Festies

Ep. 41 Bonnaroo 2026 Lineup Reaction

• Sunny Balopole, Vanessa Gutierrez, Clark Lawson • Episode 41

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We’re breaking down Bonnaroo’s early 2026 lineup drop, the festival’s return after last year’s rain, and why this mix of headliners, legacy acts, and deep-cut gems is sparking so much conversation. Plus, we get into the Reddit debate on the lineup and share our must-see picks.


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Sunny:

Hey Vanessa?

Vanessa:

Yeah Sunny?

Sunny:

What do you call two best friends that love music festivals?

Vanessa:

Hmm, I guess you'd call them Festies! I just heard you say, I hope we don't lose Curry for the whole season. Is he injured?

Sunny:

He's injured, yeah. He got an injury when they played the Rockets a few games ago. I don't actually know what the injury is, but nothing a quick Google search can't solve. yeah, a left quad, contusion, and muscle strain.

Vanessa:

Oh no.

Sunny:

And when we saw him get the injury, you could see it in his face. So he's out for the next few games. They haven't said that he's out for the whole season, but that's always the worry, right?. But we got his brother on the team now, Seth Curry.

Vanessa:

What? Dude I do not keep up with the Warriors as much as I should

Sunny:

Clark keeps up with all the teams and the trading and stuff.

Vanessa:

Oh, yeah

Sunny:

He likes the drama.

Vanessa:

Dude, my mom probably could have told me all this too. She keeps up with the Warriors so much more than I ever have. I know.

Sunny:

Sending out good vibes to Steph Curry.

Vanessa:

Yes, good vibes only. Welcome back, Festies. I'm Vanessa.

Sunny:

And I'm Sunny.

Vanessa:

We've got another surprise lineup episode for you guys, just like Coachella. We had no idea, at least I had no idea, that the Bonnaroo lineup was gonna be coming out as soon as it did. Normally it's not till January or February, I think But Sunny had some inkling that it was coming.

Sunny:

not an inkling.

Vanessa:

Or heard somewhere. Hold on. Normally they will do a Black Friday sale before the lineup comes out. I remember my first Bonnaroo that I bought tickets to, I had just started dating Ed. We were on our second date.

Sunny:

Oh cute.

Vanessa:

And which was five days long. But I remember being like waking up being like, I need to buy these tickets to this and this is in November and it's in June.

Sunny:

Right

Vanessa:

And Ed was like, ooh, I want to go. I was like, I just met you.

Sunny:

Yeah. Weirdo? No.

Vanessa:

But I'll always remember that, tickets went on sale that early. And then like the lineup will come out, and then they'll do another wave of ticket sales after that. But no, this year they just gave it to us, gave us the lineup early.

Sunny:

I know I said weirdo, but I was joking. It's definitely a green flag that he wants to go to Bonnaroo because festivals are important to us.

Vanessa:

Total green flag. What was I saying? It dropped December 2nd, 8 a.m. Pacific time, because that's where we are. I think this year they wanted to, because of the cancellation, everything that happened, they were like, We're not gonna make you pay for something if you don't know that it's gonna be good.

Sunny:

for anyone who doesn't know, do you want to explain a little bit what happened with Bonnaroo last year?

Vanessa:

so this year, 2025. Sorry. it was canceled because they had the wettest spring ever. And so the first day, it rained really hard. It just flooded everything. they canceled it after the first day, and there was talks of whether or not it would even come back next year, and then normally they'll release the dates for the next year, like the week after or something like that. But they didn't right away at first, because they weren't sure, I guess, if it was gonna happen. they eventually did and said it was happening. but, they gave us a lineup early so that you know what you're buying tickets for and to give you enough time to to plan. But where did you hear that it was coming out? Because you texted me the day before and you were like, is the lineup really coming out tomorrow? And I was like, No.

Sunny:

Someone put a mock up on

Vanessa:

Oh, a leak. That's right.

Sunny:

Reddit.

Vanessa:

A quote unquote leak.

Sunny:

It ended up being a lot of the artists were correct. they put up that leak, and then someone commented on it and said, I heard that the lineup's coming out tomorrow.

Vanessa:

Oh, okay.

Sunny:

it was nowhere official.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I just was seeing if maybe you saw something.

