KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The following is part three 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.

After its tenth consecutive outing, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival’s momentum continued as thousands of “Bonnaroovians” made their way to Great Stage Park in Manchester each June.

This was no exception for the 2013 iteration of the festival, as 90,000 Bonnaroovians made their way to Manchester to see that year’s acts including headliners Paul McCartney, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Mumford & Sons, as well as Björk, Twenty One Pilots, Wilco, Wu-Tang Clan, Kasey Musgraves, David Byrne & St. Vincent and other acts. However, Mumford & Sons announced they would be canceling their Saturday night headlining set that Thursday, June 13, 2013. In a statement, the band’s bassist Ted Dwane was recovering from receiving emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain, and the band decided to cancel the rest of their tour, which included Bonnaroo. Without a Saturday headliner, organizers had to search fast for an act who could fill in the vacancy, fortunately Bonnaroo alumni Jack Johnson was already on his way to The Farm.

“I was on my way to Bonnaroo to sit in on a set with my friends ALO last night when we got the call asking if I could possibly help out and cover for Mumford and Sons,” Johnson said in a statement. “I called my band and asked if they were up for it. Long story short – they are headed this way.”

Despite being a last minute replace, Johnson’s set was well received, as well as McCartney and Petty. As quoted by the June 19, 2013 edition of The Manchester Times, “Paul McCartney wowed. Jack Johnson surprised. Tom Petty rocked.” That same edition also highlighted that while the local police departments had their hands full, the number of arrest were slightly down.

The 2014 Bonnaroo festival saw another surprise in the lineup, as Kanye West returned to headline the festival, alongside other headliners Elton John, who made his first American festival appearance in his career, Jack White, Lionel Richie, Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys and The Avett Brothers. In the June 18, 2014 edition of The Times, the reactions from attendees to West were mixed, as while certain songs drew in cheers, the crowd thinned throughout his set, which saw him either talking or ranting his frustrations towards his 2008 appearance, as well as the media.

“Where the press at,” West demanded in his rant. “[Expletive] the press…Look at how they try to make look, they try to make me look crazy. And the people that write that, I don’t see y’all performing with 90,000 mother [expletive].”

For the rest of the 2010s, Bonnaroo would fluctuating number of attendees between 2014 and 2019, ranging from 45,500 in 2016, but climbed back to its highest at the time 80,000 in 2019. Yet, the festival continued to attract a variety of artists, some making their first appearance while others returning to The Farm. These artists included Billy Joel, Childish Gambino, J. Cole, Deadmau5, LCD Soundsystem, Tame Impala, Pearl Jam, Chris Stapleton, Dead and Company, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper, The Weeknd, Muse, Eminem, The Killers, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Phish, Post Malone, ODESZA, The Lumineers, The Lonely Island, Cardi B and more.

There were also some big changes made to the festival itself. In 2015, AC Entertainment and Superfly announced Live Nation Entertainment assumed a controlling interest in the festival. Featured in the May 6, 2015 edition of The Manchester Times and the April 29, 2015 edition of Tullahoma News, the announcement said the partnership will help to enhance the festival, which included making improvement of the festival grounds, like adding a power grid and water infrastructure, and to try to bring more events to The Farm. One of these events that came to The Farm was the Exit 111 Festival in October 2019, a three day music festival that featured hard rock and heavy metal acts. These acts included headliners Lynyrd Skynyrd, Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses, as well as Seether, Ghost, Deftones, Slayer, Anthrax, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick and more.

Bonnaroo would see another big shakeup in 2019, as it was announced that Live Nation had bought out Superfly’s shares, and would buy out AC Entertainment in 2020, completely acquiring the festival after first taking an equity stake in 2016.

Despite a complete change in ownership, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival organizers continued preparations and lineup announcements for the 2020 iteration of the festival, not expecting the challenges that would present themselves in the 2020s.