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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 Corey 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,

That's 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 going to get some clarification on some massive changes that are going to

happen on Bonnaroo, at the far of Bonnaroo for 2023.

We're going to 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 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 going to 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 going to talk about.

It's going to be a difficult thing for some people to maybe understand and navigate.

That's why they want to get this message out as clearly and concisely as they can.

And you're going to hear all the ways they're going to do it in this episode.

It's Brad Parker and Corey Smith.

You want to 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 you know, 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 going to be 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, the 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.

That's right.

Literally, you know, you can look at them.

I can smell you, Taco.

I can smell you that 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 have slept in a tent 15 years ago, but now we don't want

to 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 going to start driving dollars more than insert massive lineup here.

That's right.

If you can curate an experience and an experience that is so unable to be replicated anywhere

else, then that's going to 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 going to 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 the 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.

You know what I mean?

There's 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, Tako 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 want to ask you when we come back when this, after this is over.

I didn't want to hear you step up.

Let's jump into it.

Cause we've got a lot to talk about, a lot to cover.

The future of Bonnaroo, the president 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, a big day for us.

Thanks for showing up and thanks for having a little chat with us.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah.

I guess where do you want to start, Barry?

I think the, the, the easiest place to start is where are we?

Where are we with everything?

How was 2022?

Is the debrief over?

What is, what is, 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.

You've already covered this.

We've already covered this part.

Everybody here is good.

I appreciate it.

You're complaining about your hair.

You're killing me today.

I can't get any lift in.

Look at this.

I can't get any lift.

I can't get any lift.

Nevermind.

Let's, 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 going to 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 a little bit.

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.

I 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, if Corey voted for you, Brad.

So we understand now how this works, right?

Corey's my mark.

He works for me.

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, that was a, it's 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, 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 U.S.

It's more of a passive fandom with other big festivals.

Or 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.

Yes.

Got it.

Exactly.

And I've talked to you guys before and I want to just sort of, it's a lot.

It really, it's a lot more than it sounds like in that.

And what I want to do is just sort of introduce it and get it going.

And then I know Brad and Taka are going to 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, that's, 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 going to 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 want to go ahead and dive in?

I don't have that 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, and taco?

Is that seem like the best way to go forward or y'all want to ask a question first?

No, go ahead.

Let's do it.

All right.

Well, real quick, Barry, I want to 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 going to get you in all the parks and all the fast

paths for the rides and all that doesn't mean you have to stay at the Ritz Carl 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 want to be, if you want to buy the most expensive pass to Epcot and the fast

pass and all of that, but you want to stay at the Motel 6, you can do it.

But if you want to 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-

So in your world, in your world, what is the Ritz Carlton?

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 Bond

Route 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.

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,

you know, giving you meals and you've got electricity and you've got AC and you've got

a golf cart person that's going to drive you around to the different shows you want to

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,

I can start adding to the package, right?

Yeah.

So we've got, you know, we've got a full menu per se of options that kind of connect the

dots anywhere between those two.

We can, you know, the next step from the Motel 6, let's say the Holiday Inn Express is going

to be, you know, you show up and we're going to 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 going to be you show up, we're going to provide you

a very nice pre-pitched tent option that, you know, might have an AC unit in it.

And it's got two twin size air mattresses and you've got, you know, some other amenities

that can be added in the mix there.

And you can kind of go from as scaled back as possible to, you know, 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 an aside, is there a certain reason why you wanted to do this other than, you

know, making it more accessible?

Are you finding more people traveling in from out of state and having these problems?

I say this because, you know, 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.

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 mixture and Corey can chime in.

Go ahead, Barry.

I was just going to 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, because it was the first time.

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

I had to do that.

Well, Brad's getting roasted already.

You know, I'm kidding.

But to your question, Brad Steiner, 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 have 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.

Going from big cities 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 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 that we, you 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.

So 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 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 going to get one good trip a year.

And is it going to be Coachella?

Is it going to be Hangout?

Is it going to, 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 going to, we're not trying to necessarily

make this a penalty to fans by having to choose, but the Bonnaroo community has always been

a like, you know, we want to 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 going to help us and

therefore help your fellow Bonnaroovians by just helping us expect.

Because honestly, guys, in the past, it's kind of been, you know, we had historic numbers

that kind of told us when people were going to be showing up, but a lot of it was us sitting

there on Tuesday going, well, I wonder if we're going to get crushed tonight.

Or if we're going to get crushed tomorrow morning or because there's all sorts of things

that affect that, right?

People are coming from everywhere.

You get storms that go through parts of the country and people go, well, we're going to,

we're not going to leave tonight.

We're going to 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 going to try and make that experience as best as possible.

And that's something that's going to continue next year.

But I guess the reason I bring it up entirely is because it sounds as though 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, like they still have to get there

somehow.

So whether it's now, you know, a shuttle bus of 20 people versus 20 different cars or 10

different cars like Manchester is just, you know, we're the we become the eighth biggest

city in the state whenever Bonnaroo happens, because it's just the infrastructure is not

there.

Like it's and that's part of what makes Bonnaroo cool and what Bonnaroo is special.

So it's a delicate balance of being able to maintain, you know, 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 going we're into our third decade now as Bonnaroo.

Like 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 in a while.

And that's that's a point that I think hit me as we you and Corey and I were talking

earlier is, you know, for Brad and I, this is year 18, you know, 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 point.

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, you know, legit, how am I how

is it going to work?

How do I pick and choose?

What's the what's the menu going to 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 center ticket.

And if you bought certain center 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 center ticket you want, whether that's GA, GA plus VIP or platinum.

And then you go to the accommodations page and pick, you know, 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, you know, 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 ideas.

I get to pick exactly even the pod where I want to be?

Yes and no.

So for some of the pre-pitched accommodations, you'll have a pretty good idea of where you're

going to camp.

If you come GA, we are going to do it pretty much exactly like we did last year, which

is, you know, if you get there early on Tuesday, you're going to 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, you know, 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 going to add to that was, you know, long term, we want to move

to a system.

I mean, listen, with GA, it's never going to 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 want to work towards a system where, you know, 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 going to 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 going to show up.

Okay.

So 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 an extension cord?

Do you want, you know, 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, you know, 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?

Be like, I'd like to be by the woods.

You yes and no, to an extent you, you wouldn't be able to, you know, let's, let's, let's

look at a specific plot of land, right?

That's 20 acres.

When you show up on Tuesday, our traffic, our traffic team is going to automatically

start filling that 20 acre plot from front to back.

If you decided that you were going to drive to the back of that 20 acre plot and park,

no one's going to say anything, but you're not going to just be able to go, what if I

go to that plot that's way over there?

Like you're still going to be able to kind of move around with certain parameters of

where we're filling because all of this has to do with, you know, 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.

Along that line of thought too is like with the daily entry, especially like my first

boner who I think we waited in line seven hours to get into the campgrounds.

And you know, 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.

I know stories of people like 23, 24 hours sitting in line to get in the boner.

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 for like, damn it, why am I not here quicker?

You know, like that's why have I, how dare you not put an off ramp right into my exit

or right into my campsite?

How dare you?

But it's a really good point.

You're there for a reason.

You're supposed to be out in the middle of the farm for, you know, 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, right?

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, you know, I was told that the cost had gone up some like 40%.

You know, so assumption was everything else is going to 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 center 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 rite of passage like you would Burning Man, you know?

And so as we were going through this, I mean, you know, you're able to sell more of these

more expensive, you know, nice accommodations.

I think that gives us an opportunity to, you know, make it a little bit cheaper for the

GA center 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 not 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 going to 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, Corey, you mentioned that you sold what 90, 99, 95% of the pre, you know, pre

set up.

What'd you call it?

I can't remember the term that you use on pre pitched pre pitch.

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, 8 to 10% of the entirety

of tickets we sold.

But that's compared to, you know, let's say 3 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 band.

But as a base, there will be more available this year than last year.

Yes.

And 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.