Vanessa:

I hadn't seen anything, but then I looked at the leak that you sent.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Or the the fake lineup. And somebody had commented that the what podcast had a live scheduled for the next day that said lineup. And they obviously know way more. because if you guys don't know, the what podcast is a podcast dedicated specifically to Bonnaroo, and they have insider knowledge and connections.

Sunny:

they walked so we could run.

Vanessa:

I was at work and clearing out my email, and all of a sudden I see a Bonnaroo lineup email. I'm like, oh my god, it's true.

Sunny:

Yay. And of course, we all send it to each other right away.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

W hat do you think?

Vanessa:

I love it.

Sunny:

Yay.

Vanessa:

I love it so much. I think it's a millennial's dream. And just to name a few people, well, actually, let me give you the headliners. Thursday, which they said was gonna be like they were gonna cut back Thursday and just make it a really small thing. They really said to not expect much for Thursday, just maybe some smaller bands. A lot of the stages are gonna be closed off, but they freaking gave us Skrillix as a headliner for Thursday, which is insane. Vince Staples for Thursday, I think I'm more excited about. And then Friday we have The Strokes, Griz, and Turnstile. Then Saturday it's Rufus Du Sol, which I know people have been asking for And then Teddy Swims and the Neighborhood. And Sunday it's Noah Khan Role Model and Kesha. Freaking Kesha.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Oh my god.

Sunny:

That's the name that popped out at me.

Vanessa:

I got all my information from the What podcast because they just released an episode where they had two of the guys from C3 who are in charge of Bonnaroo.

Sunny:

Oh, C3 is an event company or something.

Vanessa:

C3 is an event production company that produces and promotes music festivals. Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo. they had on Corey Smith, who's the marketing manager for Bonnaroo. And then Tim Tuba Smith is the director of festivals for all of C3.

Sunny:

Okay.

Vanessa:

they had both of them on their podcast.

Sunny:

And that's a dope name, by the way.

Vanessa:

Which one? Tim Tuba Smith. Anyways, they had these guys on, and they were mentioning how they are letting Skrillex take the lead on what he wants to do for Thursday, that he's such a visionary and all that stuff. I'm excited to see what he's gonna come up with.

Sunny:

So you're going.

Vanessa:

Oh, I'm going. We already bought tickets because they also were letting anyone who had 2025 tickets, they were giving them first dibs on tickets at the lowest tier price possible.

Sunny:

I was going to say how, because they don't go on sale until December 5th, which that will have already happened by the time this comes out.

Vanessa:

December 3rd, they were giving us first dibs on getting tickets.

Sunny:

How much were your tickets?

Vanessa:

849 for VIP. We bought VIP.

Sunny:

Nice. VIP camping as well?

Vanessa:

No.

Sunny:

Got it. Regular camping, VIP tickets.

Vanessa:

Regular camping, VIP tickets. We learned our lesson with Area 931 last year.

Sunny:

Oh, you didn't like how far it was?

Vanessa:

I didn't like how far it was. I didn't like how it wasn't in the outer roo area where we can be immersed in everything.

Sunny:

The noise.

Vanessa:

Yeah. In the chaos. Cool.

Sunny:

well, congratulations. Thanks.

Vanessa:

Do you want to go over some? I know you're probably not gonna go, but maybe. are there any names that pop out for you?

Sunny:

Friday, the names that pop out to me are Major Lazer.

Vanessa:

Yes.

Sunny:

Lil Jon.

Vanessa:

Amazing. This is why I was saying Millennials Dream.

Sunny:

Yes. Adventure Club.

Vanessa:

I'll look into Adventure Club. Let's see, Blues Traveler and Wolf mother. Those are legacy acts. Ed is so excited for Blues Traveler. when I first met Ed, that he was listening to Blues Traveler Traveler a lot. Nice. Griz, obviously.

Sunny:

Did I just skip Griz?

Vanessa:

You totally skipped Griz. That was the first name I was expecting you to say.

Sunny:

I thought we weren't talking about headliners. We were talking about the other names. But, of course, Griz.

Vanessa:

I have Mt. Joy, Jesse Murph, Blood Orange, who major lazer and Blood Orange were big draws for me for Coachella because I kept saying that we were gonna go to Coachella, and I apologized to all my friends that I said I wanted to get the band back together too, go to Coachella. I don't know that I'll be going this year. I'm excited that those names are on there because I still get to see them.

