This week, The What Podcast is back with part two of last week's peek behind the Bonnaroo 2024 curtain. Barry and Lord Taco are again joined by Brad Parker and Cory Smith from C3 Presents, the folks behind the fest, to discuss a variety of topics such as The Mars Volta, what makes Bonnaroo different from other festivals, and can't-miss performances like TV Girl and Ethel Cain.
The group discusses the biggest positive and negative reactions to last year's changes, particularly those made to ticketing and early entry. They also speak on how community events like The Roo Bus and Beer Exchange get integrated, as well as Jamtrak and how it will be tweaked. But of all the changes, they agree that what the festival changes most is lives, from attitudes to careers and beyond.
Listen to the full chat on The What Podcast and you can also watch it via YouTube. While you're at it, go ahead and like, review, and subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Topics: Bonnaroo, C3 Presents
Guests: Cory Smith, Brad Parker
We're almost a month into 2024.
We have the Bonnaroo lineup.
Last week we had special guests Brad and Cory from C3 presents to tell us about the changes,
to tell us about how much they love the festival just like we do.
This is part two of our interview with Brad and Cory and we're excited to start talking
about Bonnaroo 2024.
Let's go.
Here we go Russ.
This is part two.
Last week we got to spend some time with Brad and Cory from C3.
Basically they're just like you and me.
They're fans.
Yes they are.
Yeah.
Love talking to them.
We talk to them so much.
Yeah.
We're splitting it up into two parts.
So today you get part two of that conversation.
Yeah.
Part two.
I didn't know where our conversation was going to go.
I knew we were going to talk about some changes because that's what those guys do.
I mean Brad is the director, festival director and Cory is the marketing director.
So you know you can't get any closer to the source than those guys right?
No you can't.
And I felt like we could have talked to them all day long.
Yeah absolutely.
Yeah because they're just fans.
And that's what I thought last episode was so great because I mean they started as fans
and then got jobs.
And now they run the thing.
They do.
But they're still fans.
Pretty cool.
And they're still fans exactly.
Part two we get a little more in depth about some of the changes.
They were on with our show last year to talk about some of the camping and ticket buying
changes the a la carte as we're calling it.
And in this episode now they talk a little bit more how that went and what they're doing
different this year.
And essentially if I remember right it's just more fine tuning right?
They felt like last year worked.
And so there's some things to fine tune.
You know more water stations in some areas and jam track you know some changes to stuff
like that.
Right the first year after you make big changes like that you know there's always going to
be hurdles especially with communication just letting people know things are different.
But for the most part it sounds like everyone you know was happy with the changes and it
went well.
So they're you know they're keeping a lot of that and just fine tuning it like you said.
Yeah not to give too much away because really want you to listen to it but they we hear
again some of the things that stood out for this conversation from this conversation for
me and you was that more than 50 percent of people who attend Bonnaroo are first timers.
Which blows our minds because we you know everyone we talked to has been forever and
loves it and will always go.
But that that's an important point because it's a different you know mindset right.
When you walk in there as a first timer that place is huge and it's overwhelming.
Oh yeah.
And just navigating it can be overwhelming and knowing what to bring and all that.
So and that's where you know listening to a show like this and getting some pointers
hopefully like bring shade bring water.
Yeah I think eventually this year we'll do an episode like that do's and don'ts what
to bring checklists and all that.
I think that'll that'll always be helpful.
For sure.
And the other thing that I came away from with this part of the conversation is the
idea because we've talked about it over and over how much programming they do out in the
plazas and how you could literally spend all five days four days whatever just out there
and have a great time.
Yeah.
To hear Brad talk about it you know they're they know that but they're also having to
sort of step back and think you know we we've paid a lot of money for Post Malone or the
Red Hot Chili Peppers or whoever and so you know why are we are we programming against
ourselves.
Yeah.
Basically that's an interesting that's an interesting new new dilemma right.
It is yeah.
You've almost got too much happening and like they said they they know that you know 20
to 30 percent of the people at any given time are out in the campground so they want to
have something.
They know not everyone's in center all the time but yeah you don't want to spread yourself
too thin or make people you know decide if they have to go in or stay out.
When they spend all that money when they spend all that money.
Yeah.
It's a reality.
Yeah it makes sense.
Anyway it was a great conversation and I can't thank those guys enough and I look forward
to seeing them on the farm as well and probably checking in with them again later as we get
closer and maybe we can get Brian and Stephen on again.
