Bonnaroo First-Timers: Abbey's Tips for an Unforgettable Experience

Yeah, I feel like parts of my soul were given back to me that I didn't know were missing

at Bonnarooo.

That's good.

I've been telling people, I am like, you know, people that say Disney World is the happiest

place on earth haven't been to Bonnarooo.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the What Podcast.

I'm Barry, that's Brian, that's Lord Taco.

Try to imagine if you can, you've ordered your festival tickets, you've never been before,

you've never been to a festival, much less Bonnarooo, and you get the phone call, somebody

stole your wristband.

I can't even imagine.

It makes my shoulders tense up just thinking about it.

The reason I mention that, our guest today, and we're going to talk to her later on,

Abby from Missouri, she's the winner of the Junk From My Basement contest that we started

back before Bonnarooo started.

Well Barry, you're the real winner because you get junk out of your basement.

That's right, there's less stuff in my basement.

But she actually didn't mean it to be this way, but I was going to give some junk away,

but when we heard her voice message, which was the way the contest sort of happened,

we asked people to leave their voice message about their favorite memory or memorabilia,

got a message from her about her wristband being stolen, and she was asking for advice

on how to proceed and still have a good time.

How to proceed and then was skeptical about how much more issues am I going to run into

at this festival.

Right, how do I stay safe?

Exactly.

So we hear from her, she had a blast as you will hear.

In fact, she's probably as big a fan of Bonnarooo now as we all are.

Another convert, keeping them in.

Come on in, that's good.

Welcome for anybody over here.

Yeah, she's got a great attitude and we'll hear from her.

But before that, there's a little bit of music news out there, right?

There's an EDM festival going on or went on this past weekend.

Yeah, we want to start with that real quick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This Elements Festival going on in Pennsylvania, it is at the Pocono Racetrack.

It's a NASCAR racetrack.

And I'm not familiar with it at all.

And I don't know how the festival ended exactly because that's when we were, you know, that's

deadline day.

But I followed it through about Saturday afternoon.

And so it was, it wasn't, was it a hurricane when it hit the East or was it just a tropical

story?

I think it was tropical.

Came back, but it's a tropical story.

There's a lot of water.

A lot of bad weather.

A lot of bad weather.

And this has got a little bit of a feel of Bonnarooo 21 slightly.

They're closer to the coast than we were.

I don't know, actually, if you got out a map, I'm not sure.

But they got a ton of rain coming in.

And this is an all EDM festival.

And it is a, and I know nothing, as anybody who's regularly here knows when it comes to

EDM, but I recognize some names on there.

Chris Lake of the trees is one that I've, I'm familiar with.

Millennium, who is not really, he's a crossover act.

Millennium has been at Bonnarooo before.

And so it's a nice little lineup and they look at about 15 to 20,000 cap on this festival

on this racetrack, which seems like a weird place to me, but that's what it is.

And so Thursday hits and that's when they're letting you, you can purchase early for the

Thursday early entry and rain is coming in and the storm is hitting.

And by the time people are settling in and Thursday into late night and into Friday,

when the early, the second wave of early starts to roll in there, there's portions of Pocono

that's underwater and they shut the place down at middle of the night, Thursday night

into Saturday or excuse me, into Friday morning.

And there was, and people were furious, furious on everything I could find.

I found nothing that said anything even kind of positive about this, which is understandable.

And these are people who are now stuck in their cars or wherever and just sitting on

their phone saying F you elements.

And apparently they had a lot of issues back in 2021, don't know what those are, but this

is now kind of a recurring theme that I'd be surprised if we see another elements festival,

but everybody who came early ready to get it there on Friday, they shut down the entire

festival until Saturday at noon.

I wrote it down.

This was from elements, uh, official Twitter account.

So this isn't me digging through, finding on Reddit.

This is from elements itself that at on Saturday after they had for almost 24 hours closed

campgrounds, closed the venue.

So if you've traveled for however long, you're either just going to find it at rest stop

or a gas station or a McDonald's.

I don't know.

Imagine all these people, what are they doing?

Where are they going?

And it's pouring rain on them the whole time.

They didn't open the box until Saturday at 12.

The box office.

I couldn't quite figure this out, but there was a lot of people who had to go to the box

office to get their, their wristbands.

And a lot of that had to do with, they did daily entry.

So they said anybody with a Friday entry, since they canceled all a Friday could come

and get a Saturday and or Sunday band.

Well the lines, the pictures to do this started at noon on Saturday when this thing was supposed

to started almost two days before was as long as the eye could see campground didn't open

at one on Saturday.

Venue opened at three on Saturday.

We're halfway through the weekend here and two thirds of the entire place is not even

in there.

I don't have to go any further for you to know how big of a nightmare that must've been

for everybody.

Everybody.

That's what I was going to say.

The downsides, I mean, I, the guy sitting in the car at McDonald's trying, you know,

he thinks he's missing the show.

I get it, man.

You gotta be mad.

You gotta be angry, but you're no more mad or frustrated than that person who's trying

to run it thinking, you know, what are we going to do?

As we've seen with the Bonnarooo 21, as you said, moon river, when they had to send everybody

home Saturday and then Sunday.

And then, I mean, rain is, we can take the heat, right?

We can complain about it, but you can deal with it.

Can't deal with flooding.

Can't deal with flooding.

And so I don't know, maybe they should have canceled this all the way around.

I haven't been able to get enough of an eyewitness account to know that Pocono track is huge.

Some of the places might've been fine.

Some of the campsites will, we'll find some of this stuff.

They're floating on air mattresses and like having a big time, you know, because that's

all they know to do.

The few people that were allowed in, I don't know if they made them leave or not.

But you remember talking to the folks from AC and C3 about that Bonnarooo when the hurricane

went through here and flooded it out and they canceled it and people were, you know, almost

here, six hours, three hours away.

So it's such a nightmare.

You couldn't, they couldn't get the vehicles that were on site, couldn't move, couldn't

get out.

They were up to their axles in mud and people don't realize it's, you know, it's like, oh,

it's just a little water.

I can walk through it.

When you get 80,000 or 40,000 people walking through a puddle, it suddenly becomes an ankles

or knees deep mud hole, you know, the size of a lake.

And just like that 21 festival and just like the, the moon river deal we had on a Sunday

here in September, a couple of years back here locally, when a big storm comes through,

what happens when the storm's gone?

