Bonnaroo 2025 Artist Spotlight: Jack’s Mannequin

Like we’ve been doing for many years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorite acts from Bonnaroo‘s 2025 lineup. A festival that feels like it’s ever evolving (especially with some big tweaks and improvements in the past few summers post-pandemic), this year marks Bonnaroo’s 22nd installment (and 24th anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also some exciting additions like the brand new, high-tech Infinity Stage, billed as “the world’s largest 360-degree, immersive sound experience” and unlike anything that’s ever been showcased in North America. Back once again in its usual June 12-15 timeframe, we’re counting down the days until another great weekend on the farm.

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, and most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. And as our time at ‘Roo approaches, we’ll also be bringing you some special features and full list-style daily lineup guides, to help you plan your weekend ahead of the fest. While these previews won’t span every artist, 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 at the fest!

We’re told tickets are very low and on track to sell out, so grab those right here if you haven’t already (and don’t forget the camping or parking pass), and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

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It’s been an exciting few years for fans of alt and pop rocker Andrew McMahon, who, in addition to his solo music under the moniker Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (fourth album Tilt at the Wind No More dropped back in 2023, the same year McMahon made his solo debut at Bonnaroo), has reunited his two beloved bands, Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. First up was SoCo, a group formed when McMahon was still a teen, which found fame during the emo and pop punk boom of the 2000s (even though their poppy, piano-driven alt rock sound never quite fit that bill), and released two classic, major label albums before ultimately disbanding in 2006, returning briefly in 2010, before reuniting more formally in 2023, resulting in more comprehensive touring over the last couple of years. Obviously up for reliving the nostalgia of his prior work, it seemed like a Jack’s Mannequin reunion would inevitably be next, and, sure enough, the project returned for the inaugural Andrew McMahon’s Holiday from Real Cruise earlier this year and joined the lineup for this fall’s When We Were Young Fest, before announcing the MFEO Tour, just in time for the 20th anniversary of classic debut album Everything in Transit. Formed in 2004, just as Something Corporate were winding down, Jack’s Mannequin was initially meant to be a solo outlet for McMahon, but, since the 2010s, has largely had the same lineup of players (the same members as The Wilderness, blurring the line between those projects). 2005’s Everything in Transit proved a stellar debut, similar to but distinct from Something Corporate, shedding all traces of pop punk influence in favor of alternative and power pop, and feeling more singularly representative of McMahon as a songwriter. Songs like “Dark Blue” and “The Mixed Tape” remain enduring 2000s classics, and with follow-up The Glass Passenger in 2008, Andrew’s first record following SoCo’s disbandment, and first made following his battle with leukemia, Jack’s Mannequin cemented themselves as one of the essential rock bands of the late 2000s, leading to tours with groups like Paramore, and a stint on the Vans Warped Tour. The very last Jack’s Mannequin album, People and Things, arrived in 2011, and by the following year, McMahon had decided to wind down the project (but, as mentioned, keep playing with the same bandmates), opting instead to use the Andrew McMahon in the Wildness moniker from 2014 on. Though, again, there’s not a huge functional difference between the last 20 years of Jack’s and Andrew records from a writing and performing perspective, that Jack’s moniker and those early albums still harbor a deep sense of nostalgia, so it’s nice to see that McMahon seems to recognize that too, bringing the name back for a 10th anniversary in 2015, and again now, a decade later. After playing as Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness at Bonnaroo 2023, and taking part in Dashboard Confessional’s Emo SuperJam last year, it’s exciting to see Jack’s Mannequin on the bill this time around, a performance that should be high on your must-see list (fingers crossed he’ll go for four and come back next time with Something Corporate)!

WATCH | “Dark Blue” (Official Video)