Jonathan Mayers, a concert promoter who co-founded the music festivals Bonnaroo and helped create Outside Lands as a principal at Superfly Entertainment, has died at the age of 51. The cause of death is as yet unknown.
The news arrives as the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is set to kick off on June 12 with headliner Luke Combs. The three-day musical gathering continues through June 15.
The New York City native founded Superfly Presents as a marketing and event company in 1996 with partners Kerry Black, Rick Farman and Richard Goodstone, co-creating events such as the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival with Another Planet Entertainment and Bonnaroo, held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee since 2002.
Mayers’ first job was working with New Orleans’ legendary Tipitina’s and the city’s Jazz Fest. Superfly then went on to stage its first concert with the Meters, Maceo Parker and Rebirth Brass Band during Mardi Gras.
Mayers partnered with AC Entertainment’s Ashley Caps, Paradigm agent Chip Hooper and Red Light manager Coran Capshaw to launch Bonnaroo. Featuring headliners like Phish’s Trey Anastasio and members of the Grateful Dead and annually drawing crowds of more than 70,000, it has become the model for the modern music festival.
Superfly launched Vegoose festival in Las Vegas in 2005, then partnered with Another Planet to launch Outside Lands in San Francisco’s fabled Golden Gate Park. In 2017, Mayers partnered with Viacom and Comedy Central to produce a comedy festival dubbed Clusterfest, which included the likes of Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah.
Mayers’ innovative promotion approach included recreating sets from iconic TV shows like Seinfeld, The Office and The Daily Show offering immersive fan experiences, including a Friends pop-up of the iconic set in New York, Boston and Atlanta.
Mayers left Superfly in August 2021 and sued his ex-partners in early 2022, accusing them of breach of contract and fraud for underestimating the value of his ownership in the company. The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2023.
Since leaving Superfly, Mayers worked on Core City Detroit, a project which sought funds to invest in the inner city, creating a music campus with entertainment experiences for the public.
His longtime friend, Dayglo Presents and Brooklyn Bowl founder Peter Shapiro, told The Hollywood Reporter: “People use the word visionary a lot in our business but Jonathan Mayers was the real deal when it came to imagining what something new could be. It takes courage to lean into doing something that could crash and fail. And that is how Jonathan Mayers broke down real barriers and created some next level music festivals that impacted a generation of fans, bands and promoters.”
Another Planet Entertainment issued a statement describing Mayers as “a bright light, always pushing new and creative ideas in the entertainment space. Everyone in the Another Planet family will miss him dearly.”
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