The Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee has been cancelled due to flooding from Hurricane Ida, which was Tropical Depression Ida by the time it hit the state on Tuesday. The four-day festival was scheduled to start Thursday with headliners like the Foo Fighters, Run the Jewels, Tyler the Creator, Lizzo, Tame Impala, and Megan Thee Stallion, among plenty of others.
“We are absolutely heartbroken to announce that we must cancel Bonnaroo. While this weekend’s weather looks outstanding, currently Centeroo is waterlogged in many areas, the ground is incredibly saturated on our tollbooth paths, and the campgrounds are flooded to the point that we are unable to drive in or park vehicles safely,” the music festival tweeted on Tuesday.
“We have done everything in our power to try to keep the show moving forward, but Mother Nature has dealt us a tremendous amount of rain over the past 24 hours, and we have run out of options to try to make the event happen safely and in a way that lives up to the Bonnaroo experience,” the account continued.
“Please find ways to safely gather with your Bonnaroo community and continue to radiate positivity during this disappointing time. WE WILL SEE YOU ON THE FARM IN JUNE 2022!” Bonnaroo tweeted.
The festival recently made headlines after organizers announced that attendees would be required to either show proof of coronavirus vaccination or a negative covid-19 to enter the festival grounds. The U.S. has experienced a surge in covid-19 cases over recent weeks, with over 157,000 new cases on Tuesday alone. But Tennessee has been particularly hard hit with over 9,000 cases on Tuesday, the kind of numbers the state hasn’t seen since December 2020.
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People who had already arrived in Tennessee for Bonnaroo from around the country on Tuesday took to social media to vent their frustrations about the last-minute cancellation.
“The inconsideration of the months of planning that go into this by cancelling it the day before is infuriating,” one person wrote.
“Well i guess it’s time to turn my car around and drive back to Florida lmao,” wrote another.
The festival promises that people who ordered their tickets through the main festival-sanctioned booker will get refunded in about a month. Other people who purchased tickets through less traditional ways may be out of luck, especially if you bought them from a private broker.
“All tickets purchased through Front Gate Tickets will be refunded in as little as 30 days to the original method of payment,” Bonnaroo tweeted on Tuesday.