Gates opened Thursday mornings for the 2023 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, a four-night summer camp where thousands of sweaty, sun-soaked showgoers experience a weekend unlike any other live entertainment.
The festival—which is located in Manchester, Tennessee, about 60 miles southeast of Nashville—promises four nights of marathon jam sessions, electronic dance music, heavy hip-hop, and old-school rock-and-roll escapes.
From music to food, weather and more, follow us for live updates from Great Stage Park – AKA the Bonnaroo “Farm”.
Diarrhea Planet is a brilliantly eclectic highlight of The First Night of Bonnaroo
The party on Thursday really got going late into the night as Cimafunk brought Cuban beats to the This Tent stand around 10:30pm.
Half an hour later, Dade brought the garage rock sound to that tent. Performing in front of a bright blue screensaver featuring a plumber and a butterfly, audiences were amused by a performance of her standalone song “Bad Love”.
Back at this tent, 070 Shake was directing DMX shouting directions to the crowd. “Stay there!” she squeals in the middle on her track “The Pines”
After some technical issues during soundcheck, Diarrhea Planet made a triumphant rocking entrance as the band members made their way to the stage.
“Hey Bonnaroo, we’re Planet Diarrhea and we’re from here,” exclaimed guitarist Jordan Smith.
They ripped for an hour before concluding with a raucous cover of Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade.
Big Freedia’s set kicked off with DJ blowing up the Ying Yang twins to get the crowd excited before their grand entrance. The New Orleans Queen of Bounce got her start stomping with her new song, “Bigfoot.”
The high-energy dance performance helped culminate into a night that could only have happened in Bonnaroo, where Latin funk, rock and dance could follow each other and provide a great preview of three more nights to come.
Music streaming to Manchester with Molly Tuttle and Abraham Alexander
Bonnaroo digs bluegrass.
Molly Tuttle and her standout band The Golden Highway brought a collection of lawn time tunes to The Farm on Thursday night.
Tuttle—the sought-after Nashville guitarist, singer, and songwriter who broke out last year behind her Grammy-winning album “Crooked Tree”—has released songs like the stomping anthem “She’ll Change,” the Music City honky-tonk tune “Nashville Mess Around” and “Castilleja” ready to jam. Throughout the songs, spectators screamed in ecstasy as Tuttle and her band traded fast solos and common harmonies.
“We’re so happy to be back here at the ranch,” Tuttle said, adding, “We’ve weathered the storm.”
Ahead of Tuttle, soul-filled singer-songwriter Abraham Alexander took to the stage — donning a sleeveless denim jacket and wide-brimmed hat — to perform songs from his 2023 debut album “Sea/Sons” (plus the rousing gig cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”).
Weather forces schedule changes
Most years, one of the bands kicks off Bonnaroo with a mid-afternoon set on a Thursday. This year, a few artists participated in the tribute.
After a storm delay of an hour and a half, festival organizers fiddled with Thursday’s schedule to accommodate all the weather-affected performances. The music started at 4:30 p.m.—two hours later than originally scheduled—across three stages: Texas band Briscoe Inside The Tent, rock band CVC in That Tent and independent artist Nordista Freeze on the Who Stage. Most of the Thursday performers take the stage later than initially scheduled, but none of the changes seem drastic enough for showgoers to contend with new scheduling conflicts.
Bonnaroo weather evacuation will be lifted
The festival organizers said in a tweet on Twitter at around 3:49 p.m., Centeroo is expected to open at 4 p.m., and the music is expected to continue at 4:30 p.m.
Centro closes before severe weather
The festival grounds closed off the main artery Centeroo around 2:30 p.m. Thursday due to an impending storm, according to Bonnaroo on Twitter. The organizers urged festival-goers to return to the camps before the rains affect Kofi County.
As the storm approaches, the Bonnaroo organizers Suggest those who do not have a car To ask for help from other festival-goers already on site or find shelter in one of the community sheds around the camps.
