Bonnaroo 2024 Artist Spotlight: Goth Babe

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 2024 lineup. After roaring back to life in 2022, after two years off due to Covid and weather, and feeling fully like its old self again with a great fest last summer, this year marks Bonnaroo’s 21st installment (and 23rd anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also a continuation of some of the big changes and improvements rolled out over the last couple of years, with more flexibility in ticketing and camping, a reimagined “Outeroo” campground area, new activations, and further new ways to Roo. Back once again in its usual June 13-16 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!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

LEARN

Griff Washburn grew up in Memphis and honed his musical chops playing in bands as a teen, but Nashville is where he really got started as Goth Babe, releasing his first EP, Shall We, after some buzzy early tracks in 2016. We were covering the project a lot back then, at the time very clearly influenced by garage punk but already flirting with the electronic elements that have become prominent in his sound, and even hosted Goth Babe at our former Acme Feed & Seed showcase that year. Since leaving Nashville a few years back, Washburn tried out New York then Los Angeles before settling in the Portland area, which has more or less become his home base as he tries out a more nomadic lifestyle- surfing up and down the west coast, and bouncing between living on a sailboat and living and recording out of a converted camper truck with his dog Sadie, essentially a tiny house on wheels, as he chases good weather and good people. This focus on life and authentic experiences and pursuit of wanderlust has, unsurprisingly, informed Griffin’s approach to art as well, positioning Goth Babe as a less of a commercial outlet and more of an extension of his lifestyle, a vehicle for expressing experiences like a good surf season, or time in nature or at sea, and something he can take with him and create from wherever he happens to be. Stylistically, Goth Babe has become a lot more synth-y and indie pop over the years, adopting a sound reminiscent of the chillwave scene of the late ’00s, and that ethos feels more honed and confident than ever on recent album Lola– Goth Babe’s first full-length release, following years of singles and EPs, named for the sailboat on which he voyaged thousands of miles from the west coast to Panama, cooking up these collection of songs on his adventure. It was clear even back in the 2010s when he was just a local up and comer that Goth Babe had a very bright future ahead, and the fact that in just two years he’s gone from a tent stage debut at Bonnaroo 2022 to a main stage slot this year is stunning and well-deserved.

WATCH | “Sadie” (Official Visualizer)