It cools down and it's bright sunshine and the rest of the weekend at elements and just

like that Bonnarooo 21, it's like, so people are looking at it like, yeah, this is, this

is a dream.

Throw down some plywood guys.

And like that, that I think even the most reasonable person can get wrapped up in that,

but they had the same thing at Pocono this weekend.

It was beautiful.

80 degrees, perfect weather.

And they continued, they went on through the weekend.

People were mad.

They paid for the extra.

These were, I looked at the ticket prices guys.

We talk about Bonnarooo and they're, you know, are these getting too high?

Holy, wow.

These are that much, if not more.

And I guess we'll see where the shakeout is as the week goes along here.

And it's, it's, it's a, it's a smaller amount of people.

It's a niche thing.

It's only one.

It's all EDM.

It's all it is.

And it just, man, I looked at it and I was watching it in real time from Friday night

into Saturday.

And I was like, this is awful.

I feel so bad for everybody involved.

Exactly.

I get it.

We've been there.

And the major scores, you know, it was tough for Bonnarooo in 2021 to cancel, especially

right at the last minute, but that was the right decision.

I mean, looking back, it would have been this or worse, you know?

So this is really the worst case.

In no way is it debatable whether it was the right question.

And I think it is in this case, there's a lot of like, why didn't you cancel this?

Like this is not working.

We've paid you so much money.

And like, so a lot of these, if you don't get in, if you got to deal with a long line

for a band and you got to deal with a long line to get in and get checked in.

And this is Saturday and the venue doesn't open till three.

You're not going to be set up and ready to be camped until what?

Seven, eight, and then you're only have a day and a night left.

Right.

There's a lot of places to be angry here.

It's tough.

We'll see how it shakes out over the course of the next week or two and whether there

ever be another one of these.

But you can't do anything about mother nature, but you can do something about potentially

canceling and doing refunds or maybe doing like they did here, which is our Moon River

Fest, our former festival where they did a beautiful situation where they made something

for the people who wanted it and also gave partial refunds.

Yeah, for sure.

If they could do something like that, I think they would make everybody happy.

But you're right, Brian.

I don't think about that a lot.

When the sun comes out and you're sitting at home thinking, why can't we go?

Look outside, it's great.

Look how amazing it is out there.

I didn't even unpack the car.

It happens every time, at least in the Gulf of Mexico and on the eastern seaboard, in

my experience, every time there's a storm, you get the nicest weather you've ever had.

I think a lot of people every year think, oh, why do they have Bonnarooo in June?

It's so hot.

Yeah, it's hot, but it's also predictable.

It's very dry.

You might get some thunderstorms or anything, but nothing like the September hurricane season.

And really, June isn't the hottest part of Tennessee.

It's really more like July.

We just happen every now and again get a heat wave like this year.

Right, right, right.

All right, Russ, you had a pretty good weekend, right?

Got to...

Yeah.

Had a surprise.

Yeah, surprise event.

What is this big surprise you're talking about, Russ?

Well, this is just so Chattanooga.

If you're not from here, you might not get it, but it's such a big, small town.

We were going to go, a group of friends were going to go Thursday to Lo Main, which is...

Barry, that's your nephew, Graham, that owns that.

We love Lo Main.

Very hot, cool place to go within the late 20s, early somethings crowd.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Good atmosphere.

If you're coming through Chattanooga and you want to get a great smash burger and a cocktail

and a cool, vibey place, Lo Main is the place.

Delta 9, Seltzer, whatever you want they got.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, they posted a thing on Thursday and said, oh, we're closing at six tonight.

So we thought, well, okay, what are we going to do?

I know, we had plans to go.

So we just collectively said, well, let's just go to Boneyard, which is down the street,

right there, Station Street, right there by the Choo Choo.

Another hip spot.

Another very cool place to go.

So I walk into Boneyard and the first person I see is Graham.

I'm like, oh, no wonder you're closed.

You're here.

And then I run into my other buddy, Travis Knight, who is kind of a local artist, you

know, graphic design, that kind of thing.

But I've known him for a long time.

He says hi and he's like, oh, are you here to see the band?

And I'm like, the band?

Of course I'm here to see the band.

Of course.

I'm right here for you, buddy.

I've been waiting all along.

Yeah.

I've been supporting you for 20 years, my guy.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Biggest fan.

I can't wait.

Well, Travis and Graham are in a band together.

Two people that I know that I didn't know knew each other are in a band together.

Lillian is the name of the band.

Very cool band.

I was blown away because, you know, we were just, this was a last minute change.

We walked in, didn't even know there was a show play.

And yeah, they played, they opened for another band.

But to me, it gave very heavy, like old school, the cure, you know, Depeche Mode, early 80s

type stuff.

I loved it.

And so I walk up to the merch table and I buy a record, which is a very cool, it's like

a vinyl, purple vinyl.

Yeah, purple vinyl.

Love the colored vinyls.

Yeah.

I got a tape.

And the cassette tape.

I got the cassette tape.

And then, you know, because last week when we were talking about this Bluegrass Festival

coming to Chattanooga, we mentioned you've seen the Forever Bluegrass bumper stickers

everywhere.

Those stickers are worldwide.

They've been around 25, 30 years.

Yeah.

Well, they just happened to be selling a Forever Goth.

I had to get it.

I think that is Travis Knight's brainchild as a Forever Goth.

It is.

Yep.

That's funny.

But it was a great time.

And just where else are you going to just walk into a place and be like, oh, here's

two of my friends.

They're in a band together.

Oh, and you know, ran into, speaking of, we were just talking about Moon River and the,

you know, the rain out, our buddy Sam Fort that runs all the lighting and sound at the

Tivoli.

He was there because apparently he's friends with Graham, too.

So it was just like all these little pieces of different worlds that you never think come

together.

They came together.

Sam is the guy, if you've been listening to this show for a long time and you know the

Moon River story, it rained out on Sunday and the mayor of our city, Tim Kelly, called

and said, whatever we need to do to make this work, do you guys want the Memorial Auditorium

to put something on?

And they called Sam and I think he was just coming back from vacation, right?

He was like in Atlanta and he got the call Sunday afternoon.

No, he was in Colorado.

They said, hey, we need you to turn the lights off.

Yeah.

Basically.

Turn the lights off and staff this place.

Staff this place.

Yeah.