Those are the guys from C3 who actually booked the lineup.
Oh yeah.
They've been guests.
They've been guests before and that's always everybody loves talking about the lineup and
we'll see if we can't make that work.
But all right here you go.
Part two of Brad and Corey from C3 presents.
All right.
All right.
Let's get into.
So a year ago or so you were kind enough to join us to talk about the changes and and
let's I'm going to try to bring everybody back up to speed.
At that time we were sort of calling it a la carte sort of ticket buying.
Are you still comfortable with that sort of description or is there a better way to.
Okay.
So for people again catching up that was you decided to break up how you bought your tickets.
You could buy a general admission ticket to get into center which would allow you to see
all the main shows and do most of the things but you could also upgrade your camping experience
right if you wanted an air conditioned tent or yurt you could upgrade and get that.
What are some of the other major things.
I mean it was really you could tailor your own experience the way you wanted to do it
right.
You could get a center ticket you want and pair that with whatever kind of camping you
want.
There's no kind of packages that you had to sort through just you want to get this in
center you want this in outer it went great.
We ended up selling basically every single elevated camping option that was available
last year and then you know we're sort of tasked with finding a way to grow that program
this year.
I think a lot of that makes it easier for people to travel by plane or you know carpool
from longer distances without having to bring a ton of gear and I think just like you know
if you're maybe in your 40s or something and want to go see the show and like me I'm not
going to you know crash on somebody's floor anymore.
Like I'm going to need a bed I'm going to need some air conditioning at night I'm going
to need to get a good night's sleep or I'm going to be in rough shape.
And so I think it's it's kind of helped people be able to plug into that and make the experience
the camping experience a little more comfortable.
And then you know if you if you just want to go into center and just experience it from
the crowd in the back wherever sit under a tree listen to listen to some tunes like you
can still do it that way.
And then we had a lot of people that they don't really care about where they camp they
just want somewhere to sleep they just want to get close you know they just want to get
close or they want to have somewhere in center where they can go kick back because they're
planning on being in there for 18 hours and seeing 35 bands in a day.
So it's just really let fans sort of like completely customize their experience based
on how they interact with the festival.
And it's honestly just really silly that we didn't do it earlier in my opinion.
Well I was going to ask that was it was it a scary thing because it was it was a pretty
big break not just for you guys but for the industry.
I mean I'm assuming there's probably some others that were toying with some I know like
you know Disney you can kind of tailor things around but but for for festivals it was a
pretty big break right.
And I know and I want to ask you about what you what the reaction was.
Some people see those numbers the dollars signs and we talked about this on the show.
I think some people forget people have money.
Some people don't mind spending a little bit more for air conditioning or or an ice bed
right and they can afford it.
So it's not like everybody's trying to think of how they can get by on the cheapest.
They want comfort right.
And I mean how much did that play into the decision.
And that's probably three or four questions thrown at y'all at once.
But I'll let you answer.
I think the key came down to being able to let people prioritize how they want to experience
the festival in the most cost effective way.
So if you can afford to have the AC and you can afford to you know buy a platinum ticket
and have a lounge inside center with free food and viewing at the stage and golf cart
rides and all of that right.
Then that's great.
But let's say you know you want to have the nicest camping possible but you also don't
care about you want to you want to be in the back of the G.A. viewing at the stages.
Then now you have the option to do that where before we made you go all in or not.
We made you make that choice.
But now we let you pick how you want to experience it.
If your priority is comfortable sleeping at night and you want to be sweaty in the middle
of a G.A. pit for at the main stage and you can do that if you want to be in VIP viewing
at the main stage and you don't care to sleep in a sweaty tent you know out in the campgrounds
you can also do that.
Whereas before we made you go all in.
Right.
You want the nice camping you got it.
You're going to have to pay the price to also have the good viewing and and you know vice
versa.
So I think that was the key is just literally creating as many options for fans to have
as possible so that the financial barrier of entry might might be able to.
Although some of the things on the higher end might have increased a little the overall
barrier of entry from a financial standpoint actually lower.
So I consider it a big success.
It was definitely scary mostly scary for me.
I don't know Corey's thoughts but my concern was just the education piece.
It was a lot to like communicate and get people to understand it.
It wasn't that I thought that I ever thought people would be against the idea.
