Lineup release day and schedule release day are special occasions for festival fans. Brad, Barry and Lord Taco from The What Podcast offer their thoughts on the Bonnaroo 2022 schedule. What are the highlights and where are the conflicts?
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Topics: Bonnaroo, Hangout Fest
| 06:00 | For Barry, the 2022 festival is starting to look and feel like the 2016 festival with a lot of unfamiliar artists on the schedule and an expected smaller-than-usual crowd. |
| 14:08 | For many, including Barry and Lord Taco, Bonnaroo is about more than who is playing. |
It is Bonnaroo season.
Schedule officially dropped this week.
We are just a few days away from Bonnaroo 2022.
Now that you see the whole lineup laid out in a schedule form, does it change how you're
approaching Bonnaroo?
We take a deep dive into the schedule, share some news about ticket sales, and a personal
note to add along the way.
Barry Courter, Lord Taco, Brad Steiner, Bonnarooians through it all.
Diving into the schedule today on the What Podcast, it starts right now.
What Podcast, which band this year that matters?
Barry Courter, Lord Taco, Brad Steiner, Hello again, team.
We are how many days away?
It's getting close, huh?
Are you feeling it?
Yes, yeah, definitely.
Nailed it, guys.
A little bad, scared, all of it.
Scared?
What are you scared about?
Oh, I always get this way about this time.
It gets me up at night thinking suddenly I can smell the porta potties all over again.
Yeah.
The heat.
Yeah.
Barry, that's just your basement.
I hate to tell you.
It's just been a while.
I buy that in the spray can just to be familiar.
Taco, you excited?
You feeling it?
I'm excited.
I'm pumped.
Yeah.
Do you have the fever?
No, I tested negative.
He's always ready to get in that bus.
Always ready to get up in that bus.
So it was a big week today.
We hadn't thought that the schedule was going to come out today or at least this week.
So we'll go through the schedule, even though there's not much to go through, and some news
that we have and then some personal news that we will share on the big show today.
I want to start with, Taco, you know computers much better than I do.
Is it me or is this schedule impossible to read on this website?
It's impossible to see it on the phone.
What I'm looking on the website is like, I'm going to send you a screenshot.
I'm going to print my screen and then put it into like an email for you to see what
I'm looking at.
What am I doing wrong?
Okay, dad, print, screen and email it to me.
I can't even tell you how happy I am with the line of this conversation.
Why do you want me to do it?
Okay, wait a second.
I was going to say it, but I refused.
I refused to put that in front of you.
Why don't you fax it to me?
I'm sending it to you via pigeon.
Look at the picture that I just sent you.
What am I doing wrong?
I see one line on a schedule and that's it.
What is wrong with this interface?
There's something very wrong with this interface.
Nothing.
I don't understand.
What do you mean?
I sent you the picture.
You tell me what I'm missing here.
Yeah, I'm looking at it.
What is that?
I don't know what you're missing.
I don't know what I don't know.
What do you want to know?
That's your only choice right there, Brad.
That's it.
What are you asking?
What is this supposed to... I don't know how to look at this schedule.
It's not easy to navigate.
I agree.
I actually found somebody, thankfully, posted it on Reddit.
Okay, you got it.
Like we're used to seeing.
Yeah, I need it as a grid, man.
I need it as a grid.
I don't need you to do all these funky little bars that go left to right.
I don't need any of that.
I just want the damn grid.
Well, they tweeted out pictures that are in grid form.
I know, and thank God they did.
I just went to the website and it is so confusing.
I just don't know how to navigate this thing.
It's not easy.
You do agree with me that it's not easy.
I agree, and I think it's because there's so many choices.
There's so many options.
I don't know how else they could have done it.
Well, I mean, I like the pictures.
I like the grids.
I know I'm sounding like get off my lawn here, but I...
Pretty much.
But you're not wrong.
The other thing too is like, I don't know.
Having a harder and harder time every year navigating their newfangled technology they're
trying to throw at me.
I want the damn thing in a VCR and that's it.
Put it in a VCR and what have you.
Tell me what I'm supposed to be and what time.
I'm so glad you just said that because today I've been trying to navigate this thing and
I'm like, nope, I'm not sending this.
I just don't know why they got to make this so hard.
There's like no need for this amount of shit.
Just put it on a damn grid and make it easier for me to digest.
I cannot do this.
Oh my God.
Go look at what they tweeted because they tweeted pictures.
That's good.
Have you tried to watch this on your phone?
It's even worse.
I have no idea how to navigate this thing on my phone.
Your tip last week about put the schedule as your home screen.
Yeah, that ain't going to work.
No, no, no.
That you take the picture.
The picture that they tweeted out, you save that and then use that as your home screen
is what I'm saying.
But even that doesn't have... I mean this schedule that they have has all the extra
stuff.
There you go.
