Bonnaroo 2024: Thousands brave hot weekend for 'magical' performances, community

As a heat dome settled over Tennessee, thousands of spectators descended on Manchester Thursday for the beginning of the 20th Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

The agenda: Music, more music, brutally hot days, sweet summer nights and, of course, good vibes.

Festival fans began filling the Farm Wednesday, constructing elaborate canopy and tent combinations to shelter them through the near-triple degree heat indexes. An estimated 65,000 fans will pass under the famous arch before the festival is over Sunday night.

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Pretty Lights was the first headliner of the 2024 festival, followed by Post Malone with Red Hot Chili Peppers taking the stage Saturday night and Fred Again closing Sunday.

But it's not all about the headliners. Other big names like T-Pain will perform Friday night with Cage the Elephant, Cigarettes After Sex, Megan thee Stallion. Chappell Roan, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday.

Several attendees risked the contraband list and lost upon entry to the camp grounds. No glass, means no pickles. Dozens upon dozens of pickle jars confiscated, campers said.

In an effort to keep the sunburns at bay, many attendees entering Centeroo tried — and failed — to bring in their sunscreen, falling victim to the TSA-level restrictions on full-sized bottles and aerosol cans. Any shade cast by vendor tents and trees dotting the property was promptly taken up by people stealing a mid-day nap or snack.

Despite the safety measures — and tragic pickle losses — festival-goers whooped and hollered, cried and cheered as they walked under the famed-arch for the first of what was sure to be many times through out the weekend.

Stephanie Furnari and Mike Castano, who just arrived at the Farm from New York, laughed as they held aloft a totem featuring a chrome mannequin head topped in a glittering gold helmet.

“Well, the story behind it is we took that helmet on a snowboarding trip, and (Castano) ended up crashing, and it broke.” Furnari said. “He’s okay, but we figured it was perfect for this!”

Castano smiled as he held the vaguely-off-putting, disco-like totem into the air.

“It’s name is Ike,” he said. “So we’re Mike and Ike!”

Tents benefiting nonprofits line a significant portion of Centeroo, with organization like Inclusion TN, Pitch Music and Headcount selling merchandise and educating festival-goers on the importance of various outreach programs.

Mason Melhorn, of Murfreesboro, and girlfriend Megan Brewer, squatted down with paintbrushes clutched in their hands as they filled in a large, paint-by-number mural of a floral scene, sponsored by the nonprofit Art Inside.

Further away in the camp, past the medical tents steadily treating heat-related illnesses, Chris Corley, of Nashville, made a colorful character in his embroidered parasol and glittering, rainbow-dyed beard. A long-time attendee, he said his outfits have gotten increasingly outlandish as the years went by.

“It’s my sixth Bonnaroo, and by my second one, I just wanted to buy the most obnoxious thing I could find,” he said, gesturing to his galaxy t-shirt emblazoned with a disco-dancing kitten. “The glitter beard has just evolved over time.”

According to Corley, the best part of Bonnaroo is the communal spirit.

“Everybody here is just so happy to be here,” he said. “You don’t find that anywhere else. It’s so magical. And I’ll tell you, there’s something special about the Bonnaroo lemonade too. You have to get it.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bonnaroo music festival 2024 kicks off with hot temps and performances