KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The following is part two of a four-part series following the history of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival which is set to for June 13 – 16, marking it the 21^st time it has been held since its inception.

With the success of its inaugural event, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival made its return in June to the 700-acre land, which will become known as The Farm in the years that follow, on Bushy Branch Road in Manchester in what would become an annual tradition for both the outdoor music festival and the city. Prior to the second Bonnaroo event, organizers attempted to host Bonnaroo Northeast in Long Island, NY but it was canceled in the weeks leading up to it.

2003’s lineup consisted of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, the Allman Brothers Band, The Dead, Jack Johnson, James Brown, My Morning Jacket, Sonic Youth and more. With the lineup in hand, and experience from the first year, the city of Manchester seemed better prepared as noted by articles from June 2003 editions of The Manchester Times, as both the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and businesses for the 80,000 attendees, or “Bonnarites” as described by the June 11, 2003 edition of The Manchester Times. Later in the Dec. 31, 2003 of The Times, Bonnaroo organizers were praised for traffic tie-ups being nonexistent and there was “nothing left do to but smile, smile, smile.” In that same edition of The Times, it was announced that Bonnaroo would return for 2004.

The festival also received end of the year praises, notably from The Rolling Stone magazine who named Bonnaroo “the American rock festival to end all festivals” in its “2003 Yearbook” special edition, also calling the festival “the summer’s success story” for its diverse lineup.

The following decade would see many top performers, who would normally appear in Nashville, make their way to The Farm for the three-day festival. Some the artists that appeared in the first decade include Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, TOOL, Pearl Jam, Tenacious D, Metallica, Eminem, Lil Wayne and more.

The first decade of Bonnaroo also had plenty of notable performances of moments. Some of the highlights include My Morning Jacket’s 2008 performance where they began at midnight and played to sunrise, Bruce Springsteen leading the crowd in 2009 to a sing-along of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” Radiohead’s 2006 set receiving high praise and being the seventh stop for The Police’s reunion tour in 2007. Another moment highlighted on the front page of the June 18, 2008 edition of The Times was the “King of the Blues” B.B. King receiving the key to the city of Manchester from the Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman on stage.

Another highlight during this time was the founding of the Bonnaroo Works Fund (BWF) in 2009 by festival organizers. According to Ashley Capp, owner of AC entertainment and festival partner, the BWF was created to help make impactful contributions to the community Bonnaroo calls home, according to the Sept. 5, 2012 edition of The Times. According to its website, the BWF has raised over $8 million and has helped over 250 organizations, which include local organizations in Coffee County like both Manchester and Tullahoma art centers, Highland Rim Habitat for Humanity, the Coffee County Child Care Center, Coffee County Central High School, Tullahoma Parks and Recreation and more.

However, Bonnaroo was not exempt from its shares of troubles and controversies in its first decade. One of the first most notable challenges would be any form of rain that would cause delays and other issues for Bonnaroo. As for law enforcement, the sheriff’s department would report several arrests at the festival each year relating to drug possession, theft and so on. The sheriff’s department would also report the deaths of attendees at the festival. The first deaths to be reported at Bonnaroo in the June 16, 2004 edition of The Times, where the two attendees’ deaths were confirmed by then Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves. The cause of both deaths would be confirmed to be due to drug usage in the Aug. 25, 2004 edition of The Times. In 2011, per The Times’ June 15, 2011, two deaths would be confirmed following the conclusion of the festival, marking the ninth and tenth deaths at Bonnaroo in its ten-year history.

A notable controversy relating performances happened at the 2008 Bonnaroo festival. The festival experienced several cancelations and rescheduling of artists prior and during the festival, most notably Kanye West. According to several media outlets, West was originally schedule to perform in the day at Bonnaroo’s second largest stage, the Which Stage, however he insisted on moving his set to the evening on the What Stage, the largest stage, to coincide with his stage setup for his “Glow in the Dark” tour. The only slot organizers had was 2:45 a.m., which he accepted. However, due to stage setup and other circumstances, like dismantling Pearl Jam’s set prior, West didn’t get on stage until 4:30 a.m., which was met with boos from those who remained. West blamed the organizers for the delay and would not return to the festival until 2014.

Through its ups and downs, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival carried on, and by the 2012 iteration of the festival, it surpassed its record of 100,000 attendees as Radiohead made their return to headline the festival, and were joined by other headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys and Phish closing out the festival with its second set of the weekend. The festival had other notable performances of Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, The Avett Brothers, Childish Gambino, Skrillex, Mac Miller and so on.