You're stressing me out.
Thank God we know exactly how to rectify your stress.com.
Okay, what's your question?
Is that how I have to get technical support around here?
My IT guy's got to be drunk before he'll answer a question about a website design.
Let's be honest.
For a festival that does user experience so well, this is very, very difficult to navigate.
Okay.
I'm not going to be swayed on that.
It's very difficult to navigate.
All right.
Before we get into anything else, and I'll stop complaining about it, what are your overall
impressions around the room of schedule 2022?
Wow, that good, huh?
All right.
Talk to you guys next week.
45 days out.
I've had several days to think about it.
I am going to go with 2016.
That's going to be my whole theme, my whole motif in all of this.
That was, if you remember- Why?
Several reasons, if you remember.
That was the lowest turnout that they've ever had, but it was also one of our favorite years.
I had a great time.
I had a great time.
That was incredible.
Yeah, it was great.
The grounds were great.
The setup was great.
We didn't know hardly anybody on the lineup, so we determined to have fun and discover
and just let it, whatever happened, happened.
That's after struggling with this Saturday and yesterday and studying a little more today,
that's where I've landed.
Don't know a lot of people on Thursday, but that's typical.
Sunday did not look very good over the weekend.
Still not a day that I would choose to be my favorite, but there's some stuff on there
that I can work with.
Friday and Saturday are okay.
There are not, for me, a lot of what the typical, when schedule comes out, you pull your hair
out and say, oh my gosh, my favorite band's playing against my other favorite band.
There's some conflicts, but it's not terrible.
I'll get to the biggest one I don't quite understand later if you want, or I can just
mention it now.
No, I mean, I want to hear whatever you think about the schedule.
Let me hear it.
I want to, good, bad, indifferent.
It doesn't matter to me.
I don't quite understand the super jam being a six o'clock in the evening event.
Okay.
You're hitting something that I hadn't even noticed yet, but you are exactly right.
What is with that?
Six thirty, man.
I mean, that's late night.
Six thirty to eight.
Yeah.
Super jam, I don't know.
It's supposed to be a late night thing, not an early afternoon.
I mean, that's a walk by at this point.
Yeah.
That's one of the better things on Saturday.
Absolutely.
And it's probably it's up against Mount Joy, you know, who I'd like to see.
It's not necessarily against a lot of things, but it kind of, I don't know.
I mean, to to build Jude and the Lion over Jack Antonoff, super jam is quite bold.
Yeah, it's I don't I don't understand it.
Yeah, it would go right into super jam and then Judah.
Although if you were to if you were to look at Saturday, the Saturday late night is probably
the better of the two late nights.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
What do you think?
Because I'm going through the Friday late night now.
Yeah, I'm all in on the Saturday late night.
Weirdly enough, it does feel as though the Friday schedule is better than Saturday.
The Saturday late night seems to be a little stronger.
But overall, boy, the bookends are maybe the two weakest Thursday and Saturday, Sundays
we I've ever seen at this festival.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
And that middle, what are we talking six o'clock, five o'clock till whatever on Friday probably
is the only the real conflicts for me.
Interesting way, because mainly that's Barry's nap time.
Well, yeah, I've got to recover from Wednesday and Wednesday and Thursday.
But no, you've got Robert Plant, Isaiah Rashad, who we've mentioned many times, the Chattanooga
guy, the regrets.
I'm just going across Japanese breakfast, war on drugs, you know, leading into the chicks
who, like I said, I want to see.
So that's those that couple of hours is probably the biggest conflict time for me.
Yeah, I mean, I for yeah, I would actually agree.
I think your Friday block there of war on drugs, Arlo Parks, bleachers are probably
the only spot where I feel like, oh, man, that's you just knocked out three of the very
few acts I wanted to see to begin with.
And I'd really have to make a choice, because, man, I love Arlo Parks.
He's incredible.
And I've seen war on drugs a whole bunch of times.
So bleachers are touring everywhere.
So there's a very good chance they've already come through your city.
If you really wanted to see them, you already would have.
So maybe the answer becomes pretty easy after that.
And it's Arlo Parks.
But yeah, it does feel like that's the only place where maybe the overnight, the late
night stuff where, you know, you're probably at least I am bouncing from one show to the
next late night.
I feel like you're probably right.
It's the only spot where I feel a little bit of difficulty now.
Rubber Plant's great, but, you know, Japanese Breakfast, I've got to give another shot.
You know, I can't let that last show, IBonnaroo, be the taste of my mouth because I just I
like her way too much to give up on that band.
Yeah.
And I didn't see it yet.
It's on our to watch.
But the Saturday Night Live show went well from everything I've read.
When I watched it, I think that she's just an artist that you're either going to really
love or just not connect with.
And I love her.
I really do.
I didn't really understand that Saturday Night Live performance.
I haven't seen it yet.
