What’s Next For Bonnaroo? Festival Eyes Rebound After Canceled 2025

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival plans to return in 2026 – with a few changes.

On Thursday, event promoters confirmed the popular festival plans to take place June 11-14, 2026, at its longtime home, Great Stage Park (known to many as “The Farm”) in rural Manchester, Tennessee. Launched in 2002, Bonnaroo has built a dedicated following on buzzworthy lineups, late-night performances and an eclectic camping experience.

The 2026 confirmation comes weeks after heavy rainfall caused organizers to cancel Bonnaroo 2025 on the second day of the four-day event. Canceled performances included Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier and Queens of the Stone Age. It was the first time in Bonnaroo’s two-decade history that weather forced promoters to cancel during the festival.

However, 2025 marked the third Bonnaroo cancelation in five years. In 2020, organizers pulled the plug due to COVID-19; In 2021, promoters rescheduled Bonnaroo from June to September due to the pandemic before storms from Hurricane Ida flooded the grounds, causing a cancelation days before gates opened.

“Weather experts have confirmed that we saw record-setting rainfall this spring and early summer, making what we experienced extremely uncommon” said a statement from the festival posted Thursday. “All things considered, our traditional June time frame remains the most optimal time of year for Bonnaroo.”

After asking for detailed feedback from festivalgoers in a pair of online surveys, organizers outlined a plan for the future of the event. Changes include:

• Eliminating campsites impacted by flooding, which “will result in a reduced capacity on The Farm,” according to a social media post from Bonnaroo. In past years, Bonnaroo reached capacity at roughly 80,000 festivalgoers.
• Camping entry begins Wednesday, later than previous years but a day before music kicks off in the main festival grounds (called “Centeroo”).
• Main stage performances largely begin Friday (June 12), instead of Thursday (June 11). The festival plans to open June 11 with “an epic welcome party” on one of the six Centeroo stages. The next day, all stages open for music.
• Organizers plan to move the fan-favorite “UFO Stage” from the campgrounds into Centeroo, replacing the Infinity Stage, a live spatial audio experience eliminated after one year.

InstagramBonnaroo on Instagram: “See you in 2026 ⛺️🌈”

This offseason, organizers plan to implement a “multi-million dollar budget” to improve “campgrounds and other areas affected by extreme weather in 2025,” according to the post.

The post said, “Some of these projects include reseeding the property, continuing to increase access roads within the campgrounds, adding more drainage and reinforcing primary water runoff pathways.”

More information, including lineup and ticket packages, should be announced in the coming months. Find more on Bonnaroo 2026 at bonnaroo.com.