I just thought it was going to be really tough to really explain to them what we're doing
and why we're.
It was new.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But Corey and the marketing team though I mean they're the best in the biz and they they
knocked out of the park with with that with that piece.
I think at the end of the day too it allowed us to create you know that that map interface
on the Web site now that works better than anything we've ever had.
Like the only the only way we've had to present this information in the past is just like
a list.
You just go on there and it's a long list with a bunch of things that are named that
you don't understand and you literally have to go through and read each one of them to
see exactly what you're getting.
And there's all these contingencies about which kind of ticket you have to have to be
able to do this etc.
And if you go on other camping festivals websites you'll find the same thing.
It's like really confusing to see like exactly what you need to like bring your car to this
place and go see music.
And I think I think last year was a really exhausting like heavy lift process to you
know change something that's been working a certain way for 20 years.
But I'm really really glad we did it and we haven't really got any negative feedback.
Really we haven't got anything except positive feedback from fans.
I know there's there's some people that you are really content with how the old VIP system
functioned.
They liked having that game plan over there and stuff and that'd be a worse.
That's a bummer.
You know I hate that.
I hate that people lost that.
But you know I do think as you evolve and change there are compromises that have to
be made and there just wasn't any other way around it.
You either have to stay coupled or decouple.
What was the your biggest positive surprise and what were the biggest sort of complaints
or negatives or challenges or whatever that you heard about that?
I think a lot of people didn't realize how noisy it was going to be over next to where
the woods.
So the kind of like first couple rows of some of those up close camping maybe were a little
louder than folks expected.
So I think a little more messaging about bring your earplugs probably be good on our part.
You might see me out there Thursday passing something out maybe.
Well we were next to what Calliope for a couple of years.
I was back there too.
That was wild.
Oh yeah.
Those Sunday mornings.
It's time to get up or don't go to sleep.
That was pretty relentless.
Yeah.
Yeah but that's all right.
But yeah everything else was positive.
I can't think of a whole lot actually.
Like last year we do a bunch of surveying and whether it's feedback on what people want
from the lineup next year or what facilities.
We got some information last year about maybe there weren't enough restrooms in this part
of the campgrounds or not and we'll be able to address that this year.
Stuff like that.
But overall the scores that we got coming out of Bonnarooy last year were much higher
than we were used to.
Some of the best scores we've ever had when you look to the consensus of everybody that
filled out those surveys.
So it just told us that what we're doing is right.
We're headed in the right direction.
All these upgrades to the farm are getting noticed and making people's experience there
easier and more comfortable.
It's making it easier for people to come back year after year.
So we're proud of that.
Obviously we're proud of the production team and Brad and Shelby and everybody out there
who are working tirelessly to make that happen and ultimately make my job easier.
Yeah, it was really, really positive coming out of last year.
I'm going to come back to some of that.
But how did the early entry work?
Because that's a huge change.
And I know why.
For people first time listeners, the entry traffic has been an issue since the very,
very first one when traffic lined up for miles and miles and miles on I-24.
And so you've always been trying to figure out a way to get people in quicker off the
street so to speak and into their campsite.
And so you went to a, it started, you could get in Thursday midnight and then it was Wednesday
during the day.
And then this year you have asked people to pick a day, whether Tuesday or Thursday, Tuesday
or Wednesday or Thursday.
So kind of an early, which is a big, which for people, and again, we love the logistics.
That means you guys have to deal with thousands of people on Tuesday and Wednesday when music
doesn't even start till Thursday.
So you've got bathroom, you've got food, you've got volunteers, you've got staffing.
How did that go for you guys?
I mean, listen, what we do in Manchester from an operational and traffic perspective is
nothing short of miraculous.
I think that people really, really don't understand.
I mean, like think about this, think anyone out there listening that grew up in a small
hometown, think about if we parked the Superbowl close to your local Walmart.
We've got 30,000 cars that come into the festival in a matter of about 70, 48 to 72 hours, 30,000
cars.
That's more than an NFL game, right?
And if you've been to Bonnaroo, you know, we're not, I mean, we don't have mega highways
flowing in.
We've got two lane roads.
Yeah.
So couple in and a couple out.
Yeah.
So Blake, Blake Harris and Jim Tobin and all the guys that put together and work with Tennessee
Highway Patrol and the local police and the sheriff's department and all of these agencies,
I mean, they have the hardest job.