King Gizzard only for an hour.
Little, little strange, but as as we've been told many times by the guys who booked this
thing and the promoters, you know, who we had on, it's at the request of the bands,
right?
It's not that the it's not that Bonnaroo said, hey, you got an hour.
They pretty much booked them for what they asked for.
Right.
Well, they only played an hour at Shakenese and that felt criminally too short.
That seems to me like about two songs from what I've you know, they're just getting warmed
up, right?
Just getting sweaty.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Do you have Goose on there for two hours?
So your overall impression is that you you tended to think that Friday or Thursday and
Sunday was late.
There weren't a lot of conflicts because there frankly weren't a lot of things that you wanted
to see.
Is that pretty much the I think you hit the word and it's a word I was thinking about
this, you know, for first three or four years, I went by myself covering it for the paper
and it's pretty much I don't know that I coined the word, but I sure used it a lot,
which was walk by.
Talk to them.
This feels like a very walk by festival.
If I would have ever said the words, I coined a phrase you guys would never ever you'd put
it on a goddamn t-shirt.
Dispute me.
You would never let me live it down if I said why I coined the phrase.
Dispute me.
It's true.
I'm a very, very every time I use the word how in the world would I get away with that?
How in the world would I get away with saying, guys, you were I created a phrase that you
guys use all the time.
And that's how cool I am.
You're the one who told us you invented Netflix.
That's right.
And the bubble.
I feel like I did.
And satellite television, too, by the way.
Yeah, I had to give you something to pick on.
No, but honestly, it just feels this feels like a walk by.
There's more walk by days and moments.
Barry, this thing feels like a walk by festival.
Yeah, somewhat.
All right, Taco, your initial impressions.
What do you think?
Pretty much the same.
I mean, it's very light and I'm happy about it.
I mean, yeah, this is how we're going in.
This feels like just a regular camping trip for you.
Pretty much.
Two years of not having it.
I mean, we're going to need time to just get reacquainted and get settled back in.
There's so many people that I want to meet up with and see and talk to that I haven't
been able to for the past couple of years.
So the fact that I'm not like on a very stringent band schedule means I've just got more time
to flow around and do whatever I want.
You've got more time for moms.
Got more time for moms.
See, Taco and I are going to be walking around asking if the bands can turn it down a little
because we're trying to talk.
I had plans in this tent.
Can you guys move along?
Can you see we're talking here?
We're trying to have dinner here, please.
Hey, Black Tiger Sex Machine, can we move it along?
And that band is loud.
Turn it down.
We have historically on this podcast tried to be very positive and tried to be optimistic.
That's the whole reason why we started and it's also part of the Bonnaroo ethos.
But man, this is really a struggle.
This is, I feel as bad of a Bonnaroo lineup as we've ever had and I just feel like this
might be one of the worst festival lineups of the entire season.
Now with all that being said, next year will be great.
Last year would have been great.
It's not like this is a problem.
It's just one of those years where it's a struggle.
Every festival is having a struggle.
They stumble and get pretty lucky.
But man, this is just, this is rough.
And I know that we've said this before that whenever we get really excited about a lineup,
we wait until we see it on a schedule because then it starts to change our thought about
it all.
I mean, I'm never going to live down the fact that I was over the moon about ACL Fest two
years ago and then when I see the schedule actually laid out, I'm like, this sucks.
I get that there's like, I don't know, nothing about this seems very exciting to me, which
brings me to a little bit of personal news.
It's not something that you guys would probably care about, but someone alerts CNN, they'll
be on the ticker for the rest of the night.
This is the first time in 16 years I'm not going to be a Bonnaroo.
And I can't tell you with 100% certainty that it's because of my current life situation.
I think that if without, if for those who haven't caught up, I took a job with a rock
station in New York City and I'm up here not only doing that programming that and then
a station to Detroit and the station in Miami, but I'm also on the air at this alternative
station in New York, which was Howard Stern's station, which is kind of badass, but at least
personally.
So even if that stuff wasn't happening, if the lineup was better, I might have found
a way to get there for a day or two.
In fact, Barry, when I was talking about this job with you months and months and months
before I even said, well, maybe I come down for a day or two.
Maybe the flights are cheap to Nashville.
Maybe I'll just come in, stay in Nashville and then drive in for a couple of days.
I don't even have the I don't even have the bandwidth or the interest to do that.
And I hate saying it.
I really do.
Because you know how much I love this.
There's nothing on here that I I'm absolutely killing myself to go to.
So it would have to be well, Bonnaroo is never not great.
All right.
Let me figure out a way to get there because I know it's going to be great.
Well, the only difference with that.
And I do agree with it.
Boy, the whole not in just totally investing every bit of energy into Camp Nut Butter is
hard for me to wrap my head around.
