In the days following Bonnaroo’s 2025 lineup announcement, I got phone calls and texts from friends both new and old, young and grown, about the depth of the bill and how best to enjoy a weekend on the farm.
Friends who haven’t been in a while started asking questions about the current state of accommodations and how best to pull an RV into the footprint while others who have never made the trek to Coffee County asked questions about, well, everything.
One of my favorite things to do on Earth is to show a newcomer – or someone who has taken a few years off – around the farm, and it appears this year will present many opportunities to do just that.
In a constantly evolving festival landscape that has seen many large-scale events fall by the wayside, Bonnaroo is as strong as it has been in quite some time. The lineup set to grace the various stages on the farm from June 12th-15th in Manchester, TN possesses a breadth that most festivals just haven’t been able to possess of late.
One of the people responsible for the lineup is Bryan Benson. He has been on the Bonnaroo booking team since 2007 and throughout his 19 years on the team, he’s seen the roller coaster that has taken place in the music business.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to spend an hour on the phone with Benson, who is now lead booker for the show, and who generously went through the processes that helped create the 2025 bill in great detail.
In our conversation we discussed how several pieces of the lineup came together, including the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard residency, the Olivia Rodrigo headlining gig, the wild Insane Clown Posse and Megadeath bookings and many others. We also gabbed about Thursdays at Bonnaroo and how they’ve become a day of discovery and, more recently, a day to throw an additional headliner in the mix. We also chatted about the new Infinity Stage, artist additions and what attendees can expect from Arcade Fire’s “Santa Pirata.”
Benson was refreshingly open with his responses and his transparency showed that he is just as big of a fan of music as all the attendees that make the event possible. He recognized said fans in many instances and his pride for hosting such an engaged audience was evident throughout our chat. He also made sure to acknowledge the efforts of the other members of the booking team, which includes Bobby Clay, Alex Best, Kaila Austin and of course, his booking partner since 2007, Steve Green. Below is our conversation. If at some point during the interview you decide that you can’t wait until the end to purchase tickets, they can be found at bonnaroo.com.
BLANK: The lineup is thick and varied and still feels meticulously crafted. It seems like you all have paid attention to curating a lineup that has multiple shows for fans of individual genres and also added the Infinity stage. It just kinda seems like the festival has a renewed vigor and energy. So how did this year’s lineup come together?
Bryan Benson: Yeah, this was a fun one. We never really stop booking (this festival). We’re already underway with some key conversations for 2026. The talent pool that was there for Roo this year gave us a good place to start and we really got the mix that we like to have this year. It doesn’t always work out that way, but this year, we were able to get across the finish line with some of these acts at the top that we’ve really felt like were kind of core to the ethos of Bonnaroo. We got our big pop act. We got our hip-hop act. Hozier is a bit of a wild card at this point. In terms of genre, he’s a Triple A singer-songwriter, but he’s also pop. I think this is one of the deepest electronic lineups that we’ve had. To be able to get John (Summit) and Dom (Dolla) in with everything else that we have, it stacks it up pretty nicely.
BLANK: It has a lot to do with who’s touring in a given year, and then when you get some of those anchors, I imagine you say, “Okay, now we can have fun.” It kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off of it because you know you’ve got some stuff you think will work and stuff that is going to please your fans, and then you can kind of spread your wings a little bit. It seems like that’s what’s happened. Is that accurate?
BB: Once you get that foundation of cross-genre programming that all seems to still work together, it gives us the ability to really have fun with the undercard and represent a lot of different genres and have it still all work and make sense. We were definitely able to get out a little ahead of it this year and have some key conversations early. Olivia Rodrigo doesn’t just wake up one day and decide that’s how she’s gonna play Bonnaroo. That’s a conversation that’s been happening for a number of years. This was a target for us back when she first broke. I remember her first proper national play was at the Grand Ole Opry…I can’t remember what year that was…but we started talking about potentially headlining her then, so these conversations take years sometimes.
