BONNAROO 2024 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: HAPPY LANDING

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival recently announced the 2024 lineup for the Who Stage. For those unfamiliar with how Bonnaroo stage names work, it is basically like an Abbott and Costello sketch with the sets taking places at What, Which, This, That, and Who. The Who Stage has long been one of our favorite places on The Farm. It features 100% rising acts and we assure you that if you hang out at the Who Stage for a while, you will come home with a whole new set of bands to add to your playlists.

For our first Who Stage artist spotlight we turn to HAPPY LANDING, an indie folk rock band that appears to love capital letters. Like us, they will be making the short trek down I-24 to the festival from Nashville. Originally hailing from Oxford, Mississippi, the five-piece group has experienced tremendous growth since moving to the Music City. Their recent touring schedule has paired them in support of such major acts as The Head and The Heart, Judah & the Lion, and The 502’s.

On their latest single, “Let Me Out,” we also see that the band has already figured out the truth about Nashville: no matter how big the city gets, everyone still knows everything about you. The song’s accompanying music video perfectly matches the theme the band has shared as being at the heart of the track:

“We moved to Nashville a few years ago, and anyone who lives in the city knows that it’s a very small town. That’s what Let Me Out is about — being unable to escape the memories of a relationship because everywhere you go, you’re reminded of them. The interstate is just one big circle around Nashville, so I thought it would be cool to create a scene where basically you’re stuck in this loop, going around and around and around, and all you want to do is escape this place because all the things you used to love about it are all blurring together into memories of this one person/relationship. Sometimes you need to distance yourself from the things that are hurting you until you’re ready to let yourself heal. Thanks to everyone for the support on this song, we love y’all (and we do still love Nashville)”

“Let Me Out” wraps its folksy lyrical delivery in an upbeat blend of Americana jangle and sunny indie rock jamming. We certainly expect the Who Stage crowd to be singing along with this in a few weeks.

Digging through HAPPY LANDING’s prior releases, there’s plenty to look forward to hearing on The Farm. “October” starts out as a stripped-down folk ballad that slowly builds to a hand-clapping, foot-stomping romp. The album version of “Love Your Guts” merges the anthemic rise and fall folk styling we expect from bands like The Strumbellas, but has a free flowing aspect to it too—almost wanting to go full jam band on us. We can’t wait to see if they expand on that at the festival.

While the Who Stage Lineup has been announced, the set times have not been added to the schedule yet. We do know that HAPPY LANDING will be playing on Thursday, June 13 so watch for those updates in the Bonnaroo App!

Listen to Happy Landing: