Photos by Josh Rish.
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 2019 held up to its annual promise of shocking and awing patrons across the world on the 700-acre farm of Manchester, Tennessee, June 13–16, 2019. With over 100,000 Bonnaroovians gathering to experience today’s top-charting musical phenoms like Post Malone, Cardi B, Griz, Odeza, Kacey Musgraves, The Avett Brothers and many more, the 18-year old festival welcomed its biggest year yet.
With the population growing this year, there’s no surprise that Bonnaroo had an unusual wait time getting in. I always remember going in early Thursday and throwing down my group’s camping gear quickly to reserve a spot. As Groop Camping, SheRoo and other campsites have been added, many people now arrive at the festival Wednesday night. This year, I knew several patrons who waited as long as 16 hours to get in. When I arrived Thursday afternoon, many of my friends recounted stories of having left Murfreesboro or Knoxville between 2 and 5 p.m. Wednesday and not getting in until after 2 a.m. on Thursday—some finally entering as late as noon.
Every year the concert venue tents go as follows (in size): The What and Which stages, and This, That and the Other Tents. The smaller but popular Who Stage featured many talented bands from all walks of life that aren’t yet huge household names but are talented nonetheless.
The Avett Brothers
The Silent Disco, Snake & Jake’s Christmas Club Barn and Where in the Woods offered electronic, funk, disco and house music throughout the day and late into the early hours of the morning. The HOW Stage in Planet Roo featured important activities and information like “Sunny Trails Yoga,” “The Power of Music with Bonnaroo Work Funds” and “BonnaROOTS Community Dinners.” The Academy of Planet Roo kept patrons on board with health, sustainability, environmental actions and overall education on getting involved. The Plazas continued to educate and involve guests with exercises and guest speakers at the Sanctuary of Self Love, Booglaoo of Wonder, The Ville, The Grove, Bayou Libre and The OASIS at Bacardi Bay, a full-on beach-like sand garden with a volleyball court next to the Other Stage. And who could miss the massive inflatable water slide in the corner?
Thursday kicked off without mainstage headliners but was still an unforgettable day as music legends gathered for the second annual Grand Ole Opry at Bonnaroo show, a special collaboration staged by the Nashville-based country music institution that featured Old Crow Medicine Show, Ricky Skaggs, Riders In the Sky, Steve Earle, Ashley Monroe and others. The night continued with electro-funk bands like SunSquabi and all-night boogie beats at the Kalliope Stage and Silent Disco until 6 a.m.
Friday, the festival really swung into full gear as patrons familiarized themselves with the festival and the Avett Brothers headlined the What Stage. Childish Gambino brought one of the best shows to Bonnaroo 2019 with a hard-to-beat energy as he wandered into the crowd several times and stirred the audience with old and new hits like “This Is America” and “Redbone.” Griz brought out his saxophone and vocals for a mixture of electronic, funk and rap with outstanding female vocalist Chrishira Perrier, who quite frankly deserves her own show at Bonnaroo. Later, Phish closed out the mainstage and we all witnessed a G.O.A.T. SuperJam with Griz that honestly, from my position, was very hard to hear. Fan favorite and old-school DJ Girl Talk and bass-heavy Liquid Stranger closed the night, and music continued to rage at Where in the Woods and in the campsites until the next morning.
As Saturday rolled around, many who hardly slept Thursday, and stayed up too late Friday night, found themselves hanging out in the campsites more and relaxing as the community of campers bonded. I wandered inside to find Bonnaroo’s first Pride Parade (a popular parade many cities have started to throw during the month of June) as it started with at the notorious House of Yes and wandered into Centeroo past the Fountain.
Kacey Musgraves, a new, popular country artist spreading her wings like her song “Butterflies,” captured the crowd at Which stage, and Odesza headlined the What Stage while legend and two-time Grammy winner John Prine drew a huge crowd.
John Prine
Post Malone performed some of his biggest hits ending on “Congratulations” and saying something along the lines of, “No matter what I go through, I’m always happy to be around good people like you.” The night extended with the infamous Lonely Island and Andy Samberg doing the usual unorthodox guest performances such as featuring a puppet of Justin Timberlake. Gramatik sold his funky electronic jams, and the night got even better with legend Gucci Mane performing old-school hip-hop hits and Zhu, one of my personal favorites, “ending” the night with some of their more popular songs like “Working for It.”
During the day, patrons had many things to stir their interest, such as the wine promoters Barefoot Lounge, The Wall, where many guests tagged unforgettable Roo lines like “F*** Kanye,” and the notorious center statue, The Fountain, continuing to thrive in its rainbow-esque entirety of love and meet-up headquarters. Vendors like Spicy Pie, ML Rose and Hamageddon & Bacon Land scattered the grounds with food from across the world like pizza, BBQ, lobster mac and cheese, samosas and arepas. Arts and Crafts Vendors offered an assortment of clothing and accessories like Wormtown Trading Co., Spunglasses and To Write Love on Her Arms. Flushable toilets in the campsites was new to me as well as “permanent bathrooms” inside the festival featuring flushable toilets and sinks with soap.
The Lumineers
Sunday, headliners like Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers, Cardi B and G Jones took the stage with Phish closing out a 3.5-hour set and ILLENIUM drawing a more electronic crowd. Some Bonnaroovians started to pack up and head out while others stayed true to closing out the weekend with a bang. Cardi B, rumored all weekend to cancel because of her lawsuit, showed up sporting a positive attitude and stating something like, “I have no idea where I am in Tennessee, but we’re going to have a good time.” It was rumored she did an outfit change because she ripped her dress “twerking,” but I thought she said she was changing because it was “too hot.” The Ferris Wheel line stood long and the merchandise table brought on an onslaught of panicked last-second patrons. I can’t say it was easy getting out and it took me three hours to find my incoming ride.
The new arch pleased some and disappointed others. The arch now stands as a square, interactive billboard featuring new designs and colors ever-changing with the Bonnaroo logo. It’s rumored the sign changed to accommodate new festivals at the location like the Exit 111 Festival, which will be offering more of a hard-rock vibe this October (find the event on Facebook). It seems Exit 111, the ramp at which many Roo-goers have sat waiting for years, now stands as an entry point for other types of entertainment as well. Nonetheless, we’ll see you next year, Bonnaroo, and hopefully, if the festival continues to expand, it will have a better game plan for getting people in and out.