The Glass Animals conversation was very strategic as well. They’ve been playing arenas, but they wanted to have their return to Bonnaroo to be really special and memorable so credit to them. They understood the importance of them getting to play the Which stage and do a late night because it’s something they haven’t done yet. For the fans of Bonnaroo, it’s a special situation, too.
BLANK: You have Megadeath and ICP on the show, and those are obviously unique and interesting bookings. That’s something that’s been a trademark of Bonnaroo over the years, going all the way back to the beginning. How do you decide on the these seemingly left-field bookings each year? Do you have a separate white board for the wild ones or something like that? How does that process work?
BB: We don’t really make a separate list or anything. It kinda just happens. The way I like to describe this to people is, it’s like having a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and we’re building this thing as we go. And once we sort of have an idea of how a day is shaping up and who’s going to be playing, we just brainstorm and have fun.
We did GWAR on Thursday night last year, so we thought, “What’s something that we can do that sort of builds on that a little bit?” It’s pretty unexpected and kind of a wild moment out there in a tent. And ICP were up for the task and were willing to play ball with us.
We’ve got the setting, with the ability to go late, but the reason we can do it is because of the fans. This is how (these bookings) happen. Not only will our audience work with a booking like that, they almost expect it, so we try to program this show in a fun way that still works. If you are up for going to see something a little different, we’re gonna give you the opportunity to do that and what better place to do it than on the farm? All of those factors put us in a really special position, because we can do something a little crazy and we can confidently tell the artists and the representatives, “Hey, you should do this because it’s gonna work and probably create a moment that will be talked about for years.”
That’s what happened with Korn, for instance. There was some real momentum for that band coming out of that show and for those that got to see them, it was insane. The fans deserve a ton of credit for that, you know? They are the ones that created that moment. My favorite moment of the year last year was during Parcels. The energy in that tent was just unrivaled, and all the credit goes to the fans for showing up. It’s been amazing and it gives us the ability to do fun things.
BLANK: How about Megadeath? That’s another wild one in comparison to the rest of the poster.
BB: Obviously we’ve got a long history of putting heavy music in late night tents, so we’re just continuing that tradition a little bit. We thought it would be fun and the stars aligned for ‘25 and we were able to get them in the boat.
BLANK: How did the idea for the King Gizzard residency present itself? Is that something y’all worked on a long time? Was that something that the band wanted to do, or is it something that you pitched to them?
BB: That band is so core to Bonnaroo at this point and just given who they are and what they do, it made sense so we hit them with the idea and they were game. This conversation started prior to the 24 festival, around the spring of last year.
BLANK: Speaking to that, booking takes time and in many instances the negotiations start years before a band hits the stage, especially when you’re planning something special.
BB: It’s so true, and with a band like King Gizz, they’re Australian, so any kind of international act like that…just having them out there to begin with, much less doing something special means if you don’t get out ahead of it, it’s just not going to happen. The fans are planning, the agents for regular touring and global touring are pretty far in advance because they kind of have to be. We told them we’d love to do a concept like this and we thought it would be perfect to do at the festival. Sometimes we just go, “OK, 25, 26, 27, just tell us when you can come do it right.”
The other thing, too, is that for something like this you want a little bit of exclusivity, right? That’s the other reason you need to get out pretty far ahead of it, because if the band is already planning to play Atlanta and Nashville and say, somewhere like Indianapolis or something, it just lessens the impact of something like this.
BLANK: What will the King GizzaResidency and the LizaResidency WizaResidency entail and will they be playing on the same stage for each set?
BB: They’re not playing the same stage for every set. I would expect a very different set each night. One of the best things about King Gizz is that you never quite know what you’re going to get. You might get a little metal. You might get a little jam. You might get a little rave, (so) this is the perfect band for a concept like this with because they’ll do a different show every night in a completely different style.
