Billboard is reporting that Live Nation is buying out Superfly’s remaining stake in Bonnaroo. In other words, this could mean big changes for the festival. After entering a partnership with Superfly and AC Entertainment, Live Nation bought a stake in Bonnaroo in 2015. Therefore, this would be the ending of Superfly’s involvement in the popular festival. Moving forward, Bonnaroo will be producing the festival by co-founder AC Entertainment and C3 Presents, which Live Nation purchased in 2014.
Bonnaroo co-founder Rick Farman told Billboard in 2015:
“We built this business on partnerships, and having a company like Live Nation come to the table and want to be part of that partnership in the way that they are here, and making the commitment to taking Bonnaroo to the next level, is an extremely gratifying, humbling validation of the hard work.”
More Bad News For Superfly
Equally important, this isn’t the first time Superfly has been in the news recently. While Superfly was set to produce this year’s Woodstock 50, it seemed there were disagreements regarding the much-anticipated event. Ultimately, pulling out as a production partner. A spokesperson for the festival shared:
“The producers of the Woodstock 50th anniversary festival hired Superfly to leverage our expertise as veteran event producers to manage festival operations, a role that aligned with our mission of creating shared experiences that build community. Following the decision of one of our clients, Dentsu, to cancel the event, we will no longer be participating in ongoing related activities.”
A Bright Future for Bonnaroo
After all, with Live Nation Buying out Superfly’s stake, good things seem to be in the future for the festival. As a result, it is a great opportunity to continue to expand. Certainly, with over 80,000 daily attendees, this multi-stage festival will only continue to grow. They clearly have no issue drawing the top artists to perform, while this year included many powerhouse acts. The headliners included Phish, Post Malone & Childish Gambino. Other major acts included Brockhampton, Solange, Cardi B, Odesza, Kacey Musgraves and The Lumineers. It is very exciting to see what the future has in store.