Side note, because we haven't talked to anybody from C3 since Hurricane Ida.

Whose idea was it to send all the tents down to New Orleans?

Because 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, because 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 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 an easy, an easy, an easy yes.

I just want to, 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 camp with one of those guys.

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.

But I mean, Barry, I think it's funny you say it because Corey, 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 said, I finally just concluded that, you know, I deserve to have this experience

and spend my life.

And that's how I'm doing it because 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.

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 because you can't go back.

So anyway, I, 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 very 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, was it capacity reasons?

I mean, listen, I don't want to dig too much into it and dig up.

Well, I do.

I want names.

Ultimately, yes, it was, 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 over 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, fully run and whenever people show up this year.

Well, that's the spirit of honor, man.

I mean, you're, you're, 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, it's right of you.

Just real quick though.

How many people does it take to operate an entrance 24 seven?

I mean, that's, there's not a super direct answer on that.

The way, 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, 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 want to

wait in line forever, but I don't want to be rushed through the arch because I'm taking

photos of my friends and I'm soaking in the full experience.

So we, you know, 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, it's true.

All right.

So other than the second entrance, what else?

I mean, Corey, is there anything you want to tease?

We definitely, you know, I was, 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 hundred dollar bottle of wine?

Because I heard you can never go back from that.

Take my word.

People are 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 going to say about it, but it's definitely, am I, am I,

am I guessing that they also correlate with what's happening inside the pods?

Is, could I make that assumption?

There's, there's definitely a naming convention.

Okay.

It's cool, but I think, I think the general spirit of it is just an opportunity for our

fans to have fun with it.

Well, well to be fair, back in the day they did have like camp Marty McFly and Cripp Doc

Brown.

Yes.

This is, this is definitely in the, in the spirit of that.

But unfortunately there were far too many names back then to really build what I did.

There about 75 different sites.

Yeah.

Didn't help.

Brad, I think the overall tease that Corey and I would leave you all with, and it's been

obvious since 2019 is that, you know, 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, and

see great bands and hear good music.

And so you're going to 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 going to play in with this, you know, decoupling and new accommodation

thing that allows people to kind of roam anywhere.

And they're not the walls between the VIP campers and the GA campers and all of that.

It's just like, you know, 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, would you say the VIP wall and the GA thing.

So everybody's sort of camping together.

That's not even a, 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, you know,

the accommodation type that you want is located the same way that you would pick, you know,

your room and your hotel based on what kind of room you need at Disney World.

But my GA ticket's not going to get me on the VIP Hill.

Not within Centauroo, but here, but that's kind of the process of this, right?

Because we are now defining everything as what's inside Centauroo and what's outside.

There used to be a barrier of entry even into the VIP camp now, right?

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 Centauroo, that is specifically dictated by what ticket you

buy.

If it's a GA, GA plus VIP or platinum.

Okay.

Well, you just, 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 like 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 Centauroo.

Therefore, the camping experience can be a little cheaper because those amenities aren't

attached to it.

So are you-

Wait a second.

Are you moving the wall around the hill and the hill's now going to be part of Centauroo?

No, the wall is, the wall is the barrier into the venue, what we consider Centauroo.

So that is, think of that as like the wall into Bridgestone Arena.

Like that is still there because to get in there, you have to have a ticket to the show.

But to go to, you know, your favorite bar down the street on Broadway, you can do whatever

you want to do.

You just got to have a ticket to get into Bridgestone.

And that is the same thing with Centauroo.

There's still a barrier there.

Like 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?

Can they walk to that?

There's a VIP hill that you can watch the main stage.

You're talking about the mound in Centauroo.

Yes, that's inside.

So that's inside.

That's not part of the camping world at all.

So you could, if you wanted to access the mound at the main venue in Centauroo at the

what stage, you can buy a VIP Centauroo ticket and you would have access to that.

And if you wanted to, you could buy a car camping pass out in the campgrounds.

And another point there is to accomplish that experience is actually considerably cheaper

than VIP has been in the past.

Okay.

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?