BLANK: As we enter 2025, female pop music might be the best it has ever been. You’ve obviously leaned in to that this year by booking Olivia Rodrigo’s first US headlining performance ever. She’s also set to be the youngest headliner in the festival’s history. Can you speak to the moment that pop is having right now, why it’s a bit different than in the past and how important it was to get a representative of the genre at the top of the bill?
BB: We’re lucky because we’ve got a lot of different people that want to come to our show. And when you have a show that has a history and it’s been around for well over 20 years, we’ve got a lot of fans that have been coming for a long time. We want to make sure that there’s a lot for them, but if you’re a college kid we want there to be a lot for you to see as well. Pop, and especially female pop is a really massive deal right now but not only that, all these artists are really, really amazing. Their live shows are incredible, their music is amazing and they deserve a home at Roo. We know our audience wants to see it so we need to be leaning in to it more, and that was certainly our intention this year.
BLANK: What can you say about the Infinity stage at this point? Are you able to reveal where it will be in the footprint? I was guessing that it would be where the old Comedy tent was.
BB: It’ll be in Centeroo. We’re not really going to change the layout of Centeroo, so everybody who knows where most things are in Centeroo can probably figure out where it’s going to go based on that.
It’s pretty amazing. It’s a full spatial audio experience. There will be three circular spokes that go out of a middle area, which is kind of where the stage is. Each of those spokes holds about 3,000 people, so we’re looking at a total capacity of the entire area of probably 9,000 or 10,000.
BLANK: Are we going to get a few bands and DJs each day and are we going to get some sound baths type stuff, almost like Big Ears style, when there aren’t acts on stage?
BB: We’re going to get some information out about some artists playing on this thing pretty soon, so I don’t want to upstage that announcement, but you’re going to see a little bit of everything on there. There will be some bands there but it will probably be mostly DJ-ish. What I’ll say is that it’s a mix of artists that are currently on the show performing again and some acts that aren’t currently on the bill.
BLANK: So more additions are coming? Will the Who stage be back as well?
BB: There are some additions, yes. And the Who stage will be back. That will be a separate announcement, as it has been. That will come later, probably March-ish or something like that. But Infinity is a totally new stage, totally new experience. It won’t have quite the number of slots as the Who stage has traditionally. Some of this plays into the location of the stage and the fact that it’s the first time we’ve ever tried it. I really want to see how it all works – especially in the location it’s at – before go wild with it. But the stuff that we’ve got on there, I think the fans are going to be pretty stoked and it’s a nice mix of artists that are already on the show, maybe doing a little bit of a different set in this area, combined with some additions that aren’t already on the farm that are coming just to partake in this experience.
BLANK: For those of us who have been coming for years, it’s fun to have something new to explore.
BB: It’s exciting to have an experience like this, and we’re probably slightly overdue to do something new, but this just kind of got put on our radar. We actually had some of our team see this setup at a festival in Thailand near the end of 2024. It was kind of already locked in, but we figured that was our chance to really see it in action. I can’t think of anything like it that’s been done in the U.S. at a festival, so it should be pretty special.
BLANK: The addition of the new stage was kind of sugar on top of a great lineup, then the addition of Arcade Fire came out of nowhere. There is not a lot of info on “Santa Pirata.” What can people expect from this show? Is it a DJ set or something different?
BB: It’s not a DJ set but it’s also not the full band. It is going to be a party…a super fun, high energy set of their music, maybe with some other stuff mixed in there. It is not a proper Arcade Fire show, which is why it’s billed the way it is, but it’s Win and Regine there with some other players, having a really high energy experience. We’ll find out exactly what they do when it happens, but it’s going to be a really amazing moment, especially late night on Saturday.
BLANK: Speaking of late night on Saturday, those conflicts are going to be brutal. It feels like the days of old a bit with all the decisions that will have to be made. Justice is another big get that people have been requesting for a while, yes?