“There is weather coming towards the site containing lightning and heavy rain in the next 40 minutes,” the festival organizers shared on social media. The post continued reading: “Weather Evacuation. Please proceed calmly to the nearest exit.”
Bonnaroo paid “pause” at the festivities at the same time their first weekend act – retro rock act CVC – She is scheduled to arrive at the theatre. It’s unclear how the storm could affect an afternoon lineup that includes soul artist Abraham Alexander, alternative singer-songwriter Ezra Foreman, and Texas duo The Briscoes.
As the storm moved through Williamson County around 2 p.m., the National Weather Service shared, “…there’s a lot of lightning and still some high winds that will push south-southeast over the next couple of hours. If you’re outside, you’ll want to keep an eye on this.” Closely!! Hint hint.”
The festivities begin with a pride parade
The gates to Sentero—the central hub where concert-goers gather to be entertained on the main stage—open with the annual Pride Parade, a vibrant sea of expression and sounds.
As hundreds of participants made their way from the “Outeroo” campgrounds to Centeroo, spectators from the sidelines shouted “We love gays!” and “One, two, three, everybody says LGBT!” As they walked, bubbles and the rhythmic waving of colorful fans filled the air.
Big Freedia, “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” alum and cornerstone artist of the Bounce-rap scene, performed as the Grand Marshal parade this year hours before the scheduled performance inside that tent.
Apple feature causes 911 calls to pour in from near The Farm
The Manchester Police Department reported several unintentional calls to 911 near the festival on Thursday.
The calls were due to “Failure Detection Mode,” a new feature in the Apple iPhone 14. Once the iPhone detects a perceived malfunction, it places an emergency phone call after 20 seconds unless it is bypassed. If not deactivated, Apple communicates with emergency services with the user’s transverse and longitudinal coordinates.
Bonnaroo and the local police recommended that the automatic feature be turned off for the duration of the festival.
Bonnaroo scavenger hunt
Festival-goers really enjoy the artist’s scavenger hunt. Organized by Propeller, A social activity organization, fans enter by doing good around The Farm for a chance to win prizes with their favorite artists.
Sophie Tecker, Sylvain Essou, Hippo Campos, Andrew McMahon and others will participate in the conference. Fans compete by completing the event on the festival grounds and redeeming points for prizes.
The Bonnaroovian who completes the most trash searches will win VIP tickets to next year’s festival.
Bonnaroo tickets are sold for four days
Didn’t the weekend get off to Bonnaroo? Maybe you’re out of luck.
Tickets for music and camping for four nights to the Sufi music summer camp sold out early Thursday, hours before the gates opened. Bonnaroo confirmed the sale Thursday morning via social media.
Bonnaroo organizers posted on Twitter “Wow y’all, you did it”. “Our Bonnaroovian family is back together and the good vibes are already flowing.”
some One night tickets are still availableAccording to the festival. This year, Bonnaroo reaches festival capacity with approximately 85,000 ticket holders.
Alcohol policy:Bonnaroo 2023: Everything to know about alcohol policy this year
Bonnaroo lineup:Who plays Bonnaroo 2023? See the full lineup and schedule
Thursday weather forecast
A slight chance of rain and storms may affect campers’ arrival on Thursday afternoon. The National Weather Service is calling for a 50% chance of storms after 12 noon Thursday, with only a marginal chance of severe weather. The chance of rain during the night drops to 20%. Festival-goers can expect the maximum temperature to reach around 81 degrees on Thursday afternoon.
Hulu Live Streaming
Those unable to make it to The Farm can catch most of Bonnaroo via a multi-channel live stream on the Hulu digital platform. Over the weekend, the streaming service plans to feature major stage performances from Foo Fighters, Paramore, Tyler Childers, and more.
Some of the notable acts on the opening night broadcast include Grammy Award-winning bluegrass pick Molly Tuttle, soul zap Abraham Alexander, pop singer JB Sax and electronica Zeds Dead.
See the full lineup at hulu.com/bonnaroo.
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