Bonnaroo 2024 Artist Spotlight: Wolves of Glendale

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!

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Once upon a time, comedy was a major part of Bonnaroo, with an entire tent in Centeroo dedicated to standup, improv, and all manors of comedic performance, and drawing some major names over the years like Conan O’Brien, Aziz Ansari, and David Cross. Since the fest streamlined to focus more on music, cutting out the comedy and cinema tents in the process, finding laughs on the farm has been more of a mixed bag. They tried programming some standup between sets or in the plazas, and over the years they’ve hosted some musical comedy acts on the bigger stages like “Weird Al” Yankovic, Reggie Watts, Lil Dicky, and The Lonely Island, but in recent years, particularly post-pandemic, finding any comedy whatsoever has been scarce. That’s why we’re extra excited to see musical comedy trio Wolves of Glendale on this year’s lineup, who are not only sharp, hilariously, and quickly gaining notoriety, but are also as musically impressive as they are funny. Formed in early 2022, the band consists of guitarist Ethan Edenburg, drummer Eric Jackowitz, and keyboard player Tom McGovern. Longtime friends Edenburg and Jackowitz had been in bands before, and linked up with McGovern when he moved from New York to Los Angeles, instantly clicking and writing their first song immediately the first time they hung out. By the end of the year, they were finding a fast-growing following on social media, and had earned fans in likeminded musical comedy legends Tenacious D (Jackowitz was friends with the D’s Kyle Gass, who shared their music with his bandmate Jack Black), opening for the group at a New Year’s Eve show in Vegas. A lot of more singles followed last year, with originals like “Olivia,” “Vapin’ in Vegas,” “Loud Ass Car,” and “The Gym” all drawing praise not just for being wacky and absurdist and sharply funny, but also being genuinely good songs, flexing the trio’s talent at their respective instruments and three-part harmonies, and weaving between genres with expertise, not dissimilar from how the great “Weird Al” parodies a plethora of genres with his original tunes. Also echoing “Weird Al,” Wolves of Glendale have become popular for parodies as well, like “Antipasto” (“Anti-Hero”), “Pink Eye” (“Bad Guy”), and “Old Doritos” (“Despacito”), as well as their fun song mashups, music videos, and more (the trio have lots of collective experience in writing, acting, and performing comedy prior to this project). In their short but impressive run, they’ve played the Netflix is a Joke Festival, opened for comedian David Cross and power pop band Jukebox the Ghost, and, earlier this year, tapped Tenacious D producer John Spiker and Doja Cat producer Rian Lewis to helm their eponymous debut full-length, out now. Finding a comedy group who are not just genuinely funny, but also write truly great songs is a rarity (the aforementioned Tenacious D, “Weird Al,” Reggie Watts, and The Lonely Island are on that short list), and Wolves of Glendale are one of the most exciting next acts in that space in a long time! Comedy fans, don’t sleep on this set.

WATCH | “Olivia” (Official Video)