Not being able to just get completely immersed in the giant cartoon heads and the lit marquee
and all of the carpet and all the goofiness that we bring to camp.
Not being able to do that, just getting on a plane and coming in for a day just feels
so sterile.
And I don't necessarily want to experience Bonnaroo that way.
So it's a combination of a lot of things.
And I just maybe if there was something on here that was was needle moving, I would I
would change my mind.
But the boy it's it's this is this is rough going.
Like I said, it started on Saturday for me, really.
Well, let me go back.
We've had two and a half years to think about it.
And it when we didn't go, it's sort of as you I think you mentioned it several weeks
ago, it altered the rhythm of things and it gave us all a chance to take stock of everything.
You know, so it I know what you're saying.
If this if the lineup from twenty twenty was this year's lineup, I have a feeling you'd
be figuring out how to you're probably how to get a plane ticket.
Yeah, you're probably right.
Even if I if I and I know I'm talking about both sides of my mouth.
But yeah, you're probably right.
I look at Sunday and I just I wonder if there will be anybody there by eight, nine o'clock.
Well, let me go back.
So we should probably you know, that is news.
And you know, we're we're both going to miss you.
I mean, it's going to be a very small camp nut butter for sure.
But from what we're hearing, it's going to be a very small Bonnaroo.
And I was thinking about that as well.
I go back to 2016.
And part of the reason, you know, Ken Weinstein, who is the media person and has become a friend
of the show and and was on our by the way, who actually coined a phrase, who coined the
phrase, never not great.
Basically, I see what you did there.
That kind of kind of hurt a little bit.
I'm going to have to prove it on.
I'm going to have to go back and document show receipts.
But who did coin the phrase, never not great from 2016, which was the smallest crowd ever
in, you know, what we're going on 20 years.
It was great.
And it's partly because everybody that is there wants to be there.
And that makes a huge difference about this festival.
You know, we've all been to we've all been to events where, you know, the numbers could
be good, but it was still meh.
But if you're going, I mean, I had an absolute blast in 2016.
It was one of it was the of all the Bonnaroo's.
It's got to be in my top three.
I mean, if not, if not my favorite year that we've had.
So the crowd size is not going to be a problem.
But yeah, to your point, I know I know this information is out there because sponsors
are starting to to share it.
But I mean, I didn't hear thirty five K.
I heard twenty five K. Yeah.
And when sponsors hear thirty five K, the reason why they're hearing that number is
because they're being told a number so it'll justify the paycheck or the justify the check
that they're about to write.
So whatever you hear a sponsor say, subtract a little bit of a fraction out of that because
they're overestimating for sponsors to make them feel as though their money is worthwhile
to be spent with Bonnaroo.
I was told twenty five K and the next day I heard less than thirty.
So whatever that means to you, it to me, it means the things that we saw in 2016 are back.
The fences moved in, the spaces got smaller, so it didn't feel so vast and empty.
But more importantly, for those who have been to exit 111, Taco, Berry, it's going to feel
a lot like that.
I was about to ask what was the numbers for exit 111 because this feels like this is about
the attendance for exit 111.
And they did shrink it a bit.
They brought center in tighter.
They had some of the campgrounds closed, so it didn't feel as empty.
But it was definitely smaller.
But most of those people never went to Bonnaroo, so they didn't know.
Exactly, and that's the thing that Brad and I reminded ourselves after 2016.
When we got there for Media Day and noticed how closed in the fence was on the wet stage
area, it was mind-blowing.
And then the people who've never been would have no idea.
So what's the big deal?
It still felt like a very good, large festival.
Bands were great.
Everything felt good.
By the time you're there, you're not going to give a damn that there's only 25,000 people
around you.
In fact, you're going to love it.
You're going to love the fact that there's no lines for bathrooms and no lines for showers.
You're going to be able to get right up front.
But I will say, with all the experience that you have on this farm, I really weren't worried
that there's going to be 7,000 people for the Stevie Nicks show come Sunday.
It does beg that question.
That's a really sad look.
You know what?
There's, as we've said many, many times, there's nothing worse than an empty room.
I mean, even if it's a room that holds 10 and only two show up, two is still a good
number for some events, but it feels it doesn't feel right.
So there is that concern.
Your question was how many people were at Exit 111.
By their accounts, it was 25,000.
And that was about...
That sounds about right.
Yeah.
And that's with half of the square footage.
I got a follow up question.
Is that tickets sold or is that attendance?
Because when you roll in vendors, volunteers, workers, staff...
Yeah, you can get to 35k.
But the other thing too is round about now, it's not like you're going to be getting an
extra, I don't know, 20,000 tickets big sold.
No, you're not going to get a lot of walk up at an event like this.
I do wonder, they're still doing the load in on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was a good
idea on paper.
And I mean that sincerely.
No way that they can change that now.
There's no way.
They can't change it.
