Photo: Phill McDonald
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival launched its official 2025 season on Thursday, June 12, with an exceptional lineup of day-one participants and new festival features that enhanced the in-person experience. Following a tough week for the music community, acts offered tributes to the deceased, including Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and Jonathan Mayers, the original force behind the annual event on The Farm.
The Manchester, Tenn. event, and official Centeroo festivities commenced just after 3 p.m. with Austin, Texas punk band Die Spitz, who lent a high-charge through their 40-minute frame. The initial festival display set up DJ Patheon’s emergence on the new Infinity stage, an open-air 360-degree spatial audio experience, and the first new performance space on The Farm in several years.
Day one presented a festival first, by way of Kitchen Dwellers’ Bonnaroo debut. While on stage, the jamgrass outfit mentioned looping back through Tennessee at the end of the month for their upcoming Ryman debut on June 24. Dwellers’ inclusion on the festival bill assisted in striking reference to the early days of Bonaroo and its improvisational roots and focus on emerging jambands. This trend continued during Thursday’s ensuing programming and subsequent artist arrivals.
Another first came in the form of the What Stage’s Thursday call time, a day earlier than what has traditionally been typical for this event. During last year’s event, Pretty Light broke expectations with his Thursday frame on the typically dark What Stage. This year’s schedule presented three separate acts on the aforementioned platform, beginning with indie-folk band Wilderado.
Marcus King was billed to follow Wilderado and used his stage time to pay homage to the late Brian Wilson by covering “God Only Knows.” King was one of the few who offered a tribute to the deceased. The Lemon Twigs covered two numbers: “Good Vibrations” and “You’re So Good To Me.”
Luke Combs filled the headlining slot on the What Stage, representing the only second artist to do so after Pretty Lights. During the country star’s performance, he brought out a special guest, fellow genre heavy-hitter Miranda Lambert for “Where the Wild Things Are,” and her original, “Kerosene.”
A special part of Combs’ set was the expected turnover to his band for an amalgamated assemblage of rock classics, before bringing out pop-focused Jon Bellion, who showed up and assisted on a cover of ILLENIUM’s “Good Things Fall Apart,” which the guest initially assisted on in the studio. Combs’ encore commenced with his chart-topping cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” For his final move, Combs brought out King for a collaborative take on “Ain’t No Move in Oklahoma.”
Before coming to a close, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country pulled an impressive crowd, ahead of late-night entertainers, The Disco Biscuit’s Tractorbeam project, who pushed through an improvisational heavy offering of electronic-focused songs. Notably, Bisco performed during Bonnaroo’s inaugural 2002 festival; last night’s return represented the group’s first participation in the Manchester, Tenn., event since 2010.
Following Thursday’s Bonaroo programming, music picks up today at 1 p.m. local time.
Scroll down to view photos from yesterday’s event, shot by Miranda McDonald, Phill McDonald, and Nathan Zucker.
The post Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival: Tributes, Collaborations and More (A Recap + Photos) appeared first on Relix Media.
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