Moving me back to where guests used to be in the woods?

Because I heard that 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 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.

I planted my own tree back there 15 years ago and I watched it grow.

Well, I mean, listen, Brad, I want to just say something because of you mentioning that.

You know, 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?

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.

Camp Nut Butter.

Yeah, we had it.

We were spoiled.

I'm happy to direct you to one of our premium concierge to give you some of your, for your

20-23 experience.

Well played.

Give us some dates.

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 going to 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 release this in full and they'll have

access to the website a full week before the presale starts with the new system so they

can play around, see exactly what's available.

Make their plans, talk to their friends, et cetera.

And I think we're probably going to have some sort of, whether it's on Reddit or through

Instagram, probably an 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 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.

We want everybody to have an opportunity to get a straight answer to their questions and

make the best, put these new options together and kind of create the best experience that

they can for what they want to 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 want to 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 to be getting Rue Clues through the end of November and through

December.

Okay.

And then, you know, I don't want to give any exact dates for the lineup yet, but I'd say

take a look at the middle of January.

Yeah, I'm going to guess January 10th is my date.

I'm going to go January 10th.

Is it the 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 shaping up so far.

It's 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.

And didn't Dali 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.

No, I let me let me ask a generic question if we still have a few minutes.

Where do you think last year, if you want to 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?

I 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 hard decisions.

I think that mixed in with the fact that, you know, 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 going to 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 going to get some of the OGs back and we're going

to get people that came for the first time this year to come back next year.

And it's going to be a really great, you know, 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 Corey and myself and our whole team are, you know, 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 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 like the moving parts and

then the economy.

It just it just was too much to swallow.

It was just one too many thing to add to my list.

And, you know, you add you on top of it.

And this is just being totally frank with you.

It's just a really subpar lineup for me.

And when you have the headwind like that, something's got to cut through.

And you know, I'm back.

I'm back, though.

I'm coming back.

Let me fix my campsite and then I'll be back.

Let me know.

Even the lineup, you know, the perception of the lineup.

Some fans sure go just to that point.

Like even the lineup was affected by the fact that artists availability was hard because

of so many festivals being out there.

Yeah, they had so many options.

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.

There's a lot of variables that go into that.

That's right.

And by the way, but what you said about Bonnaroo 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 a as a absolute hardcore talk about OG since year two, even I was like,

I just got to take a year off.

I just got to take a year.

Well, let me let me add the other side of that, because Taco and I went and it was hot.

It was hot, guys.

I mean, there was there were times on Thursday and Friday that I wished I were anywhere else.

It was.

Hey, that's that sounds like every Bonnaroo.

Well, that's what you say to yourself.

I don't know if I can do another day.

And then it robs you right back in.

But Taco and I was it Friday night was or Saturday night.

I think it was Friday night was when you put on your whatever costume and disappeared.

So Saturday night is banana skin is banana skin.

You know, we had the conversation.

I can't wait to come back.

You know, this was this was great.

I'm so glad I'm here.

And so, yeah, that's the other side of that.

And that I was going to 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.

But if you do give it your your yourself and your attention and your your time and your

effort, it will pay 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.

Yeah.

Let me put let me throw something out at you.

Bonnaroo or not Bonnaroo?

Machine Gun Kelly.

Not Bonnaroo.

OK.

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 on the 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.

And, you know, because even before the even before the hurricane cancellation happened,

like you know, 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 and you know, our staff was 90 percent 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.

And to me would be, you know, 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 yes, where does line up then?

Just I think to tack on to Brad's question, where does line up in that list?

I think number three would be would be.

I mean, interesting.

Yeah.

Line up is important.

But in the context of where we were going into 23, for me, it was not the most important.

If you if you asked me going into 2019 lineup was number one going into 2020 lineup was

number one because 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.

Our talent team that we have working on Bonnaroo, you know, it's it's the guys from AC that

have been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years now.

Like they've been the same guys.

They know the sweet spot.

They're going to give it 100 percent every year.

And you know, if it doesn't resonate, it's not for lack of trying.

