Bonnaroo Announces Lineup For 2021 Festival In September

Music festival season seems ready to go on in 2021. The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival has posted its lineup, scheduled to run September 2-5. This year's event marks the 20th year of the Manchester, Tenn. festival, which, like everyone else, cancelled last year because of the pandemic.

The fest has announced two headliners apiece for the weekend shows, achieving gender parity each night: Foo Fighters and Megan Thee Stallion on Friday, Lizzo and Tame Impala on Saturday, and Tyler, The Creator and Lana Del Rey on Sunday. The opening-night lineup for Thursday features the Grand Ole Opry as the headliner, and British jazz saxophone star Nubya Garcia on the bill.

In terms of health precautions, festival organizers say they are in contact with local health and public safety officials, and "intend to abide by relevant recommendations to ensure a safe and enjoyable festival," according to the Bonnaroo website. A "COVID-19 WARNING" section of the site says that organizers have taken enhanced health and safety measures for everyone (without detailing just what), and reminds everyone that "an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public space where people are present."

Beyond offering T-shirts and other typical merch, the festival is hopping onto the NFT bandwagon, promoting a "one-of-a-kind NFT of the 2021 Lineup Poster" by the digital artist Archan Nair.

Bonnaroo is among the biggest and most popular music festivals to announce its full lineup in 2021. No official announcement has materialized yet from the organizers of Lollapalooza or Coachella--though there have been reports that the latter has been cancelled entirely this year. [Copyright 2021 NPR]