It is a Herculean task that they do to make this thing run smooth.
And when you look at what the early entry has done for us, we talked about this, I think
before, you know, our map from this past year, the data that we add showed that nobody in
line at any point, even at the fizziest point of loading the festival, waited more than
probably about two and a half to three hours to get in.
That number pre-pandemic was 14.
We did eight my first year, eight hours.
We've heard 17, 18.
Yeah, absolutely.
We were there.
We were having a good time.
You want to talk about the real headliners at Bonnaroo.
We need to put the traffic team up there on top.
They are doing, they are serving the people the most.
But again, just logistics, which is again what we love.
Once even they're in, that means you got to deal with them.
So it puts another level of burden on you guys.
I think I can say this now, but Ashley Capps, the aforementioned, we talked to him about
this 10 years ago.
And he said, I think that Wednesday early thing is the worst and don't talk about it.
But he said, I think we're going to have to go even earlier.
And it was because of that, because of that extra burden of staffing and all that that
you guys were going to have to deal with.
But it sounds like it deals with the traffic issue.
So one problem fixes another and creates another kind of thing.
Well and some shows will actually charge you more to show up early.
And I think that's something that we've looked at a little bit differently.
We're like, I don't really get that mentality.
Make sure it costs us more to host people.
And people do want to be there earlier.
But at the end of the day, it does.
Taco would leave today if you would let him.
I'm already there.
It does help us keep the wait times down.
So it's like charge the same, let people stay an extra day or two, have a good time, enjoy
the farm for longer.
It's a win-win.
I feel like that's the Bonnaroo spirit.
Yeah, baby.
Some shows, we won't mention anybody's name, some shows want to pay more to show up early.
We want to give you a little bit of a break to show up early.
I've always said that about Bonnaroo.
I don't feel like you guys have your hand in my wallet.
And that's important to me.
You don't have your hand in my pocket.
How much, and I just lost my train of thought.
How much, you mentioned, Cory, I think it was, you do the surveys and everybody's going
to say, yeah, we listen to them.
But how much does that, well, let me put it this way.
The other thing that I've always appreciated about you guys is it always is sort of felt
like always, if somebody has a good idea, you're willing to listen.
Our friend, I am Bonnaroo, David Bruce, the photographer.
I don't know who on your team heard about him or whatever.
Was it you?
That's awesome.
And said, this guy's doing great things.
Daniel and Sharla with the real Roobust, you guys seem to find out about people that have
good ideas, the beer exchange.
And you don't try to squash it.
You're like, how can we embrace this?
How can we help you?
We don't want the liability.
We don't want to do it.
We don't need anybody else, but you want to help work with it.
So how do those meet?
How do those things happen in your meetings?
We just hit people up, man.
It's y'all's home when you're there.
If we hear about something cool that happened the previous year, we just actively try to
find whoever was doing it and get in touch with them and be like, hey, what do you need?
And that's been really successful and helps really just strengthen that community, I think.
Listen, when you go to a new city for the first time, you don't go to the McDonald's
and ask the guy where you should eat at, right?
This festival is built on the fan.
As much as I appreciate you all giving us a pat for reaching out and getting people like
Bruce and others involved, it also takes a lot off the mind.
Well, that's what I've always said.
It's free programming.
It's free programming for you guys.
So let's be honest about it.
And it's organic.
It's 100% organic, right?
Which is what Bonnaroo is all about.
Yeah, that's what we've always enjoyed.
It's the music and arts festival and it really helps strengthen that and arts part of it.
Everything is lineup and headline related.
Yeah, very true.
Absolutely.
Ross, you mentioned David's List.
Are there any questions?
I'm not seeing them on my screen, but maybe you're getting anybody making comments that
we...
We do have a few comments and questions.
We had a lot of people say that they appreciated the lower entry times getting in a lot quicker,
especially RVs.
As far as questions go, we've got a couple about the screens over on the this and that
tents.
That's a good one.
They were seen to be missing this past year.
Bradley, where are you at on it, brother?
Here's what I will make.
Here's what I will say to that and then we'll move on to the next question is trust us.
We hear you loud and clear from last year.
Horton hears a who, huh?
You heard.
Yeah.
We hear you loud and clear from last year and we are already working on it.
So, trust us.
Heard, Jeff.
Heard, Jeff.
All right.
