Big changes are coming to the way you select and purchase your Bonnaroo tickets and camping options next year. In this episode of The What Podcast, we have all the details you need to know.
C3 Presents' Project Manager of US Festivals Brad Parker and Marketing Director Cory Smith sit down with us and explain the new "uncoupled" ticket buying options Bonnaroo fans will have for 2023. Do you want to camp in GA, but get a seat on the hill for a What Stage act? Now, you can!
This is a huge change and if you have any questions about what's coming up, please send them to comments@thewhatpodcast.com. We will have Brad and Cory back on at some point and will be happy to pass them along.
To find out how these changes will affect your Bonnaroo experience, listen now or watch the full chat via Consequence. Then make sure to like, review, and subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the Consequence Podcast Network for updates on all our shows.
Topics: Bonnaroo, C3 Presents
Guests: Brad Parker, Cory Smith
20:28 | What percentage of people fly in to Bonnaroo? |
28:20 | What will it look like online? |
35:21 | Some GA ticket and camping prices will go down. Going GA is sort of a "rite of passage". |
42:19 | The "Squarch" is dead and the second entrance is coming back |
53:49 | Key dates coming up |
1:05:07 | Talent team is still the same working on the lineup. Steve and Bryan from AC Entertainment. |
Message received. After a tumultuous 2022, Bonnaroo has some changes in store. What's new? What's course corrected? and what we can find for 2023. Brad and Cory from C3 on The What Podcast today. Hey, I'm also Brad. He's Barry, Lord Taco. The What Podcast is back right now. The What Podcast? With Barry Courter, Lord Taco, I'm Brad. Welcome into what is going to be, I think, a very, very important day for the entire Bonnaroo and Festival community. Barry, we are gonna get some clarification on some massive changes that are gonna happen on Bonnaroo, at the Farmer of Bonnaroo for 2023. We're gonna reflect on what happened on 2022 and see where we all are. Yeah, you know, anybody that's listened to this show knows we're fans. So we come at it as fans. We also come at it, you know, from a little bit of a journalism or whatever. You're in radio, I'm in newspaper. I call it nerd. Nerd, inside baseball, whatever. We like to dive deep. We like to go to the sources and get the information. And this is an episode that sort of, in my opinion, proves what you and I have said from the first time we started doing this podcast is they pay attention and they think about things as a fan. They don't always get it right. They didn't get it right last year. And they admit that, as you'll hear. But they, when it's all over, said and done, they sit back and they say, man, what would I have wanted? What would I want? What do I want next year? And then they do it. And this is a pretty big change, I think. Yeah, and I think to double back on your point about the journalism thing. Yeah, I know I scoff and call it nerdy. But I mean, this is sort of the reason why we wanted to do this podcast and the show is because somebody is coordinating just the basic logistics of things. And it's one thing to just read information on the internet. Yes, these are words. And yes, these are gonna change the way that I get in and out of the festival. But let's actually talk to the people that made these decisions. And let's see how it exactly is going to work. What is it going to look like? And along the way, let's see if they picked up some lessons from the years past that informed them of these decisions. It's just a little bit different than reading a page on the website. Which to their point, they're gonna talk about, it's going to be a difficult thing for some people to maybe understand and navigate. That's why they wanna get this message out as clearly and concisely as they can. And you're gonna hear all the ways they're gonna do it in this episode. It's Brad Parker and Corey Smith. You wanna talk about their history a little bit before we jump on with these guys? Well, I think you hit nailed it at the end of this conversation when you made the point that people who are putting Bonnaroo on have to be Bonnaroo people. And you know when they aren't, and you know when they are. And Brad and Corey are both veterans. They attended as fans and now they work for C3 Presents. And they sat around and I don't remember their exact titles. Brad Parker is head of development. Corey is in charge, I don't even know, it's gonna, you know, but they're the guys. They're the guys making these decisions. I love how you say you just know people that are Bonnaroo. I'm watching, I don't know if you've watched that interview with the Vampire series on AMC. Oh my God, this show is so good. But it's like other vampires know vampires. You just see it and like they're talking on a different wave form. That's how Bonnaroovians are. Like you just know another Bonnaroo guy. You just know if you're a real Bonnaroo person based on literally, you know, you can look at him. I can smell you, Taco. I can smell you if you're a Bonnaroo person. Can you? No. That's right. But these guys, they've been involved in these major changes on how ticketing and how you are decoupling of the ticketing process as they're calling it, where you can basically, a la carte, how you experience Bonnaroo. It's a big change and not just for Bonnaroo, but you know, festivals in general. And I think it's a reflection of a 20 year old festival that says, here's what we've done to this point. How can we make the experience better for the people who come? Not just the new person, but as we'll talk about, the people like you and I who have been going for 15 or 18 years, who might've slept in a tent 15 years ago, but now we don't wanna sleep on the grass. You know? Or we can afford a general admission ticket, maybe not a VIP ticket, or maybe we can. How can we figure out, you know, based on our own wants and needs, how to make it work? It's a totally different way of looking at it than I'm accustomed to. You know, it used to be just one or the other, right? Yeah, and you know, the other thing I kept thinking about in this conversation is how much of this have they gleaned from either, yes, the Bonnaroo experience, but other festivals, and who else is doing it this way? I really don't know, but you know, it is a, I'm excited to see it in practice, and when I say it, you'll hear Brad and Corey explain it much better than we could, but I'm excited to see it in practice and see it executed, because if so, it goes back to all these things that we've been talking about for the last couple of years, especially when we talked to Jeff Cuellar once he left Bonnaroo was that, you know, these curated experiences are what's gonna start driving dollars more than insert massive lineup here. If you can curate an experience, and an experience that is so unable to be replicated anywhere else, then that's gonna be the future, and that's sort of what Quayar was alluding to when he was talking about his cruises, and that's sort of what Bonnaroo has adopted in their new sort of tiers and packages that they're putting together, and how it grows from here is actually pretty exciting. If it works, and if it does as well as they think it's gonna do, it could really grow into something pretty remarkable. Yeah, the curated part, that's a great point. That's the whole idea behind the curated festivals, it was, if I understand correctly, in the past, the three of us would all go to the same event. We all had this same experience. Now, everybody wants what feels like an individual experience, you know? Maybe I went to, I just did it this way or that way, you know, I didn't, I got to do VIP, I got to do camping, I, you know what I mean? I had some choice in the matter, and what we experienced was not something that I could have gotten anywhere else, you know? And that's what they're trying to do, so. Yeah, plus the other thing about this episode is, boy, Taco just couldn't shut up. The guy's a wordsmith. He's a motor mouth is what he is. It was really tough, it took a lot of self-control. Well, let's ask when we're done. I wanna ask you when we come