But the reason was they were trying to figure out how to get 90,000 people into a 700 acre
farm without long lines and all that, long delays and all that.
So I have no idea how many people signed up for Tuesday load in or Wednesday load in.
As we look at the schedule, Thursday music starts around four.
So if you come in on Tuesday at what time, you've got a good two and a half full days
of entertainment.
Play Bonnaroo PR for a second.
What do you think the reason is for the light attendance this year?
I mean, let me go, I'll go first.
I think it's exactly- No, play PR member of Bonnaroo.
If I'm them, I'm going to say pretty much what we've said.
There are a lot of choices.
People have made their choices.
Maybe adding that extra day is not what people wanted.
Maybe it's the economy, maybe we're coming out of the pandemic.
I would spend more time and color it better than I'm coloring it right now.
But I think those are all legit and I think those are what they're going to say.
They're not going to say it's a lineup because they're going to say it's never not great.
It's still going to be great.
It's always a fun time.
It's a time for community.
Well, to be fair, a lot of things that you said are actually true.
Not only is the economy really tough, we're coming out of a pandemic where people are
making different choices about where they're spending their money and they're having to
be very, very specific with the things that they choose to do, not just with their dollars,
but with their time.
It's not like all the other festivals are blowing up and blowing the doors off the place.
There are a few spaces where they're doing really well.
I'd like to know what the hangout number ended up being over the past weekend.
But Lollapalooza hasn't sold out yet.
They anticipate they're going to sell it.
ACL sold out in a day.
When we were young, sold out multiple times.
But other than that, are you really seeing a lot of movement on the big scale?
I don't know what Coachella ended up doing, but did I hear that they sold out?
I don't think I did.
Russ, you said Shaky Knees was great, right?
Big crowds.
Shaky Knees felt like it had a big crowd.
It didn't feel any smaller than last year.
It's only two years I've been, but it definitely felt packed out.
Because it's a city festival and it's so much easier to access and so much easier for locals
to be a part of, Bonnaroo becomes difficult and becomes hard to...
Yeah.
Shaky Knees had a great lineup too.
Yeah.
Going back to the earlier question, what does happen if the 2020 lineup is this year's lineup?
That was a heck of a lineup.
It's hard to imagine that we at least don't double whatever the Bonnaroo number is this
year.
I do think that it's a very good point, Barry, is that it never ends up being about the lineup.
And there are...
Until it does.
I would argue until it does.
I think that Bonnaroo has done such a great job of being post lineup.
They've figured out a way to create an incredible atmosphere that is not lineup dependent.
Well, maybe we're entering into a world...
Not maybe, we have.
We've entered into a world where things are different and the lineup is going to be very
lineup dependent now.
What you're asking somebody to do is a big...
It's a load of effort to do this over the course of a few days.
And people's options are wider and vaster and closer.
You said earlier yourself, next year they come back.
The ones that are going want to go.
Right?
I mean, let's...
We all agree on that, right?
I mean, this isn't a...
It's never a halfway event.
It's never...
I feel like there was a comment a few years ago when we said when it was 60,000 people
for LCD Sound System and Pearl Jam and Dead and Coming, I think we had...
I feel like I'm remembering this correctly.
Well, 30,000 is the base.
You're never going to get less than 30,000 because if half of the crowd are new Bonnarooians
or new people to the festival, 30,000 half of 60 was...
I really do think 30 is their drop dead base number.
And so long as they get there, they're going to be okay.
Okay.
And so that was, I guess, kind of where I was going.
So those 30 show up and have another good time and they're going to tell a friend and
bring a friend and maybe next year's lineup comes out early and it's amazing.
And some of these other ones, as we've said, how many of them survive?
I really do feel like this is a transition year where we're going to see some go away
and some survive and some figure out what works and doesn't work.
Well, I don't get too crazy with that, Barry, because you'll get conspiracy theorists who
see the state of Tennessee...
I'm sorry, not the state of Tennessee.
It was the state of Tennessee in the city of Manchester putting the screws to Bonarue
and Bonarue fighting back and saying, well, we don't need to do this here.
So you start saying stuff like that, it's going to get people a little rocky.
It's going to make them feel a little itchy.
Could be.
Could very well be.
There could be a lot of things going on behind doors we don't know about.
But what we do know is it's Live Nation, right, which C3 has plenty of money and they do own
the farm.
So we would like to think committed.
It's not a small thing.
But you're right.
They're big enough too.
They could walk away and say, see you.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not the way that it was told to me.
I think we've said this before.
It's not like Bonarue makes them a lot of money.
I mean, it makes them enough to keep going and it is a valuable part of the whole asset
and part of the whole structure.
But it's not like they're blowing the doors off making a ton of money here.
They have a just a shitload of overhead that a city festival just doesn't have to have
to engage in.