BB: Yeah, for sure. They’ve been highly requested by the fans for a long time and that’s just one that, as this thing kind of came together, we figured out how we could do it late night and get them where they needed to be. Then we figured out production, which is always the most challenging task with the band, and we were able to lock it in.
BLANK: With all of these late night choices, will you be using the main stage for any late nights this year?
BB: I don’t anticipate that’s anything that we’ll do, no. The late nights this year, with the exception of the addition of Infinity, will be just like it has been traditionally.
BLANK: How has booking a festival like Bonnaroo changed since Rona and do you feel like things have started to settle in a bit? Has it gotten harder or easier of late?
BB: Man, that’s a big question. One thing that I think most people don’t really know is…I’ve been working the festival since 2004 and I’ve been a part of the talent team that’s been putting this lineup together since 2007. I have a partner, Steve Green, who books this whole thing with me, so it’s the same guys who have been doing it since then. I think a lot of people see that the festival gets sold and hear the names Live Nation and C3 but at the end of the day, Steve and I are still booking the show. This festival is everything to us. It’s been our baby for our whole career and I just I think it’s worth noting that. I’m from Knoxville and so is Steve, so there’s still that connection. This festival means everything to us and we know it better than most everything else in our lives. So we’re always going to keep this show what it is and what it needs to be. Are we going to be able to get the exact talent every year to make everybody feel like that’s the case? No, it’s never going to be perfect. I do think it’s getting harder and not easier to book these shows, though, especially these multi-genre shows, and there’s a lot of reasons for that.
When you’re trying to service 80,000 music fans and have a little bit for everybody, it can be challenging. If I don’t have your favorite band (on the bill), you might not want to come. That’s just the reality of the world we live in now. I think it’s that combined with the pace in which some of these bands break that make it challenging too. And then on the top end for the headliners, it’s getting really hard because touring is bigger than it’s ever been for these bands. What an artist can make playing regular shows in 2025 is drastically different than what they could make in those same venues 15 years ago. Festivals used to be a lot more competitive financially in terms of what an artist can earn, and it’s just not necessarily the case anymore, especially at the top end. So that makes it a little more challenging for us to get an Olivia Rodrigo or a Hozier. They could just go play stadiums or whatever and make more money.
BLANK: Is that when the cache and reputation of the festival comes into play and the fact that it’s not just another gig helps you land some of the names at the top of the bill?
BB: Yeah, no doubt. I probably over inflate that a little bit in terms of what it means to an artist, but it is still meaningful. I do think Olivia Rodrigo cares about playing Bonnaroo. Because otherwise, I don’t think she would do it. Look at Luke Combs. He’s probably worth two Nissan stadiums as an example. But Luke wanted to play Bonnaroo. That’s where the importance of the festival still does play in to the plans of these bands. And then comes the best part of my job, where I get to very confidently and unequivocally tell these artists, “Not only are you playing Bonnaroo, you’re going to play in front of the best audience in the country.” I mean, where else are you going to get a better, more passionate and enthusiastic fan base than on the farm? And that means a lot to these bands. I can’t tell you how many bands contact me every single year in the days and weeks after Bonnaroo that say, “That’s the best set we’ve ever played in our career.”
BLANK: Can you gab a little about Thursdays and how you’ve gone about booking it over the years? Is there a different process for booking discovery day?
BB: Yes, this is the discovery piece of the festival and having those kinds of artists on Thursday has been something we’ve done for years now, so the industry has picked up on that. So we get a lot of bands that are asking specifically to play on Thursday because the sets are great and the fan base is fresh. These bands are going to get exposed to a pretty large audience, maybe some of them for the first time in their careers. So (it has) absolutely become a sought-after experience for artists coming up through the ranks. In terms of how we book it, it’s a combination of submissions that we get from agents and from fans that turn us on to something. And between all the people on our booking team, we see a lot of shows in 500-cap rooms and think they’d be a good fit for Thursday.
