I’m really kind of tired of this narrative that there’s some kind of conspiracy against women at this festival. There isn’t. It’s the financial needs of those artists versus driving ticket sales for the festival.
My small amount of credentials: been in bands that were profitable on the road, currently I am a DJ that has done major tour support and festival work. Plus booking, promo and community liaison work on the production side of fests. Also, I dabbled on the reporting side for a decade too 😂
The majority of the female headliners people float are pop based. Or are newer artists with fewer releases under their belt. Pop music doesn’t hit the upper tier of festival circuit much outside of VERY specific locations. Why? Radius clause impacting tour profitability. I’ll explain.
Taking the female aspect out of that and just using pop shows as a whole here. Those tours have a very razor thin profit margin due to massive overhead on production, amount of dancers, bands (if they bother), and marketing. You don’t see many of them ever bothering with 2-3k seat auditoriums because it’s impossible to be profitable at that level. That’s why it ends up being arena (15-25k) and up when they do tour. And those tours are massive in scope with a lot of overhead before they even start. You have to market the heck out of these shows because you are trying to attract people who don’t normally go to a lot of shows AND are asking people to pay a premium on seats.
Why play a festival in TN that will knock you out of Nashville, possibly Atlanta, or some of the midsize places. Places that will help a tour be financially stable.
That’s why you’ve never seen Justin Timberlake on the farm. Or Bruno Mars. Bieber, Usher or the umpteen million k-pop bands at that level at the farm. Their price tag is too high for them to make it work at most festivals. Are they big enough? Absolutely. Does it make sense for Bonnaroo to book them? No.
This is why you’re also seeing a lot of these tours pack up lately. That margin is so slim, that if it’s not selling, you take the L now instead of bleeding money at every stop.
Coachella gets them because they will pay AND it makes sense to the artist because that’s an amazing prestige promo for them. A headline spot there helps them sell tickets elsewhere, like the Super Bowl does. The other side of that coin is how many of those shows are absolute let downs. For every iconic Beyoncé headliner, they have multiple bombs like Frank Ocean, weeknd 2018, etc. Pop artists tend to not be seasoned tour vets because of shelf life and expenses. Remember how pissed people were after 2017 Roo and that super underwhelming Weeknd set?
Now look at Bonnaroo and where they’ve been historically with pop artists. They get there early enough where the artist overhead hasn’t kicked in as hard and where it makes financial and artistic sense. They had Dua Lipa back to back years before she had much radio traction. The had a Thursday Lizzo performance before she really took off. Billie Eilish in 2018. Those sets were all band based, made sense for the festival at the time and worked until they didn’t. By that second year of Dua Lipa, she nosedived live. My wife and I were in the pit for that and we were laughing because it was so bad. From the “musicians” on stage with actions not matching the music or hitting launcher pads that were fully turned off, to her just dancing for minutes at a time to a backing track…. And then hitting vocals again with no audible change. That is absolutely whack for that to passable as a live set. The set is up on YouTube if you want to take an objective look.
We’re at a huge crossroads as far as festivals go, and Bonnaroo isn’t immune to it. I can imagine how bad the future would have been for this festival if they had another sub-50k year as initially looked like it was going to be. Slotting in your favorite flavor of the month pop star that costs a LOT more to book when you can get about six solid undercard bands for that price is a no brainer. Those six bands will drive ticket sales more reliably than one big artist.
I pretty much exclusively listen to female artists and this year was def a win for the pop girlies but Bonnaroo SERIOUSLY lacks female artists. Allison Wonderland killed it and I would love to see more female or gay djs at roo.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure they had Paramore last year. I've also seen many a female on the main stage. Maybe it' ain't bonnaroo. Maybe it's the industry at large. Even with awesome acts like Billie, Beyonce, and Ice Spice....it's dominated by men. Hard to find a female artist that stands out without sex being sold first. Actually I think the blame lies in the consumer over the years we kinda are responsible for the environment
Miley would be a great show. And she's more in line with what Bonnaroo would actually book. They've booked her before, she's huge, and going on a stadium tour next year. It makes sense people are mentioning her.
Not knocking Kacey, but I doubt we will see a country headliner anytime soon as there's a major country music festival the weekend before an hour away.
You can't have an irrelevant Legacy like Dolly headline. Put her on What stage, she deserves it, but have her headline and it'll be like the year Phish "headlined". You'll see quickly how much a) young Tennesseans don't care about her b) how many people travel to go to Roo, and don't care about her because only people from TN care for Dolly or even know who she is anymore. I mean I know of her boobs more than I know of her music.
But, Miley would pack that bitch out heavy. She could probably close the fest tbh.
praying to the Roo Gods that Lorde headlines next year. her 2017 set is still my #2 ive ever seen, hearing Green Light live (for the first time ever in front of an audience!!!!) was a religious experience
I’ve always found bonnaroo to always have a diverse lineup with many female acts in all ranges of popularity and genres. I understand the headliner slot is a prestige kind of slot but I don’t understand the criticism of when they either have a higher tier artist on deck or maybe the headliner level female acts are booked for that week or maybe just don’t enjoy playing the festival circuit. There’s plenty of reasons for the possibilities both ways, I don’t think it’s a fair accusation to say they are purposely preventing it. Do we want them to always hold a slot for a female led act regardless or do we want a solid lineup?
This is just one opinion in the void of the internets, I could be wrong as I’m not deep into the logistics side of festival booking. I just show up and dance. So take it with a grain of salt. It’s entirely possible I’m mistaken.
When there's been one female headliner you have to stsrt accepting the trend is likely bias and not coincidental. Nobody is saying there needs to be a token spot every year but there obviously needs to be more consideration. It's also a bit crazy to ask "to always hold a female slot or want a solid lineup" as if the two are mutually exclusive.
They’re not, however in the context of this discussion it’s a question worth asking. If you want a female headliner every year you need to save that slot. If it comes down to having Lana Del Rey because you need to make sure you have a female headliner and not have say The Rolling Stones or something (fill in your own example that’s a bit extreme, they just happen to be on the radio now) then I would say the lineup suffers because of it. If something absolutely needs to be there for inclusion purposes then there’s less room for something else that may draw a larger crowd or put on a better show.
That’s not saying they can’t put on a helluva show and rock the place. Id love seeing Madonna or some high level artist like that, but my point with that particular statement was that if you star booking an artist just to fill a supposed need rather than an artist of higher caliber, it’s a bad thing.
It's interesting how you are twisting a valid complaint about there only ever being ONE woman headliner and turning it into people trying to get a yearly quota. There are literally so many women artists of higher caliber so your statements are very telling...
Ok so why didn’t they accept? Do you know if they were approached or offered? Do you know if they even had interest in touring this summer? Or playing the farm? Is there anything you’d like to offer to help shape the discussion or do you just want to assign labels to people? It’s a sensitive topic I get it, but I’ve said nothing disrespectful towards female artists and their work but we honestly don’t have all the information to make a bias call.
