COSTA arrived at Bonnaroo for the first time and immediately recognized the force that keeps many attendees returning: “The Farm is not defined by any single genre.”
Bonnaroo is a temporary city where scenes, sounds, and identities collide, creating space for unexpected blends and shared influences to move between stages. Roo’s genre-spanning lineup also created room for artists to honor one another, with familiar songs resurfacing in edits, mixes, and unexpected flips throughout the weekend.
“It’s really crazy to see all of the different cultures and subcultures come together in a multi-genre festival. It’s awesome to look at, really!,” COSTA shared with The Daily Frequency in Centerroo just hours before his debut on the new and improved Where Stage.
That collision of influences is central to COSTA’s own sound, as his music career first began with making rap beats. As he progressed, his project quickly found a new dimension once he entered the EDM world.
Like many of us, it was experiencing electronic music in a live setting that changed everything. His first rave, a Tape B show, widened his perspective on how rap influences could coexist with bass music’s heavier sound design, providing a blueprint for the project that followed. The result is music built for movement: bass-forward, high-impact, and still connected to his early influences in rap and hip-hop.
Now, jumping to his first-ever Bonnaroo appearance, COSTA faced a formidable scheduling conflict: he was set to perform at the same time as RÜFÜS DU SOL, who was one of the weekend’s most anticipated performers.
Still, COSTA seemed less concerned with the conflict than with the opportunity to unveil what he had been building.
“I’m honestly just super excited to debut all of the new music I’ve been working on, a lot of new edits, a lot of fan favorites in there, and a couple ones that I’m ready to tease and release pretty soon.”
Inside his corner of the Farm at the Where stage, the crowd arrived ready for the high-energy, bass-heavy atmosphere that defines the COSTA project.
Despite technical difficulties and the wrath of Mother Nature, COSTA then proceeded to unleash a fury of familiar favorites, fresh edits, and unreleased tracks, turning his set into a party within the party that is Bonnaroo. While he later described his first Bonnaroo performance as one of the toughest sets he ever played, he threw the f*ck down, providing fans a wub-fueled outlet for a muddy, yet much-needed late-night release.
Through it all, the set marked yet another reflection of the festival’s wide-open musical ecosystem, where one crowd leaned into RÜFÜS DU SOL’s sweeping electronic world, another gathered at the spaceship-shaped stage in the corner of Centeroo to rage with COSTA.
Following a massive performance at Red Rocks for ALLEYCVT‘S SUPERSONIC ROCKS earlier this year, COSTA’s first Bonnaroo marked another stop in a much larger run of momentum. From making his Electric Forest debut following Roo to preparing for his first headline tour, his schedule is packed, but he views the relentless pace as fuel rather than pressure.
“Having so many big shows and programs up ahead, it keeps me motivated to stay in the studio and stay locked in. I just really want to put my best product forward, so these live performances are my way to showcase my art to the fans and the people who haven’t discovered me yet.”
For COSTA, the road and the studio move in tandem, with each show creating space to test new ideas while the momentum of a packed summer continues to shape what comes next. That momentum recently carried into the official release of his highly anticipated remix of Before He Cheats, blending Carrie Underwood’s country nostalgia with his explosive dubstep production.
With more show announcements on the horizon, it’s clear he isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and if Before He Cheats is any indication, there are plenty more bangers on the way.
