A few years ago, one of my favorite bands, Meshuggah, played Bonnaroo—a massive music festival known for its mainstream appeal.

Bonnaroo happens just 45 minutes down the road from where I live in Nashville in a little town called Manchester. It has a reputation for attracting the average “fest bro” or the self-proclaimed “music lover” whose concert-going experience begins and ends with this one event each year.

We call these people "normies". (I'm not throwing shade—it's just what they're called 🤷‍♂️)

And to be fair, I’ve been to Bonnaroo a few times myself. Loved every second of it.

Most of the artists on the lineup have had some level of mainstream recognition—whether they broke out on college radio or had a viral indie hit.

But Meshuggah? A genre-defining Swedish metal band that’s been around since 1989? That was an interesting choice—both for Bonnaroo and for Meshuggah.

Sure, there’s an obvious financial upside to playing a festival that big. But there’s also a rare opportunity: the chance to convert an entire audience of festival-goers who might otherwise never stumble into their world.

Instead of gatekeeping the metal scene, maybe they saw it as an opportunity to be the bridge—the one band willing to introduce a crowd of normie fest bros to something heavier, something more intricate, something they just might see themselves in.

I don’t know why Meshuggah chose to play Bonnaroo. But if it was to plant the seeds of a new fandom, I’d say that’s a win—not just for them, but for the entire metal scene.

If you ever find yourself getting tired of "preaching to the choir" so they say, perhaps it's time to show up in the mainstream and invite some outsiders to the party.

– Charles

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P.S. Knocked Loose, another big metal band who you’d never expect to play Bonnaroo, actually just did the same thing last summer.

​They even recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel.​

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