At a certain point you have to accept this does not boil down to coincidence and disinterest. It is a systemic issue in the festival world, there are articles about it. It's actually asinine to hear one headliner was a woman and think it was because no other woman wanted to.
I didn’t say no one wanted to, I just pointed out that it’s also the artists choice to perform and it’s one possibility. There multiple things that could happen besides that and at that level of fame they can pick and choose if they desire. Now mid-level and the lower lineup? Very different story as there’s so many artists that can fit there of all genders and genres that it shouldn’t even be an issue.
Again there are literally so many upper echelon female performers. When you start ignoring literal statistical probabilities, research studies, and articles being done on a topic like gender bias, you should probably take a step back and start deconstructing the unconscious bias you've got going on because you are trying to downplay well accepted and studied concepts and have already said several questionable statements.
Women artists are on average more popular than men and make up less than 1/5 of headliner performances. Stop trying to blame that on scheduling.
This isn’t a me vs you situation. Also yes, I’m not the smartest person in the world it’s entirely possible I’m mistaken as I’ve pointed out. I’m speaking totally of headliner level artists, I’m very sure there is some level of bias as many different people with different values and beliefs shape the lineup. However who would you rank above RHCP in terms of catalogue and hits that would be a huge draw for the whole crowd? That would also want to do it, have that night free, and accept the money they were willing to pay?
I could definitely see Halsey or someone similar replacing Post but that man rocked that set and I don’t want to say anything disparaging about it lol
I also have a fondness for roo and the love that place brings that makes it hard for me to look at it in a negative light admittedly as well.
I'm not making it a me vs you situation. I'm telling you that you are downplaying a well studied issue. Even continuing to say things like "I'm sure there's some etc" or asking me to have to provide female artists worthy is just hitting off base. As I said, this is well studied and a simple Google search could easily provide you with some information on the matter. There are plenty of people who have provided lists of female artists or female-led bands in this thread alone for you to read if you truly can't use your imagination to come up with yourself.
>I also have a fondness for roo and the love that place brings that makes it hard for me to look at it in a negative light admittedly as well.
Sometimes we have to do hard and uncomfortable things when we have to deconstruct systemic issues. I'm glad you can acknowledge this discomfort but downplaying issues women have with being taken seriously in the music industry and festival world is not productive
im gonna confess something rn half way through Stevie’s set me and a girl snuck off from our group and went back to camp, we banged listening to Stevie Nicks in the distance. AND we’re now getting married come August, I think Stevie cast spells on us during that idk🫡
Yes, that's my question, how is Bonnaroo booking Stevie Knicks as their first female headliner pathetic? I think it's quite an accomplishment for a career to have sustained that long, and have such an impactful legacy.
I mean, personally, I'm glad she was the first and not Lizzo, Stevie is far more accomplished and deserving than fat Lizzo. Overall, I have seen a lot of great female acts at Roo, and I don't think that the artists care about the status game of "Headliner vs not headliner" in the same way you view it. Especially this male vs female dichotomy that we're shoe horning in.
Neither one of them were headliners? Sub headliner, but not the actual headliner. Idk how that’s confusing. Lizzo was the first one scheduled in 2020 and the actual first and only one to play so far has been Stevie Knicks.
We get lineups all the time with only men headlining and no one says those are catering to men or are manly lineups. But if we ever got a full female based headlining list, suddenly it would be so girly. What a shame.
for anyone saying there aren’t that many women that can headline, i think you need to listen to more women. alanis, no doubt/gwen, lana del rey, sza, doja cat, halsey, billie eilish, olivia rodrigo, bjork, florence and the machine, cardi b, lorde, miley, dolly, karol g, camilla cabello, dare i say gaga or ariana? and i really think meg and paramore could have headlined the last two years. while i admit some of these aren’t necessarily the strongest, i don’t think this year had the strongest headliners anyway and all of them have headlined a festival at some point.
I think the problem is that the top female artists tend to be pop a lot more often than male artists and compared to festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo steers away from super poppy artists. Bonnaroo also tends to book artists before they’ve fully blown up and established. Like realistically we’re probably not gonna get Taylor swift, Bad Bunny, Drake, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, or Bruno Mars until they’ve started become legacy acts.
well she was killer at lolla last year so maybe she had an off night. don’t see how a bad performance makes one of the most popular female artists ineligible to headline.
i actually thought abt a lot of those but beyonce and adele are simply too big for a festival that isn’t coachella. joni, mariah, and kate bush aren’t super active. lauryn hill is not reliable. janelle, while i love her, might not be quite there popularity wise, and i really don’t want nicki lol. i think missy and blondie(and potentially even alicia keys)would be killer though.
Don’t think Paramore or Meg are headliner caliber. I also don’t think Halsey or Cardi B are headliner caliber either. All of them are fine #2s. Even Miley is pushing it for headliner status, but I could see it
I saw Paramore headline at Adjacent Festival in NJ last year, and I disagree. I also think Halsey could pull it off.
Miley can DEFINITELY put on a headlining show, especially if she pulls some special guests.
I also saw Alanis Morrisette last year, and I wouldn't put her as a Roo headliner.
Oh they can pull off headlining shows, just not a top 4 festival in the country. Adjacent festival is not Bonnaroo. Miley I just said was borderline, see the 2020 lineup which is considered a strong lineup in part because she didn’t headline. She could headline, but it would risk the lineup being labeled as underwhelming
i think they’re borderline. while she’s a replacement, meg is headlining lolla and was a sub head when she played there in 2021. her, cardi, and halsey might not be the absolute strongest headliners, but i feel like there have been plenty of male headliners that were only ok and yet got a pass. paramore was just so good last year and their tours do pretty well. miley is absolutely a headliner though. she’s amazing live and has so many hits at this point.
It’s more of the fact that it would risk the lineup being branded as underwhelming. Meg was #3 on her day at Gov ball, and while I think it’s great she got the lolla fill in spot, I don’t think replacement acts are a good way to argue someone’s headliner caliber, especially for a fest that’s already sold out. Miley was billed as #2 in 2020, and her stock hasn’t gone up much since then.
miley just had the biggest hit of her career(2nd biggest song of 2023) and won her first grammy. if her stock hasn’t gone up after that i don’t know what would. and this “underwhelming lineup” concern is what i was talking about with men getting more of a pass. who cares if people think it’s an underwhelming lineup? fred again could not have been more of an underwhelming pick, and people were very vocal about it, but it really didn’t matter in the end
edit: also meg was #3 at gov ball…3 years ago…on the only day there were 2 headliners. it’s semantics i know, but she’s the 1st person to be listed after the headliners, just like lolla in 2021, and roo this year.
Oh yeah, she's been around for over 30 years. She actually had a couple of minor dance hits in Canada in the early 90s and then kind of reinvented herself with Jagged Little Pill in '95.
I think the problem is most big female musicians are pop artists and they usually don’t align with what Bonnaroo is booking. There’s plenty of amazing female musicians that I’d be happy to see, but very few that would appease most of the Bonnaroo fans if they showed up on the top of a lineup. I’d love to see Billie, but if she’s selling out arenas on her own, there’s really no incentive for her to play Bonnaroo.
