, and glum Brooklyn rockers the National are at the wheel this year.

5. Bumbershoot: The rare instance of a festival name that is both clever and appropriate to its surroundings. Bumbershoot, which takes place in Seattle over Labor Day Weekend, is also a term for "umbrella" that dates back to the 1890s.

6. Lollapalooza: Its exact etymology is unclear, but "Lollapalooza" also dates back to the 1890s and merely means "something unusual." As far as we know, Perry Ferrell has not been actually been to trademark the word, although he is a partner in the festival he started as Jane's Addiction's 1991 farewell tour and moved into Chicago's Grant Park in 2005. More likely, he was thumbing through a thesaurus when looking for something to call Jane's tour; Merriam-Webster suggests "bee's knees," "cat's meow," "jim-dandy" and "sockdolager." Any one of those might have turned out a wee bit differently.

7. Rocks Off really, really hopes we don't have to tell our readers how the Austin City Limits Music Festival got its name (hint: Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were on last on week), but this year's lineup should be announced in a few more weeks.