Bonnaroo 2026 Artist Ranking
- Andrew Doucette
- 3 days ago
- 10 min read
It felt so nice to finally be back at Bonnaroo for a few days! Even though we did have a bit of precipitation during the weekend that turned the mainstage field into a bit of a mud pit, we were able to actually get the full weekend in, unlike last year. Musically, this year was still a bit of a downgrade compared to what last year would’ve been, but the more time I had to sit with the lineup, the better it became! That’s usually the case, as there tends to be a few smaller names you’ve never heard before that you become fans of, but even a name like Noah Kahan became a much bigger deal after his stadium tour sold out instantly, and this was the only established festival in the country he was playing. With Bonnaroo though, music is only part of it. While, especially for me, it’s the biggest part, the community and camaraderie that surrounds this festival is unlike anything else. Especially with this year being after a canceled year, the energy on the farm was unmistakably cathartic. Just to illustrate this point, I had gotten up at 5:00 AM to go to the bathroom on Monday morning and not long after I started walking, a random wook, who clearly hadn’t slept yet, just came up and gave me an emotional hug while saying, “We f****n did it!” While that’s clearly not something I would ever instigate, I 100% shared the sentiment in that moment of “We f****n did it,” because after last year, there was no telling if we’d ever make to this point again. So luckily, we’re here again to rank and talk about each set I saw during that weekend. I tried to take it a bit easier this year, but still ended up seeing forty sets! And as usual, don’t get too hung up on specific places. My opinion has probably already changed by the time I post this, it’s just a way to talk about and process the performances.
40. Arcy Drive
The main singer seemed like he was trying his best to look like Kurt Cobain. Perfectly fine set, I guess.
39. Yungblud
I can’t say this turned me into a believer. It just feels like cosplay instead of actually just rocking out. The “Changes” cover was pretty cool though, also because Ozzy himself co-signed it before his passing.
38. Susto
For being the first band I saw at the Wednesday pre-party, they were solid enough. Not much else to say.
37. Spiritual Cramp
Some of the “aura”/“rockstar” moments that the lead singer was trying to do were a bit cringy, but the music itself was good enough to start Thursday.
36. Pawpaw Rod
Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed, especially with the backing vocals doing more work than I expected, but I was still entertained enough for those 20-ish minutes I saw.
35. Trixie Mattel
There was a full 15-minute variety show performance before Trixie got behind the decks, which was actually pretty cool. It was still just a fine DJ set though.
34. Osees
They had two drummers, which was pretty cool! Otherwise, it was a fairly nice psych-rock set. I didn’t stay super long though, as Weird Al was calling my name!
33. Rufus Du Soul
I was hoping this set would really grow on me for the band as a whole, but I think they are still someone that I mainly like a few songs from, and not as a whole act. Still, they played all the songs I wanted them to and they sounded good when they did them.
32. The Snozzberries
This was mainly background music for the end of Game 4 of the NBA Finals that we watched on the side of the van, but man did they sound pretty awesome! I might need to check out their actual music!
They did a cool cover of the Star Wars cantina song. Otherwise, it was fairly normal, good bluegrass with a little jamming.
30. The Stews
I wasn’t expecting too much, but they were actually sick! Next time they play the High Noon Saloon, I’ll have to buy a ticket!
29. Amble
The main stage was a bit adventurous to put these guys on, but I suppose it allowed me to sit in the back and enjoy their folksy songs. They also opened for Ed Sheeran the day after this show, so at least they’re used to these big stages.
This set was so packed that it was hard for me to find a spot to fully enjoy the show. Still, her voice is so sick and they did all the major songs I wanted! They also came out for two other sets I saw, so that’s nice.
This was just a nice vibe for a little bit! I really liked their Sly and The Family Stone covers! Overall though, it didn’t strike me as anything super unique or thought-provoking in a full weekend of music, it was just quality music.
26. Snow Strippers
Them having this show at 2:00-2:45AM is the perfect time to listen to Snow Strippers. So unsurprisingly, the whole club atmosphere of their music ended up hitting harder this set than their headlining set from earlier in the year.
25. Daily Bread
I only saw the last 30-ish minutes of Daily Bread, but he was pretty cool! It didn't blow me away, but I like his combination of southern hip-hop and minimal EDM.
24. Wednesday
I forgot how much screaming is in Wednesday’s songs. Besides that, it was just a really good indie-rock set!
23. Lambrini Girls
They put on a pretty energetic punk show to start the day! I didn’t realize that they were so political, as there were lots of direct political messages throughout the set. It also ended with a mud slip n’ slide, so that was cool!
22. Fcukers
While I really love their album this year, I was nervous how it would translate. Thankfully, it translated to the stage nicely! For seemingly just house-pop, the addition of a live drummer, bassist, and DJ scratching added quite a bit to the overall sound!
21. Noah Kahan
This was a perfect set to end the festival with! Sure, I didn’t like every song he played, but the melancholic music had a fitting vibe to ending this experience. Noah also seemed to really love Bonnaroo as a festival, which was really nice to see a headliner say. He’s also just such a likeable guy that even if you don’t love his music, his banter will put you in a good mood. This didn’t all the sudden turn me into a superfan of his, or maybe still not even an actual fan, but he now has my respect and appreciation for putting on a meaningful closing set to the festival!
20. Zack Fox
I wasn’t sure what to expect from his DJ set, but I really enjoyed it! Zack has quite the encyclopedia of music to pull from, and he pulled no punches during his hour long set! He did also play the entirety of a movie called Baby Boy in the background, so that was funny.
They’re a pretty awesome hardcore punk band, and they put on a pretty awesome hardcore punk act!