And you got an hour and they did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they did.

Yeah, we talked about that.

It was cool.

But why didn't either of you tell me that there was a band, that these people are in a band?

Well, see, I don't know Travis Knight and Travis Knight's actually a little bit more

than a local guy.

This guy does some really amazing artwork.

And from afar, I'm a fan boy.

We're the same age, basically.

I don't know Travis.

And then I just happen to know he's in a band.

And I don't know your nephew either.

So I couldn't help you out with that one, Doc.

Yeah.

I felt blindsided.

And I guess maybe Travis should have told, I don't know.

He's soft spoken, man.

He's not going to jump out there and be like, hey, man, I'm in a band.

You're right.

Yeah.

He's very low key.

Yeah.

Well, I give a plug also for Boneyard, which I haven't been.

I've been there once, but they have an arcade now, right?

Yeah.

That's right.

What's Henin?

What's the?

Brian Henin, who is one of the.

Right.

And now it's inside Boneyard.

So again, if you're in Chattanoogan, you're looking for a place to hang out.

You like video games and live music and a bar, check out the Boneyard.

It is shocking to me how cool that bar is.

It is so cool.

I know.

It's so cool.

I know.

I've been to like many towns that are losing the cool things we've had and the cool things

we remember and getting replaced by cocktail, espresso, martini bars and everything else

and craft beer, this and that.

It's a really, really neat place.

So there's your unsolicited plug for two bars and a band.

Yeah.

If you're ever in town, low main, Lillian and Boneyard.

And the only other thing, festival news is outside lands is going on out in San Francisco

that nobody really on this side of the country cares about, but that we have people that

are out there that do.

We got listeners out there.

And the only thing I saw from that looks like things are going pretty good.

It's in Golden Gate Park and the ride share dollar amounts I saw though, or the surge

pricing is out of control.

That's the biggest thing there.

They have now also a service called on top of Uber and Lyft called Waymo and it's robots

driving you around.

So I knew that was a thing in certain areas, but this is now a full service.

It's not just like a, Hey, here's a prototype, a full service.

You call away Mo and get picked up by a robot, which I don't trust people.

So I'd get in a car with a robot.

I don't care.

Oh yeah.

I'm sure this is going to go great.

Yeah.

But that was a big concern.

The only thing I saw people arguing about and then Sabrina Carpenter, which I'm not

overly familiar with.

She was headlining that Saturday.

She had Casey Musgraves come up and they did a, these boots are made for walking, which

may a bunch of clips all over social.

So it looks like a big time out in San Francisco this week, this past weekend as well.

Got a little Nancy Sinatra.

Love it.

All right.

So we're going to, we're going to hear from Abby here in a little bit, a little bit of

business.

We're trying to figure out our schedule here coming ongoing.

We know we have South star coming up, but we're going to take some time off.

We don't know when yet.

I know Brian, you're going to see some band I've never heard of up in Madison square garden.

Some old band is getting back.

Nobody listens to him anymore.

Yeah.

I know you're going with our buddy, our buddy Brad having me, having me in and love the,

love to take a jab at Brad every time we get.

Cause he's fun to make fun of.

Cause that's all he does to everybody else.

But boy, he does it right.

So we're going to be having a bit, we're going to a Mets game, a Pearl jam at Madison square

garden for one night.

I couldn't push my luck for two.

There was no way he was going to do that.

I tried to push, maybe going to Yankee stadium.

He's a big Mets guy.

He's like, no, it's like, I'll get you tickets and you can get the train and go yourself.

I was like, yeah, I don't think I'm going to do that.

So it'd be a big week.

That's in about three weeks from, or hell two and a half weeks from right now.

So we'll, we'll see how it all unfolds, but we got, it is kind of dead time, but there's

also man to change changes and shifts so fast.

We've got, I mean, can't wait to get to Huntsville to see what that South star is going to be

like.

So we'll see how it all unfolds.

Lots to talk about.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip.

All right.

Anything else before we bring Abby on?

I think that just about, I think that just about covers it really.

Speaking of, we talk, she talks a little bit about Reddit and we talk and she, you know,

about how, what you can and can't take for full seriousness.

And that was what I was trying to do when I was reading about this elements thing, but

that's all I heard from every single person was F you elements festival.

So they can't do anything about the rain, man.

No, they can't.

I get it, but you know, it's only so, but yeah, well, Abby was fun to talk to.

All right, here we go.

Here's our interview with Abby.

Hey, so there's Abby.

How are you?

Oh, I'm so good.

We're beginning to wonder whether you were real.

I'm a mystery woman, but I'm here.

I'm real.

Awesome.

So let's bring everybody up to speed.

You guys that are long time listeners way back before Bonnarooo, we just sort of said,

Hey, we had so much fun with people sending us voice messages, giving us tips on what,

you know, what you should do, what not to do at Bonnarooo.

And then we also asked people to share some memories, favorite memorabilia, favorite memories,

whatever, and decided that I would send the, we would pick a winner and I would send a

prize pack and, and we chose Abby.

And the reason that we did was a couple of things, mostly because you had your, your

wristband stolen.

Yeah.

Right.

And I want to hear before I even got them before you even got them.

And, but you went and I'm dying to hear how Bonnarooo, what that experience, first of all,

I'm sorry, that had to be one of the worst feelings ever.

So I want to hear that, but I want to hear you went anyway.

And I want to hear how Bonnarooo made it right.

And then I know from talking to you, in fact, when I called you, you started telling me

about what a great time you had.

And I had to stop you because I didn't want it.

I didn't want you to run out of steam.

You know, it's never the same when you tell the story twice type of thing.

So I'm anxious to hear what it was like having those things stolen and then what it was like

getting in there and then how your Bonnarooo went.

So let's start with when did you find out and how did you find out it was stolen?

Right.

So, my boyfriend's sister is who I was going with.

She's the one who ordered everything to her house.

And so I had my ticket shipped to her house.

She sends me a picture.

She's like, Hey, the Bonnarooo stuff came, but yours was sliced open.

There's nothing in the package.

And I live two hours away from her.

And I was like, ouch, okay.

Wait, how did you know it was her, yours and not hers?

Well, they were all of us.

Yours is gone too bad.

Yeah.

We, we all ordered individually and just had them shipped to the same house.

So of course the package with my name, no dice, which look at the Irish.

That's going to happen to me.