So who are they? Other than No Doubt or Missy Elliott, I’m not sure who they would book as a female headliner next year.
Bonnaroo books pop but they’re not booking headliner big pop acts.
First just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't. Miley was slated to headline in 2020 when she was primarily pop.
But a list off the top of my head if you are excluding pop:
Florence? Lauryn Hill? Dolly? Evanescence? Alicia keys? Shania twain? Mary J Blige, Missy Elliot, Alanis, SZA, Rihanna, Doja, I really could keep going
Tool was slated to headline, not Miley.
Florence, Evanescence, or even Lauryn Hill aren’t big enough for the top headliner spot imo. I can’t imagine them getting Rhianna, but the rest would be decent acts to get. But like I said, if Alicia Keys or Mary J showed up on a lineup as headliners I don’t imagine a majority of Bonnaroo fans being thrilled about it.
Lauryn Hill is literally regarded as one of the best rappers of all time and one of the most influential musicians of her generation WHAT are you talking about my god? Why would people not be thrilled exactly? They are extremely popular artists.
You seem to be confusing popular/influential with headliner. I love Lauryn and the fugees, but she played in 2014 and was nowhere close to a headliner spot. She actually played a tent and didn’t even get a stage spot. So that’s 10 years ago, she’s done nothing new and the Bonnaroo crowd has gotten even younger; why exactly would she get promoted from tent act to headliner with even less popularity?
The fugees are currently playing RiverBeat which had 37,000 people attend last year. They’re headlining a festival that has less than half the attendance of Bonnaroo so how exactly would they get booked as a headliner?
You obviously don’t know anything about how they book and bill artists so please stop acting like I’m the crazy one.
Last I checked legacy artists don't need to be putting out new content to headline. And how am I confused when legacy acts are normally decided upon by the popularity and influence?
Popularity is the keyword there.
Red hot chili peppers have 38 million Spotify listeners, Lauryn doesn’t even have half that and Mary J Blige has even less. Alicia is the only one coming close and she’s still more than 10 million behind them.
And TOOL was slated to headline with 4.5. Alicia has 6 million more than the Foo Fighters. Phish has 500k and closed out Friday AND Sunday in 2019. Spotify followings are arbitrary but you only seem to be caring about it when it's women.
They have a European tour. That’s not going to be cancelled to play Bonnaroo. Not being a buzz kill, it’s just true. I’d love Billie, so hopefully 2026
Like I said anything can happen lol pregnancy, world events keep her out of Europe etc. Plenty of tours have been postponed canceled etc. All ya just gotta do is speak it into reality👍👍
Tbh Megan coulda headlined this year, but there’s honestly not that many woman performers (or males tbh) that could take the stage over someone like post Malone or RHCP… especially when they have to choose a specific line up. Maybe Carti B or Lizzo? I’m not super familiar with females outside of the rap sphere so idrk who else they would be able to make a headliner compared to one of these other monsters.
There are literally so many modern and legacy acts by women that would be on par or above post or rhcp.
Florence? Lauryn Hill? Dolly? Evanescence? Alicia keys? Shania twain? P!nk? Katy Perry? Mary J Blige, Missy Elliot, Alanis, Lana, Billie, Lorde, Halsey, SZA, Rihanna, Ariana, Miley, Doja, I really could keep going
All of these women have literally headlined festivals in the past or are regarded as some of the bests in their respective genres. Try hard not to show your bias next time.
Shut the hell up.
Me saying that Shania Twain, Evanescence, Lorde, Halsey, Alanis arent the level of star to headline one of the biggest festivals in the world is not me “showing my bias.”
Fuck off with your bullshit.
Your response is very telling. Shania twain is one of the best selling artists of all time. Evanescence is one of the best selling hard rock bands. I could keep going. Also bonnaroo does not even make the list of biggest festivals worldwide...
Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they aren't popular? Shania Twain is literally one of the most successful country artists to tour and is still selling out tours in her late 50s? She would be an amazing legacy act that would bring in loads of people.
Wait wait… youre doing that thing that morons like you love to do on reddit. Youre taking something I said and twisting it to fit your argument.
I NEVER said those artists weren’t popular you fucking idiot.
I said THEY ARENT HEADLINER STATUS!!
Stop taking what I say and twisting it.
No I think you are just missing the point. In what world would one of the most successful touring country artists of all time who continues to put out popular music NOT be a great legacy headliner?
I didn't say I personally enjoyed them. They are all well known artists who have all headlined elsewhere or considered top tier in their respective genres. You don't have to personally listen to people to recognize their significance or popularity.
If I don’t listen to them, I’m not gonna know who em they are. Sorry that I’m not on twitter constantly or don’t care about every artist influence in the music industry. I am so so so sorry.
Basing whether or not someone is worthy of headlining based on your admittedly limited scope in the music industry doesn't really make sense though does it?
The show here in Hampton VA - the area she grew up in (near Portsmouth) - sold out in no time flat. Maybe I can pick up a ticket without getting raked over the coals.
Everyone’s saying Megan could’ve headlined when smaller fests had her at #3 on the day instead of #2. She was my favorite set of the best day of Roo this year (not fav set), but she’s just not there yet.
Fred has a way bigger live music presence, the same way jam bands and other certain EDM artists do. Spotify numbers don’t always translate that well outside of pop
Coachella had women as 2 of 3 top billed headliners. Lolla started with 2 of 8 (they have two main stages, two headliners play at same time each night) and replaced Tyler the Creator with Megan thee Stallion to have 3 of 8. Not sure how ACL schedules so not sure how many "headliners" there are but Dua Lipa is top billed on her day. Bonaroo had 0 and is sitting at 1 woman out of 64 headliners in its history.
Wild that Primavera Sound in Barcelona - one of the largest European festivals - makes a real effort: "The lineup for the next edition \[2024\] of Primavera Sound once again puts us before a commitment to equality (42.36% women, 42.36% men and 15.28% mixed projects), a hallmark of the festival since the historic 2019 edition, which for the first time balanced the gender distribution." Lana and SZA as headliners.
All Things Go now has two festivals that are about 80% female artists, and ALWAYS female headliners - and sold out both weekends within a day.
Roo can do much better in this regard.
See idk who those are besides Tyler and Megan… but it is weird and makes me thing when someone like Megan who has twice the following on Spotify as Fred again hours before him…
I posted [this graphic](https://www.instagram.com/p/C15kUaDu8ZL/?igsh=MTg5YjRvZ2l1aHhzYQ==) from the Book More Women project back in January, and got massively downvoted. The bottom line is that less than 20% of the whole lineup was comprised of women. If you’re into EDM, I highly recommend the documentary [Underplayed](https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.5abbdda2-08a0-68d4-e7de-a88aca6f0dda&territory=US&ref_=share_ios_movie&r=web), which looks at gender representation within the music industry (mostly from the perspective of women and non-binary individuals who make electronic music).
