Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival was canceled mid-festival thanks to flooding and inclement weather. In exchange for a wet and muddy weekend on The Farm, some artists, whose sets got canceled, performed pop-up shows in Nashville.
Bonnaroo attendees had a much different idea of how their weekend would go. They expected to camp in Outeroo, dance at Bonnaroo’s five outdoor stages and radiate positivity. ‘Roovians still radiated positivity this weekend, but from the inside of Nashville venues and hotel rooms.
Nashville’s pop-up shows included Remi Wolf’s Superjam, Arcade Fire and Hot Mulligan, among others. One show was Justice — Saturday night’s Which Stage headliner, promising French touch disco and an otherworldly light show to disappointed Bonnaroovians.
“We were super bummed,” Patrick Hopkins, a Bonnaroovian who traveled from New York City, said. “But [we] managed to get to Nashville and salvage the weekend. It was sad not getting to really hit the Bonnaroo high this year, but, honestly, Justice was a great substitute.”
The French DJ duo rescheduled its Saturday night set for Sunday at The Pinnacle, a venue in Nashville, Tennessee.
Justice, known for its light shows, blend of disco-electronic music, and sparkling cross logo, held their set in a 4,000-capacity venue, which is much smaller in comparison to The Farm’s 80,000 festivalgoers. The set was a still a wild success according to fans.
“We really loved the energy of the show,” Hopkins said. “The venue, the people, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.”
Justice was the only headliner to reschedule a pop-up show in Nashville.
Artists like Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier and Avril Lavinge were absent from the weekend’s slew of last-minute show announcements.
Remi Wolf’s highly anticipated Superjam was one of the rescheduled shows, but tickets sold out in under a minute and were available on resale at over $600. Justice sold out in about two hours, but tickets were still hard to come by.
Tickets to rescheduled Bonnaroo sets were released to the general public rather than exclusively to Bonnaroo ticket holders.
Grace Updike and boyfriend Eddie Wolf, also known as the Bonnaroo locksmith, traveled from Omaha, Nebraska, to Bonnaroo. They wanted to attend, but “couldn’t find” tickets to Justice. Instead, they attended Natasha Bedingfield’s sold-out show at the Brooklyn Bowl with balcony seats.
Fans crowded into The Pinnacle, ready to hear their favorite Justice songs, carry makeshift versions of their Bonnaroo totems and dance beneath strobe lights.
‘Roovian Karina Hux drove five hours from North Carolina to Bonnaroo this year. After the cancellation, she decided to attend Justice’s set at The Pinnacle.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where the music felt like it was the side piece to the light show,” Hux said. “Their production was magical.”
Justice finished its set by walking down to the barricade, taking a few minutes to talk to and shake hands with die-hard fans in exchange for them surviving the Bonnaroo-bust weekend.
Sparkle City Disco, a Nashville-based DJ duo, opened for Justice on Sunday. Sparkle City Disco performed at Bonnaroo on Wednesday inside the campgrounds, unaware of the rainy weekend ahead.
Sparkle City Disco said they were honored to open for Justice in an Instagram post.
“We are so thankful we got to spend Wednesday of Bonnaroo out on the farm,” the post said. “Our hearts go out to everyone who was ready to have a big, fun festival weekend, all of the artists and all of the festival teams who make Bonnaroo happen. Until we Roo again.”
As Justice entered its encore, closing the first half of the set with popular track “Audio, Video, Disco,” the audience erupted into a chant.
The audience chanted “happy ‘Roo” over and over until curtain call.
“Can you imagine seeing that energy amplified by the crowd if it was seen on the farm?” Hux said. “We would have all ascended to the heavens.”
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