Bonnaroo through the years: From traffic nightmare to a musical 'movement'
In the summer of 2002, I got word that my first niece or nephew was about to be born in a hospital just outside of Atlanta. Excited to be the proud Mimi to my brother and sister-in-law’s firstborn, I jumped in the car and headed south down I-24 towards Chattanooga hoping I could push the speed limit enough to make it in time for the birth.
About 30 minutes into my trip from Franklin, everything came to a screeching halt. Not just the it’ll-pass-so-I’ll-wait-it-out kind of halt. I’m talking people-parked-on-the-shoulder-eating-picnic-lunches-and-having-impromptu-side-of-the-road-dance-parties kind of halt.
Cars on the highway were parked. For miles.
The emergency lanes were lined with parked cars as far as you could see, too. This was before cell phones with easy internet access, so I was left to wonder what in the world was going on near quiet little Manchester?
Turns out I wasn’t the only one who didn’t anticipate that first Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival was going to be such a hit. Local police weren’t ready. Highway patrol officers weren’t ready. And the city of Manchester certainly wasn’t ready for the onslaught of Bonnaroovians that descended on the sleepy little farm outside Nashville.
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Created by Knoxville businessman Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment, Bonnaroo (which is Creole slang for “really good time”) was the promoter’s answer to Knoxville cancelling its Hot Summer Nights live music series. He wasn’t ready to be done with summer concerts.
After that first wildly successful year, the festival continued to grow and evolve into what has been called a “movement.” (And yes, the traffic is far better managed now, too.) The four-day festival’s multiple stages have welcomed major acts like the Foo Fighters, Elton John, Wu-Tang Clan, Pearl Jam, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Police through the years as well as hundreds of up-and-coming acts.
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The 22-year-old festival has happened annually since its inception with the exception of cancellations in 2020 due to COVID and in 2021 due to torrential rains that flooded the festival's campground.
The 2024 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, happening June 13-16, is set to welcome Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pretty Lights, Megan Thee Stallion and dozens of others to the quiet little farm in Manchester.
I’m hoping my 22-year old nephew Ethan, can meet me there this year.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bonnaroo: Tracing festival history from Springsteen to Post Malone