Thanks for the recommendation on Underplayed, looking forward to checking that out.
That graphic is unfortunately the reality of so many festivals.
I'm a middle aged cis het white dude and a vast majority of the artists I was most excited for were women who I had never heard of before the lineup was announced (Ethel Cain and Chappell Roan at the top of that list).
There's so many bad ass female artists out there that need more exposure on lineups.
You wouldn’t even come within 10 feet of me. 1 because you would be terrified. 2 my crew. I didn’t threaten anyone. You are threatening me? For what? Saying people who like nas x are people who like sucking dick? Isn’t that a known fact?
I’m not scared if you cupcakes, if your scared of outspoken gay people your not scary🤣 and no, idk where u saw this man, but there is no one at roo who is pushing anything on anyone. The whole point is to go and listen to music and accept anyone for who they are. Your out here talking about how you won’t go cause you don’t wanna, what, have anything forced on you? That shot doesn’t happen, and your making a scare crow argument to hate on other people. So yes fuck you
Bro stop trying to look for an excuse to be homophobic. Nothing got “ruined”, you just hate seeing people happy to be gay and not scared to show it off… at a music festival no less… you really need to go outside and meet some new people
Big differences between being gay and being a part of the queer pride culture of bigotry towards anyone who isn’t a part of their community. Aka communism. I have plenty of gay friends and family who don’t support the pride community and their bigotry and lust for power. Y’all government stuges. That’s simple to see to anyone with a spinal column.
Over here making the same arguments people make against the Jews and Muslims against gays🤣 buddy you really need to stop by roo for a day, keep your bigot mouth shut if you have nothing nice to say, but rly come and see that’s not what’s it’s about. As a straight guy I tan into a ton of your “pride culture” that your scared off… bro everyone is fucing nice as hell what are you on about. It’s about it music and fun not power… the fuck???
Gay people who aren’t bigoted Queer Pride Socialists. The ones who paved the way for y’all to even have a voice at all. Without them gays would be getting harassed instead of embraced by the straight community.
It's bold of you to assume that gay people don't get harrassed now. Same sex marriage was only protected in all states in the US in 2015 and at that time, many states had laws opposing it.
Florida has laws that ban schools from even saying the word gay.
The people you are referring to (the ones who are still with us, because unfortunately many are not) fought for the freedom of those that came afterwards to live their lives as they see fit and to celebrate that.
Maybe you should take a hard look at yourself and your views.
Doesn’t even make any sense. Im alive and not following orders. How can I have drank the kool aid? You realize that is a reference to following a leader blindly and having no opinion of your own right? Isn’t that is what you are doing? Not me.
I was just telling my wife a Dolly & Miley country/pop super jam would amazing. The possibilities of covers and mashups are endless. And I'm sure those two would have no problems finding supporting acts, especially at a show in Tennessee. The grand Ole opry show at Roo was okay, but this would blow it out of the water.
There might be a lot less than male headliners, but they still exist. Some female headliners from major US fests this year:
Lana Del Rey
Doja Cat
SZA
Dua Lipa
That being said we have no clue who Bonnaroo actually tries to book, as they obviously can’t get everyone they want for a variety of reasons.
GIVE ME SZA this was the year for it. I saw her show in MSG last year and she was absolutely AMAZING
I’m really kind of tired of this narrative that there’s some kind of conspiracy against women at this festival. There isn’t. It’s the financial needs of those artists versus driving ticket sales for the festival. My small amount of credentials: been in bands that were profitable on the road, currently I am a DJ that has done major tour support and festival work. Plus booking, promo and community liaison work on the production side of fests. Also, I dabbled on the reporting side for a decade too 😂 The majority of the female headliners people float are pop based. Or are newer artists with fewer releases under their belt. Pop music doesn’t hit the upper tier of festival circuit much outside of VERY specific locations. Why? Radius clause impacting tour profitability. I’ll explain. Taking the female aspect out of that and just using pop shows as a whole here. Those tours have a very razor thin profit margin due to massive overhead on production, amount of dancers, bands (if they bother), and marketing. You don’t see many of them ever bothering with 2-3k seat auditoriums because it’s impossible to be profitable at that level. That’s why it ends up being arena (15-25k) and up when they do tour. And those tours are massive in scope with a lot of overhead before they even start. You have to market the heck out of these shows because you are trying to attract people who don’t normally go to a lot of shows AND are asking people to pay a premium on seats. Why play a festival in TN that will knock you out of Nashville, possibly Atlanta, or some of the midsize places. Places that will help a tour be financially stable. That’s why you’ve never seen Justin Timberlake on the farm. Or Bruno Mars. Bieber, Usher or the umpteen million k-pop bands at that level at the farm. Their price tag is too high for them to make it work at most festivals. Are they big enough? Absolutely. Does it make sense for Bonnaroo to book them? No. This is why you’re also seeing a lot of these tours pack up lately. That margin is so slim, that if it’s not selling, you take the L now instead of bleeding money at every stop. Coachella gets them because they will pay AND it makes sense to the artist because that’s an amazing prestige promo for them. A headline spot there helps them sell tickets elsewhere, like the Super Bowl does. The other side of that coin is how many of those shows are absolute let downs. For every iconic Beyoncé headliner, they have multiple bombs like Frank Ocean, weeknd 2018, etc. Pop artists tend to not be seasoned tour vets because of shelf life and expenses. Remember how pissed people were after 2017 Roo and that super underwhelming Weeknd set? Now look at Bonnaroo and where they’ve been historically with pop artists. They get there early enough where the artist overhead hasn’t kicked in as hard and where it makes financial and artistic sense. They had Dua Lipa back to back years before she had much radio traction. The had a Thursday Lizzo performance before she really took off. Billie Eilish in 2018. Those sets were all band based, made sense for the festival at the time and worked until they didn’t. By that second year of Dua Lipa, she nosedived live. My wife and I were in the pit for that and we were laughing because it was so bad. From the “musicians” on stage with actions not matching the music or hitting launcher pads that were fully turned off, to her just dancing for minutes at a time to a backing track…. And then hitting vocals again with no audible change. That is absolutely whack for that to passable as a live set. The set is up on YouTube if you want to take an objective look. We’re at a huge crossroads as far as festivals go, and Bonnaroo isn’t immune to it. I can imagine how bad the future would have been for this festival if they had another sub-50k year as initially looked like it was going to be. Slotting in your favorite flavor of the month pop star that costs a LOT more to book when you can get about six solid undercard bands for that price is a no brainer. Those six bands will drive ticket sales more reliably than one big artist.
Hard agree here.
THISSSS
SZA calling it rn
I pretty much exclusively listen to female artists and this year was def a win for the pop girlies but Bonnaroo SERIOUSLY lacks female artists. Allison Wonderland killed it and I would love to see more female or gay djs at roo.