Sunny:

okay, that's Friday. Saturday is stacked. Nice.

Vanessa:

I wrote down the names of people that I know and that I would be down to see, but there's so many. It's so Rufus Du Sol, Teddy Swims, The Neighborhood, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Amyl and the Sniffers, just because Clark has said so many great things about them. Gorgon City, Flip Turn. I was so excited to see last year, and we didn't get to see. Passion Pit. Yep. Tash Sultana is one of Ed's favorites. And we saw her, yeah, we saw her at Bonnaroo actually in 2022, and she was amazing. I don't know that I would see Boys Noize, but the fact that they're on there is awesome. Waylon Wyatt is this super young country singer, and DJ Trixie Mattel. Love that. And I wrote down Confidence Man and Midnight Generation just because I know you guys liked them, and I was like, I'd be down to check them out if they're

Sunny:

Oh, I didn't even notice Midnight Generation on here.

Vanessa:

No conflicts.

Sunny:

You skipped alabama shakes.

Vanessa:

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong didn't we see them at Bonnaroo or at Outside Lands?

Sunny:

Yeah, we did. Brittnay Howard. I don't think we saw Alabama Shakes.

Vanessa:

You know what? I was confusing this name with someone else. Yes, I would love to see them again.

Sunny:

Oh, and Saturday is the Super Jam.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah, the Kesha Super Jam. Oh my gosh, I know there's gonna be conflicts.

Sunny:

every year Bonnaroo does something really cool where they have a main person run a jam basically with other people that are on the lineup. So it's really

Vanessa:

Or not.

Sunny:

Or not on the lineup, that's true. So it's really unique set to catch. And this year is a Kesha.

Vanessa:

dope.

Sunny:

Super Jam Estorica? Estorica.

Vanessa:

What are you looking at?

Sunny:

There's an accent.

Vanessa:

there's an accent on the Super Jam?

Sunny:

Kesha presents.

Vanessa:

Oh, Super Jam Estorica, the alchemy of pop. Yeah, that sounds like it'll be really fun. Sunday. Sunday, Noah Khan, one of my favorites. he was actually at Bonnaroo, I think the year we all went, 2023. And I wanted to see him, but there was conflicts, and I was like, well, I don't I only really know a couple songs, so I missed him.

Sunny:

I thought we saw him on a stage in Outer Roo. Am I thinking of someone else?

Vanessa:

You're thinking of someone else. Oh, okay. I did actually get to see him at Outside Lands, but I'm excited to see him at Bonnaroo headlining. that's crazy.

Sunny:

Yeah. good for him. And then Kesha, obviously, role model. I will see again if there's no conflicts. but we just saw him at Austin City Limits. And then Big Gigantic, Little Stranger. Ed loves Little Stranger, and then Aly and AJ. I'm glad they were booked again because I was excited for them this year and then they didn't get to play. And then Weird Al. Hell yeah.

Vanessa:

Can't believe Weird Al is gonna be on there. That's crazy.

Sunny:

Love Weird Al.

Vanessa:

I know you are a huge Weird Al fan, and Ed loves him too, so he's excited for Yeah. Ed's excited for Weird Al Blues Traveler, Little Stranger, Jesse Murph, Tash.

Sunny:

I hope you can check out Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Vanessa:

Yes. Tedeschi, I think, isn't it?

Sunny:

I don't know. I don't know.

Vanessa:

I don't know. I've been saying Tedeschi Trucks Band, but Tedeschi, I trust your pronoun pronounce pronouncing. Well, I just heard I I kept hearing

Sunny:

pronounced, pronounced wrong. I kept hearing them call it Tedeschi. Oh, okay.

Vanessa:

On the what podcast. Because I also was saying Tedeschi. I didn't know. I've never heard of them.

Sunny:

Yeah, it's Susan Tedeschi. Tedeschi, but I'm trying to remember the first name of the guitar player, Trucks. it's the two of them. And her singing voice is incredible.

Vanessa:

Really? the guitar player, known as one of the best slide guitar players in the world. Well sick. I will definitely put them on my list. I already was like check it out planning to check them out.