And I got immediately on the phone with a front gate and was trying to deal with the

whole situation.

They just were like, you're going to have to pick them up at will call.

Let me, let me interrupt real quick, Abby, how far out from the festival starting that

you found this particular bad news out a few weeks, month, how close was it?

So we, our tickets were shipped like from the first shipment of tickets out.

So I'd say that's about a month out.

Okay.

So you had a month to figure this out.

So sorry.

Yeah, no, you're fine.

I, so I immediately got on the phone and I felt better that they weren't trying to charge

me for anything.

It was just uneasy because I'm driving eight hours to go pick them up at will call.

And I'm like, Oh man, what if I get there and something else is wrong?

I'd be a nervous wreck every day of my life for a month.

I can already see the highs breaking out on Brian's.

This is our nightmare.

Especially when everyone else already has their wristband.

Yeah.

I don't believe Barry when he tells me something's going on good here, let alone the front gate

girl on the, or guy on the phone.

This is the nightmare.

Yes.

There was a language barrier too.

So I'm like, so there, but I got them like, right?

Like they're going to be there.

She's like, yes.

And she kept saying on the website, it'll show will call times.

Well, they were last year's time, so every day I'm on there checking for the update.

Finally it came.

The people have read it were so sweet when I was like, help and offered to send me their

goodies because of course I didn't get my goodies that I should have in the mail.

They did take care of that at will call.

So I appreciate them for following their word on that one.

But yeah, it was a, I was an anxious mess.

And that's when I called you guys cause I'm like, okay, I need to prepare for the worst

and hope for the best.

And we did that.

I got to will call, got my wristband just fine.

We got in on Tuesday, got in on Tuesday about 4pm.

I had, I think I'm a forever Tuesday crew to be honest.

To watch the evolution of the farm come to life is it's extraordinary.

Like it just unfolds and it's like that was nothing yesterday, but trash cans in a field.

And now it's a sea of tents and people and oh, it's amazing.

So we set up camp.

I go with them to meet people that they met at Rue last year who they were meeting up

with and go to wear in the woods that night.

And I'm standing there and I'm just taking it all in.

I am an EDM girly.

I'm an all music type girly, but EDM is where my heart kind of throbs and you just get into

it.

And I had started Tuesday out saying, you know, this is my one and done.

Like I've always wanted to come here, but like I'm 27 and I want to settle down in life

and I don't see this being a thing.

Yeah, no, but pretty much by it.

I think when pretty lights ended on Thursday, I was like, I'm ready to come back already

and we haven't even left yet.

The weekend's just getting started.

So I think you may have said it, but this was, this is your first Bonnaroo, right?

This, yeah, this was my first festival, first time camping and first time.

Now the anxiety level starts to explode.

Let me do back up just a minute so people who don't know, cause I don't know this necessarily.

I have a guess where it is.

Where is Willcall for Bonnaroo?

Most people don't have to deal with this.

Where was that?

Was it offsite?

Was it out of school by chance?

It's the same place where we got them.

Which is a few miles away.

And yeah, we didn't even know how to get there a couple of years ago cause it's right off

the beaten path.

And no issues there, no issues when you got to there and they got you right through.

So that's great.

That's great.

And on Tuesday I had no wait, walked right up and had my pick of who I wanted to help

me even.

Did they have your, I mean, did they have everything?

You didn't have to get somebody on the phone or everything was, was the way that it was

good.

Cool.

Very cool.

Yeah.

Pretty much they sent me a second barcode and like a second order number.

They just had like a giant tub sitting behind them full of wristbands.

So Reddit told me that this happened to quite a few people.

Unfortunately, I think somebody that works potentially with the post office may have

an idea of what was going out and was attempting to kind of try to get lucky.

I don't know.

It's sad, but it got worked out.

At least as soon as you report it, they void that ticket immediately.

So whoever did pilfer that, they can't get in with it.

Yeah.

That way in that case, it was really good for it to be that far out a month because

yeah, they immediately zapped those.

And so all that part would make me feel, okay, that's easy.

Like this is 20 years ago.

That's not how that works.

But I still, that would not change my anxiety issues from going to a brand new place to

an atmosphere I'm not used to being in and then just hoping they tell me it's going to

work out.

And then all that and you still made it in on Tuesday, which is pretty remarkable to

me.

That is.

Especially eight hours away.

I mean, if we show up and something's not right, we just go home.

Yeah.

Take an ad.

It's a long eight hours.

Well, I had dreamed of going to Bonnarooo for quite a few years.

I think I started in high school seeing more videos as Instagram and other things kind

of picked up.

I was like, Oh, Oh, this place looks awesome.

Like this, this is really cool.

And I looked more and more into it.

And honestly, I just didn't have any friends or people to go with.

Now like I'm looking at going solo next year and meeting up with other people because the

drama that can come with groups is kind of not my favorite.

Yeah.

All right.

So yeah, I interrupted you.

You were so by Thursday, you're you're all in you.

It was everything you imagined and more.

Yeah.

I, I feel like parts of my soul were given back to me that I didn't know we're missing

at Bonnarooo.

I that's good.

I I've been telling people I am like, you know, people that say Disney World is the

happiest place on earth haven't been to Bonnarooo.

Like they haven't because there's no there's no comparison.

I started the week Tuesday and Wednesday night slept in the tent on the air mattress with

my future sister-in-law.

And by Thursday night through the rest of the weekend, I am on the ground under my canopy

just laid out flat on the rug.

Just I'm like connecting with nature, which is not a me thing.

I don't hike.

I don't really camp.

I don't go outside unless I absolutely have to.

But I I just felt at peace.

And I mean, I'm crawling out of the woods at five, six o'clock in the morning and then

going to camp, getting a few hours of sleep and then waking up, showering and doing it

all over again.

It was just there's so many there's a dichotomy that comes with Bonnarooo that you don't get

anywhere else.

That sense of community and like I was a communication studies major in college.

So to get to what you guys kind of talk about on the show where you have it's everybody's

stories unique, but it's all still kind of the same like the interconnections that we

all have and the kindness that you see and witness and feel just being on the farm is

it's unmatchable and then you immediately leave the farm and somebody cuts you off in

traffic and you're like, well, there's next year.

I get to look forward to next year.

Yeah, no, you've I mean, you've heard us talk about it.