I guess the next couple of weeks as we lead up to this, and by the way, if you haven't
listened to the episode from last week where it's basically Bonarue do's and don'ts, it's
a good precursor on how to get ready for any sort of festival that you might find yourself
in the summer.
But if you get time, go back and listen to that.
But Barry, next week, your picks, taco picks, what do we got?
What do you want to do, Barry?
Will these be the shortest episodes and what podcasts?
We might be able to combine them.
I don't know.
Yeah, maybe we ought to record them both at the same time.
Just picks.
Walk by.
WB.
WB.
WB.
I think you guys are right.
We probably just do one episode on this.
Yeah, let's both be ready, taco.
We'll see where it goes.
Okay.
I'll be ready.
But yeah, no, there are picks.
Back to this lineup, there aren't a lot of those conflicts are the ones and that's usually
what we talk about.
The other thing I will say, and I don't think we've said today, we have said in the past,
not every lineup is for everybody.
I do know some people who are excited about this lineup.
It's not.
They should be.
They're going to like this.
They're going to have a blast.
And I really honestly, and I know you're going to laugh, but I plan to spend some time over
at the other.
There, I want to find out some of those, the EDM and the trap bands and the house bands
and all that.
And now this is as good a year if I'm ever going to do it.
You know, yeah, especially some of the late night stuff.
And we didn't really talk about with this schedule that we have mentioned it many, many
times.
We might end up hanging out in GA.
Well, I say taco, taco, you didn't hear what Barry said to me on, Barry didn't say this
to you, but on the phone the other day, he goes, I'm thinking about camping out in GA.
Yeah, maybe he did mention that to me.
And, and, and I didn't disagree.
I mean, it's going to be a very different camp nut butter.
And I kind of felt bad.
Kyle, the Bonnarooian wrote me on Snapchat the other day.
He's like, Hey, I got a media pass.
I'm finally coming back to see camp nut butter.
Okay.
Tell him, bring a chair.
Yeah.
Can you bring a full length?
Yeah, because we're not going to have one.
You got any fencing and some carpet?
Barry wanted to do a chicken pen.
When you're, can you set that up?
I'm glad I didn't get that chicken last year.
I don't know what would I do with it?
Oh my God.
If you had a pet chicken right now that you're hanging out for Bonnaroo, you would have eaten
it by now.
I think of all the eggs I'd have by now.
We haven't said that Barry did want to bring a chicken, a live chicken to Bonar, sneak
a chicken in and have a chicken pen so that you, was it going to be a rooster that's going
to wake everybody up or was it just going to be?
It's funny.
We, we went back to the paper into the building for the first time a couple of weeks ago and
I still have the Post-it note on my computer screen.
Chickens.
It's been there for two years.
We'd have fresh eggs every morning.
You would.
You'd probably have a few other chicks right about now.
I feel like that chicken would have a few extra members of the family.
I just picture, you know, that scene in the hangover when they wake up, you know, people
waking up at Camp Nut Butter and there's chickens.
Maybe it's a little foreshadowing because Barry writes down on a post at Chickens and
this year we have the chicks.
I don't think that's a coincidence.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's great.
Is it Barry?
What's scribbled down to your table right now?
Give me the first note that you say.
You don't want to know.
It's a reminder.
Oh my God.
You drew a penis.
You drew a wiener.
I knew it.
It's a work.
It's a work reminder.
I called myself a moron in the, on the note.
Is there a band called the morons?
The morons.
Is there a morons with more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more,
more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more,
more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more.
It feels bad to say because I love this festival so much.
But do you feel like, and separate yourself for a second.
Is there anybody around you and this might be circumstantial, but is there anyone around
you excited about it?
Is there anybody that you know that's going?
That's really excited about it.
You guys are, you know, an hour away from Bonnaroo.
You see local people talking about it?
That's a fair question and it hurts me to say, but no. Other than Taco and Bryan Stone,
you know, our typical Camp Nut Butter bunch, no.
Yeah, I mean, I don't really haven't really talked to anyone outside of our little
bubble of people that are already going, so I haven't heard any, you know, word on the street about.
Take that back, Daniel, of course, Daniel and,
uh, is the rebus. Those guys are over the moon. They have a huge event planned for Tuesday and,
and they should be excited and it's going to be a fun. So, but they're, they honestly,
they and the Red Roo guys and a lot of the regulars are every bit as excited like, like we are.
Uh, but to your question, am I hearing, you know, and like you said, we're an hour away
and usually my kids and their friends, you know, would be all excited about it.
And quite honestly, they're more excited about Riverbend than they are Bonnaroo.
But, you know, I've listened and I've seen some of the online stuff.
There are a lot of people excited and they're not just regulars. There are people for whom, like a
lot of these EDM bands are, are, uh, it's a great lineup to a lot of them. So I, and I'm,
the more I studied this schedule today and the more I thought about 2016 and,
and part of that is just pumping myself up and getting ready. Um,
it'll be fun. Now, now what it looks like, I don't know.
