Standalone, Covid safe, summer concerts at the Bonnaroo farm, featuring The Avett Brothers, Jon Pardi, and Billy Strings? Sign us up!
With several months to go until the general public will be vaccinated enough to resume something akin to normalcy, it’s hard to imagine in this exact moment, but with a little patience, self-control, and diligence, it seems that our dream of attending regular live events again, as safely as possible, will begin to come to fruition this summer, and by fall, we will apparently even have the option to attend larger festivals in some form.
Recently, as vaccination rollouts continue to exceed expectations, and optimism apparently begins to strike the industry’s beleaguered concert promoters, we’ve seen several festivals reveal lineups for late summer and fall, but, unsurprisingly, the largest events of all have seemingly been playing things safe, holding onto dates but likely waiting for a certain threshold of confidence in their ability to logistically and ethically host large-scale gatherings (for their record, we’re cautiously optimistic, but even as events announce, we might not know their fate with 100% certainty until later this spring).
One of the most prominent (and of course, largest of its kind in our area) festivals we’re holding out hope for, and our most dearly missed in 2020, is, of course, Manchester, Tenn.’s Bonnaroo, which staked out new dates of Sept. 2-5, 2021, after initially hoping to proceed during a similar, later timeframe last year (historically, Bonnaroo has taken place in June). By all appearances, the late summer ‘Roo, which will mark the eclectic event’s 20th anniversary, is still slated to proceed as expected, and the rumor mill on fan forums is that a lineup announcement, perhaps even one similar to last year’s stacked, canceled event, is imminent!
Before we officially receive word on Bonnaroo 2021, however, the ‘Roo Gods have surprised us with a long-rumored new concept (something they’d been eyeing since well before Covid): a standalone concert series on The Bonnaroo Farm, officially dubbed “Concerts on the Farm,” which will take place across two weekends in late May and early July. An in-person, socially distanced event (perhaps a test for ways to make the full-scale ‘Roo safer this year), tickets will be sold in four-person “pods,” and additional safety measures will be implemented like mobile ordering for food and drinks.
The series will kick off Friday, May 28 with Billy Strings (tickets here), followed by Jon Pardi with Jameson Rodgers the next night, May 29 (tickets here). After a break in June (a chance for us to pour one out for a would be-Roo in an alternate universe?), festival faves The Avett Brothers will play three separately ticketed shows on Independence Day weekend, July 2, 3, & 4 (tickets here)! Remember, tickets are sold by the four-person pod only (and prices reflect as such), so make sure you get your Covid safe crew together in advance.
Tickets for all events are available Friday, March 19 at 10 a.m. CDT, and given the uncharted territory of resuming concerts in the midst of a pandemic, we have no sense of how quickly they’ll sell, but if you’re absolutely itching to spend time on The Bonnaroo Farm as soon as possible, we wouldn’t procrastinate!
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