Tennessee’s heritage festival Bonnaroo is to take a year off in 2027 after two years of storms has meant the land needs to “rest and recover.”
Held 11-14 June, Bonnaroo said in a post to Instagram that a heavy rainstorm on the weekender’s Sunday night left the land in a state of disrepair. This comes after its 2025 edition was forced to cancel due to heavy thunderstorms and extreme weather risking the safety of festival-goers, crew and artists.
“This wasn’t an easy decision, and not one we take lightly, but in our hearts, we know this break will only make Bonnaroo better,” the festival went on to say.
Bonnaroo’s 2020 weekend was delayed due to COVID, and was then subsequently cancelled in 2021 due to heavy rainfall.
Bannaroo is the latest example in how extreme weather is affecting festivals across the world. In Europe, festivals such as Garorock (France), Scandal (Netherlands) and Paradise City (Belgium) were all drastically impacted by the extreme heat experienced throughout the summer.
Experts have also expressed massive concern about extreme weather and the climate emergency, and have called for the need to adapt to a changing environment. Paul Knightley, senior weather risk manager for EU weather operations at DTN consultancy, recently told Festival Insights that “festivals should consider heat alongside other major weather risks such as high winds, thunderstorms and flooding.“
“This is not a one-off issue,” Paul went on to say.