Sunny:

Yay. Oh, I'm jealous.

Vanessa:

I hope that maybe you can get free tickets and or we can get free tickets and you can come with us.

Sunny:

You didn't say Aly and AJ.

Vanessa:

I did.

Sunny:

Oh, you did?

Vanessa:

I was excited that they got booked again because I didn't get to see them this year.

Sunny:

Did you say trombone shorty?

Vanessa:

No, I didn't.

Sunny:

I don't know who that is.

unknown:

Oh, really?

Sunny:

Trombone player.

Vanessa:

Should I add him?

Sunny:

Y es. He also plays trumpet really well too.

Vanessa:

And Big Gigantic too, yeah. I saw Big Gigantic on there

Sunny:

Daily Bread is also really fun. It's dubstep, but they were really fun at outside lands.

Vanessa:

I am excited that there's not gonna be a lot of people they really cut back on the ticket sales for next year.

Sunny:

Oh.

Vanessa:

Because a lot of the places where it got flooded this year, they're just not gonna have in use. they're cutting back I think they I think the number that's been thrown around is 20,000 less people.

Sunny:

Wow.

Vanessa:

that'll make a big difference.

Sunny:

I love how Bonnaroo has been so transparent about all the work that they're doing on the farm. Have you seen all the Instagram videos they put up?

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

For anyone who's interested, go to Bonnaroo's Instagram page and check out those videos because it's really interesting to see all the work that they have to put in year round. Especially this time because of what happened with all the infrastructure.

Vanessa:

I'm gonna have to start making the playlist now. because I always put this off till the last minute and I don't do enough homework. I'm gonna start making my playlist now and start listening to some of these.

Sunny:

Please make the playlist and then you can share it with all of our festies. Okay. That'll put a fire under your butt.

Vanessa:

Maybe, yeah. there's already so many out. people are quick. I like to do mine differently though, because I like to actually put whole set lists of songs. Mine's usually hours and hours long.

Sunny:

I think there's a demand for your type of playlist.

Vanessa:

Really? I don't know. I just it's not gonna be good. It's gonna be 40 hours of 20 songs for each artist. But if you want it, I'll post it.

Sunny:

She'll have that too next week.

Vanessa:

Oh gosh. Sunny's really lighting a fire under my butt.

Sunny:

just kidding. She'll have it when it's ready.

Vanessa:

It'll be my Christmas gift to you all.

Sunny:

I'm happy for you that you've already got tickets.

Vanessa:

Thanks.

Sunny:

The countdown has begun.

Vanessa:

Final thoughts?

Sunny:

Final thoughts. Oh, wait, we were said we were gonna go through comments. That's what we were gonna do.

Vanessa:

Oh, for the lineup?

Sunny:

Yeah, on Reddit.

Vanessa:

About the lineup.

Sunny:

Yeah

Vanessa:

We were just talking about how much we hate the comments.

Sunny:

We have to share some of these because they're so freaking ridiculous.

Vanessa:

Do you have it? I don't have Reddit on my phone, I don't think. Hold on.

Sunny:

No, I just go on the website.

Vanessa:

Oh, here, yes, I do. I lied.

Sunny:

Someone just said, ew, exponentially worse every year.

Vanessa:

Hater.

Sunny:

I'm getting old, or the music industry is completely broken. I'm thinking both. You're getting old. Okay, I gotta say when the lineup came out, my mom comes out, she goes, the Bonnaroo lineup came out, and she just had this look on her face, like, I don't get it. She's like, it's not a good lineup.

Vanessa:

To be honest, I wasn't crazy about the headliners, but there's some good names everywhere else.

Sunny:

someone put, I'm sorry, but I don't think these are headlining level acts at a place that used to book people like Stevie Wonder and Elton John.

Vanessa:

But were they Stevie Wonder and Elton John when

Sunny:

yeah, they were

Vanessa:

But I know, but

Sunny:

I'm curious who who is available that is at that tier.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I'd be curious to to know who makes the cut for that.

Vanessa:

Right.

Sunny:

That tier. Of course, you can't compare Rufus Du Sol to, you know, Stevie Wonder. This would have been my 20th year.

Vanessa:

I saw that one. Go ahead.

