Backup Bonnaroo Fun!
Bonnaroo 2025 was set to be the first time back in almost 10 years for me. I went with my partner for Friday excited to see Of The Trees, Tape B, Detox Unit, Tipper, and all the adventures that roo had in store for us, but sadly that wasn’t meant to be. We were still on our way when the rain came. I held out hope that the show would go on and when the cancellation was announced, we couldn’t have been more disappointed. With it being so last minute, we thought there would be no way a make-up show would be announced and almost packed up and headed home, but at the last moment we heard that somehow, a makeup show was going to be starting in just a couple of hours in Nashville! And the lineup was exactly what we were hoping for, Of the Trees, Tape B, and Detox Unit all in one show? Yes please! We look it up on GPS, and that’s just a little over an hour from Roo. Traffic was a bit rough, packed with wet and frustrated Bonnaroovians, but we got there just in time to catch Detox unit mid set and check out the spot.
When we got there the line was huge. It was hard to believe that a show could be organized and announced so fast and still pull that much of a turnout right away, but that just goes to show the determination of Bonnaroovians and artists that we love. We didn’t know what to expect from Cannery Hall, just that it wasn’t Bonnaroo, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a spacious and. accessible venue so close to Broadway. They were fully staffed and had water stations for us when we got there and made the whole process smooth, which felt very impressive for a last minute pop up.
Speaking of impressive, let’s talk about those sets! We arrived well after the start time of 11:00 and Detox unit was already playing. I was almost disappointed that I’d missed some, but then I remembered how thankful I was to be seeing anything at all! Not only did Detox play everything i wanted to see, including his amazing new Lana Del Rey mix, but he went on to play until almost 1am, meaning we got a MUCH longer set than we would have at Roo. And immediately after that, we were blessed with another full set by Tape B who came in hot and loud. The whole crowd was bumping and grooving and you could almost feel the disappointment leave the crowd before Of The Trees came on and threw down one of the hardest EDM sets I’ve seen in ages. This was my first time seeing him and we were privileged to be right up front and raging hard with the rail riders. When 3am rolled around I was pretty satisfied with the night, but there were even more surprises in store for us as Of the Trees brought out Effin for a surprise B2B. These guys were having a blast on the decks together and it was so much fun getting to watch the two of them experiment and play some deep cuts for us as the night came to a close.
I had to admit I was a little worried that the crowd could have been angry about missing out on Roo and kill the vibe, but everyone I talked to was just so grateful to have this event to bring us together that it didn’t matter. We traded trinkets and stories with strangers and made new friends just like we hoped to at Bonnaroo, and for that and 4 incredible sets of music late into the night, we couldn’t have been more grateful. Special thanks to the artists for moving their whole plans on such short notice, and to the staff at Cannery Hall for welcoming us Bonnaroo Roofugees!