Luke Combs, Wisp, Die Spitz and More Kick Off Bonnaroo 2025

Editor’s note: This year, we’re grateful for help with our coverage of Bonnaroo from Middle Tennessee State University student journalists. Here’s their take on the first full day of the festival. Thanks also to Matthew Leimkuehler, Cole Villena and Bailey Brantingham for their editorial assistance.

Though summer isn’t technically here till the solstice on June 20, Bonnaroo has been a sign of the season’s start in Middle Tennessee since the festival launched in 2002. Fans began rolling into The Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester for the 2025 festival on June 10, and stages around Centeroo got cooking early in the afternoon of June 12. 

Decked out in casual flowy skirts, socks and band tees, Austin, Texas’ Die Spitz (Ava Schrobilgen, Chloe Andrews, Ellie Livingston and Kate Halter) opened at 3 p.m. with This Tent packed full of head-banging and fist-pumping Roovians. As totems and balloons bobbed through the crowd, the grunge-metal-rock quartet performed for a restless bunch of festivalgoers ready to kick off the 2025 festivities.

As viewers jolted their limbs around and crowd-surfed (most were promptly intercepted by security), the band goaded moshers with songs like their 2024 single “I Hate When Girls Die.” Livingston screamed for the middle of the crowd to “open it up,” inviting them to get wild while the band shredded onstage.

Retro rockers The Lemon Twigs returned to Bonnaroo in style for a pre-sunset show at This Tent. With their signature shag haircuts and eclectic ’60s and ’70s fashion, brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario jammed as a laid-back crowd bopped to a slew of fan favorites. The audience nodded along gently to the harmonies of “My Golden Years,” and couples swayed to softer tunes like “Corner of My Eye.”

Clouds rolled over The Farm as the set wound down, creating a somber moment for the band. They matched the energy fittingly as they ended with a tribute to Beach Boys visionary Brian Wilson, who died at 82 just one day earlier. The group played a few classics from the Beach Boys, who inspired much of The Lemon Twigs’ sound, including “You’re So Good to Me” and a set-closing take on the timeless “Good Vibrations.”

Wisp (aka Natalie Lu, the 20-year-old rock star who’s taken TikTok by storm) whisked away an eager That Tent crowd for one of the first after-dark shows of the night. A buzz from the bass indicated the start of her show and triggered the audience to flock toward the packed barricade. 

As she displayed her dreamy mix of shoegaze-y alt rock, Lu proved her music translates enchantingly well from the internet to an outdoor stage. She sported a flowy black dress that billowed around her and added to an ethereal aura as she kicked off the set with her viral hit “See You Soon.” After gliding her way through her otherworldly catalog, including “Sword” and “Enough for You,” she received roaring applause as the set ended with “Your Face,” and left guitar reverb still ringing in the speakers long after the vocals ended.

Luke Combs proved to be a knockout choice to anchor opening night on The Farm. The North Carolina native and first country headliner in Bonnaroo history was met with a rowdy crowd when his What Stage set kicked off at 9 p.m. with “1, 2 Many.” In the spirit of the song, he shotgunned a beer and earned raucous cheers from the crowd.From there, he dove into familiar crowd-pleasers — “When It Rains It Pours,” “Houston, We’ve Got a Problem” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Combs pulled off a hat trick of special guests, bringing out a trio of stars from different genres. Miranda Lambert joined him for a duet on “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” before taking the spotlight to perform her breakout song that’s practically a contemporary country classic, “Kerosene.” Later, pop singer Jon Bellion and guitarist Marcus King (who warmed up the crowd for Combs) also joined him onstage.

“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous,” Combs said during a pause in the set. “Ever since we booked this show, we [wondered] when we walked out if anyone would even be here. But I can't say thank you enough.”

Once the sun was well and truly down, the party got going in earnest at Bonnaroo’s new Infinity Stage. Internet personality and hyperpop darling Rebecca Black was one of the first artists to perform using the unique immersive audio rig. Her one-hour DJ set brought together chopped and remixed club classics, leaving many colorful ravers in a trance.

Brittle, punchy keys that sounded like vintage synthesizers and thumping bass tracks were some of the musical motifs for Black’s throwback extravaganza. Among the several samples were internet classics, including Darude’s “Sandstorm” and Crazy Frog’s version of “Axel F.” Black’s penchant for absurd ironic musical moments came to the fore with her closing mash-up of Bhad Bhabie’s “Gucci Flip Flops” and George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.”

We ended our Bonnaroo Day 1 with Nashville singer and guitar wiz Daniel Donato, who brought out his Cosmic Country ensemble for a late-night set at This Tent. Highlights of the hourlong run included “Sunshine in the Rain (Strange Presence)” and the rockin’ “Chore.”  Glow-in-the-dark totems lit up the audience as they swayed along to the riffs and tossed balloons. As Donato strummed and picked out his take on honky-tonk psychedelia, the tunes bled into the immersive EDM shows next door on the new Infinity Stage. He wrapped with a taste of new music: “Broadside Ballad,” a single released on streaming services a half-hour before the show ended.