You've heard me talk about it to all of us and anybody you've been around in your in

your orbit of friends and people you spent time with on the farm.

I mean, these are common, common threads.

And yeah, the stories are always so similar, but they're not, you know, like they're so

uniquely similar.

I mean, it's almost that's your story, but we all know it.

But we are and we all get it.

It's not like, hold on.

I need you to explain that a little further.

I mean, it's so it's so cool.

It's so cool to hear other people, whether it's at the bar or at a, you know, wherever

you're out with friends and like you just spark that conversation or while you're there

or wherever it's it's always it's it's just fun in itself, magical in itself.

Yes.

So I will say because I feel like we had before I forget about kind of the entirety of why

I called into the show, right, was I was worried about theft.

Right.

I already dealt with it before I even go.

How do I stay safe?

How do my I remember you asking that question?

That's correct.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And thankfully, nothing of mine went missing.

I had no issues, but I did my due diligence to make sure that didn't happen.

And I think the people around me, they did try.

But a few bad apples, of course, are at the festival.

I think the first night it was Thursday night, a girl in our group, Madison, we're having

a great time at the other stage.

Everybody's happy and dancing.

Her bag was unzipped and it was a clear like concert venue bag.

And there goes her phone.

Just while right off of her person, she immediately went, reported it, came back.

She didn't let it ruin her weekend.

She was a trooper about it.

My future sister in law ended up giving her her phone so that she could stay connected

with us if we separated.

She didn't let it get her down.

And I think that was the other part of like, if that happens in the real world, I would

be distraught for days.

So and then our campmate, the people that were camped right behind us, her wallet got

stolen.

Don't know exactly when she thinks it was in her backpack, like on her back.

But who knows when it actually got taken either way it did get taken.

And that sucks, especially form of payment.

But again, they finished the weekend out and enjoyed it.

It just seems to be a new thing.

We never saw that for the first 15 years that I'm aware of.

I'm sure there were some I know our friend Brad watched a phone get taken at the hotel

check in or not watch but kind of it was there and then it was not there.

I think you were there Brian.

Remember?

I do remember that.

Yeah.

But those those were pretty rare.

But it seems to be happening more.

It's a big farm.

There's a lot of people and you never know for sure.

You don't hear from everybody.

I have also been and I'm not just talking about Bonnarooo, but I have also been in many

scenarios that were party based with maybe music playing festivals, whatever.

And there's regularly people who stole my stuff is like, dude, you're messed up.

You just lost it.

Or where's my stash?

You did it all, man.

And some of that too that occasionally I'm not accusing anybody in your in your in your

in your crew of people that that might have been the case.

But I certainly know that there's truth to that too.

Who stole my lighter?

Yeah, you left it on the yeah, you threw it in the bonfire to watch it explode, dude.

You don't remember that.

So anyway, I'm trying to be flippant and silly about it.

But I want to go back, you know, it happens a little bit.

I want to go back and sorry for jumping around.

But Brian and I have talked about this all the time, Russ, it doesn't matter because

Russ is the most relaxed human being that I've ever known.

But Brian and I, it's it's not until we pull our car into the parking spot at the at the

campsite that we exhale.

Did you have that moment?

I don't know if I did or not, to be honest.

I know my car mates did.

I could feel it.

We pulled in and we go through security and we're kind of following the line to where

they're going to tell us to park.

And I saw them physically just relieved.

And they said, I feel so much better.

Just being the weight off the shoulders off the mind.

And I think mine might have happened when they handed my.

Yeah, you might have exhausted all your relief on that because I bet that was eating you

for eight hours.

So that's that might have something to do with it.

But it is.

I mean, it's.

You really got to you got to be focused.

You got to be ready.

You know, you got to know what you're doing and you're new to the area, new to the to

the farm and all that stuff is real.

And you and if you do something wrong, it'll still be fine.

But I'm always been buried probably less than me.

I'm a little more anxious, but I'm always worried.

We're about to screw something up.

Something's about to go wrong.

They're not going to let us through.

They don't know.

They don't have my name.

And this bell.

There's something.

And I don't.

I'm not meaning to sound like but we're somebody.

Most people here know us.

They're they're going to fix it for us.

And I still can't.

I still can't come down.

Oh, no.

That's why.

That's why I asked there.

That's funny to hear you say you could see it because I know that look because I've done

it.

It's turn the car off.

Get out.

Now, everything else is gone.

The rest of the world is behind me.

When I was a drinker, it was when I everything was finally that first beer.

Oh, yeah.

Everything's right in the world, guys.

And now I just open a sparkling water or something.

Same deal.

Same same end result.

But that was that was when he knew I'd put my feet back like it's time.

So tell us, Abby.

I mean, you said you've been thinking about going for a long time.

Tell me what your expectation.

Get the stolen wristband out of it.

What was your expectation?

And then did it meet it?

And where?

Where?

How?

So one of the things I wrote down when we discussed that I was going to be on the show

with you guys was if I was to write a tips and tricks like tricks list for Bonnaroo, the

first thing I would put is throw out all expectations because I went into it a blank canvas.

I had no expectations.

Right.

I knew it was going to be a good time.

I listened to so many episodes from you guys and delved into Reddit really hard.

So seeing people so excited about something, I knew it was going to be great.

There's something for everyone there.

And I let it take me.

Right.

Like I didn't expect anything of it.

I knew it was going to be hot.

I started running and being outside about mid-March and let my body acclimate.

You did more than us.

We didn't do any running.

I should do that.

I'm going to write that down.

Yeah.

I kind of took advice from everybody and I cared enough to prepare, but I didn't have

any expectations.

I found out I love side quests.

I am a side quest person.

I can say I'm going to this show, but I did follow your guys' advice.

I didn't make a schedule to follow.

I knew who I wanted to see, but I was also willing to just let Ru take me and I did.

I let it give to me what it felt it should and I got so much more out of it than I ever

would have expected to.

So I think people that haven't been should take it as the experience.

It may not be for everyone, but people that are like, it's too hot, it's too loud, people

are rude.

It's like, well, why did you accept all that?

Just let it go.

Just enjoy your time.

It's an experience.

I personally wouldn't go skydiving because I have no desire to.

I don't want to jump out of a plane unless it's on fire.

I'm not looking for experiences like that.

I'm willing though when I do seek out something to experience it.

I'm not going to go to a Chinese restaurant and be mad they have Chinese.

