Jonathan Mayers, a co-founder of Superfly Entertainment who also served as a co-founder of game-changing music festivals like Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, has died, Billboard and a Bonnaroo representative confirmed to Pitchfork He was 51.
After growing up a short drive from New York and graduating from Tulane University, in 1995, Mayers immersed himself in the music world through work at the storied New Orleans institutions Tipitina’s and Jazz Fest. In 1996, he co-founded the promotion company Superfly Entertainment with Rick Farman, Richard Goodstone, and Kerry Black. The group organized its first concert—the Meters, Maceo Parker, and Rebirth Brass Band—during Mardi Gras, before setting sights on bigger ideas.
In 2002, Mayers and his Superfly coworkers launched the inaugural Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, in Manchester, Tennessee. They sought out an open expanse of land on a farm an hour outside of Nashville, and booked headliners Trey Anastasio (of Phish) and Phil Lesh and Bob Weir (of Grateful Dead) to top the bill. The four co-founders partnered with promoter Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment, agent Chip Hooper of Paradigm Talent Agency, and manager Coran Capshaw of Red Light Management, and the rest was history. The first-ever Bonnaroo sold out, and the 70,000-person capacity festival would go on to become a recurring success. In a few years’ time, Bonnaroo would not only inspire dozens of music festivals across America, but also serve as the blueprint for how to rethink music festivals in the modern era under tighter restrictions compared to the Woodstock era.
Just a few years later, Superfly started Vegoose, an annual Halloween music and arts festival, with multi-venue programming across Las Vegas in 2005. Mayers partnered with San Francisco’s Another Planet Entertainment to launch Outside Lands, in Golden Gate Park, in 2008. That multi-genre, multi-day music festival grew to become the largest independently owned music festival in the United States.
In addition to starting other events around the country, like the comedy-focused festival Clusterfest in San Francisco in 2017, Mayers also turned his attention toward film and TV rights holders to start immersive experiences for fans. By licensing rights from popular shows like Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and more, Mayers and his team recreated TV sets in various cities that allowed fans to “step inside” their favorite series.
In August 2021, Superfly terminated Mayers’ position at the company following internal disagreements with the three other co-founders of the entertainment company. The next year, Mayers sued Farman, Goodstone, and Black, accusing them of civil misrepresentation, breach of contract, and fraud over the underestimated value of his shares in Superfly. In January 2023, a New York judge dismissed the lawsuit. Mayers went on to focus on Core City Detroit, a new project investing in a music campus for local artists that also could host public events.