Bonnaroo 2019: Festival-Goer Dies After Being Found Unresponsive

A 27-year-old Bonnaroo festival attendee died Saturday after being found unresponsive at one of the campsites.

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival organizers said their medical team responded to a report of a medical situation at one of the campsites, reports The Tennessean. The male victim was found unresponsive, but breathing.

The festival’s emergency medical team and Coffee County, Tennessee Emergency Medical Services reached the scene minutes later. They performed CPR, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

The cause of death was unknown, but Bonnaroo organizers said he might have had an underlying medical condition. The identity of the man, who was camping with his father, has not been revealed.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends…The well-being of our patrons, staff, volunteers and artists is our primary concern, and we work diligently to ensure the safest festival possible,” Bonnaroo officials said in a statement, reports Fox17 Nashville.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the man’s death.

The man’s death comes a year after Michael Donivan Craddock Jr. was found dead at the festival campgrounds during the 2018 event. The 32-year-old Mt. Juliet resident was found dead on June 8, 2018. An autopsy found he died of an overdose, with cocaine, alcohol and the drug MDA in his system.

There are other instances of tragedies at the festival. In 2009, a cleaning crew found the body of a man in his 20s the day after the festival ended. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office said the death was likely due to a pre-existing medical condition or drug use.

In 2011, Christopher William Yoder, 32, and Beth Myers, 32, died at the festival. Two festival-goers were killed in a 2013 10-car pile-up on their way to the event. In 2015, a 47-year-old man died after suffering a heart condition, and in 2016, 22-year-old Casey Young died while trying to walk across the busy I-24 highway near the venue.

Bonnaroo 2019 is sold out this year, with an expected 80,000 attendees at the Manchester, Tennessee festival. It is the first sellout since 2013, when Paul McCartney was the headliner.

This year’s headliners are Phish, Childish Gambino, Post Malone and The Lumineers. Other performers include Solange Knowles, The Avett Brothers, Kacey Musgraves, Hozier, The National, The Lonely Island, Cardi B, Brandi Carlile and Walk The Moon.

On the first day of the event, Bonnaroo hosted a special Grand Ole Opry performance. Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttle, Morgan Evans, Riders in the Sky, Steve Earle and the Dukes, Went Moten, Ashley Monroe and Ricky Skaggs giving the audience a tour of country music subgenres, reports CMT.

The festival ends on Sunday.

Photo credit: FilmMagic/FilmMagic for Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival/Getty Images