back, after this is over. I didn't wanna hear his lip up. Let's jump into it, because we got a lot to talk about, a lot to cover, the future of Bonnaroo, the present of Bonnaroo, what happened last year, let's do it with Corey and Brad on the What Podcast. Guys, thanks so much for being here. This is a big day for us. Thanks for showing up, and thanks for having a little chat with us. We're nature-advanced. Yeah. I guess, where do you wanna start, Barry? I think the easiest place to start is, where are we? Where are we with everything? How is 2022? Is the debrief over? What does the past look like, and what is the present going to entail? Well, I can only assume you're worried about me. I'm fine, thank you for asking. We've already covered this. We've already covered this part. Everybody here is good, I appreciate it. You're complaining about your hair. Oh my, you're killing me today. I can't get any lift in. Look at that. I can't get any lift. I can't get any lift. I can't. I can't. Nevermind. Let's start with this. We have some really special guests with us today. We've already done this part. No, we haven't. No, we haven't. You're messing with me. I'm gonna let them introduce themselves and tell us who they are, and then I'll come back and say why we're here. Obviously, if you're looking at the screen, you can see we've got Brad and Corey, but if you're not looking, you have no idea who these guys are. Brad, who are you? I'm Brad Parker. I'm a project manager of US festivals for C3 Presents. And I like to think that I'm now a new kind of mayor of Bonnaroo, but I don't know if I can elect myself into that position. I think I have to be elected there. Wow. We'll get into that in a minute. You've got a big banana skin to fill. As I said to you before, we'll talk about that in a little bit. Corey, who? Context clues, though. That sounds really dirty. I know. I meant it that way. I did it on purpose. Corey, who are you? Yeah, I'm Corey Smith. I actually voted for Brad for mayor of Bonnaroo. Don't usually share my voting records, but I will in this case. I handle all the marketing for Bonnaroo and a few other festivals for C3 Presents. So we just got a clue as to the hierarchy here is if Corey voted for you, Brad. So we understand now how this works, right? Corey's my boss. He works for me. Is it? I work for the people, Barry. Yeah, there we go. All right, so obviously the banana skin was a reference to Jeff Cuellar, who has been on our guest on our show several times. Also, I've never heard it referred to as banana skin. I know, that was a- It's an odd choice. It is an odd choice. The banana suit. If you're a long time listener to this show, you'll know that Jeff Cuellar has been on before. He was with AC and then Live Nation had a similar job to yours, right Brad? But when you, but real quick, when you describe it as banana skin, you make him sound like Buffalo Bill. And when he puts on the banana suit, all of a sudden he's, you know, dancing to goodbye horses for some reason. Are you saying that's not what I meant? You don't know. But anyway, it's a inside joke. Jeff dressed in a banana suit at Moon River here in Chattanooga and said goodbye to people as they were walking out. So anyway, it's a, I didn't mean to go down that road, but it was funny. So Brad and Corey are with our Brad, Brad Steiner and Lord Taco and myself, Barry Courter, to on the What Podcast to talk about some big time changes at the upcoming Bonnaroo Festival. And thank you guys. We're so excited for you to join us. And these are big, big, big changes, right? Yeah, I think, you know, something that we kind of focus on is that, you know, our first foot forward with Bonnaroo is always the community. It's such an important part. I think that the Bonnaroo fan has a lot more identity than what you see with, you know, fans of other large festivals in the US. It's more of a passive fandom with other big festivals where at, you know, Bonnaroo, it is, it's cliche to say, but it is sort of a lifestyle for a lot of people. And so we try to keep them in mind and through, you know, for a litany of reasons, Bonnaroo has been through some hard times over the past three years. And so we are always looking for ways to make it more accessible and more, a better experience and easier experience for our fans. And part of that is this new, what we're calling decoupling of our festival ticket and our camping and or parking accommodation. So that's what we're here, I guess, to preach about with you guys today. It's a conscious uncoupling. Yes, got it. And I've talked to you guys before and I wanna just sort of, it's a lot. It really, it's a lot more than, and it sounds like it in that. And what I wanna do is just sort of introduce it and get it going. And then I know Brad and Taka are gonna have some questions. And I think that's what you guys want. You kind of want, you know, where are the holes? I think my question to you guys when we talked several weeks ago was, who's getting screwed, you know? And that's just the, you know, the cynic in me, the whatever in me. And you had it, you know, you don't think anybody is. In fact, in some cases, people are gonna be saving money on tickets, right? But so that's sort of the setup. It's a whole new way of camping. The way you described it to me is sort of like going to Disney and I thought that was a pretty good analogy. You can buy the full ticket, stay on site, do everything, or you can stay off site and kind of a la carte it. So that's sort of the setup. So I don't know, Corey, you seem to be the one masterminding all this. You wanna go ahead and dive in? I wouldn't need much credit, but I'm the one tasked with explaining it to people. So I've definitely been getting fairly good at that recently. So let me interrupt real quick. Does that make sense to Brad, my Brad and TACO? Does that seem like the best way to go forward or y'all wanna ask a question first? No, go ahead. Let's do it. All right. Real quick, Barry, I wanna go one more level on the Disney World analogy because I think it's kind of important in context and it's that really what we've done here using the Disney World model is just because you buy the most expensive pass that's gonna get you in all the parks and all the fast pass for the rides and all that doesn't mean you have to stay at the Ritz-Carlton or have the most expensive offering there is for how you're staying at Disney World. That's kind of the key here. If you wanna buy the most expensive pass to Epcot and the fast pass and all of that, but you wanna stay at the Motel 6, you can do it. But if you wanna stay at the Ritz-Carlton in a suite and have room service, but you want to have the cheapest general admission and wait in the lines and do all of that, then you can also do that. And that's not necessarily what was possible before. So that's kind of the key. So in your world, what is the Ritz-Carlton and what is the Motel 6? So the Motel 6, I mean, is the way that a lot of our fans enjoy and why they enjoy Bondrew is the simple, you show up with your car in your own tent and you figure it out yourself and we don't help you at all do anything. Like we show you where to park your car and then we just leave you and say, all right, we'll see you on Monday when you're leaving. The Ritz-Carlton would be, you find a way to get there and when you show up, we've got an RV for you and your friends and we've got a concierge and we've got someone that is giving you meals and you've got electricity and you've got AC and you've got a golf cart person that's gonna drive you around to the different shows you wanna go to. Like that's the full premium experience. And in between all of those things, between A and Z, there's other options that I can start adding to the package, right? Yeah, so we've got a full menu per se of options that kind of connect the dots anywhere between those two. We can, the next step from the Motel 6, let's say the Holiday Inn Express is gonna be, you show up and we're gonna provide a basic tent for you and a sleeping bag or whatever other options there might be. And then the next step for Matt is gonna be, you show up, we're gonna provide you a very nice pre-pitched tent option that, might have an AC unit in it and it's got two twin size air mattresses and you've got some other amenities that can be added in the mix there. And you can kind of go from as scaled back as possible to not having to think about anything except how do I get to Manchester? And then once you're there, we take the rest of it. So that's kind of- And just as a side, is there a certain reason why you wanted to do this other than making it more accessible? Are you finding more people traveling in from out of state and having these problems? I say this because I've now lived in New Orleans and now Brooklyn for the last three years and one of the biggest issues for me was, I just can't travel all the way to Tennessee. Yeah, I don't have, what am I traveling with? I can't bring a tent with me onto the plane. I think it's a- Let me jump, let me jump. I think it's a mixture and Corey can chime in. Go ahead, Barry. I was just gonna jump in real quick and say, Corey, I've never heard you explain it better than that right there, that was perfect. Well, me neither, cause it was the first time. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I had to do that. Was Brad getting roasted already? I'm, you know, I'm kidding. But to your question, Brad Steiner, it was, I think you guys told me you figured out that, I don't remember what the percentage was, but a lot of the percentage of ticket buyers were buying these sort of package deals, right? Yeah, so I think one of the big catalysts is, you know, last year was obviously a down year sales wise for us as far as, you know, full capacity on the farm. And yet we managed to sell, what was it Brad? 98% of our pre-pitched accommodations that we had on site. And, you know, one of my jobs is to kind of look at where people are coming from, you know, what those people from other areas are buying and do our best to, you know, study those trends and inform ourselves to make the experience better based on that. And the truth is we're seeing a lot more people fly in than we used to. He's like New York and Chicago. If you don't mind me asking, what's the percentage breakdown like? I don't have those numbers in front of me, unfortunately, but they're definitely, they've gone up every year for the last three or four years. So you're, Brad, are you asking the percentage of people that are flying in? Yeah, just because I remember us talking about this in the past, Barry, and Barry, you can probably inform this better than I can, because I don't remember. But I remember at some point asking the question, how many people are in and around the 90 mile, you know, sort of circle of Manchester? And it was a significant amount, right? It was mostly all people driving in. And I wonder how much that changed probably in the last five years. So I don't know, we work with the tourism arm in Nashville to kind of try to keep a pulse on these things, looking at hotel rooms and flights on that weekend and the week leading up. And there's anecdotal information that I don't have in front of me, but what I can still say for sure, which has been the case for a while with Bonnaroo because of kind of the national appeal that it has is that, you know, no state makes up more than 5% of the attendees of the show, and that includes Tennessee. No kidding. Wow. We still are able to pull from, now I know people, just because of that fact doesn't mean that those people are flying. Like I hear people all the time, they're like, I drove 14 hours from North Dakota or right from wherever. So not to say that those people are forced to, don't have the ability to bring their stuff with them, but I know that a mixture of two things has been happening. I think that's driving that number for the pre-pitch. I think one is people flying and coming to Manchester via Nashville or Atlanta and not having the ability to bring their own stuff with them. And I think the second one is that we are moving into a generation of fans that just, they didn't grow up going to KOAs and camping in their backyard, and they might not have the knowledge or materials to do these things, but they are open to that. We just have to kind of lead them to water a little bit. And I think that that's what we're trying to do by offering more, show up and have a good time options. Guys, I've tried to tell this story in a thousand different ways. I, turns out, not a camper. Pretty big diva. And I only do it once a year, and I need so many amenities to make this work, which is why Camp Nut Butter looks the way that it does, why it has 700 square feet of carpeting and a couch, and these ridiculous amenities, because I just couldn't do this 10 years ago like Barry was doing it. I couldn't just show up and sweat and cry into my hands every night because I was so dirty and sweaty. No, I had to make this thing more comfortable. And if you're doing this for me, if you're doing this for me, it feels so much easier on me when I'm making my decision, especially in a landscape that really only has, for a guy like me, three, four options around the country. I'm gonna get one good trip a year, and is it gonna be Coachella? Is it gonna be Hangout? Is it gonna, this really helps. We are actually doing this for you, Brad. As you should, as you should, yeah. You didn't talk about the added hair guy that gets to travel with me at all times. I'd appreciate that. So that's when you actually get on site. What happens before you get on site? I know there was a lot of chatter about the toll booth from years past. So this is something that we, I think, have tried and been great at trying to be transparent about, and it's the fact that it's hard on our team and makes a bad experience for the fan if all 60, 70,000 people, 80,000 people try to show up at once. And so this is where the idea of this daily entry came from is like, hey, if we just have an idea on how many people are coming each day, we can staff appropriately, we can try to make it to where all of those people, regardless of when they're arriving, have a great experience and can get onto the site and get their camp set up in a timely manner. And so the whole idea behind that was, listen, we're not trying to necessarily make this a penalty to fans by having to choose, but the Bonner community has always been a like, we wanna help, let's help each other. And so we felt like this was a fan base that would be very receptive to us being honest with them and saying, hey, we're asking you to do this because it's gonna help us and therefore help your fellow Bonneruvians by just helping us expect. Because honestly guys, in the past, it's kind of been, we had historic numbers that kind of told us when people were gonna be showing up, but a lot of it was us sitting there on Tuesday going, well, I wonder if we're gonna get crushed tonight or if we're gonna get crushed tomorrow morning, because there's all sorts of things that affect that. People are coming from everywhere. You get storms that go through parts of the country and people go, well, we're not gonna leave tonight. We're gonna wait till in the morning and leave at 8 a.m. And so there's all these different variables. So that was an attempt for us to try to be super transparent with our fans and let them know that, hey, if they're willing to work with us and commit to a time and tell us when they're coming, then we're gonna try and make that experience as best as possible for them. And that's something that's gonna continue next year. But I guess the reason I bring it up entirely is because it sounds as though with some of these a la carte options, it sounds as though it would be a lot easier on you and probably everyone if it started flying in a little bit more. If you took some of these options in front of you, it would help a little bit alleviate the traffic issue, alleviate some of the headaches that you guys see before you even get on site. Well, I mean, that might be true to an extent, but the truth of the matter is, regardless of if we're building it for them or they're bringing it, they still have to get there somehow. Yeah, that's true. So whether it's now a shuttle bus of 20 people versus 20 different cars or 10 different cars, Manchester is just, we become the eighth biggest city in