Bonnaroo 2025 boasted an eclectic mix of artists on the lineup that was meant to run over four nights on the Farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It had a really great lineup that mostly never came to fruition. Fans could enter the grounds and begin camping starting on Tuesday, but the music didn’t start until Thursday. That evening, Marcus King’s soulful, raspy voice and guitar riffs filled the night air on the main stage during the first sunset of Bonnaroo 2025.
Thursday also boasted a headline set by Luke Combs, Bonnaroo’s first ever country headliner on the main stage. He had an unforgettable set, including starting the performance by shotgunning a beer and sharing stories of how he wrote his songs. He brought out legendary country singer Miranda Lambert as a surprise guest and she sang “Kerosene” as well as Marcus King for his last song, “No Rain in Oklahoma.”
This year, Bonnaroo also debuted the Infinity Stage, an open-air dome designed stage with spacial sound and a 360 experience. Of The Trees B2B Tape B and Rebecca Black DJ’d there on the first night of the festival, with lasers and totems surrounding the entire area. There were mixed reviews for the stage – fans inside the audio experience said it was great, but fans outside couldn’t hear as much and it didn’t provide great visuals from farther away.
The Who stage, located at Outeroo’s Plaza 7, highlighted up-and-coming artists and rising stars. And of course, the iconic Other stage hosted Dom Dolla, who mixed songs together for a two-hour headlining set on Thursday as part of their new After Hours lineup with late night live performances lasting well into the early morning.
Friday morning started strong with hundreds of people doing Yoga in Centeroo and enjoying their High Five Friday on the Farm. Things only got worse from there. Early in the afternoon, before the festival had even opened to music, rain storms with lightning and thunder passed over the festival, causing the campground to be completely flooded and many campsites to be destroyed. After an entire day of delays, Bonnaroo announced that they were forced to cancel the rest of the festival and that fans were encouraged to leave on Saturday. Fans will also receive a 75% refund on their tickets and camping passes since there were no sets from Friday to Sunday.
Sets that never came to fruition included Friday’s John Summit headlining and Infinity stage takeover sets, Avril Lavigne and Olivia Rodrigo on Saturday night, Remi Wolf’s Superjam on Sunday, and Hozier closing out the weekend. This was a disappointing end for this year’s Bonnaroo. They were forced to cancel in 2020 due to Covid-19 and again in 2021 due to inclement weather, so to have to cancel again in 2025 is especially unfortunate. Next year, the festival organizers might have to reconsider when they host the festival, due to the large amounts of rainfall in Tennessee in the summer.
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