It’ll never happen, but. Girl in Red for me
CHARLI OR SABRINA IM BEGGINGGGGG
nooooooooo (not claiming this) LOL tho :P
We use to get Paul McCartney level headliners now people are wish for acts with 1 solid album to headline
I’m not concerned with the sex of the artist, just bring in somebody good.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure they had Paramore last year. I've also seen many a female on the main stage. Maybe it' ain't bonnaroo. Maybe it's the industry at large. Even with awesome acts like Billie, Beyonce, and Ice Spice....it's dominated by men. Hard to find a female artist that stands out without sex being sold first. Actually I think the blame lies in the consumer over the years we kinda are responsible for the environment
i know she’s not the typical roo booking/vibe, but i’m a huge ariana grande fan lol. she can siiiiiiing and puts on such a good performance
Radiohead?
OP - What’s up with the lack of female headliners? u/syruponmybacon - Radiohead
Bro, them bitches can jam!
🙏
Shit Megan thee stallion was badass and fun af!
Could do: Thursday: Fisher Friday: Macklemore Saturday: Tame Impala Sunday: Miley and Dolly
Tate Mcrae, Sexyy Red, Sabrina Carpenter
Jessie Reyez would be good
I think Kacey Musgraves would be a good contender for a female headliner.
Bonnaroo doesn't do country headliners in addition to rarely booking woman headliners so I don't see them booking her any time soon.
In 2019 the grand ole opry headlined Thursday night on the main stage
Didn't they play at That Tent? Pretty Lights is the first artist to play on What Stage on Thursday.
I believe so but they were still listed as the "headliner" for that day
Just offering an alternative to everyone else saying Miley which is boring.
Miley would be a great show. And she's more in line with what Bonnaroo would actually book. They've booked her before, she's huge, and going on a stadium tour next year. It makes sense people are mentioning her. Not knocking Kacey, but I doubt we will see a country headliner anytime soon as there's a major country music festival the weekend before an hour away.
I don't think Miley would play a festival any more than Taylor Swift would. Just my opinion. I guess we'll see who's right next year.
More like Bonnadood amiright!?!?
Need Dua Lipa back
Miley and Dolly would be amazing 🥲
I would kill for a SZA headliner 😩
Stevie Nicks was amazing in 2022. I would love to see Florence + the Machine, Halestorm or Lady Gaga headline 2025.
Dua Lipa 2025
sza>
i’d love to see either billie elilish, dua lipa, or miley cyrus to headline. it’d be fuckin nuts
Yup nailed it. Bonnaroo is sexist and doesn't want women headlining for reasons. /s
This comment is unproductive. This is apart of a larger issue that exists in the festival world.
Dua or Billie deserves the spot for sure
Draw 25
I want Spiritbox!
Florence, make it happen.
I saw Florence there in 2016, i think. Incredible show. Would def go back to see her headline.
I wouldn't blink an eye at Miley/Florence/Dolly for the three headliners.
You can't have an irrelevant Legacy like Dolly headline. Put her on What stage, she deserves it, but have her headline and it'll be like the year Phish "headlined". You'll see quickly how much a) young Tennesseans don't care about her b) how many people travel to go to Roo, and don't care about her because only people from TN care for Dolly or even know who she is anymore. I mean I know of her boobs more than I know of her music. But, Miley would pack that bitch out heavy. She could probably close the fest tbh.
Solid rock/country/pop mix. Now I'll wait for people to come in and correct my genres.....
My body is ready. Or Lorde.
praying to the Roo Gods that Lorde headlines next year. her 2017 set is still my #2 ive ever seen, hearing Green Light live (for the first time ever in front of an audience!!!!) was a religious experience
I saw her, 3rd row at All Things Go two years ago. She is phenomenal, and maybe they could have Charlie XCX that night as well
I put her in my survey. It's been almost a decade. She's due to return.
I’ve always found bonnaroo to always have a diverse lineup with many female acts in all ranges of popularity and genres. I understand the headliner slot is a prestige kind of slot but I don’t understand the criticism of when they either have a higher tier artist on deck or maybe the headliner level female acts are booked for that week or maybe just don’t enjoy playing the festival circuit. There’s plenty of reasons for the possibilities both ways, I don’t think it’s a fair accusation to say they are purposely preventing it. Do we want them to always hold a slot for a female led act regardless or do we want a solid lineup? This is just one opinion in the void of the internets, I could be wrong as I’m not deep into the logistics side of festival booking. I just show up and dance. So take it with a grain of salt. It’s entirely possible I’m mistaken.
When there's been one female headliner you have to stsrt accepting the trend is likely bias and not coincidental. Nobody is saying there needs to be a token spot every year but there obviously needs to be more consideration. It's also a bit crazy to ask "to always hold a female slot or want a solid lineup" as if the two are mutually exclusive.
They’re not, however in the context of this discussion it’s a question worth asking. If you want a female headliner every year you need to save that slot. If it comes down to having Lana Del Rey because you need to make sure you have a female headliner and not have say The Rolling Stones or something (fill in your own example that’s a bit extreme, they just happen to be on the radio now) then I would say the lineup suffers because of it. If something absolutely needs to be there for inclusion purposes then there’s less room for something else that may draw a larger crowd or put on a better show. That’s not saying they can’t put on a helluva show and rock the place. Id love seeing Madonna or some high level artist like that, but my point with that particular statement was that if you star booking an artist just to fill a supposed need rather than an artist of higher caliber, it’s a bad thing.
It's interesting how you are twisting a valid complaint about there only ever being ONE woman headliner and turning it into people trying to get a yearly quota. There are literally so many women artists of higher caliber so your statements are very telling...
Ok so why didn’t they accept? Do you know if they were approached or offered? Do you know if they even had interest in touring this summer? Or playing the farm? Is there anything you’d like to offer to help shape the discussion or do you just want to assign labels to people? It’s a sensitive topic I get it, but I’ve said nothing disrespectful towards female artists and their work but we honestly don’t have all the information to make a bias call.
At a certain point you have to accept this does not boil down to coincidence and disinterest. It is a systemic issue in the festival world, there are articles about it. It's actually asinine to hear one headliner was a woman and think it was because no other woman wanted to.
I didn’t say no one wanted to, I just pointed out that it’s also the artists choice to perform and it’s one possibility. There multiple things that could happen besides that and at that level of fame they can pick and choose if they desire. Now mid-level and the lower lineup? Very different story as there’s so many artists that can fit there of all genders and genres that it shouldn’t even be an issue.
Again there are literally so many upper echelon female performers. When you start ignoring literal statistical probabilities, research studies, and articles being done on a topic like gender bias, you should probably take a step back and start deconstructing the unconscious bias you've got going on because you are trying to downplay well accepted and studied concepts and have already said several questionable statements. Women artists are on average more popular than men and make up less than 1/5 of headliner performances. Stop trying to blame that on scheduling.