the state whenever Bonnaroo happens because it's just the infrastructure is not there. And that's part of what makes Bonnaroo cool and what Bonnaroo is, it's special. So it's a delicate balance of being able to maintain this camping experience that is so much part of the soul of what Bonnaroo is, but also making it easier for us to get new fans and introduce a new generation of music fans to Bonnaroo. Because I mean, guys, we're into our third decade now as Bonnaroo. The truth is there are a lot of new customers out there that have no idea what Bonnaroo is, and those are the people that we're trying to appeal and convince them to come down to Manchester once a year. And that's a point that I think hit me as you and Corey and I were talking earlier, is for Brad and I, this is year 18. A lot of fans have no idea what happened 18 years ago and don't care. But Brad, you started to ask, I thought a question. A lot of fans aren't even 18 yet, Barry, that's the other thing too. Great point, but you started to ask what I thought, when you were asking that, it made me think of another question. Corey, what will it look like? Like if I go online in a couple of weeks when this becomes legit, how is it gonna work? How do I pick and choose? What's the menu gonna look like? So this part is actually another really exciting upgrade that's kind of coming as a consequence of making these changes. Last year, it was kind of a three-step system where you would buy a Centaur ticket and if you bought certain Centaur tickets, it would then determine what camping or accommodations you could then buy. And the way we're doing it this year completely simplifies that. It's down to just a two-step program. You pick the Centaur ticket you want, whether that's GA, GA+, VIP or Platinum, and then you go to the accommodations page and pick how you want to camp. And we've actually been working on a new interface where instead of going through a list of 40 different line items like you did last year, you can kind of see where everything lays out on a map of the campgrounds now. You'll be able to click each little section that has sort of a brief subtitle, whether that's clamping or tent only, and you can see exactly what sort of camping options are available in each of those sections and then go ahead and purchase right there at the website. And does that include where I get to camp? You will have a lot of idea. Even the pod where I wanna be? Yes and no. So for some of the pre-pitched accommodations, you'll have a pretty good idea of where you're gonna camp. If you come GA, we are gonna do it pretty much exactly like we did last year, which is, if you get there early on Tuesday, you're gonna be parked basically right in front of the arch and we'll kind of fill it in back after that. That's smart. So some of the pre-pitched accommodations will have the perk of knowing exactly where you're going to be and in some cases, that will be pretty close to the main entrance of the center room. Yeah, Brad, all I was gonna add to that was, long-term, we wanna move to a system. I mean, listen, with GA, it's never gonna be where we can guarantee someone a specific plot of land or even an area of land because of just the nature of how we have to load 50,000, 60,000 people into the site. But we do wanna work towards a system where, if you are in a little bit more of an elevated area, you might even get down to picking the specific campsite that you're in, like you would look at a seat inside of a venue. But that's not gonna be something that's available for 23, but this is all part of taking steps towards just more and more customization and letting people know kind of what they're getting into when they get there. And then the idea is that we can even get as granular as, okay, I've purchased a pre-pitched tent that I'm gonna show up. Okay, well, when you get there, here's a list of things that you can say that you want in there when you arrive. Do you want a cooler? Do you want a extension cord? Do you want all of these different accessories that you can just say, yeah, I want those. And then whenever you show up, that will be, that customized experience will be ready for you with your tent that you've already, that's already ready for you when you show up. Just real quick though, if I, and this is me being an idiot because I've only driven in GA one time as a ticket buyer, but if I get there early on Tuesday, yes, I could be close to Centro if I wanted, but could I also say, I'd like to be over there. Can I pick and choose if I show up on Tuesday and be like, I'd like to be by the woods? You yes and no to an extent, you would be able to, let's look at a specific plot of land, right? That's 20 acres. When you show up on Tuesday, our traffic team is gonna automatically start filling that 20 acre plot from front to back. If you decided that you were gonna drive to the back of that 20 acre plot and park, no one's gonna say anything, but you're not gonna just be able to go, what if I go to that plot that's way over there? You're still gonna be able to kind of move around with certain parameters of where we're filling because all of this has to do with, we have a very extensive traffic plan and team that put together to make this flow. And when you get people that go rogue, it kind of- It's chaos. Just chaos. Yeah. Or go bad, as we like to call it. I think another thing along that line of thought too is, like with the daily entry especially, like my first Bonnaroo, I think we waited in line seven hours to get into the campgrounds. And we're down to, what was the max last year, Brad? Maybe two hours or whatever? Yeah, we kind of kept tabs this past year with our new entry and everything. And from what we could tell, the longest any vehicle sat in line to get in was about an hour and 15 minutes, which is smoking. Yeah. I know stories of people like 23, 24 hours sitting in line to get into Bonnaroo. Well, you know what? I hadn't thought about it the way until you said it, Brad, was you're in a remote space for a reason. That's the draw of it. And then to get to that remote space, we're like, damn it, why am I not here quicker? How dare you not put an off ramp right into my exit, right into my campsite? How dare you? Yeah. But it's a really good point. You were there for a reason. You're supposed to be out in the middle of a farm for, it's the middle of a farm. Yeah, an actual literal farm. Yeah, yeah, people don't understand that. You and I talked, Corey, you and Brad and I talked last week and I think it's fairly significant. I mean, these are big changes and we'll keep explaining them, but the ticket price is also in some cases coming down, depending on how you do this. And that's no small detail, I don't think. That's true. I mean, when I left Bonnaroo last year, six months ago or three months ago, whatever it was, I was told that the cost had gone up some like 40%. So assumption was everything else is gonna have to go up, but you guys are actually figuring this out and figuring out a way that some ticket prices will go down, right? Yeah, I think one of the big priorities when we were doing this was what can we do to make the GA tamping and Centro experience more accessible and ultimately cheaper. And then also not mess with that experience because it's tried and true in my eyes, it's sort of the OG way to do Bonnaroo. I look at going GA to Bonnaroo as a right of passage like you would Burning Man. And so as we were going through this, I mean, you're able to sell more of these more expensive, nice accommodations. And I think that gives us an opportunity to make it a little bit cheaper for the GA Centro ticket and the GA camping experience. So that's definitely something Brad and I are super proud of. And to jump on that, I mean, I think the, I'm about to put words in your mouth, but the other point is some people have the money and don't mind spending it for those nicer accommodations, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, Bonnaroo at the end of the day is a business that has to operate like any other business. And there's a reason that you can buy a great quality base model Honda Civic for very cheap. It's because people also buy $70,000 vehicles from