Bonnaroo 2018 Artist Spotlight: Paramore

As we’ve been doing for the past several years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorites acts from from Bonnaroo‘s impressive 2018 lineup. As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages, big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, or most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. Though we’ll be jumping around, we’re loosely working our way through by day, and we’ll also be bringing you some special features and longer guides along the way, to help you plan your weekend before the fest. While these previews won’t span every performer, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend on the farm!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and keep reading to learn more in our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight…

LEARN

That Paramore have been a band for over 14 years, hail from the Nashville area, and have almost entirely remained based here for their whole run, and, yet, are only now playing Bonnaroo for the first time is a bit of a shock (really ‘Roo, you couldn’t even book them on a club stage back in the day??), but as they say, better late than never. Regular readers (and, you know, general music fans) should need no introduction to the group, who sprung from the mid-’00s pop punk and emo scene in their teens, inspired by acts like Jimmy Eat World and Sunny Day Real Estate, swiftly finding a cult following within the Warped Tour, Alt Press, and MySpace crowd, only to break out in a massive, widespread, and mainstream way with 2007 sophomore effort Riot!

The decade since has been a transformative one for Paramore, who have not only gone through some growing pains as they lost (and, in the case of Zac Farro, eventually regained) half of their founding lineup, but also have grown in more positive, personal, and profoundly artistic ways, now many years removed from their pop punk beginnings. 2009’s Brand New Eyes first showcased a more personal and adventurous shift in songwriting, more fully seized upon with the band’s triumphant, alternative, and Grammy winning eponymous record in 2013. After a series of hardships that nearly led to their split, the band regrouped, returned to their Nashville roots, and bounced back with their most deconstructed and nuanced effort in years, After Laughter, last year, adopting a new wave-infused synthpop bent and uninhibited creative focus that feels more sincere and true to their grounded, communal attitude than any prior release. A fun, joyous, and unbelievably earnest live act, Paramore’s long overdue Bonnaroo debut is one of the weekend’s most essential sets, and a must for any Nashvillian wanting to cheer on our city’s greatest rock band.

LISTEN | “Ain’t It Fun”