This isn’t a me vs you situation. Also yes, I’m not the smartest person in the world it’s entirely possible I’m mistaken as I’ve pointed out. I’m speaking totally of headliner level artists, I’m very sure there is some level of bias as many different people with different values and beliefs shape the lineup. However who would you rank above RHCP in terms of catalogue and hits that would be a huge draw for the whole crowd? That would also want to do it, have that night free, and accept the money they were willing to pay? I could definitely see Halsey or someone similar replacing Post but that man rocked that set and I don’t want to say anything disparaging about it lol I also have a fondness for roo and the love that place brings that makes it hard for me to look at it in a negative light admittedly as well.
I'm not making it a me vs you situation. I'm telling you that you are downplaying a well studied issue. Even continuing to say things like "I'm sure there's some etc" or asking me to have to provide female artists worthy is just hitting off base. As I said, this is well studied and a simple Google search could easily provide you with some information on the matter. There are plenty of people who have provided lists of female artists or female-led bands in this thread alone for you to read if you truly can't use your imagination to come up with yourself. >I also have a fondness for roo and the love that place brings that makes it hard for me to look at it in a negative light admittedly as well. Sometimes we have to do hard and uncomfortable things when we have to deconstruct systemic issues. I'm glad you can acknowledge this discomfort but downplaying issues women have with being taken seriously in the music industry and festival world is not productive
I got to see Stevie Nicks headline the entire festival in 2022, that's about as female as it gets.
im gonna confess something rn half way through Stevie’s set me and a girl snuck off from our group and went back to camp, we banged listening to Stevie Nicks in the distance. AND we’re now getting married come August, I think Stevie cast spells on us during that idk🫡
And she was the first and only female headliner in 22 years. I love roo but thats pretty pathetic.
Why is that pathetic? I don't understand how Stevie's accomplishment there isn't something to be amazed by.
No one said it isn’t? It’s pathetic on Bonnaroo’s part it took 20 years to book her or any other woman as a headliner
Yes, that's my question, how is Bonnaroo booking Stevie Knicks as their first female headliner pathetic? I think it's quite an accomplishment for a career to have sustained that long, and have such an impactful legacy. I mean, personally, I'm glad she was the first and not Lizzo, Stevie is far more accomplished and deserving than fat Lizzo. Overall, I have seen a lot of great female acts at Roo, and I don't think that the artists care about the status game of "Headliner vs not headliner" in the same way you view it. Especially this male vs female dichotomy that we're shoe horning in.
How is that bonnaroo’s fault
I don’t understand. What about Paramore last year? Or Megan the stallion this year??
Neither one of them were headliners? Sub headliner, but not the actual headliner. Idk how that’s confusing. Lizzo was the first one scheduled in 2020 and the actual first and only one to play so far has been Stevie Knicks.
I cried so much during that set
So good.
such an incredible set
We get lineups all the time with only men headlining and no one says those are catering to men or are manly lineups. But if we ever got a full female based headlining list, suddenly it would be so girly. What a shame.
for anyone saying there aren’t that many women that can headline, i think you need to listen to more women. alanis, no doubt/gwen, lana del rey, sza, doja cat, halsey, billie eilish, olivia rodrigo, bjork, florence and the machine, cardi b, lorde, miley, dolly, karol g, camilla cabello, dare i say gaga or ariana? and i really think meg and paramore could have headlined the last two years. while i admit some of these aren’t necessarily the strongest, i don’t think this year had the strongest headliners anyway and all of them have headlined a festival at some point.
I think the problem is that the top female artists tend to be pop a lot more often than male artists and compared to festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo steers away from super poppy artists. Bonnaroo also tends to book artists before they’ve fully blown up and established. Like realistically we’re probably not gonna get Taylor swift, Bad Bunny, Drake, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, or Bruno Mars until they’ve started become legacy acts.
Lana del Rey cannot headline a festival. Look at hangout this year. Worst performance ever
well she was killer at lolla last year so maybe she had an off night. don’t see how a bad performance makes one of the most popular female artists ineligible to headline.
Dua Lipa
I’ll add to this: Beyonce, Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Janelle Monae, Lauryn Hill, Nicki Minaj, Joni Mitchell, Alicia Keys, Adele, Kate Bush, Heart, Blondie…
i actually thought abt a lot of those but beyonce and adele are simply too big for a festival that isn’t coachella. joni, mariah, and kate bush aren’t super active. lauryn hill is not reliable. janelle, while i love her, might not be quite there popularity wise, and i really don’t want nicki lol. i think missy and blondie(and potentially even alicia keys)would be killer though.
I've seen Blondie at a couple festivals, they always play main stages late afternoon, they are great live but nowhere near headliners anymore.
Don’t think Paramore or Meg are headliner caliber. I also don’t think Halsey or Cardi B are headliner caliber either. All of them are fine #2s. Even Miley is pushing it for headliner status, but I could see it
I saw Paramore headline at Adjacent Festival in NJ last year, and I disagree. I also think Halsey could pull it off. Miley can DEFINITELY put on a headlining show, especially if she pulls some special guests. I also saw Alanis Morrisette last year, and I wouldn't put her as a Roo headliner.
Oh they can pull off headlining shows, just not a top 4 festival in the country. Adjacent festival is not Bonnaroo. Miley I just said was borderline, see the 2020 lineup which is considered a strong lineup in part because she didn’t headline. She could headline, but it would risk the lineup being labeled as underwhelming
i think they’re borderline. while she’s a replacement, meg is headlining lolla and was a sub head when she played there in 2021. her, cardi, and halsey might not be the absolute strongest headliners, but i feel like there have been plenty of male headliners that were only ok and yet got a pass. paramore was just so good last year and their tours do pretty well. miley is absolutely a headliner though. she’s amazing live and has so many hits at this point.
It’s more of the fact that it would risk the lineup being branded as underwhelming. Meg was #3 on her day at Gov ball, and while I think it’s great she got the lolla fill in spot, I don’t think replacement acts are a good way to argue someone’s headliner caliber, especially for a fest that’s already sold out. Miley was billed as #2 in 2020, and her stock hasn’t gone up much since then.
miley just had the biggest hit of her career(2nd biggest song of 2023) and won her first grammy. if her stock hasn’t gone up after that i don’t know what would. and this “underwhelming lineup” concern is what i was talking about with men getting more of a pass. who cares if people think it’s an underwhelming lineup? fred again could not have been more of an underwhelming pick, and people were very vocal about it, but it really didn’t matter in the end edit: also meg was #3 at gov ball…3 years ago…on the only day there were 2 headliners. it’s semantics i know, but she’s the 1st person to be listed after the headliners, just like lolla in 2021, and roo this year.
Oops I meant Boston calling for Megan. And again, I didn’t say Miley wasn’t headliner status, just that it is borderline, the same way Fred again is.
I only think Halsey is not a headliner out of the ones you listed. SZA would be a killer headliner
I was thinking Alanis probably wouldn't be a headliner as well.
I’ll be honest I have absolutely no clue who that is
Alanis Morissette. If you aren't familiar with her stuff, would recommend the Jagged Little Pill album, one of the best albums of the 1990s.
