A little mud didn’t hurt the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival as it made its comeback this past weekend after last year’s cancelation with strong performances and plenty of positivity to go around.

Thursday welcome party

After Bonnaroovians made their way to The Farm Wednesday, June 10, the festival opened its gates on Thursday and welcomed everyone back to The Farm with open arms. Kicking off the festivities in what officials called the “welcoming party” at Bonnaroo’s biggest stage was punk band Spiritual Cramp, whose frontman, David Bingham thanked not only the attendees, but also all the organizers and volunteers who helped put the festival together. Following Spiritual Cramp was rapper Vince Staples, who lit up the stage with performances from his latest album “Cry Baby”.

Festival goers then were hit with a snag as parts of the festival lost power, including the What Stage and the Ferris wheel, causing a slight delay in the rest of the performances. Fortunately, the wait for power and music wasn’t too long as electronic musician Four Tet took the stage, with the night’s headliner Skrillex shortly following. The EDM artist made his return to Bonnaroo after performing at the festival in 2014. However, the night was just getting started after his set as Skrillex performed a surprise late night set at the Other Stage, along with other late-night jams, which took place until the sun rose Friday morning.

Friday shines through rain

As festival goers shook off the previous night, they were met with a brief spit of rain just around noon. However, attendees weren’t going to let a little mud hurt their positivity as they made their way back to the arch and entered Centeroo for the day’s performances with Lambrini Girls, Goldie Boutilier, Amble, Zack Fox and Blues Traveler setting the tone for the early afternoon. While the sun began to set, the music continued with performances from Wet Leg, bbno$, Yungblud, which included his cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” in tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, Mother Mother and Geese. When the evening set in, the sky was filled with lights and fireworks courtesy of GRiZ’s return to Bonnaroo, along with the night’s performances of Hot Mulligan, Blood Orange, Jessie Murph and Mt. Joy.

Taking the What Stage was Friday’s headliner, The Strokes, who were kicking off their “Reality Awaits” tour in Manchester. The night’s set was a highlight of The Strokes’ catalog, featuring the performance of their newest single “Falling out of Love” in full for the first time, as well as jokes and banter from frontman Julian Casablancas, ranging from jokes about Kanye West and NFTs to lamenting at his past self for writing high vocal parts in songs. The night wasn’t done from there, as Turnstile and Lil Jon continued the flow into the night as Ganja White Night, Eazybaked, Lumasi and Inzo performed until sunrise.

Getting weird on Saturday

Saturday was high in temperature, humidity and positivity as attendees returned to Centeroo for day three of the festival, catching some of the early afternoon sets from Midnight Generation, Steph Strings, Congress the Band, Mountain Grass Unit and Waylon Wyatt. The late afternoon consisted of performances from DJ Trixie Mattel, The Runarounds, Amyl and the Sniffers, Alabama Shakes, Passion Pitt and Rainbow Kitten Surprise (RKS), whose performance was one of the most anticipated shows due to pulling out from their original set for Bonnaroo in 2023 and their return in 2025 was cut due to the cancelation. The band’s singer, Ela Melo, had previously performed the night before with GRiZ, who pulled double duty in 2023 when RKS canceled. Despite the looming threat of rain during the late afternoon and early evening, it did not deter attendees as they continued to enjoy the evening’s lineup of The Neighborhood, Teddy Swims and Kesha as she presented this year’s SuperJam–Superjám Esoterica: The Alchemy of Pop. The set featured various pop song covers featuring Kesha, Mountain Grass Unit, Flipturn, Wyatt Flores, Del Water Gap, Margo Price, Boy Throb, Blondshell, Chromeo, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Grouplove and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

The night’s headliner was Rüfüs Du Sol, who turned The Farm grounds into a muddy dance floor. The electronic trio’s performance was also a full circle moment as the group was scheduled to headline Bonnaroo in 2021, but the festival was canceled due to the rain caused by the remnants of Hurricane Irma. Despite a brief moment of rain, the night continued as “Weird Al” Yankovic made his return to Bonnaroo for a set of parodies, jokes and polka. The late night continued from there with performances from Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist, Clozee and Gorgon City with their sunrise sunset.

Sunday muddy Sunday

The final day of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was met with stronger rainfall and storms, resulting in the festival temporarily closing down Centeroo at around noon and evacuating attendees to stay in shelter until the storm passed. Fortunately, the storm did pass through, and the gates were open for attendees to return at 4:30 p.m., along with a new list of scheduled performances for the rest of the day, which saw the cancelation of the previous performances scheduled from 12:30 to 5 p.m., including Aly & AJ, who had their sets canceled at Bonnaroo in both 2025 and 2026. However, Bonnaroovians adjusted to the changes and continued to radiate positivity as caught sets from Modest Mouse, Japanese Breakfast, Audrey Hovert, Del Water Gap, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Clipse, Role Model, Daily Bread, Lszee, Mariah the Scientist and Kesha. Closing out Sunday night was Noah Kahan, who made his return to Bonnaroo after performing in 2023.

“I can’t believe I’m headlining this thing,” Kahan said to the audience, which was met with cheers. He would play songs from his recently released album, “The Great Divide,” as well as from his previous album, “Stick Season.” During his set, he reminisced about his times at Bonnaroo, sharing that he’s been to the festival five times, having a “bad time” after taking drugs and seeing performances from Kendrick Lamar and Kacey Musgraves.

“I can’t believe I’m one of the lucky ones to headline it,” Kahan said. “Thank you so much.”