18. Tash Sultana
They turned me into a fan with this set! Tash is so talented, as evident by the fact they played the majority of the set by themselves while looping every instrument, but it does seem like they really excel with the guitar and saxophone. I’m excited to check out some of their music.
They’re a disco band from Mexico that absolutely killed it on the main stage! The entire pit was chock full of energy from their electronic-influenced grooves! Time to go check out their music!
16. Geese
They really shouldn’t have been in a tent, but hey, they still killed it anyway! I’ve seen them enough times that I knew what to expect, and really the only detractor was the stage placement. Besides that, and the copious amounts of mud, Geese sounded really great!
15. Clipse
I forgot just how much I loved all these songs! They’re easily one of my favorite acts musically on the lineup this year, I just think I wasn’t as excited because I saw the show last year. But man, just hearing them do these incredible songs, even through some audio difficulties, was wonderful!
14. Griz
I loved how much effort Griz put into his show. There were special guests (including Ela from RKS), fireworks, and plenty of lights and lasers to create quite the appealing visual! You could feel that this was a special moment for him, and he delivered! I may not have loved every moment of it musically, but he might’ve put the most effort into the set of anyone all weekend, so I commend him for that!
13. Vince Staples
Vince had a full band and performed mainly songs from his new, punk-influenced album, so it was a bit different than the other times I’ve seen him. He seemed really comfortable though and did really well! The band sounded excellent too!
12. Four Tet
This was delayed due to a town-wide power outage, and even when he started, there were no screens. Still, Four Tet put on a quality set for 90 minutes. It’s always a bit heavy on four-on-the-floor type music, but he always changes it at the right place where I don’t get too bored!
11. Blood Orange
My only complaint with this show was that I wish he sang more of the songs. I get it, he doesn’t have an objectively great voice, but it would’ve been cool to hear him sing a song like “You’re Not Good Enough” or “Charcoal Baby” instead of the other singers doing it while he plays the instruments. Still, the set was really great and it felt great to finally see him after his show I was supposed to see in March 2020 got canceled!
10. “Weird Al” Yankovic
This was very similar to his show in Madison that I saw last year, but reliving it on The Farm was a wonderful experience! I got to be closer to the stage and see the weirdness in maybe the weirdest place I’ve ever been!
Brittany Howard’s voice is amazing! The setlist for the new show feels a bit weird, but I think we did eventually get most of their biggest songs! Hopefully they continue to put out more music and we get a new album soon, because the new singles are both awesome!
8. The Strokes
I actually thought The Strokes sounded great! Julian’s vocals were pretty good, and the rest of the band delivered instrumentally! I wasn’t even that thrown by Julian’s weird jokes between songs this time. The only problem I had was when Julian forgot the words for a couple moments. Otherwise, that felt like a pretty good version of what I’d expect from a Strokes show!
7. LSZEE
This was probably my favorite set on Sunday! This was the final ever show from Clozee and LSDREAM’s side project, LSZEE. They put out two projects as the duo, the second of which was released during Bonnaroo last year, so it was full circle to finally see them on the farm. It was also cool to just finally go full wook music for a little bit this weekend.
6. Jesse Welles
Well this was quite the surprise! I didn’t know much about Jesse Wells besides that anti-ICE song he did on Colbert, but when they announced he was doing a surprise pop up performance in an hour, it just felt right to go. And boy was I right! It was a couple hundred of us all sitting down while Jesse, without any amplification on his voice, sang some originals and covers with an acoustic guitar. You could feel the attention from each and every person that was there, and that’s not something you can get at most festival shows, or even normal shows. While his new album didn’t end up living to the hype of this live set, I still really loved this set!
5. Turnstile
Turnstile has been considered one of the best shows in rock music today, and they lived up to it with this late night set! Brendan sounded great, whether he was singing or screaming, and the band themselves rocked! They also did little things that added a lot, like the addition of camera men inside the crowd that would project the moshing onto the big screens. It was such a cool little detail I’ve never seen done before, and it really brought the energy to everyone watching, no matter where you were!
4. Skrillex
Skrillex dropped an album a week before this, so a good portion of the setlist was playing songs from that album, which helped make it an extra awesome time! The new album is heavily inspired by Brazilian music, and this set was full of phonk-inspired remixes of songs from his entire discography! It was an energetic set and a wonderful start to the weekend!
3. Kesha’s Superjam Esoterica: The Alchemy of Pop
Man, I love the Superjam shows! It’s so much fun to have what’s basically a giant sing along with so many other famous artists all taking turns doing covers/originals. It was especially nice to see Kesha do some of her classic hits in a new style, especially since I wasn’t at her other set. RKS covering “Mr. Brightside” and Weird Al’s surprise cover of Sia’s “Chandelier” were just a couple of the highlights!
2. Wet Leg
This was definitely worth all of the excitement and anticipation! This was probably the biggest and longest pit line I waited in during the weekend, and it was worth it! The band really leveled up with their new album, and the same goes for their performances, now that they’re more than just a duo. I loved all the little theatrics that went into the performance as well, whether that be interacting with the crowd during “Chaise Lounge” and “Ur Mom”, the synchronized dances that Rhian and Hester would do sometimes, or even the phone microphone during the end of “CPR”.
This one is even hard to process because this is literally fan fiction come to life. Neither ISOxo or Knock2 were on the lineup, so them showing up to mess around on stage with Skrillex for 2.5 hours was quite the surprise! I don’t even really know what to say about this besides it’s three of my favorite artists all on stage, messing around together for 2.5 hours, of course this was going to be number one! How did this even happen, and how was I even there to witness it?!?
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