Honda. And there's more ability on the top end to have flexibility and to protect and have a better experience for your consumers on the lower end. And Bonnaroo has always been built on GA fans. I mean, that's 85, 90% of the people that buy tickets to our show are gonna have that experience. So how can we help those 90% and maybe put a little bit more weight on the shoulder of the 10% that don't mind, that can take that, you know? Cory, you mentioned that you sold what, 90, 95% of the pre-setup, what'd you call it? I can't remember the term that you used. We call them pre-pitched. Pre-pitched, okay. How many was that? And how much is that growing this year? That's a Brad, probably question. So I don't know the number, the specific number of what that was. If I do quick math in my head, it was maybe around, you know, eight to 10% of the entirety of tickets we sold. But that's compared to, you know, let's say three to 5% of years before. So we're trying to keep up with the need and demand and get more of that inventory to have more of those offerings because we see that growing as a per cap of our whole pandemic. But as a base, there will be more available this year than last year. Yes. Okay. Potentially more options, like newer options as well. But that all is pending, you know, there's still tons of supply chain issues from the pandemic that we are dealing with. So we're trying to not only expand the quantity but the offerings that are there and we'll continue to do that, you know, forever. Yeah. Side note, cause we, I haven't talked to anybody from C3 since Hurricane Ida. Whose idea was it to send all the tents down to New Orleans? That was a major deal there, by the way. And I don't know if anybody from the city ever said, thank you, but thank you. I mean, cause that was a major, major deal. And the wife actually helped unload those. She was part of the volunteer group that unloaded the tents and, you know, you drive through the city, it was tough to see some, you know, some homeless camps with them. But I saw all of these Bonnaroo tents and they were everywhere in the city. And it was, it was a, it was a very big deal. So thank you. You know, well, thanks for saying that. And that was a decision that, you know, our upper leadership team, we got together and ultimately like we were, you know, it was a very sad time for us as people who had worked so hard to keep pushing this show through a pandemic. And then ultimately to have it canceled because of something like that was heartbreaking to say the least, but we, you know, the nature of Bonnaroo and our fans and our team is that we always try to find the silver lining and a little bit of light in the darkness. And we knew people were in need and we had a way to help them out. So that's what we did. It was, it was an easy, an easy, an easy yes. I just want to, I, it's, it's interesting to me to think about this because again, we've been doing it for so long, but the perception of Bonnaroo is that it's a sweaty, nasty, dirty, you know, camping in a tent thing. At least it was, I don't know that it's that way. It can be if you want that, by the way. We, we camp with one of those guys. That's exactly, that's exactly right. But what I find interesting about this is it shows the progression. You know, it was kind of that. You bring a tent, you sleep outside of your car, but those same people are now 15 years, 20 years older. They don't want to sleep on the grass anymore. You know, we, we, and I put myself in that position. I like a little comfort. I like a little air conditioned porta potty and a hot shower and a, you know, some shade. So this is you guys trying to accommodate not just the young, the 18 year old who's just graduated from high school, you know, is having his first big festival experience, but also, you know, old guys like me who want to hear the great music, but don't want to sleep on the grass. I mean, Barry, I think it's funny you say it because Cory, you mentioned Bonnaroo being like this rite of passage. And I kind of see the same thing with like how people choose to experience Bonnaroo because I can't tell you the people that are in our platinum program. I can't tell you how many of them are like, oh, I've been every year. I finally just, I finally just concluded that, you know, I deserve to have this experience and spend my life. And that's how I, that's how I'm doing it. Cause I slummed it the first 10 years and now I don't want to slum it anymore. Yep. That's exactly right. I need the AC, I need a bathroom and a hot shower, you know. The year before the pandemic, I went RV for the first time and it was a absolute game changer. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not ready for that. It's one of those to me, it's like, I had an old guy on a golf course tell me, don't ever drink a hundred dollar bottle of wine cause you can't go back. So anyway. But it is a rite of passage, but you know, I only needed to do it once. I did it once. I don't ever need to do that again. So other than those changes, what else are you guys preparing for, you know, after the ticket is purchased? I mean, I don't know Corey, what you want to hint on. Oh, I knew it. The squarch is coming back. Squarch is back. I knew it. The squarch is dead and gone. It's buried deep under the soil of the farm and it will never see the light of day again. The second entrance is coming back. You know, that was a real point for us this past year from a customer service perspective. Let's stop right there because I think that's going to be the lead. I hate to tell you, but what happened? What was the decision? Was it capacity reasons? I mean, listen, I don't want to dig too much into it and dig up the past. Well, I do. I want names. We want names. Ultimately, yes, it was the fact that we knew with the amount of people that we had on site and the tickets that we sold that we could operate without having that. There's obvious expenses that we can save by not having to have staffing and all of that 24 seven at a second entrance. And we made the decision and quickly found out that, you know, that wasn't something that was viewed as a right decision in the face of our fans. And we heard that message loud and clear. And I think we've corrected our course a little and it will be back and fully run and whenever people show up this year. Well, that's the spirit of Bonnaroo, man. I mean, you're able to do what you think is best. And if it doesn't work, you admit it and you move on. And that's exactly what the, you know, that's what the people before you did and what the people after you will do. And it's right of you. Just real quick though, how many people does it take to operate an entrance 24 seven? I mean, there's not a super direct answer on that. The way that we calculate it is we know how many people we can process per hour in one lane. So we kind of divide that number by hour by how many total people we have. So the answer is it's not really about the number of entrances, it's about the number of lanes. So we could have doubled the amount of lanes at the arch and it would have processed the exact same as having two completely separate entrances. It's really all about volume and how many lanes we've got going at one time. And the cool thing about the arch, in my opinion, as someone who's worked on the festival for a while and was there as a fan before, is that I don't necessarily, I don't wanna wait in line forever, but I don't wanna be rushed through the arch because I'm taking photos of my friends and I'm soaking in the full experience. So we decided instead of shrinking down either that it was best to get rid of one that wasn't the photo op and the magic moment and just focus on the one that people come to see. I mean, that's a very recognizable icon in the festival world, in my opinion. Maybe in just general, but. Yeah, that's true. True. All right, so other than the second entrance, what else? I mean, Corey, is there anything you wanna tease? I mean, I think- We definitely, I've been telling the story. Our creative director, Anna and I, were at Herbie this past year, having a glass of wine and just talking about the festival. Was it a $100 bottle of wine? Because I heard you