After a year where mud and muck stole the show, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival wants to rebound in 2026.

Bonnaroo hopes to bounce back this month by revamping a post-flooding campgrounds, reexamining scheduling and reconfiguring stage set-up. However, public concerns about Bonnaroo’s readiness for weather linger after organizers cancelled the 2025 event due to severe rain and mud after one day of music. 

Held in Great Stage Park in Manchester, Tennessee, and taking place from June 11-14, the campground changes and updated staging await a fanbase hopeful to experience a full festival this year. 

Through these efforts, fans warily set sights on an unabridged weekend of festivities in Coffee County. 

“I can’t even begin to explain the type of experience you have at Bonnaroo,” said Ella Helms, a Manchester native and two-time Bonnaroo alumnus. “I just hope everything goes well.” 

‘Everything was covered in mud’

Early afternoon on June 13, 2025, organizers closed the main grounds of Bonnaroo due to a heavy rain in Coffee County. Surrounded by muddy conditions, several waited in shelters for hours to receive updates.

By that evening, organizers pulled the plug. 

Helms heard the news as she sheltered in a tent near Centeroo, the central hub of the festival. She waited more than six hours for the rain to pass with standing water covering the ground as far as she could see. In festival campgrounds space Outeroo, tents collapsed under the weight of the rain. Campers trudged through ankle-deep mud, and vehicles sank into the wet ground.  

The festival ended after one day, cutting scheduled performances for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Canceled acts included Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier, Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age, Justice, Glass Animals and more.

“Everything was covered in mud,” Helms said. “I couldn’t see a

nother option. They definitely would have had to cancel that day for sure, there was just no soaking that up.” 

Despite the unexpected cancellation, Bonnaroo promises to come back in 2026 with changes to the grounds.

A month after its cancellation, festival organizers announced plans for multi-million-dollar improvements to the campgrounds and other damaged areas impacted by the 2025 cancellation.

Changes include: 

• Campsites affected by flooding last year are removed from use, reducing overall capacity. Camping entry begins a day later than previous years. 
• Infrastructure upgrades include improved drainage, reinforced primary runoff water pathways and an estimated 135 acres of new grass to the grounds. 
• Expansion of the internal road structure includes more than a million square feet, which organizers hope will give more ease to fans entering and exiting of the festival. 

In a statement on its website, the festival stressed safety. The site urges fans to prepare for all weather possibilities.

“We’re constantly monitoring the weather,” the statement said. “Keep an eye on the radar before heading to the festival so you can dress accordingly.” 

Festival organizers shared an Instagram post announcing that reducing campsites would lead to a decrease in capacity on the festival’s 700-acre farm, providing more “dancing space.” The lineup for this year includes Skrillex, The Strokes, Rufus Du Sol and Noah Kahan.  

Following 2025, attendees such as Bella Givens feel nervous amid the ground’s changes. Givens, a pre-show volunteer for the past two years, is hesitant to say if the changes are good or bad.

“I’m really hopeful, I’m intrigued and I’m keeping an open mind,” Givens said.  

Changes to programming

Along with changes to the grounds, Bonnaroo organizers reassessed programming to accommodate for potential weather. 

Last year, the festival featured a full slate of music on Thursday, including Luke Combs, Dom Dolla, Marcus King, Insane Clown Posse and more. 2025’s lineup also included open-air, 360-degree spatial audio dome for electronic and dance music lovers. 

This year, Bonnaroo scaled back on its opening night, eliminating a multi-stage lineup on Thursday. Instead, a welcome party on the What stage – the main stage in Centeroo – marks Thursday’s opening. 

The opening night features sets from Skrillex, Four Tet, Vince Staples and Spiritual Cramp.

“Outeroo will be fully programmed on [Thursday] & the welcome party on the main stage will kick off late afternoon/early evening,” said a statement from the festival shared in December. 

Bonnaroo organizers also moved That Tent and the Where Stage to avoid audience bottlenecks and address overcrowding concerns. Relocated from its previous spot, That Tent now sits opposite the main What Stage field, according to the released festival map. The Where Stage returns to Centeroo, taking its former spot that was briefly replaced by the Infinity Stage in 2025. 

Changes in programming can heavily impact festival production for behind-the-scenes crew, such as MTSU students who work audio and video at the event, said Julia Rutledge, a Bonnaroo alum who joined the school’s live production class in 2024 and volunteered in 2025. Crews must be prepared for anything – from last-minute changes in programming to weather delays and unexpected cancelations. 

Rutledge assisted in camera operating, technical directing, recording every set and assisting in the festival’s annual Hulu livestream. For Rutledge, communication is the most important thing for live production when it comes to the load of the programming, she said. 

“There’s always a last-minute artist cancellation or a stage switch,” Rutledge said. “So being prepared for any type of weather is definitely a priority.”

What stayed the same? 

One part of Bonnaroo remains the same in 2026 – the festival continues to take place in mid-June. 

Festival producers distributed a survey last summer after the cancellation, which included potential new seasons to host the festival as well as fan opinions on duration and venue size. The festival considered moving the event to later in the summer or hosting it in the fall. 

In the same Instagram post announcing its official comeback, Bonnaroo organizers said that weather experts confirmed the 2025 festival experienced extremely uncommon conditions due to the record-setting rainfall that spring and early summer. 

“All things considered, our traditional June time frame remains the most optimal time of year for Bonnaroo,” the post said. 

The road to ensuring a confident comeback has not been easy for Bonnaroo, but loyal fans are ready to return – better and stronger. 

“I really love Bonnaroo,” said Emily Evilsizer, who attended in 2025. “I’m just glad that they ultimately decided to continue it with what it has been.”

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