I, I still, I, I know that this is so subjective and it always comes back to,
you know, who you like versus who you don't like. So somebody who's spending a lot of time with the
other, I'm sure really, really likes this line up. That's fine. Uh, but I keep coming back to 2016
and I don't think it's bad. I don't think there's, uh, you know, it may not be stacked. It may not be
thick around the middle, but boy, there's still so much on there that is, um, that was incredible.
LCD, M83, Tame Impala, St. Lucia, Grizz, Allen Stone, all in one day. Tyler, the creator on one
day, the chain smokers on one day, Vince Staple on the same day. That was just one day.
Did we ever decide why that line that year was so low? Did we ever determine a reason? Was it just
because there were so many other festivals all of a sudden? That's my memory.
You know, I don't, I do not remember. Um, I don't remember an explanation as to why exactly that
year and why would I have a terrible memory? Um, but still, I keep, I keep coming back to this line.
I think that Friday alone was, was better than the whole festival combined. Um, and I know somebody's
going to rip me apart for saying that, but you know, Bob Moses was the Friday opener. So was
Blood Orange, you know, I know I'm sorry. They were the last one, but like I, there was some really,
really solid, uh, bands on that lineup. And then you go to Saturday, the, the opener for the what
stage was Grace Potter. Um, I don't know, man, there's, there's a lot there from 2016 that I
think is still pretty good. Post Malone was on the other tent in 2016. He was the second, third
person to play in 2016. Post Malone. Yeah, there will be, there will be those that come out of this
year. You know, those names that we look back. Hard to say going in, but no, I get what you're
saying. And I, I really wish we could go back and try to remember what it was about 16 or the theory.
I, I think it was kind of like this year where it was just a, you know, a confluence of a lot
of different factors, including there were a whole lot of new festivals. I really don't remember. I
just don't remember. I think we went from, you know, several dozen to several hundred within that
time. And there's, you know, well, I don't know. I mean, look, I think, I think that if you're around
as long as Bonnaroo and Coachella, I mean, Coachella has got just, just an outrageous amount of money,
but, um, when you're this big, you're going to have bad years. I can't express to you how many
bad years Lollapalooza has had. Every year, my Lollapalooza group just looks at each other like,
why are we going to this? You know, like, but, but I always end up going, I always end up having a
great time. And guess what? It's always sold out. So something is, something still connects with
that brand. Something still connects with, it will be back and it'll be fine. Also the other thing too,
that I equate it to people like us talking about stuff like this is a lot of times, like when
sports or football dudes talk about the NFL salary cap, you know, and they've got an opinion on what
team, well, they're just spending way too much money on these players. They're going to be over
the salary cap. How are they going to be under the salary? Who gives a shit? It's not your money.
Well, it's also like arguing over this year's championship team could never play with, you know,
the championship team from 20 years ago or vice versa. Yeah. If you are, if you are a fan of the
festival and if you go to one of these things, what do you care if the lineup is good or not?
You're going just to have fun because it's what you, it's your part of your, you know,
DNA at this point. It's a point I've been trying to make today. Yeah, we are. That's exactly the
point I've been trying to make today. Yeah. I don't care what the number is. I mean, it's, you know,
the fact that we're an hour away. I mean, I've driven further for worse things than a bad
Bonnaroo. I know, I know. I met her. But Barry, I will say that if I still lived there, I probably
would be spending all of this time just making camp right. You know, this would be the year that
we would be going crazy and making camp nuts. Yeah. Another thing about it. Yeah. Cause there's
not much else to do, you know, camp better be balling. We would be buying chickens.
You know, this would have been the chicken year. This would have been the Dixie chicken year.
Dixie chickens. So yeah, I get it. It's, it didn't help. I mean, it lost some of its mojo. I don't
know how else to put it. And having to cancel for two years. And then, you know, the way they sort
of handled it, not being able to make refunds and it's sort of lost some mojo. And I think that,
and these other ones have, you know, come online and they're probably closer and they maybe,
you know, fit the line, whatever the reasons. That's why I keep saying this feels like a reset
year in a lot of ways. But when these people show up like us, we're going to have a great time and
we're going to talk it up again. And we're going to want you to come back and everybody else. And,
and, you know, I'll be back. I'll be back. I mean, it's very sad. And I, and I had to come
to grips with it a couple of weeks ago. I really, really didn't want to, to miss it because,
you know, it, it means so much to me, but it's just, there's just no possible way.
Oh, there's no possible way. I mean, when you said that, I, it would be a really tough struggle
for you. I don't know how you would do it. I mean, before you lived here and you, you know,
had all your camping stuff downstairs, like the rest of us, and you throw it in the car,
we get in there and we're there 55 minutes later. It wouldn't be that easy for you this year.