can never go back from that. No, not. People were talking about it. Standard issue. We were standing there just talking and we were like, why have we never named the campgrounds before? And so we started just going down this space-themed rabbit hole to the soundtrack of Herbie Hancock and came up with this whole fun, basically theme and identity for the campgrounds this year. I think that's about all I'm gonna say about it, but it's definitely- Am I guessing that they also correlate with what's happening inside the pods? Could I make that assumption? There's definitely a naming convention. Okay. That'll be helpful, but I think the general spirit of it is just an opportunity for our fans to have fun with it. Well, to be fair, back in the day, they did have Camp Marty McFly and Camp Doc Brown. Yes, this is definitely in the spirit of that. Okay. But unfortunately, there were far too many names back then to really build what I did here. There were about 75 different campsites. Yeah. It didn't help. Brad, I think the overall tease that Cory and I would leave you all with, and it's been obvious since 2019, is that we're doing everything we can to make the experience at your campsite better, whether that's adding the necessities that make it easy to live out there or more programming that you don't have to walk as far to enjoy and see great bands and hear good music. And so you're gonna continue to see the campgrounds at Bonnaroo take their own identity and have more programming and see bigger artists doing things out there. And all of that's gonna play in with this decoupling and new accommodation thing that allows people to kind of roam anywhere and there not be walls between the VIP campers and the GA campers and all of that. It's just like, we're trying to create a festival within a festival out there and I think we're doing a good job at it. Well, that's another thing too. Explain the difference between the, what you say, the VIP wall and the GA thing. So everybody's sort of camping together. That's not even a thing anymore, huh? So it's a thing in the sense of you are buying and paying to be in the area where, the accommodation type that you want is located. The same way that you would pick your room and your hotel based on what kind of room you need at Disney World. But my GA ticket's not gonna get me on the VIP Hill. Not within Centro, but that's kind of the process of this. Is we are now defining everything as what's inside Centro and what's outside. There used to be a barrier of entry even into the VIP camp now. But now that is a free for all in the sense of people exploring and going through different campsites. Now, when you're inside of Centro, that is specifically dictated by what ticket you buy. If it's a GA, GA plus VIP or platinum. Okay, well you just made me think of something. When you've had people buy VIP in the past, VIP has gotten special shows, they've gotten the buffet, they've gotten- We never saw them. Yeah, they were in their own universe. They were in their own world and they got access to Adirondack chairs in that hill. Those things don't exist anymore for VIP, huh? So, no, it's not fair to say that they don't exist. What's happening is the value of those things is now going to be connected with the experience inside Centro. Therefore, the camping experience can be a little cheaper because those amenities aren't attached to it. So- Wait a second, are you moving the wall around the hill and the hill's now gonna be part of Centro? No, the wall is the barrier into the venue, what we consider Centro. So, think of that as the wall into Bridgestone Arena. That is still there because to get in there, you have to have a ticket to the show. But to go to your favorite bar down the street on Broadway, you can do whatever you wanna do. You just gotta have a ticket to get into Bridgestone and that is the same thing with Centro. There's still a barrier there. You have to have some sort of ticket to get into there. And I hate to belabor this point because I know Barry's screaming to make this joke. But can a GA camper go to the hill that was moved? Was it moved? Can they walk to that? There's a VIP hill that you can watch the main stage. You're talking about the mound in Centro. Yes, it was the hill. That's inside, so that's inside. That's not part of the camping world at all. So if you wanted to access the mound at the main venue in Centro at the what stage, you can buy a VIP Centro ticket and you would have access to that. And if you wanted to pick, you could buy a car camping pass out in the campgrounds. Got it. And another point there is to accomplish that experience is actually considerably cheaper than VIP has been in the past. That's, thank you. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, so you mentioned making your campsite better. Will you be making my campsite better and moving me back to where guests used to be in the woods? Because I heard that it wasn't there anymore and I'd like to talk to somebody about that. We want trees. I can't promise that you will be able to get back there where you had been in the past. Wow. That's all I can say. I don't approve of this. I need to talk to someone. Can I talk to Danny Bonnaroo? We're about to get kicked off the show now. Okay. I planted my own tree. I planted my own tree back there 15 years ago and I watched it grow. Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, Brad, I wanna just say something because of you mentioning that. That was a really cool part of the experience for Bonnaroo for people who were close to our staff or the artist or whatever for a long time. But part of what we realized as a company and as Bonnaroo- Is that we weren't paying for it? Well, it's not even that we recognize that we weren't paying for it. It's that we were keeping the best real estate on the entire property away from our fans. And that ultimately is what chose us to drive that to be something that is available publicly. It is the best lot of land in that entire farm. Yes, it is. Which is why I do not want to leave it. Can't nut butter. Yeah, we had it. We were spoiled. Let me ask this- I'm happy to direct you to one of our premium concierge to give you some of your, for your experience, for your 2023 experience. Well played. Give us some dates. What are, what's coming up? What are the key dates that people listening to this need to put on their calendar? I mean the- Yeah, sorry. I don't have my calendar in front of me. So we are gonna be sharing all the details of this information that we've talked about today on November 17th, which is a Thursday. And then we'll be doing our Black Friday presale as we have in the past on the 25th. So that's when people can start looking for us to, you know, release this in full and they'll have access to the website a full week before the presale starts with the new systems so they can play around, see exactly what's available, make their plans, talk to their friends, et cetera. And, you know, I think we're probably gonna have some sort of, whether it's on Reddit or through Instagram, probably in AMA, the Monday before the presale, just so our fans can have an opportunity to get their questions together and get an answer directly from us. Because, I mean, we're making this as easy as, you know, we can to explain, but anytime you've got an event this large and this many moving pieces, and you're trying to communicate it through social media and a website, we definitely understand that that's not easy. And we want everybody to have an opportunity to get a straight answer to their questions and, you know, make the best, you know, put these new options together and kind of create the best experience that they can for what they wanna get out of Honor this year. And side note, if it would help, after this episode is released, if we have questions that come in, feel free to drop them to us, the what underscore podcast or on the email, and we'll send them to you directly. And next episode, we'll go through any of the answers that you guys might wanna share if that helps as well. After the Black Friday date, then what happens? I'm assuming is next on your calendar a lineup? Rue Clues. Rue Clues? Rue Clues are coming