Oh I know her. Not the biggest fan. Didn’t realize she was that old
Oh yeah, she's been around for over 30 years. She actually had a couple of minor dance hits in Canada in the early 90s and then kind of reinvented herself with Jagged Little Pill in '95.
Have we considered many artists do not want to play bonnaroo?
How would that impact women artists exclusively?
Because they could earn more doing concerts and higher paying Festival’s like Coachella, not to mention the stigma that comes with Bonnaroo
Why?
If they make more per show than what Bonnaroo offers them.
Oh duh lol didn’t even think about that. I thought he was trying to say artists secretly hate bonnaroo or something.
I think the problem is most big female musicians are pop artists and they usually don’t align with what Bonnaroo is booking. There’s plenty of amazing female musicians that I’d be happy to see, but very few that would appease most of the Bonnaroo fans if they showed up on the top of a lineup. I’d love to see Billie, but if she’s selling out arenas on her own, there’s really no incentive for her to play Bonnaroo.
Bonnaroo definitely books pop artists and regardless there are many female artists and female led bands that don't perform pop.
So who are they? Other than No Doubt or Missy Elliott, I’m not sure who they would book as a female headliner next year. Bonnaroo books pop but they’re not booking headliner big pop acts.
First just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't. Miley was slated to headline in 2020 when she was primarily pop. But a list off the top of my head if you are excluding pop: Florence? Lauryn Hill? Dolly? Evanescence? Alicia keys? Shania twain? Mary J Blige, Missy Elliot, Alanis, SZA, Rihanna, Doja, I really could keep going
Tool was slated to headline, not Miley. Florence, Evanescence, or even Lauryn Hill aren’t big enough for the top headliner spot imo. I can’t imagine them getting Rhianna, but the rest would be decent acts to get. But like I said, if Alicia Keys or Mary J showed up on a lineup as headliners I don’t imagine a majority of Bonnaroo fans being thrilled about it.
Lauryn Hill is literally regarded as one of the best rappers of all time and one of the most influential musicians of her generation WHAT are you talking about my god? Why would people not be thrilled exactly? They are extremely popular artists.
You seem to be confusing popular/influential with headliner. I love Lauryn and the fugees, but she played in 2014 and was nowhere close to a headliner spot. She actually played a tent and didn’t even get a stage spot. So that’s 10 years ago, she’s done nothing new and the Bonnaroo crowd has gotten even younger; why exactly would she get promoted from tent act to headliner with even less popularity? The fugees are currently playing RiverBeat which had 37,000 people attend last year. They’re headlining a festival that has less than half the attendance of Bonnaroo so how exactly would they get booked as a headliner? You obviously don’t know anything about how they book and bill artists so please stop acting like I’m the crazy one.
Last I checked legacy artists don't need to be putting out new content to headline. And how am I confused when legacy acts are normally decided upon by the popularity and influence?
Popularity is the keyword there. Red hot chili peppers have 38 million Spotify listeners, Lauryn doesn’t even have half that and Mary J Blige has even less. Alicia is the only one coming close and she’s still more than 10 million behind them.
And TOOL was slated to headline with 4.5. Alicia has 6 million more than the Foo Fighters. Phish has 500k and closed out Friday AND Sunday in 2019. Spotify followings are arbitrary but you only seem to be caring about it when it's women.
Billie eilish 💪
She’s unfortunately out. In Europe during Roo next year
Anything can happen
Contrary to popular belief, anything can’t happen
Actually in reality anything can happen😎
Actually if she’s booked in europe the extension of bonnaroo, she won’t in fact be at bonnaroo😂
It's a year away lol shit changes all the time dude being a buzz kill kick rocks
They have a European tour. That’s not going to be cancelled to play Bonnaroo. Not being a buzz kill, it’s just true. I’d love Billie, so hopefully 2026
Like I said anything can happen lol pregnancy, world events keep her out of Europe etc. Plenty of tours have been postponed canceled etc. All ya just gotta do is speak it into reality👍👍
You’re delusional, maybe lay off the party favors for a few months
Tbh Megan coulda headlined this year, but there’s honestly not that many woman performers (or males tbh) that could take the stage over someone like post Malone or RHCP… especially when they have to choose a specific line up. Maybe Carti B or Lizzo? I’m not super familiar with females outside of the rap sphere so idrk who else they would be able to make a headliner compared to one of these other monsters.
Post Malone is white mediocrity personified. There are tones of female acts who could replace him
There are literally so many modern and legacy acts by women that would be on par or above post or rhcp. Florence? Lauryn Hill? Dolly? Evanescence? Alicia keys? Shania twain? P!nk? Katy Perry? Mary J Blige, Missy Elliot, Alanis, Lana, Billie, Lorde, Halsey, SZA, Rihanna, Ariana, Miley, Doja, I really could keep going
Im sorry but a majority of those are NOT headliner status.
You’re right, and the response proved your point lol. There’s more male headliners. It is what it is.
All of these women have literally headlined festivals in the past or are regarded as some of the bests in their respective genres. Try hard not to show your bias next time.
Shut the hell up. Me saying that Shania Twain, Evanescence, Lorde, Halsey, Alanis arent the level of star to headline one of the biggest festivals in the world is not me “showing my bias.” Fuck off with your bullshit.
Your response is very telling. Shania twain is one of the best selling artists of all time. Evanescence is one of the best selling hard rock bands. I could keep going. Also bonnaroo does not even make the list of biggest festivals worldwide...
Very telling of what?? Knowing artists who should headline an 80,000 person festival?? What would sell tickets?? Because you sure as hell dont.
Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they aren't popular? Shania Twain is literally one of the most successful country artists to tour and is still selling out tours in her late 50s? She would be an amazing legacy act that would bring in loads of people.
Wait wait… youre doing that thing that morons like you love to do on reddit. Youre taking something I said and twisting it to fit your argument. I NEVER said those artists weren’t popular you fucking idiot. I said THEY ARENT HEADLINER STATUS!! Stop taking what I say and twisting it.
No I think you are just missing the point. In what world would one of the most successful touring country artists of all time who continues to put out popular music NOT be a great legacy headliner?
Yeah idk who half of those are.
That sounds like a personal problem because these are all extremely well known and successful women artists.
Just saying I haven’t heard of them so no I’m not gonna want them there over the other headliners we had… sorry
And I'm just saying you should try not living under a rock.
Oh, because I don’t listen to a bunch of music that you personally enjoy I live under a rock? Fucking dumbass
I didn't say I personally enjoyed them. They are all well known artists who have all headlined elsewhere or considered top tier in their respective genres. You don't have to personally listen to people to recognize their significance or popularity.
If I don’t listen to them, I’m not gonna know who em they are. Sorry that I’m not on twitter constantly or don’t care about every artist influence in the music industry. I am so so so sorry.
Basing whether or not someone is worthy of headlining based on your admittedly limited scope in the music industry doesn't really make sense though does it?
Damn, Missy Elliott would be it. Pretty wild her tour this year is her first ever as a headliner!
I know! She's touring right now with Ciara and Timbaland like the fucking icon that she is. I just know she would put on an INSANE show.
