The largest outdoor festival in North America continues its legacy of promoting an eclectic and expansive lineup of music and arts in the event’s 13th year.
Bonnaroo is an annual four-day celebration of the arts spread across 700 acres of farmland in the heart of Manchester, TN with its main focus on displaying a diverse array of live musical performances, stand up comedy, and more recently, an emphasis on film/cinema.
This year’s festival, which took place from June 12-15, 2014, showcased nearly 150 of the biggest artists of yesterday and today with some of the highlights including: Elton John, Kanye West, Jack White, Lionel Richie, Vampire Weekend, The Avett Brothers, Phoenix, Skrillex, Arctic Monkeys, The Flaming Lips, and many more.
The extensive lineup of artists performed across 10 stages appropriately and satirically named: What Stage (main stage), Which Stage (second stage), This Tent, That Tent, The Other Tent, Comedy Tent, Solar Stage, Lunar Stage, Sonic Stage, and the Cinema Tent.
It has been estimated that a total of more than 90,000 concertgoers attended this year’s festival, with the majority of these attendees being campers recognized as Bonnaroovians. Campgrounds are referred to as Tent City, and include various activities, art projects, and services provided by festival organizers for the entertainment of the campers.
The first Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was established in 2002 and has taken place on the same expanse of property, now known as Great Stage Park, since it’s inception. However, in 2010, festival organizers purchased the land erecting and installing a permanent main stage and many of the iconic features used annually.
Since its inception and inaugural festival weekend in 2002, the festival has grown exponentially and has had a positive impact on the economy of Coffee County. The festival also promotes itself as a sustainable festival.
Rolling Stone magazine named Bonnaroo the “Best Festival” in 2008 and named it one of the “50 moments that changed rock and roll”. Pollstar also awarded Bonnaroo its coveted “Festival of the Year”.