Festival Frenzy 2024: Your Bonnaroo Headliners

Pretty Lights

8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13

In a year when it has seemed like every other festival is trotting out the same tired headliners, the Bonna-crew made a bold move bringing Colorado audiovisual wizard Pretty Lights to the big stage. Maybe Pretty Lights isn’t a household name in every house, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more respected and revered member of the EDM community or a more consistently ecumenical and explorative mainstay on the festival circuit. PL’s dazzling visual aesthetic and monklike commitment to blissed-out sound design make for a joyously immersive experience in even the smallest rooms — this is where we brag that we saw Pretty Lights at Exit/In way back when — so expect a wigdome-wobbling experience at the What Stage. If you miss out on Thursday, make plans to stay awake Saturday night and head to The Other Stage for his 3 a.m. sunrise set — a surefire setup for a religious dance-music experience if we ever saw one. SEAN L. MALONEY

Post Malone

11 p.m. Friday, June 14

Texas-raised nine-time RIAA Diamond certified MC and singer Post Malone made his debut as a Bonnaroo headliner in 2019 with a dynamite set, during which he performed all by himself onstage. Based on his career trajectory over the past couple of years, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he has some company on his return visit. He’s also appeared on fellow megastars’ recent hits — Beyoncé’s “Levii’s Jeans” and Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” — and enlisted some chart-topping talent as he enters the country music chat. The chart smash that seems destined for Malone’s country album is “I Had Some Help,” a twangy breakup song that sounds a little like Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly.” The only bummer is that it’s a collaboration with Morgan Wallen, known as much for his chart dominance as he is for tossing chairs and racial slurs and doing practically nothing to discourage his fans from being racist assholes. Malone has already proven he doesn’t need Wallen’s help, so what’s the point? Here’s hoping Malone’s country album also features folks like Shaboozey and Jelly Roll — and maybe he’ll bring them along to the Farm. STEPHEN TRAGESER

Red Hot Chili Peppers

10:45 p.m. Saturday, June 15

Saturday’s set marks the third time Red Hot Chili Peppers — the long-running funk- and punk-schooled band who are contenders for “most California band ever” — have headlined Bonnaroo, following stops in 2012 and 2017. They consistently leave it all on the stage, and this time they’ll have a special weapon in their arsenal: inventive guitarist John Frusciante, who rejoined the group for the second time in 2019 after a 10-year spell away. He’s been with them when they’ve made some of their most enduring work (namely 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 1999’s Californication), and his return came amid a burst of creativity that yielded two jam-packed albums in 2022, Unlimited Love (which contains nods to New Orleans funk and even a hint of country) and Return of the Dream Canteen (which includes a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen). The Peps are road dogs of the highest order and have been on a worldwide stadium tour for much of the past two years, so expect them to roll back into Manchester as a well-oiled machine. STEPHEN TRAGESER

Fred Again..

9:30 p.m. Sunday, June 16

Having made his Glastonbury debut last year, Fred Again.. arrives to close out the Bonnaroo festivities on Sunday night. A prolific DJ and producer from the U.K. with a stellar pedigree and two Grammys to his name, Fred began his musical journey by singing in Brian Eno’s a cappella group (naturally). A stint working on albums with Eno and Underworld’s Karl Hyde followed, and Fred has since made his name working with artists like Charli XCX, Shawn Mendes and Rita Ora. His sound comes across as a contemporary take on musique concrète — among the oldest forms of electronic music — with many of his samples coming from YouTube videos and social media. Expect an upcoming collaboration with Anderson .Paak to feature prominently in his set. CLAIRE STEELE