The show here in Hampton VA - the area she grew up in (near Portsmouth) - sold out in no time flat. Maybe I can pick up a ticket without getting raked over the coals.
Fingers crossed.
Everyone’s saying Megan could’ve headlined when smaller fests had her at #3 on the day instead of #2. She was my favorite set of the best day of Roo this year (not fav set), but she’s just not there yet.
I mean, she does have twice the clout on Spotify compared to Fred, who headlined after her… ik that’s not all they go off of but yea
Fred has a way bigger live music presence, the same way jam bands and other certain EDM artists do. Spotify numbers don’t always translate that well outside of pop
Coachella had women as 2 of 3 top billed headliners. Lolla started with 2 of 8 (they have two main stages, two headliners play at same time each night) and replaced Tyler the Creator with Megan thee Stallion to have 3 of 8. Not sure how ACL schedules so not sure how many "headliners" there are but Dua Lipa is top billed on her day. Bonaroo had 0 and is sitting at 1 woman out of 64 headliners in its history.
Wild that Primavera Sound in Barcelona - one of the largest European festivals - makes a real effort: "The lineup for the next edition \[2024\] of Primavera Sound once again puts us before a commitment to equality (42.36% women, 42.36% men and 15.28% mixed projects), a hallmark of the festival since the historic 2019 edition, which for the first time balanced the gender distribution." Lana and SZA as headliners. All Things Go now has two festivals that are about 80% female artists, and ALWAYS female headliners - and sold out both weekends within a day. Roo can do much better in this regard.
See idk who those are besides Tyler and Megan… but it is weird and makes me thing when someone like Megan who has twice the following on Spotify as Fred again hours before him…
I posted [this graphic](https://www.instagram.com/p/C15kUaDu8ZL/?igsh=MTg5YjRvZ2l1aHhzYQ==) from the Book More Women project back in January, and got massively downvoted. The bottom line is that less than 20% of the whole lineup was comprised of women. If you’re into EDM, I highly recommend the documentary [Underplayed](https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.5abbdda2-08a0-68d4-e7de-a88aca6f0dda&territory=US&ref_=share_ios_movie&r=web), which looks at gender representation within the music industry (mostly from the perspective of women and non-binary individuals who make electronic music).
Thanks for the recommendation on Underplayed, looking forward to checking that out. That graphic is unfortunately the reality of so many festivals. I'm a middle aged cis het white dude and a vast majority of the artists I was most excited for were women who I had never heard of before the lineup was announced (Ethel Cain and Chappell Roan at the top of that list). There's so many bad ass female artists out there that need more exposure on lineups.
Another middle aged white cis guy - same. Chappell was incredible! And so was Brittany Howard.
I can't get into Brittany's solo stuff. Musically she was great but I miss the Shakes.
I liked it more than Alabama Shakes tbh
They book a lot of women headliners.
Who? Stevie Nicks headlined and Lizzo was booked for the two years that didn't happen. What other women headliners has their been?
Was Megan thee stallion not considered a headliner?
No, Fred Again was the headliner. The headliner is the top billed name on that day.
O, meh.
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White ass Central Missourian man here to say I popped my bussy to lil Nas x
Super gay
Truly the gayest straight man lmao
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Dude, you seem *really* fixated on gay people cumming and sucking dicks.
Yep. Buttboob I’m the one fixated…
I mean, you clearly are. Not sure what you’re getting at
Try saying that shit a roo see what happens
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And no, you wouldn’t say that shit in person cause you’d be bleeding out if you did
You wouldn’t even come within 10 feet of me. 1 because you would be terrified. 2 my crew. I didn’t threaten anyone. You are threatening me? For what? Saying people who like nas x are people who like sucking dick? Isn’t that a known fact?
You are seriously a pathetic little man haha
I’m not scared if you cupcakes, if your scared of outspoken gay people your not scary🤣 and no, idk where u saw this man, but there is no one at roo who is pushing anything on anyone. The whole point is to go and listen to music and accept anyone for who they are. Your out here talking about how you won’t go cause you don’t wanna, what, have anything forced on you? That shot doesn’t happen, and your making a scare crow argument to hate on other people. So yes fuck you
Bro stop trying to look for an excuse to be homophobic. Nothing got “ruined”, you just hate seeing people happy to be gay and not scared to show it off… at a music festival no less… you really need to go outside and meet some new people
Big differences between being gay and being a part of the queer pride culture of bigotry towards anyone who isn’t a part of their community. Aka communism. I have plenty of gay friends and family who don’t support the pride community and their bigotry and lust for power. Y’all government stuges. That’s simple to see to anyone with a spinal column.
Over here making the same arguments people make against the Jews and Muslims against gays🤣 buddy you really need to stop by roo for a day, keep your bigot mouth shut if you have nothing nice to say, but rly come and see that’s not what’s it’s about. As a straight guy I tan into a ton of your “pride culture” that your scared off… bro everyone is fucing nice as hell what are you on about. It’s about it music and fun not power… the fuck???
What are "real gays"?
Gay people who aren’t bigoted Queer Pride Socialists. The ones who paved the way for y’all to even have a voice at all. Without them gays would be getting harassed instead of embraced by the straight community.
It's bold of you to assume that gay people don't get harrassed now. Same sex marriage was only protected in all states in the US in 2015 and at that time, many states had laws opposing it. Florida has laws that ban schools from even saying the word gay. The people you are referring to (the ones who are still with us, because unfortunately many are not) fought for the freedom of those that came afterwards to live their lives as they see fit and to celebrate that. Maybe you should take a hard look at yourself and your views.
You drank the Kool aid my guy. Go talk to some real non reddit people and get help.
Doesn’t even make any sense. Im alive and not following orders. How can I have drank the kool aid? You realize that is a reference to following a leader blindly and having no opinion of your own right? Isn’t that is what you are doing? Not me.
Dolly Parton
And a Miley Cyrus Friday or Saturday!
Nah Miley and dolly on same day or bust
It would be cool for Miley to guest appear with Dolly, but I think they're both worthy of headlining their own day
Personally I don’t think Miley is headliner. I think she’s second name. But Miley and dolly billed together would be a legendary set
Miley goes for an hour, dolly goes for 30 mins, then 30 mins of jams together would be cool
I was just telling my wife a Dolly & Miley country/pop super jam would amazing. The possibilities of covers and mashups are endless. And I'm sure those two would have no problems finding supporting acts, especially at a show in Tennessee. The grand Ole opry show at Roo was okay, but this would blow it out of the water.
Seriously dude. Could be mega for Sunday night .
There’s not a female headliner every year
There might be a lot less than male headliners, but they still exist. Some female headliners from major US fests this year: Lana Del Rey Doja Cat SZA Dua Lipa That being said we have no clue who Bonnaroo actually tries to book, as they obviously can’t get everyone they want for a variety of reasons.
There has been a female headliner exactly one time at Bonnaroo lol. Two, if you count the Lizzo headlining performance that didn’t happen.