I wanted tacos.

I'm not going to get that there.

I think people's mindsets were we've kind of moved as a society into unfortunately a

little entitled.

And I think you have to let a lot of that go when you go to a place like Boderu and

just let it be what it is and you either like it or you don't.

But I just don't understand what's not to like.

To that point about people, especially in all walks of life through socials, using anecdotal

stories to try to paint an entire picture of something is a big problem that we all

have to deal with.

How much of that did you think about when you were looking at Reddit and looking at

wherever else you were?

Reddit's probably your best place to look for information about your issue of my tickets

got stolen.

I'm coming eight hours.

I don't know what to think.

I don't know what to think here.

I'm concerned.

How much were you get?

Did you take that into account at that point that you're going to be hearing from people

who don't have any idea what they're talking about?

Back like they do, straight up lie, make stuff up.

Did you have to weed through a lot of that?

And I'm guessing you're pretty well versed in social media threads and in the world that

you were able to figure out how that works for you.

How did that go for you?

So I'm a teacher.

And so I know that when a kid tells me a story, there's three versions.

There's the actual what happened and then their version and then the version that they're

willing to settle with if I don't take their first version.

So I kind of layered that into what I was reading.

Yeah, like, well, sorry, I'll just lay it out.

No, it's true.

So I want to hear every perspective before I form an opinion on something.

So you know how to decipher all that.

So that's easy.

Yeah.

But I can see if you were somebody that, you know, wasn't super familiar with Reddit and

the satire sometimes or the different aspects of it.

The code, the code language a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

Yeah.

But you would get scared.

You would look at some of the things people say.

And I will say the best thing that I did read last, you know, moments before pulling onto

the farm was don't be on this sub during the festival because the negativity is all you're

seeing on there because if you're on your phone on Reddit, other than to be like found

ID or this is going on over here, then you're not at Bonnarooo.

Not for real.

Exactly.

So I don't care what those people have to say because they're not taking a why did you

pay to come here to be on your phone and complain?

I don't know.

It's interesting that what you just said, but also that you want to go by yourself next

year.

Well, it's not that I want to go by myself, but I think everybody like in my little group

I had, which I'm sure they're going to listen to this.

So also, you know, Abby's pissed.

No, no, I, I think that I think we all benefit from like doing things your own way.

And I was really excited to take this experience with my future sister-in-law.

Her name is Ray.

She's a wonderful, wonderful chick, super cool cat.

And then I was like, you're going to get to take me to all these places and teach me the

ways because I'm a blank canvas.

Like I have no expectations.

But then after I got there, I started to find where my interests were focused at and what

I wasn't really, I didn't care about as much.

And we, she also poor girl, like she was a trooper.

She had major pain like going on and was dealing with the heat on top of all of that.

So her experience this year was a lot different than I think her prior three that she has

been to and girls, we love girls.

However, girls are, we're prone to get vicarious with each other.

We're prone to get mad at each other.

You can't confine a bunch of women together for too long.

It's that's how murders happen.

So I think that your words, I think you want to join the show.

I would love to.

I think that they, you know, we kind of decided that she may go, she kind of said I might

go solo next year.

And I said, well, if you do, I might do the same.

Like I want to be here.

I want to meet up with you for the things we both like cohabitate on.

And then the things that we don't, it's no hard feelings.

There's no pressure.

And think eliminating that pressure of like, we have to band together.

Like we don't.

And I could see everyone enjoying their time a lot more without that added stress of pleasing

others.

Cause go for you, right?

Like what's your Bonnarooo like focus on that.

We've talked about this before, right guys, Russ and Brian.

In our group, we never all end up at the same place.

Even when we had a larger group, like I might go see a show with Russ or, or with Brian

or I might end up there, but it's rare.

And it's usually not long 15, 20, 30 minutes of it or so we've all kind of, and we didn't

just all of a sudden say, all right, break.

And then we all would take off.

But it just turned out that way.

Yeah.

It's not that I don't want to go with you guys or it's, or, you know, don't enjoy it.

We've had a lot of guests on the show and we've heard a lot of people talk about how

much fun it is to see a show with a group, you know, how meaningful that was to all be

in the field at two in the morning for, but it's usually not like a, Hey, nine o'clock

in the morning, we're talking about where we're going to be at 2 a.m. and who's going

to be with us type of thing.

Right.

It just happens and it has to be that way.

Otherwise you're miserable.

So yeah, I get it.

And I get what you're saying.

It's a, if you're, if your fun is tied to somebody else, it usually ends up bad.

That seems to be the, yeah.

Right.

And I mean, I wouldn't say I had a negative moment at all.

It was a learning experience at the same time and the confidence that I don't think I would

have had to go by myself prior.

Like she showed me that she was kind of doing her own thing and I was like, that's really

cool.

And I met through her, I met, you know, her best friend who was camping with the people

they met last year, Delaney and Katrina, the two girls from one of them was in Chicago

and one of them lives in Atlanta, so I have ties to be able to go to Lala or shaky knees

next summer.

Um, but I think that she showed me that, you know, it's okay to like do your own thing.

And by Sunday I was confident I was going to be going to see Galantis like by myself

because I guess I missed it reading the lineup 5 million times, but I was like, what?

And I had to be there and I knew that my route journey was complete at that moment.

Um, I also think driving separately benefits because had she needed to go, she wouldn't

have felt obligated to stay because of us.

Um, with, you know, financial obligation, everybody puts into Bonnarooo and, and then

also if I wanted to go because I thought I am just killing it.

I'm here Tuesday night or Tuesday afternoon to Sunday night.

I'm leaving it Monday morning.

Sunday night was scary.

Like if I could describe the only time I felt unsafe at Bonnarooo was going into and being

in where in the woods, uh, Sunday night because there's a couple of reasons.

And first was it got to capacity as we're walking in there out there with megaphones

telling people it's at capacity.

So mobs of people don't care.

And the fact that the festival is effectively over at that point, everybody's kind of, this

is now kind of like you're on your own.

I can see how that could be potentially a issue.

Just some issues there.

Yeah.

And so they, they, I guess they eventually, after we walked in, barricaded it off and

I don't know, but during that moment when we've got all the, I forget the name of the

little taxi bikes, um, but they're going through, okay, petty caps.

And we got separated from two of the girls in our group and couldn't get ahold of them.

No one had signal, nothing was sending.