And it's not it's not for lack of even trying to respond to survey data and what fans are

specifically asking for.

You know, that's 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 kind of factors more than it is, you know, taste or.

Yeah.

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 and and how 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.

Yeah.

I want to say in regards to the dollars and cents directly correlating with, you know,

the the tickets and center in 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 this is not this was not made as a decision from a revenue perspective.

This was this was made as a decision to better serve our audience and to create a better,

more customizable experience.

I think I think 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 and if you're if you're driving for us, the number one priority is making, you

know, a fan experience and making it more accommodating to to human beings and the people

that you your 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.

Yeah, yeah, 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 if you don't know how they operate, I just

don't know if it's going to I don't know if you're ever going to figure it out.

I agree.

You guys got to 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.

And 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 a lot of times I think of Russ is a lot of times I think

of Russ is the guy in the in the window during the Tom Green show, who just sort of sits

back there with the coffee mug.

This is your second best episode.

You're a great job.

Guys, let's let's try and get back together after the lineup and you get the pods set

up and and you start integrating some 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 come we'll definitely want to come back on after we get that line up out there and

see what you guys are doing and what the fans are in.

And I think it's going to 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 want to hear I want to hear what Russ thinks.

He's he's you know, this is important.

I'm ready.

OK.

Well, I mean, you know me, Chris, I've got the bus and I'll sleep in the Wal-Mart parking

lot.

I don't care.

It's not that you will.

You have you have.

I have.

I absolutely have.

And I will again.

So, you know, when they start talking about curating all these add ons and stuff, give

me a parking lot.

Talking to the wrong audience.

Wrong guy.

All right, 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 just you hear something, you're like, oh, OK, this is going to cost me more money,

right?

This is going to make it worse.

So there was a lot of that kind of chatter.

But I think after people hear what what Corey and Brad had to say, it's really going to

like alleviate and kind of put that to rest as far as like, no, this is actually going

to be a good thing.

And in some cases, it could bring the cost down.

Yeah, 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.

I'm going to hate it now.

But damn it.

It didn't change.

Yeah.

No, I think you're 100 percent right.

Russ, 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 and see what I thought.

My first question was, who's getting screwed?

I mean, that's that was just, you know, because I knew that's what's going to 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 the what do they call it, the Ritz Carlton

package or whatever, he said, do it if you want to check every single docs.

That's your money.

But if you want to do it, you know, on a budget, there's 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 and we'll get some of these questions answered

before they're asked me anything on Reddit.

It's a good idea.

So do you talk?

Would you rather come through the email account or Twitter?

I guess email probably the easiest for everybody, huh?

I think email the easiest comments at the what podcast dot com comments at the what

podcast dot com.

You can also go to the what podcast dot com and click on contact us and fill out the form.

By the way, the same thing.

By the way, I got a another donation on the Venmo today on the Lord Taco birthday present

Christmas present extravaganza.

Yeah, very excited.

What are we up to?

We're up to twenty dollars.

No, no, we were twenty two before.

Wait a minute.

We were twenty two.

So we were down.

Then it'd be thirty two dollars.

Yeah, it'd be thirty two dollars.

Somebody came strong.

Thirty two dollars.

Yeah, very excited.

Somebody came.

So where does that put us?

Are we?

Are we halfway there?

That's about five percent of the overall cost.

Yeah.

Oh, OK.

It's going to be great, though.

Act surprised.

I'll take your word for it.

I still have no idea what this is going to be.

And you won't.

And you will not.

You know, speaking of the questions.

Yeah, I wanted to thought not just about Bonnaroo, but about the show.

If anybody has a comment or a question.

Yeah.

I'd prefer you just rate and review five stars.

Do that.

Do that.

No, you 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 whatevertacosaid.com.

What he said.

Yeah, comments at the whatpodcast.com.

Whattacosaid.com.

Yeah.

And yeah, send your Venmo donations to Brad Stinks.

At Brad Stinks.

All right.

So, where do we go?

Big week this week, guys.

Yeah.

Okay.

Bye.