BLANK: Thursday headliners have been a welcome addition. Do you anticipate that continuing moving forward or has this just been situational the last couple of years?
BB: The honest answer is I don’t know. It has been somewhat situational…there was never really any plan to do this. But the return of Pretty Lights kind of got us thinking a little bit differently, so we thought, “What if we tried it? With this artist’s incredible history at the festival, coming back for the first time in a long time, isn’t this where he belongs?”
And then with Luke this year, it was a situation where there was really mutual interest from both parties. So we just thought, “Why not try this on Thursday, especially for the first real country headliner in the festival’s history.” If there’s something we feel is compelling or that makes sense for us to do on the main stage on the Thursday, sure, why not?
For this year we got Luke, but we’ve also got a couple of bands before him on Thursday so it will be a little bit more of a proper run of shows on the main stage. We’ll be interested to see how that goes.
BLANK: The game has changed so much over recent years. What are some of the metrics you use when determining which artists to target for the lineup?
BB: One of the first things we do, especially if I haven’t seen an artist…the first question I’ll ask my team is, “Is this any good?” I don’t mean that disparagingly, but we care deeply about this festival and it has always been about showcasing the best live talent out there. And I think it’s a pretty important question. And fans expect that so that’s number one and if we don’t know the answer, we go see them.
Then from there it’s what you would expect, probably. You know, what is this band doing ticket sales wise? What are the streams like? What is the heat on the artist in terms of the consumption of the music and what’s the buzz online? What’s the social media presence? I mean, it’s all those things. It’s all the same stuff everybody else is looking at. A lot of what we do is driven by programming, though. Again, I go back to that puzzle analogy. A lot of times, we’ll choose a band because it fits based on what else we’ve got going on in the park, or what we’re trying to present that day. That’s really how we book this thing.
BLANK: So when you’re building this thing out, you often times have a ballpark for the timeslot and day in mind for the bands?
BB: We do, yes. As we’re thinking about making an offer, we’re kind of slotting them in as we go. The first questions that we’re going to get asked when we make an offer to an artist is “What’s the slot? What’s the time? Who else is playing against us?” Now a lot of times, we can’t say all the information that they want at that time, because we’re still in the process of putting it all together, but we have an idea usually from the middle of the process to the end of it as to where somebody’s going to go.
BLANK: Has there ever been a moment when you’ve been working on something, maybe even for years, and then you get that email or that phone call where someone on the other side says, “We’re in,” and it just sends you through the roof? It’s the coolest feeling in the world. Can you think of a couple times when that happened?
BB: Oh wow. Yeah, that’s definitely happened a lot over the years. We had many, many years in a row where we got some pretty iconic artists to do the show, going back to the Tom Petty, Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney years. It feels like those years are behind us at this point but every time we got one of those legends in the boat it was a pretty special moment. The Police in ‘07, that was a big deal because that was one of the first real legendary bands to say yes. It was a bit of a reunion you know, and I remember that moment being pretty amazing. There’s been a lot of those, because this is so important to so many people. It’s got so much history and we just want to do right by it.
BLANK: As a Knoxvillian, I am certainly proud to have two other Knoxvillians booking this thing and giving people a reason to come to Tennessee so we can show it off to the rest of the world. I have a lot of pride associated with that and I always told Ashley (Capps) that whenever I would interview him about the festival.
BB: He’s the reason I am where I am. I owe it all to Ashley. John and Rick from Superfly, too. Those guys laid the groundwork for all of us. Without all their tireless work and passion and creative energy, none of this would be here. This is a full team of people that work 365 days a year on it. We wake up every day and think about what we can do to make this thing the best festival in the world. When we came over to C3…what an amazing move that’s been for the festival. That team is the best in the world. When it comes down to slowly building this thing, the amount of people it takes would just blow your mind. It’s an absolutely astonishing thing that it even happens.