So yeah, well, before we get to the final topic of the day, anything else on the schedule before
we get to the picks next week? Anything else you want to, you want to get to? I don't remember.
Was there anything else for you, Russ? I'll just throw in beer exchanges Friday 11 to one.
Well, you don't, don't give away all the picks, Russ. Don't. All right, now we take next week off.
I wanted to give a, I just want to pay a little bit of attention. I don't know how much
attention you paid to it, what Hangout did over the weekend. So not only did Hangout have to
navigate a, just a terrible storm, tremendous storm that ripped through Hangout Festival,
but they did it while losing a headliner and replacing it in 24 hours. Russ, do you remember,
do you know the story about how Hangout lost a headliner and then had to replace it with Grizz?
No. On Saturday, one of the headliners for Hangout Festival was supposed to be Doja Cat.
Oh, that's right. She had surgery or something. Yeah, she had tonsil surgery, throat surgery,
or something like that. And she was immediately replaced out of nowhere by Grizz and by all
accounts had an absolutely incredible show. Yeah, which, you know, it just proves your point about
Bonnaroo. You know, maybe you're in a different area this year, Barry, and spending some time with
some spaces that you never would have seen before. But the fact that they were able to swing that so
quickly and dealt with the weather that they've had to deal with, there is not a year that I can
remember where Hangout has not lost a headliner. I don't know how this keeps happening, but you
know, they lose Frank Ocean one year, one year they lose like the weekend. I don't know, they
lost somebody and then the last second they're replacing with Mumford and Sons. Like every year
feels like they're losing somebody up at the top and it's almost built baked into the cake of Hangout.
It's like, well, 30% of this is not going to exist here when we get there. And then you have to you
have to deal with the weather. And the fact that like that looked like on on Saturday and Friday,
like the thing was going to be shut down and completely collapse. They have a new director
for Hangout. And I don't remember quite remember when he got here there, but his name is Reeves.
And I'm dying to meet him and I'm dying to talk to him because from all accounts, he's a really,
really, really smart, smart dude. And, you know, we know the guy that ran Hangout before. And,
you know, a lot of this was set up for them to succeed. But I'm really interested to see
if we could ever find Reeves to talk to, to talk exactly about how they were able to swing something
in through all of the with all the stuff that they had to deal with in one weekend. I'd love
to get some perspective on that. Yeah, they I mean, as we've learned from, again, talking to
Jeff Quay are who, you know, basically was always in the room at Bonnaroo. They know what they're
doing. They plan for these. He's told us before at Bonnaroo. And I know Hangout has the same. They
all do. I mean, they have entire, you know, control centers that are just monitoring the weather.
They're monitoring traffic. They're doing all this kind of stuff. They have a plan. And like I said
earlier, when you were looking it up, we saw it at Forecastle. And even that looked like a disaster,
but they got that place cleared out pretty quickly. You know, it's amazing. As you said a couple of
times here in the last several shows, I think the logistics of it is part of what we love about these
things. Yeah, that's right. It's not just the music and the bands and the fun. It's all of that. But
it's watching professionals who know what they're doing run a major event like this. So, and I mean,
that's part of what I'm looking forward to in a couple of three weeks is to see how they adjust to
a brand new festival. So with all that being said, Reeves, we'd like to have you on the show. Come on
the show, man. Please. Please. Yes. Yeah, because we may not have much to talk about here in the next
couple of days. Speaking of, going back to the lineup, because it came up on some of the
discussions, all them witches we thought canceled their summer, but they're still on the lineup.
It looks like, and I looked on their website, it looks like they're doing Bonnaroo and then taking
the rest of the summer off. They are. I wasn't sure if we were going to get all them witches or just
some of them witches or none of them witches, but we got all them witches. We got all them witches.
Barry, did you write that down at your desk too? It was on my, yeah, thing to mention.
Chicks and witches. Chicks and witches. Are we getting all them chicks? I think we are.
All right. Anything else before we go? No. I feel like this was sort of a downer night and I don't
want it to be. I feel like a baby downer and I feel bad. It's a downer, you're not coming, but no.
Yeah, we'll miss you. You'll be all right. Survive. Yeah, but I mean, I think out of all the years to
miss, you probably picked the okay one. I picked the right one, huh? I picked the right one. Yeah.
Yeah, we certainly have the right reasons. It's definitely not ideal, but you know,
there's something like this. I just, I can't, there's no possible way I can get out of this thing.
All right. Well, Barry, Barry, since it's just us, you want to cuddle in the bus?
We might have to. Bus cuddle. Things don't get straightened out. Bus cuddle. Barry, get up in them guts.
Did you write that down? Yeah, put it down Barry. Write it down. Put it down. Bus cuddles. All right.
All right. The Well Podcast, we'll talk to you again next week.
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