A totem at the Bonnaroo Arch, 6/12/2025
After a series of weather delays, organizers officially canceled the 2025 run of Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Friday evening, following heavy rainfall that soaked the festival grounds on The Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester.
“Today, the National Weather Service provided us with an updated forecast with significant and steady precipitation that will produce deteriorating camping and egress conditions in the coming days,” reads a statement issued shortly after 7:30 p.m. “We are beyond gutted, but we must make the safest decision and cancel the remainder of Bonnaroo.”
The statement continues, noting that priorities include evacuating campers with accessibility needs and those camped in some parts of Outeroo where rain has settled. Four-day passholders are eligible for a 75 percent refund, and single-day passholders with tickets for Friday, Saturday or Sunday will be refunded in full.
The 2021 iteration of Bonnaroo was canceled just two days before it was set to start, after Hurricane Ida flooded The Farm. This year, headliner Luke Combs, punk rockers Die Spitz and others played their opening-night sets as planned on Thursday. But a muggy start to Friday eventually gave way to a massive midday downpour, and it turned out that the rest of the weekend’s shows — including remaining headliners Tyler, the Creator, Olivia Rodrigo and Hozier — would not go on.
Bebe Stockwell, who was set to kick off the day’s performances with a 1 p.m. set at This Tent, never took the stage. The festival issued the day’s first weather advisory at 1:08 p.m., starting a frustrating afternoon of waiting around for updates for ticketholders like Molly Lambert. She made a 15-hour drive to The Farm from Texas to attend Bonnaroo, but didn’t make it inside.
“It seems like everybody knew that there was gonna be rain from the beginning — for the past few months, everybody’s been prepping for rain,” says Lambert. She and her crew of would-be festivalgoers sat on the patio of the Manchester Dunkin’ Donuts, solemnly gathering up clusters of loose pony beads and kandi-making supplies onto a bandana and packing away a stack of bracelets they’d already finished. “And then the rain came, and suddenly everything’s canceled. We can’t handle it. We knew this was gonna happen. I think we’re just kind of SOL right now, from what it seems.”
Update, June 14, 4:30 p.m.: The following shows originally scheduled for Bonnaroo have been moved to other venues. Hat tip to WNXP for the roundup.
- Remi Wolf's Insanely Fire 1970s Pool Party Superjam — 9 p.m. June 14 at Brooklyn Bowl
- Natasha Bedingfield — 8 p.m. June 15 at Brooklyn Bowl
- Mt. Joy — 8 p.m. June 16 at Brooklyn Bowl
- Royel Otis — 8 p.m. June 14 at The Basement East
- Destroy Boys — 8 p.m. June 14 at Row One Stage at Cannery Hall
- It's Murph — 9 p.m. June 14 at Mainstage at Cannery Hall
- Jack's Mannequin — 8 p.m. June 15 at Mainstage at Cannery Hall
- Hot Mulligan — 7:30 p.m. June 14 at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge
- Levity, Inzo, ATLiens and Friends — 6 p.m. at The Pinnacle
- Justice — 8 p.m. June 15 at The Pinnacle
- Modest Mouse with special guest Doug Martsch — 8 p.m. at The Signal (Chattanooga)
