Bonnaroo Goes Remote with Weekend-Long Virtual ROO-ALITY Digital Fest

It’s been several months since the nearby Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, originally slotted for its typical June weekend with such a great lineup that it sold out in record time, then rescheduled for what would’ve been this weekend as Covid effectively put the entire live music industry on pause, before, like every single 2020 festival we tracked this summer, ultimately and unavoidably was forced to cancel.

Like a lot of fests, Roo already got a jump on 2021 (and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that major live events will be able to safely return by next summer), announcing a return to its typical timeframe of June 17-20, 2021 (no lineup as of yet, but we hope to see many returning performers from what would’ve been an epic 2020). But in a bolder move, one few other major fests have attempted, Bonnaroo also announced a full-scale digital fest dubbed Virtual ROO-ALITY, set to run for three days this weekend, Sept. 24-26, during what would’ve been rescheduled ‘Roo in an alternate universe where the U.S. really got its shit together.

While other fests have done similar events comprised of entirely archive footage, something Bonnaroo will be doing as well, ‘Roo clearly put many months of work in organizing this free, virtual event, tapping a host of artists to perform new livestreams, host panels (including a virtual edition of Hayley Williams’ Sanctuary of Self Love), and more!

The fun is going down each day from 4:30 p.m. to around 1 a.m. CDT on Bonnaroo’s YouTube (or check the embeds below), with archive performances from the likes of Metallica, Beastie Boys, The White Stripes, Jack White, My Morning Jacket, Run the Jewels, James Brown, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Alabama Shakes, Tears for Fears, The xx, Dave Matthews, Jason Isbell, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Plus new performances from Chromeo, Denzel Curry, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Moon Taxi, Lennon Stella, Devon Gilfillian, Big Gigantic, Trampled By Turtles, and many more.