So we're standing in the back.

We're all trying to find these two girls.

They thankfully were with some friends from another group we had met.

Uh, but when they couldn't find us, when they left those guys, they got separated.

So didn't see him the rest of the night.

And I'm kind of starting to panic because my girl code kicks in of like, I'm worried,

right?

Like this place is packed.

People are going nuts because if somebody was to be partaking in something, they want

to get rid of it before they drive home.

And you see a lot of medics dragging people out of the crowd.

Um, it got scary.

Uh, that was the only time I didn't feel 100% safe and it wasn't, I was worried about

myself.

I was worried about other people.

Um, so I don't know if I'm a late Sunday night person.

I probably need to be like, okay, I've had my fun and maybe hit the road.

Cause witnessing some of that was like, I don't, I don't want to have a bad taste,

you know?

Well, I wonder how much of that.

And it's probably something that, uh, and we'll probably talk to the folks that organize

it where in the woods was the only option, right?

I mean, uh, at that point, so that's where everybody was going to go.

Uh, I mean, it's, it's a great option to begin with, but the fact that it was the only option

I could see where this is a big shift in the last half decade or so.

I mean, it used to be going back about 10 years.

I mean, once that final note on that, what stage on Sunday, this place is over.

This place is done.

You can go back to your campsite, sit there until tomorrow afternoon.

That's fine.

There's nothing else to do here.

I don't think that I disagree with that being the way it probably should do.

I don't know if we're in the world where, where in the woods cranking back up hardcore

into the night into Monday is necessarily the best idea.

Now I'll leave it at that, but, um, that's interesting to hear, but I will say Abby,

that is, that's some stamina.

All right.

So you have proven that you can hard on Sunday night, Tuesday to Sunday night.

I mean, wherever the awards are coming from, you're a rookie of the year candidate for

sure.

That's where, uh, it was funny because as the week went on and especially getting into

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the people that we were with it, they're veterans and they've

been going multiple years when they hear it was my first time, the look on their face

is just like, what?

And I was like, I did my homework.

Like I, I, I love this kind of music.

I love, I love live music in general.

I work at a live music venue on the weekends.

Um, like, I mean, I'm big into Beatles.

I'm named after Beatles.

I have my cat's name is Ringo.

Like I, I love music.

So if you love music, yeah, you just, you go for it and you enjoy it, but you got to

do a little bit of homework and if you do, you'll be okay.

I didn't worry about my fit Brian.

So the fit check was not a new check on Instagram.

No, no.

I, uh, I, I, I, I cringe a little bit.

Um, I am all for the girls that love that, but I can't look at myself on camera and take

myself serious.

I just like to have fun with, I'm, I think it's stupid, but I like to have fun with it.

I was comfortable though.

I, everything I wore, I never complained about my feet or anything.

So that was a great tip because at first I had, I had ordered a bunch of stuff on some

Chinese website and it never came.

Of course that's the way it goes.

So I hit up every goodwill in the tri-state area and found the most bizarre things and

that's what I wore and it was, it was fun.

It was a lot of fun.

So what were your, uh, you know, you, you've already said your big, big tip, which is to

basically enjoy and let it, let it happen.

But, uh, practically speaking, what are some of the other tips?

Uh, I mean, how do you get from Tuesday to Sunday?

So you'd be the one to ask what are, what are the good tips?

Well, first off, it's definitely do acclimate yourself.

Uh, start drinking.

Um, my boyfriend calls my Stanley cup, my big dumb cup from some SNL skit or something,

but I was chugging like four of those a day and I was, I was hydrated going into the drive

to the festival and kept it up the whole time.

I made sure I was drinking an electrolyte packet in the morning and one at night, just

trying to do the hydration thing is best I could.

And I think I did a good job.

I never felt heat exhaustion or like I was dehydrated.

Second is be outside.

Um, I'm not, I'm not made for the sun.

Um, so I needed to get myself acclimated to melting.

Um, because that's what you do during the day at Bonnarooo is you melt.

Um, by Saturday this year.

Yeah.

Oh Lord.

I'm trying to, I guess it was like we, uh, our group chat with the girls on the side

note is called wood rats because we're like rats.

We hide away from the sun all day in shade and then we scurry into the woods at night.

It was, it was amazing to see myself able to get through that heat.

Um, I did walk, run, like, I mean, as many steps as you take in a day at Bonnarooo, you,

uh, you gotta get yourself, your body physically able to do that.

Um, and I know that that's harder for some people to get that in their routine and stuff

like that.

And then also eating.

I know people want to look good, um, in their outfits or they're busy, they're having fun.

They forget, but like make time to eat.

Like your body does need to eat.

We are not robots.

Um, so I think those are just basic like health tips and then, uh, trust your people, let

your people around, you know, where you're at physically, mentally, probably even emotionally.

It's a very emotional festival in my opinion.

Um, keep, keep people around you that are good for you and, uh, don't be afraid to express

when something's wrong.

Cause they're, if they love you, they're going to help you get through it.

Sounds like you had a good, a good plan, uh, going in.

Um, is there a big changes next year for you?

Any, any big things you're going to do differently?

Um, I don't know that I'm going to do too much other than potentially the way I camp.

Um, I will more than likely not expect the same thing twice, right?

Uh, keep, still keep an open mindset on the experience can always change or be different,

but I don't, I don't know that I'm going to change much at this time.

I think as I reflect and we get closer to ticket sales in November and lineups in January,

I may alter some things and really take a good look back, but I I'm truly just still

riding the high of dopamine from being there.

That's great.

We're, we're a little bit removed from it.

So that's really cool.

Uh, just real fast.

You mentioned, uh, being an EDM, um, girl, as you put it, I believe, but, but you like

all music.

What else over the weekend that was not EDM did you, uh, did you enjoy over the weekend?

Uh, I really enjoyed seeing like idols.

I enjoyed seeing everybody loved idols except I wasn't there.

I enjoyed, uh, red hot chili peppers was good, but that's just because I grew up with my

dad listening to it.

I, to be honest, felt it was kind of boring, but it was a nice like mellow set to sit down

in the grass and just like everybody says, no matter who you are, it's a fun answer.

It's a perfect answer.

Yeah.

And then, um, Carly Rae Jepsen for like the two minutes I saw her in the rain delay happened.

Uh, and then I got to see, uh, two of my hometown heroes as I like to call them.