back. You'll be getting Rue Clues through the end of November and through December. Okay. And then, you know, I don't wanna give any exact dates for the lineup yet, but I'd say, take a look at the middle of January. Yeah, I'm gonna guess January 10th is my date. I'm gonna go January 10th. It's either 10 or 17. You can make your bets now. Pencil that in, and you know, I know Brad will say this too, but we're really excited about how the lineup's shaping up so far. Yeah, the other big lead is Taylor Swift is headlining Bonnaroo. Congratulations, guys. Well, in the spirit of the Reddit threads, we can put Taylor in the absolutely not happening because she just announced her Nashville Nissan Stadium show date. Yeah, and didn't Dolly say she isn't touring anymore so we can scratch her off too? Well, this wouldn't be a tour, Barry. This would be a just a stop up and say, hey everybody. Yeah. No, let me ask a generic question if we still have a few minutes. Where do you think last year, if you wanna use this term, went wrong, where do you think that like the disconnect was? Is it the economy? Is it the festival landscape in general? Was it the lineup? What do you think it was? Corey, I'll take that one if you want me to. Yeah, that sounds great. Brad, I think it's, well, it's all, it's everything that you just said, but the main contributing factors, one, people have more options than ever coming out of the pandemic and less money to spend than ever. So they're forced to make harder decisions. I think that mixed in with the fact that, we had a rough three years as an industry and as a festival with customer service through cancellations of COVID and the hurricane cancellation last year. And so I think our Bonnaroo fans were a little burned, not by any fault of us or themselves. It was the circumstances that were out of all of our control. And I think some of them decided they were just gonna take a year as a breather and the people that came had an incredible time. We had our best survey feedback that we've ever had. I think 96% of people said that they would come back next year. So we feel super confident that we're gonna get some of the OGs back and we're gonna get people that came for the first time this year to come back next year. And it's gonna be a really great, Bonnaroo, just me speaking personally as someone who has it near and dear to my heart every day that I go to work, it deserves to be the top, at the top of the throne of festivals in the world, not just camping festivals, not just American festivals, like it deserves to be up there. And I think that Cory and myself and our whole team are determined to make that the case moving forward. So that's what we're working on. I totally agree with you. And if I can just interject for a second, I know that you used something that was so, that hit me straight to the core, needed a breather. As a guy who didn't go last year for a multitude of reasons, at the end of the day, Brad, what you said is exactly right. I just needed a year off. For everything, all the turmoil in the world, all the turmoil in my life, all of the moving parts, and then the economy, it just was too much to swallow. It was just one too many thing to add to my list. And you know, you're on top of it, and this is just being totally frank with you. It was just a really subpar lineup for me. And when you have the headwind like that, something's gotta cut through. And you know, I'm back, I'm back though, I'm coming back. Let me, let me. Well, I should fix my campsite, and then I'll be back. Let me jump on. Even the lineup, you know, the perception of the lineup, some fans. Sure. Just to that point, like even the lineup was affected by the fact that artist availability was hard because of so many festivals being out there. Yeah, they had so many options. So even that's something that, you know, we do the best with what we're given, but it's, people sometimes think that, you know, if we want the Rolling Stones, we just get the Rolling Stones. Right. That's right. There's a lot of variables that go into that happening. That's right. And by the way, what you said about Bonner is exactly right. It means so much to like all five of us in this room. And it's something that I, it's the greatest week of my life every single year. And even I, as an absolute hardcore, talk about OG, since year two, even I was like, I just gotta take a year off. I just gotta take a year off. Well, let me add the other side of that, because Taco and I went and it was hot. It was hot. Guys. I mean, there were times on Thursday and Friday that I wished I were anywhere else. Hot. It was hot. Hey, that sounds like every Bonner-oo. Well, that's true. At one point you say to yourself, I don't know if I can do it another day. And then it ropes you right back in. But Taco and I, was it Friday night? Or Saturday night? I think it was, well, Friday night was when you put on your whatever costume and disappeared. So Saturday night. Is banana skin. Is banana skin. Yeah. You know, we had the conversation. I can't wait to come back. You know, this was great. I'm so glad I'm here. And so yeah, that's the other side of that. And that I was gonna say, Brad Parker, it has to be sort of encouraging that even though the numbers were way down, those people that were there wanted to be there and had a good time. It's what Ken Weinstein always says, it's never not great. Never not great. I mean, if you do give it yourself and your attention and your time and your effort, it will pay you back in more ways than you'll ever expect. Yep. That's it. But you're happy about the lineup. You think the lineup is, well, how would you describe it? I'll put it that way. Straight down the middle, Bonnaroo. It feels like Bonnaroo again? Very, very Bonnaroo. Uh-huh. Yeah. Let me throw something out at you. Bonnaroo or not Bonnaroo? Machine Gun Kelly. Not Bonnaroo. Okay. Yeah, at least we agree. Okay. At least we agree. But I will say, this year, so many people, fan or not fan, said that that was the best show they saw all weekend. Interesting. How about this? When you look back on this year and then what's coming up next year, what was the top of the priority? Like one, two and three, the priorities going into this year, what were they for you? First one for me, and Corey, you tell me, but I think we're probably on the same page. First one was just gaining the trust of our fans back from a customer service perspective. Because even before the hurricane cancellation happened, there was issues across the entire industry with refunds from 2020 and refunds from 2021 and just everything. Like fans were in a, well, everybody was in a really bad spot. But our staff was 90% laid off. And I mean, it was just a shitty time for everybody. But first and foremost, it was gaining back that trust with our fans that we had had for so long and lost a little bit of a grip on it. I think that's the first. Second to me would be finding the new fan and acknowledging that we're moving past 20 years now and we've got to start turning over some new leaves in the sense of, like Barry said, a lot of our OG fans, like they've got kids and 401ks and mortgages and all this shit now. And they're just, they're in a different phase of life. And we got to start finding, we got to find Barry 20 years ago. We got to find him now. That's who we're looking for. So yeah. Where does lineup then? Just to, I think to tack on to Brad's question, where does lineup in that list? I think number three would be lineup. I mean, interesting. Yeah. Lineup is important, but in the context of where we were going into 23, for me, it was not the most important. If you ask me going into 2019, lineup was number one. Going into 2020, lineup was number one. Cause we had a sellout, we were rolling into another sellout. That was important. But through the pandemic, like we had to, by necessity, shift our priorities a little bit because our fan base was in a rough condition. Interesting. You just had to get the car on the road. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, our talent team that we have working on Bonnaroo, you know, it's the guys from AC that have been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years now. Like, it's the same guys. They know the sweet spot. They're gonna give it a hundred percent every year. And, you know, if it doesn't resonate, it's not for lack of trying. And it's not for lack of even trying to respond to survey data and what fans are specifically asking for. You know, that's the first thing that they look at when they're going to make a lineup. So, I mean, a lot of that is, you know, climate and what's going on, you know, in the touring cycle and those kinds of factors, more than it is, you know, taste or, you know, being out. Look, at the end of the day, your musical preferences and my musical preferences, it's all objective. Yeah, absolutely. What's not objective is dollars and cents. And comfort. And how I'm going to be spending my money and if I'm spending it in the most wise and efficient way. And if you're giving me all the tools in the world to sort of make my own festival experience, that goes a lot further than, you know, my personal preferences of music, to be totally honest. And I want to say in regards to the dollars and cents directly correlating with, you know, the tickets in Centro and the camping options, we went through this list with a fine tooth comb and we looked at what did people pay last year if they had this and this? And what are they paying this year? And we made very careful not to raise any of those prices unless we absolutely had to, because the cost of that pre-pitched accommodation went up to us. And, you know, in most cases, we were able to get that price down. So, you know, this was not made as a decision from a revenue perspective. This was made as a decision to better serve our audience and to create a better, more customizable experience. I think that's something that people will dig in and they can do the math and they'll see, you know, that that's exactly the case. But I did want to make a point of calling that out because it was really important to me and Brad to make sure that that's where everything landed. Yeah, and if you're driving for us, number one priority is making, you know, a fan experience and making it more accommodating to human beings and the people that you, your perspective is right on. And the other thing too that matters is being Bonnaroo people, by the way. I think you guys don't know what I'm saying and you'll read between the lines, but non-Bonnaroo people can't do this. I'm sorry to say, it's just not something that you can understand from a spreadsheet and from the outside. If you just don't know the people, if you don't know how they operate, I just don't know if it's gonna, I don't know if you're ever gonna figure it out. I agree. I agree. And you guys gotta figure it out. So I wish you all the luck in the world and I can't wait to see you and I can't wait to be back. I really can't. Well, I appreciate you guys taking time to talk with us about something that we love talking about. I'm glad that we finally got Russ to shut up a little bit over there so we could talk. This is his second best episode. It really is. It is really good for us. But no, seriously guys, like this is a team vlog. A lot of times I think of Russ as the guy in the window during the Tom Green show who just sort of sits back there with the coffee mug. Oh my God. This is your second best episode, Russ. Great job. Guys, let's try and get back together after the lineup and you get the pods set up and you start integrating some user experience stuff. I'd love to talk about that too. We haven't even got to that part. And the enhancements I'm sure that you've made around the campsite. I'd love to get into that once we get close to the festival. Yeah, let's do it again. We'll definitely wanna come back on after we get that lineup out there and see what you guys are feeling and what the fans are in. And I think it's gonna be an exciting January. There you go. A nice little past, present and future explainer, a masterclass if you will from Brad Parker and Corey Smith. Barry, taco, thoughts, debrief? I wanna hear what Russ thinks. He's, you know, this is important. I'm ready, go. Well, I mean, you know me, of course I've got the bus and I'll sleep in the Walmart parking lot. I don't care. No, it's not that you will, you have. You have. I have, I absolutely have and I will again. So, when they start talking about curating all these add-ons and stuff, give me a parking lot. You're talking to the wrong audience. Wrong guy. You're the wrong guy. But, you know, it's interesting because Festival kind of leaked some of this a little bit early and of course the sentiment from everybody, because we're all conditioned for just bad news, right? You hear something, you're like, oh, okay, this is gonna cost me more money, right? This is gonna make it worse. So, there was a lot of that kind of chatter but I think after people hear what Corey and Brad had to say, it's really gonna like alleviate and kind of put that to rest as far as like, no, this is actually gonna be a good thing. And in some cases it could bring the cost down. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We are so conditioned for bad news but we're also conditioned to hate change all the time. Yes. God, how dare you change anything and why would you ever? I want it the way that I want it and I hate it then and I'm gonna hate it now but damn it, it didn't change. Yeah, no, I think you're 100% right, Russ. And I'm the same. Like I said, I said at the beginning of the conversation with them, when they called me several weeks ago to sort of talk about this idea and see what I thought, my first question was, who's getting screwed? I mean, that was just, you know, cause I knew that's what's gonna be in other people's minds and it was certainly in mine. And you know, honestly, the person getting screwed, if that's the right word, is the person who can afford it and doesn't care. You know what I mean? If you have the money and want to buy the, what do they call it? The Ritz Carlton package or whatever he said, do it. If you want to check every single box, that's your money, do it. But if you want to do it, you know, on a budget, there's a way. Also, the other thing I wanted to double back on and remind you of, if you have any questions based on today, let's try and like coalesce around one space to send it to so that we can send them to them immediately and then next week we'll come back and we'll get some of these questions answered before they're asked me anything on Reddit. It's a good idea. So, Taco, would you rather come through the email account or Twitter? I guess email would probably be the easiest for everybody, huh? I think email would be easiest. Comments at the whatpodcast.com. Comments at the whatpodcast.com. You can also go to the whatpodcast.com and click on contact us and fill out the form. By the way. And we'll do the same thing. By the way, I got another donation on the Venmo today on the Lord Taco birthday present, Christmas present extravaganza. Yeah, very excited about that. What are we up to? We're up to $20. No, no, we were at 22 before. Wait a minute, we were 22. Okay, yeah, then it'd be $32. Yeah, it'd be $32. Somebody came strong. $32, okay. Yeah, very excited. All right. So where does that put us? Are we to the goal? Are we halfway there? That's about 5% of the overall cost, yeah. Oh, okay. It's gonna be great though. Act surprised. Very excited. I'll take your word for it. I still have no idea what this is gonna be. And you won't, and you will not. Hey, you know, speaking of the questions, yeah, I wanted to, I had a thought, not just about Bonnaroo, but about the show, if anybody has a comment or a question. Yeah, let us know. Well, we prefer you just rate and review five stars. Do that, do that. No, we prefer that first. And then you can send a comment about how much you hate us. But just comment and say five stars and then send us the hate. It'd be fun to have questions as well. So send them to whatever Taco said. What he said. Comments at the whatpodguest.com. Whattacosaid.com. Yeah, and yeah, send your Venmo donations to Brad Stinks. At Brad Stinks, yeah. All right, anything else before we go? Big week this week, guys. Yeah. Okay. Bye. Let's talk to you next week. Love you, bye.