Good to hear, yeah.
Is there another one, Ross?
Let's see, video screens and then any timeframe on where in the woods announcements and anything
else to add to the lineup?
Yeah, I would look for that probably late Feb, early March and don't hold me to those
dates because that is not booked yet.
But I will also say drop a little inside info here that we saw what people were asking for
on Reddit and Instagram yesterday when it comes to the EDM lineup.
And we're definitely putting some priority into the base side of things as we're wrapping
up that we're in the woods lineup.
So, you know, no promises because it always depends on availability and who's willing
to do it and everything.
But we definitely, definitely saw that in the feedback and we're working on it.
So, all right.
And then I'm, I'm curious too, this, the Mars Volta, they jumped out at me.
Do we know if that's going to be like a late night set?
I don't know what time that is.
The schedule is, the schedule is still being put together as you, I mean, this is a little
bit of insider baseball, but you all may or may not know this, but you know, when it,
when we first reach out to book an artist, the option we're saying, Hey, can you play
Friday or Saturday?
And then sometime, sometime before, sometime before the lineup, we finally get the day
nailed down and then it takes us a little bit more time to get the actual slot nailed
down.
So the schedule, you know, a hundred, a hundred plus acts, it takes a lot of pieces on the
board to be shuffled around.
So I don't really know where that one's going to land, but it's going to be a good time
regardless.
That's in my top five for sure.
Well, and we've talked to Brian and Steven about those conflicts, you know, so that gets
into that as well.
So they try very hard, but as they've told us, you know, they might think band A and
band D don't conflict, but you know, the four of us might be, how can you put those two
on the, yeah.
So things like that happen.
We are dang like panel of people to figure that out.
Probably you'd never get it right.
Yeah, that's impossible.
How can you put Kord and John Batiste at the same time?
Don't you know that Kord and John Batiste fans have a teary eye?
Those are my two favorites of all time.
Yeah.
What are you thinking?
How much change is there?
Okay.
So we had the change last year with the a la carte.
How much has it changed this year?
Do you guys feel like?
As far as, are you talking about things that are going to be changing on site or just big
picture?
Yeah.
Does it feel, 2022 to 23 felt like a big change with the a la carte.
How big is that change feel this year from last year?
I mean, Corey, you add onto this, but you know, I think we, it worked what we did last
year.
I think we're going to try and maintain that and settle in and continue to find little
things to tweak here and there.
The biggest change, which you've probably seen some comments on socials about for this
year is that we came back off of doing the daily tickets.
So you're not able to buy a daily ticket anymore.
You can still buy daily parking where you don't have to camp, but you have to buy a
four day ticket.
You can't buy a one day ticket.
The reasoning behind that is we really had an inflection point last year coming into
this year where, you know, we feel like we've come out of the turbulent time.
The ship is back in the right direction and we really felt like we needed to focus on
what this festival was built to be, which is a four day camping festival.
And part of that commitment to being a four day camping festival is as much as I, it might
exclude some people from the experience that we got to focus on that being what the option
is.
If you want to come to Bonnaroo, we want you to experience as intended, which is as a four
day camping show.
So that was kind of the decision process behind that decision.
That was another one of my questions.
Thank you.
How about Jam Track?
That was another one of my notes.
I know that was kind of a, that was on some people's, cause it was a one way route and
some people, if you got in like say gate one, you had to go all the way around to 12 or
whatever.
So it was a, you know, an hour or more.
Jam Track is going to stay.
We're tweaking how the route works.
You know, we're actually doing some research on how subway systems in larger Metro areas,
how they, the thought process behind how those run.
As funny as that sounds, I mean, we know that the system is mentioned.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The system is in place, but we're definitely going to look at tweaking the routes and where
it goes and when it goes there and see if we can fine tune that a little.
But the program as a whole is not going anywhere.
All right.
I enjoyed it.
I liked riding it.
I was trying to think of anything else.
The only other note I have, and it kind of goes back to the very first conversation we
had today is driving, driving home to do this.
It's cannot be overstated.
I don't think how much this festival changes lives.
The four of us for sure.
A von that we talked to David Bruce that I, that I talked to.
I mean, there are people who have careers, you know, because of this festival, but, but
also attitudes.
And I'm in that camp.
You know, I remember leaving after the second year thinking, why can't people be this way
all the time?