Uh, so from the area I grew up in, we've got Jake Wesley Rogers.

Uh, he played on the what stage at like two on Sunday.

That was a hot, that was a hot one.

Yeah.

It was, it was toasty, but I got down in on the rail for that one and it was in the shade

the whole time.

So that was, that was great.

And then, uh, chapel round, she's from my area as well.

So growing up, she's a year younger than me.

And so kind of watching that whole thing, uh, has been, it's been really cool to see

both of them transform into their careers.

And they're so deserving of every bit that they're getting from fans.

Uh, you know, in our area, although there's a lot of talent that comes from it, I think

them as artists and who they are as people, I could see where I feel for them growing

up in the area that I do too.

And I, yeah, I just know where they are on the map.

I like on the Atlas.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's all I need to do to feel bad for them.

That's pretty sorry.

Yep.

We're in misery, but, uh, we're in the best state ever either here in Tennessee.

We'll just leave it at that.

I've always had a good time in Tennessee.

Tennessee's a beautiful landscape.

It's one of the best places ever.

And we get further outside of that.

Then we have things to discuss on a different podcast.

But, uh, all right.

That's cool.

Real cool.

What else?

Uh, Abby, thank you, uh, for doing this.

Thanks.

I'm so glad you had a good time.

I knew this would be fun and I knew it would be interesting.

And what, uh, you know, as we said, every story is unique, but they're so similar.

Um, I, oh man.

Yep.

I can't imagine having that.

I can't imagine getting that phone call that your tickets were stolen.

It makes me tense.

Just thinking about it.

Uh, I, I, I, I feel it.

I remember exactly like the blood just rushing from my face and it took a deep breath and

I handled it and we got through it and you know, I'll never forget it.

It's a memory.

So now you got a story.

That's what it is.

I do.

I, uh, I, and I just want to say, go ahead, Russ.

Oh, what'd you think of the, uh, the junk from Barry's basement?

We saw a little unboxing.

Oh, yes.

Oh, did it make it?

Oh yeah.

There it is.

We have, I've learned his name is Rufus.

Rufus.

Yep.

Um, and then there's Barry's note, which it did take me a minute to read, but we got

it done.

Hand writing.

What did it say?

Um, it says Abby so good or sorry.

So glad your Rue was amazing.

Thanks for listening, Barry.

But I couldn't read listening for a minute.

Um, but we got it.

I didn't write it.

I didn't know you wouldn't write a word about it.

But yeah, this was one of the coolest things.

Um, I had saw this on Reddit feeds of past goodies and such, and I thought that's so

neat.

I want to say that's 2014.

If I remember right.

Yes.

Yes, it is.

And so you open this up and I have a new Coozie for my collection.

Yep.

Um, from you guys, I have Barry's face, which will end up on my cooler.

And then we have our Rufus character, which I don't know what he's going to hold, but

he's got, I got to put something we're twinning.

I love it.

I knew I had mine somewhere.

It is rare.

Awesome.

And then the 2015 bandana.

So this is going to become my new trades box for all of my candy, you know, the bracelets

and weird little hands like that people sent.

Uh, some guy threw this at me at some point and it was just like, okay, like I, I, I love

it.

Like I saw a lot of people with a little, the little finger hands.

I have like a little plastic baby that somebody gave me.

Um, so yeah, this will be the collection box for years to come because I was, I just can't

be a one and done girl.

I've got to go back.

It's a stash box, whatever you want to stash in it.

Yeah, so, but I do want to say before, uh, you know, we end this, I thank you guys for

what you do because as somebody who seeks out advice and wants to do the homework, so

informational also with comedic relief in there.

And I learned so much from you guys.

I knew a lot of things that even my friends who had been before didn't know about, like

because I knew I was getting your guys's takes on things and discovering things that I probably

wouldn't have found on my own.

And I'm glad that I like soberoo, um, or the different artists, uh, gore different stuff

that I didn't anticipate to be a part of that I got to because I found out from you guys.

So I love your guys's show and thank you for doing what you do and having me.

Um, and anybody who doesn't agree with the What Podcast is a silly goose.

Well, Hey Abby, absolutely.

That's the coolest thing ever.

Thank you so much.

That means a lot.

Thank you so much.

That means a lot.

All right.

Yeah, that was fun, right?

I mean, uh, Brian, you and I laugh and like I said during the interview, Russ is the most

laid back human being I know probably wouldn't even have stressed him at all, but you and

I Brian, it would have, I'd have been on the floor.

Oh my God.

Our friend, uh, uh, Tara, the VLANS who are usually with us, uh, she's been on the show

before and we'll again, at some point they had issues and ended up having to be in GA

this year.

They had guests and so they could come hang with us and use some of our, you know, they

stocked with us a little bit and they kind of had a satellite issue there and it worked

out okay for them.

And she was dealing with that for about two, three weeks before where she knew she was

going but she didn't know in what capacity yet.

And she like texts me that I said, if I were you, I would be on the verge of a heart attack.

And this was just us down the road and she knew she was in just didn't know where and

I was dead serious.

I was like, how are you going to work every day?

How are you focusing on that?

How are you functioning?

I loved asking, ask Abby about, did you have that moment that we all have when you finally,

you turn the car off, you step out, you pop open a beer or a Coke or whatever.

And she's like, no, she didn't.

But she said, I could tell my friends cause they got out and did that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know that.

I know that look.

I know.

And then, and then yeah, it makes sense because getting that ticket thing taken care of before

was probably the, yeah, tell it's in your hand.

Thankfully.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yep.

Had to go to Will Call, which is, you know, several miles down the road.

Don't even know exactly where it's at.

So yeah, doesn't even go into GPS that well.

I've had problems.

No, it doesn't.

No, no, it doesn't send you the other way.

All right.

Well, another good show.

That was fun.

Thanks, Abby again.

I'm glad to hear from her.

Glad to hear it worked out and I look forward to meeting her in person next year.

So all right, well, thanks everybody for listening.

Hit that subscribe, like, give us a rating, give us a review, do whatever please.

It helps.

Yeah.

Join the discord.

We don't talk about the discord much, but we've got it.

We don't cause none of us know what it is.

I go there every now and then.

I actually, I do.

I know exactly what discord is, but I should get on it.

I don't know what my problem is.

Thanks everybody.

I will see you guys.