Dave Paulson

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

It's hard to believe that Bonnaroo is returning to Manchester, Tenn., for its 15th year — but it's easier to accept once you look back at the range of incredible performances the festival has hosted since 2002. In honor of Bonnaroo No. 15, we've collected 15 of the greatest performances in Bonnaroo history.

Apologies in advance for leaving out your favorite (sorry, Bruce). Making a list like this is a fool's errand, but it's also a lot of fun. Here's to a lively comments section!

Trey Anastasio (2002)

Bonnaroo was born at a time that's hard to fathom these days — three years after the riots at Woodstock '99, when creating a massive music festival was the last thing most concert promoters wanted to do. But Bonnaroo's founders knew better. In many ways, they took a page from jam-band giants Phish, who hosted a string of wildly successful weekend concerts before and after the Woodstock '99 debacle. And it paid off, as 70,000 tickets for the fest sold out in advance. Phish went on hiatus in 2000, so Bonnaroo booked frontman Trey Anastasio to close out the inaugural festival in 2002 with a three-hour set. The funky rave-ups of "Push On Til' the Day" are now the stuff of legend for original Bonnaroonies, as is a speech that truly captured the moment.

"While the world is thinking that good, positive gatherings of people in the form of live music is something that's going the way of the wind, I actually feel quite the opposite," Anastasio​ told the crowd. "I mean, look at this ... the fact that media and people are not noticing, maybe that's a good thing."

Neil Young and Crazy Horse (2003)

A lot changed in Bonnaroo's second year, including the festival booking its first mainstream star. But Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young and his longtime band Crazy Horse weren't in the business of crowd-pleasing at the time. They had kicked off their latest tour just a week prior, and had been playing their next album, "Greendale," in its entirety at shows. They ditched that plan at Bonnaroo, instead delving into a set of classic tunes including "Cinnamon Girl" and "Down by the River," stretching several of the songs past the 15-minute mark with wild extended jams.

Kings of Leon (2004)

In 2004, Nashville's first homegrown rock stars were a big deal overseas but still barely a blip back home in Tennessee. They proved their worth with an explosive set on one of the smaller "Tent" stages, which culminated with a rendition of "Trani" that's widely pointed to by fans as one of their best performances ever — as well as one of Bonnaroo's. Six years later, Kings of Leon would be headlining the festival.

Radiohead (2006)

Here's the moment where the Bonnaroo we know today truly took shape. With a headliner that moved well beyond the boundaries of rock and roots music, 2006 was a definitive year for the fest. And considering the British band's arc, it was the perfect time to see it headline a festival, as it balanced tons of classics from "The Bends" and "OK Computer" with new dabblings into polyrhythms and electronics. Thom Yorke and company were far less compromising when they returned to Bonnaroo in 2012.

The White Stripes (2007)

Of all the glorious, sunset-timed performances Bonnaroo has hosted on the Which Stage on the festival's final day, this one will always stand out — especially because it was one of the band's last. Three months after their set at Bonnaroo Jack White and Meg White canceled their tour and eventually called it quits. Jack, of course, wasn't through with Bonnaroo. He returned with bands The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather before headlining as a solo act in 2014.

Superjam with Questlove, John Paul Jones and Ben Harper (2007)

Bonnaroo's signature "Superjams" have turned into massive events with tons of special guests — and that's awesome — but perhaps the most definitive Superjam also was one of the simplest. Three great musicians from separate worlds and eras — hip-hop drummer Questlove, roots-rocker Ben Harper and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones — found a ton of common ground in a revelatory set that included Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" and "Good Times Bad Times."

The Flaming Lips (2007)

Look, the Bonnaroo audience is focused on the music — more than most, we'd argue — but art-rockers The Flaming Lips land on this list, in part, out of sheer spectacle. This was the year the band's set began with a "spaceship" landing on stage, and soon frontman Wayne Coyne was traversing the crowd in his infamous human hamster ball. It's a stage entrance that may never be topped.

My Morning Jacket (2008)

We're not ranking these performances, but if we were, this legendary set from Louisville, Ky.'s My Morning Jacket might have topped the list. Fans stuck it out through the pouring rain until nearly 4 a.m. to see Jim James and band play two sets of originals and unexpected covers, including "Get Down On It" by Kool and the Gang and Erykah Badu's "Tyrone." Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett joined them for a tune, as did Zach Galifianakis, who wore an "Annie" costume while helping the band close the show with Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home." No, really.

Janelle Monae (2009)

An incredible performance goes a long way in Manchester. Before she lit up late night TV and sang at the White House, R&B genius Janelle Monae blew minds at Bonnaroo in 2009, a full year before the release of her debut album. She'd be back on Bonnaroo's biggest stage five years later.

Phoenix (2009)

Few performances are a better example of how Bonnaroo performers and their crowd feed off of one another's energy. The French rock group's excitement over playing for a huge crowd in Tennessee was immediately evident, and its audience gave that excitement back tenfold. Before its transcendent set was over, frontman Thomas Mars was singing from the middle of the crowd, which surfed him safely back to the stage. Bonnaroo tries not to book the same act two years in a row, but sometimes the organizers can't help themselves. Phoenix came back in 2010 to close out the weekend on the Which Stage.

Beastie Boys (2009)

2009 marked a bittersweet moment in Bonnaroo history, as the festival hosted what ended up being the final concert from the Beastie Boys. Two months later, Adam Yauch's cancer diagnosis led the rap trio to cancel its performances. He died three years later, and the surviving members have said they won't perform without him.

Jay Z (2010)

Jay Z was Bonnaroo's first hip-hop headliner, and they knocked it out of the park. It was a tall order for "Hov" to follow Stevie Wonder on Saturday night, but he and his band delivered, and an audience of 50,000 or so realized that they knew — and loved — dozens of Jay Z songs. We might argue that not until a Beatle came to Bonnaroo (more on that soon) did the festival book a headliner with more universal appeal.

D’Angelo (2012)

It's hard to remember now that he's back in the spotlight, but in 2012, it had been 12 years since D'Angelo had performed on stage in the U.S. That changed with a surprise appearance at a Bonnaroo Superjam spearheaded by Questlove. "You were here!" the drummer exclaimed to the audience. "You saw it."

Paul McCartney (2013)

Perhaps the headlining set to end all headlining sets. The former Beatle's performance at Bonnaroo 2013 has left attendees breathless ever since, and a field-wide singalong of "Hey Jude" was one of those magical moments that's stuck with all who were there. It may have stuck with McCartney, too. "You are something, Bonnaroo," he told his audience.

Florence and the Machine (2015)

Two months after she'd broken her foot at Coachella, Florence Welch seemed as fearless as ever on Bonnaroo's biggest stage. “That was one of my favorite festival shows that we did, actually," Welch later told The Tennessean. "The crowd was amazing. That was quite soon after I'd broken my foot. To be honest, I probably started running around earlier than I even should have."