And then I've sort of tried to dedicate myself to it from little things like just picking
up a piece of trash or walking that extra 10 feet to throw something away to the saying
hello to somebody or to letting somebody get in front of you in line if they had to go
leave or something like that.
So and it kind of goes back to what I was asking you, Brad.
I mean, there are tons of music festivals, but they don't all have this, this thing,
do they?
No, they don't.
There's a, I was trying to find it.
You all may have saw it.
I posted this on my personal Instagram yesterday.
There was a Reddit post that went up, I don't know, maybe an hour before the lineup yesterday
that there's been posts like this in the past, but this one was, it kind of got me.
There's a post yesterday called buy, that just says buy the ticket.
It's about this guy who lost his father last year.
And basically he kind of talks through how like Bonnaroo was that place for him that
he was like in a really dark place.
And I just had to, he just had to make it to June.
Like he just had to get there and he knew things were going to be fine.
And it just, if you go read the comments in that, on that post, it's all these other people
saying, man, I was in the same place.
I'm so glad you're here.
You're going to be fine.
I love you.
I see you on the farm.
And when I go and read posts like that, man, it just, it, it gets my engine going so much.
Like that's what I'm here for.
Yeah.
That's what I'm here for.
So that, that's a very, I hope it's not lost on people that that is a very special thing
that, that is not typical of something that a festival brand has as part of its identity
is that, is that community and, and what it represents for people.
That's so much more than just a music festival.
So it's really special.
And Corey and I, I think both share the sentiment that we're extremely honored to be able to,
to work on it.
For somebody, I don't know who they are.
They probably don't have their job anymore to trust us with, trust us with steering the
ship every once in a while.
It's very cool.
I didn't ask you both.
I kind of led the, drove the train or drove the jam track, so to speak.
Is there something I didn't ask you guys about that some detail, some new thing, something
if you want to go make sure you get your tickets.
You know, I definitely expect us to sell out again this year.
And based on the way things are going, you know, maybe earlier than last year even.
So just want to make sure that everybody who wants to go gets to go.
And then I just want to say thank you to you guys and just to the community.
You know, it's really fun reading the comments and seeing people defend, you know, this idea
of Bonnaroo and, you know, this festival and place that they love and actively encouraging
others to go.
And, you know, Brad was talking about how like, you know, our audience spans from people
who went in 2003 to people who went in 2023.
And that's a pretty big gap.
So I think it's important, you know, for those who have been before and, you know, really
understand the traditions and history to pass it along.
Make friends with someone who's going for the first or second time and who doesn't know
the ropes, you know, help people out, give, you know, give someone some tips along the
way, teach them some of the traditions and just try to, you know, keep it going as long
as we can.
It's a really special place and it's a really, really interesting, unique thing.
So yeah, just wanted to throw out a nice thank you to everybody who's participated in that
over the last 20 years and loves this thing as much as we do because it is really special.
On those lines, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Daniel and Sharla again with the Real
Boot Roo Bus and the Totem program that they have started that I know you guys are involved
with as long as well as I am to help do what exactly you just said, to help groom the next
generation and to pass on this information and help ease people in.
I know the ultimate goal is to make it international.
I think my parting shot is also thank you, but I also had put some thought into picking
four performances out this year that I think I want to put on everybody's radar.
So I got one from you.
Yeah, I got one from each day.
I'm just going to go by day here.
I want to do this too.
So Thursday for the Rock fans, I'm going to say you got to check out.
Michigander, great guy, actually lives in Nashville from Michigan obviously.
So that's my Thursday pick.
My Friday pick, I got to shout out TV Girl.
They've been getting a lot of heat right now.
That's going to be a really great show.
Saturday, before you get ready for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you got to go see Ethel
Cain.
Really transformative performance, I think that you'll see if you go check that out.
And then on Sunday, outside of being extremely ready for Fred again, early on that day, I'm
assuming he's probably going to open one of the tents.
Don't know the schedule yet, but Jake Wesley Rogers.
You're going to want to check him out.
I honestly say he's got a little bit of a...
He does it all.
Piano, everything.
He's really inspired by people like Elton John, if that helps give you a little bit
of direction on what he's inspired by and what he might sound like.
So those are my four shout outs at the moment for sets over the weekend that you don't want
to miss.
Awesome.
Corey?
Yeah.
Sorry, Russ.
I was just going to say those are good.
Those were not on my radar at all, so I made notes.