Sunny:

This lineup is terrible. Usually I just suck it up and go, and I'll discover stuff as the fest gets closer. But there's nothing on this lineup that makes me think, will I be upset and experiencing FOMO if I don't go? There's not one act on there that has me thinking, man, I wish I was on the forum right now. The headliners are the worst they've had by far. The lack of jam bands is just insulting to the festival's past. I'll get downvoted for this comment, but as a 19-year veteran, I had to share my opinion somewhere. Maybe 2027 will be my 20th roue.

Vanessa:

I highly doubt you know every single name on this lineup to say that there's no jam band. on the podcast, they were saying that people wanted to hear more guitars. And that there are more guitars.

Sunny:

they got one of the best guitar players in the world. Tedeschi Trucks Band, they're a jam band. Blues Traveler, also they jam. then someone else commented about Mountain Grass Unit, their bluegrass jamming. It's so insulting. Imagine

Vanessa:

So insulting.

Sunny:

Imagine working your ass off in your career and getting to a level where you make it to be on the fucking Bonnaroo lineup. And then everyone's just like, this fucking sucks.

Vanessa:

it's just so not even that. I thought you were gonna go more along the lines of the organizers. That too. you put so much work into this, you're like, oh my god, I have this lineup and we're so proud of it. And then you post it and everyone's like, boo.

Sunny:

people are so jaded.

Vanessa:

It makes so jaded and so comfortable just talking shit. say it to their faces, asshole.

Sunny:

It reminds me when people say the Super Bowl show sucked. I'm like, there was thousands of people involved.

Vanessa:

No, shut up chill.

Sunny:

You could say it wasn't my favorite.

Vanessa:

Right.

Sunny:

That's fine. But to just say it's bad. I've said that same sentence on this podcast before.

Vanessa:

totally. It's gonna keep it's gonna, it's a nonstop thing we're gonna talk about every year.

Sunny:

Someone said so many complaints for some amazing lineups.

Vanessa:

Thank you.

Sunny:

Someone said, I remember when Bonnaroo would have half a dozen legendary acts on the bill, and then someone put Weird Al, Blues, Traveler, Wolf Mother, Tedeschi Trucks, Trombone Shorty are probably considered legacy acts at this point. And then someone was like, millennials get defensive when you call them old.

Vanessa:

exactly.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Oh boy, we we are getting old. Some might say Lil Jon is a legendary act.

Sunny:

Yeah, I think so. if Ludacris was a legendary act, outside lands, then Lil Jon for sure. Anyways.

Vanessa:

Someone said, I'm so excited for this lineup, so many good acts, and plenty of new acts to discover. That's the spirit. Trash Panda twenty two.

Sunny:

Okay, here's somebody.

Vanessa:

Wait, sorry. I just thought about this. Outside lands. These are probably gonna be oh similar artists that are gonna be at outside lands.

Sunny:

That's right, because they're the same

Vanessa:

they're usually pretty similar.

Sunny:

Same production company behind both of those. Yeah. you're right. Okay. Well, that's exciting. I just gotta read one more positive one.

Vanessa:

Okay, good. Thanks.

Sunny:

Someone said, Personally, I am amped for this lineup. I get it. Everyone has their own vision for a perfect roo, and that it's statistically impossible to make everyone happy. There are so many fests that are EDM heavy or 80% jam band. But that hodgepodge of well-known rap, rock, wubs, and stoner sets intermixed with bands I've never even heard of is why I love Bonnaroo.

Vanessa:

Boom.

Sunny:

Mic drop.

Vanessa:

I think Ed and I fall into the crowd too of we just want to go and be there no matter the lineup.

Sunny:

Okay, I need to close this. It's making me mad. Bye, Reddit Thread. Slamming my computer closed.

Vanessa:

Okay, that's enough about Bonnaroo. I'm sure we'll throw five more episodes at you about Bonnaroo because I love it so much.

Sunny:

Sorry about it. This is Vanessa's favorite fast.

Vanessa:

you guys should check it out. is that it, Sunny?

Sunny:

I believe that's it.

Vanessa:

Okay. All right, Festies. Thank you. Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed this. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Festies Podcast. And please leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to us. And we'll talk to you on the next one. Bye.

Sunny:

Bye.