Thank you.
So all that said about how we've changed a lot since 2003, I am kind of the resident
jam head.
I've got two Framed Ophries McGee posters over there on the wall for anyone interested.
So I will say Thursday, go to Eggy.
That's going to be probably the headiest jams on the farm this year, if not JRad.
So make sure you go to that one if you're wanting some jam.
Friday, I'm with URUS Mars Volta for sure.
They're one of my favorites, just some intense, prog, experimental.
But then also, I'm super psyched for Thundercat, I've never seen him.
And then Saturday, I was going to say Ethel Kane too actually.
She's like my new obsession.
So so good.
So spooky vibes.
But also Parcels.
I think that's going to end up being one of the shows of the weekend.
And then Sunday, I was going to say Fred, I saw like 10 minutes of his show at Lala.
And I was at a terrible spot, I could barely see, I could barely hear, and I still got
sucked in.
So I'm super excited to see that at Botteroo, because it's going to be such a special unique
show.
But also Charles Wesley Godwin.
Saw him at Railbird this past year.
And it was high energy, intense country music.
It was awesome.
I'm psyched about it.
So yeah.
All right, Ross, do the same one each night.
Yeah, let's go.
Yeah, day by day.
Let's see, I'm going to go Gore on Thursday.
Yeah, it's probably my pick.
Yeah.
Friday, probably the Karungman is definitely on my list or Jay Rad.
KZ Elephant for Saturday.
And let's see, of course, back to the Mars Volta, like you mentioned, went back to the
other day.
Where Jason Isbell is on my list for Friday or Sunday.
Who else we got?
Yeah, I think and John Baptiste, of course, we mentioned before.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And John Baptiste and Gore on the same.
Exactly.
Ours is very similar.
I'm going to go Gore on Thursday, Karungman Friday.
I'm going to do a walk by Maggie Rogers just because my daughter is such a huge fan.
Maggie is one of the few that Grace will travel to go see and has done it a couple of times.
So she's got some deep boundary ties to go on her Instagram.
She posted a really cool post yesterday talking about some of her memories.
That was pretty cool.
Yes, she did a live.
Yeah, that little voiceover type of thing.
John Baptiste.
Where else am I going to see him?
Like you just said, Jason, I've seen Fred again.
I am not kind of looking forward to the Megan Thee Stallion kind of thing.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, let's go.
I love it.
That's so fun for people, again, who don't understand.
And it's kind of we're talking, we're preaching the converted here, I assume, if they're listening.
But where else do you get to see that kind of variety all in one place?
Right.
You know, all right, guys, man, we love it so much when you guys join us.
We love seeing you at all the festivals.
Good to see you, Brad, at Boone River as always.
And yes, and hanging out with you guys.
And thank you for giving us so much time.
I don't think I asked anything you couldn't answer, right?
I don't think so.
No, you did us with the you.
They were softballs.
I appreciate that.
We'll get the bank account numbers later.
Yeah.
All right, guys, thank you so much.
Have a great whatever and we'll see you in what, five and a half months.
All right, that's a lot of fun.
It was love that.
Yeah, it's those guys are great.
It's kind of they answer anything we ask.
They're happy to do it.
They love it.
You can tell you can just tell they love it as much as we do.
Right.
It's not like they're, you know, hey, guys, whatever.
Hope you buy a ticket.
I mean, they love it.
They do.
Yeah.
We could have spent all day talking with them and they would have had a great time too, just
because they like talking about it.
Yeah.
Yeah, they're fans.
It makes a big, big difference.
All right.
Well, there you go.
Season seven, right?
See, even seven, season seven, it's underway.
Unbelievable.
Deep into it.
Coming up, we're going to have some all kind of we're planning our shows.
We're going to have musical guests.
We're going to have artists.
We're going to have more fans.
In fact, I think next episode we're going to have a friend of mine who's gone since
2018, works as a photographer, but she's a fan.
It's just that kind of that's, that's what we want to do.
Right.
Yeah.
I like that we have a good mix of not only artists, but also people that work the festival
that put it on, that just attend as fans.
You know, you get the whole rounded, you know, gamut of people that go.
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, that's it.
We will see you guys next week.
Thank you.
Thanks to Consequence, like, share and review and do all that stuff helps us out very much.
And Russ, you know, I love you.
Love you too.
See you next week.
See you guys.