Music festival season has officially begun, and The What Podcast is here to drink it all up. On this episode, the hosts talk with special guest Kevin Barnes about the official beer collaboration between Camp Reddaroo and Common John Brewery and look ahead to their time on The Farm for Bonnaroo 2024.
The What crew kick off by chatting with Barnes about the Camp Reddaroo beer, which will of course be available during the Friday Beer Exchange. Barnes also drops some very special news about the beer collab and previews the Easter eggs hidden in its design. Then, they give the floor to Lord Taco, who charts out his ideal itinerary for Bonnaroo 2024.
Don't forget, the latest competition from The What Podcast is still on, and gang wants to hear from you! Give a call to The What Podcast official voicemail line at (423) 667-7877 and share your best Bonnaroo tips, tell a favorite Bonnaroo memory, or ask a question. They'll then select one winner to receive a prize package of Bonnaroo memorabilia from Barry's basement!
Listen to The What Podcast chat about Lord Taco's perfect Bonnaroo 2024 schedule or watch it on Youtube. Do us a solid and also like, review, and subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you listen.
Topic: Bonnaroo
Guest: Kevin Barnes
We are less than a month from Bonnaroo. There's so much happening. There's so much to talk about.
This is going to be another action packed show with a special guest.
And we're going to hear Lord Taco's picks for who he plans to see at Bonnaroo.
Let's get started because we've got a lot to talk about right now on the What Podcast.
Alright, here we go guys. We're right at a month. Right at a month.
The math is about exactly a month. We are on the farm. It occurred to me that most of the people
who will be listening to this or many of them will be packing their stuff. They're getting their
gear ready. They're buying their food. We're actually to that point. Can you believe it?
We're to the point now where it's time to start planning your menus and packing and putting your
tents up to make sure they still work and figuring out how you're going to pack the car. Who's going
where? Who's going what? This is the time and Brian, you know, I know you and I have talked about it.
This is the time where I start losing sleep because the stress level is high. The idea
of being in a tent, being in a porta potty. I don't stress so much about whether the tickets
are going to work and they're actually going to let me in anymore. I used to stress over that
kind of thing. So did I and it never was a problem. Never was. We always better than we could have.
It's that classic anxiety, right? I'm over here freaking out over nothing. I still freak out over
that a little bit just because you never know when a formality, some kind of something can go
through the cracks. But we've never had that. Maybe somebody in our group used to be much bigger
years ago as far as our overall annual gathering. It's still a nice size, but it used to be a little
bit bigger. And there used to be a little bit every now and again because that just happens.
But man, to us, we've never had to deal with it. Never. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Here we go.
Here we go. Like you're in. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine.
So and of course, you know, Russ, on the other hand, who worries about absolutely nothing
and shows up and it's everything's great. Takes it as a kid. Always works out. Yeah. Show up on
Tuesday. They let me write it. Let him write it. Yeah. He's like, we're like, you can't get there
till Thursdays. No, I'm going to go up Tuesday. I'm going to go and go Tuesday. And then we get a
text two hours later and he's got the van set up. So everything is great. So we've got a lot to talk
about. It's so funny. You know, every week we're like, what are we going to do? Another, we've got
another show and there's more than we can handle. And we had stuff pops up and we had something drop
in our lap. Kevin Barnes is going to join us. And we talked quite a bit. Kevin is a Camp Rutteroo
veteran, a big part of the beer exchange. And they've created a Bonnaroo beer as they've done
for the last couple of years. And we're going to talk about the design and the beer and how that
works. So that was, that was, is a lot of fun looking forward to that. But there's also some
new, and we're like, I think I said, or if I didn't, we're going to have Russ's picks
for who he plans to see. But there's been, there's some news, right? Couple of things.
Big news out of Atlanta. Let's start there. Where you want to go? Let's start with, I got
to, I got to show off a gift I got for a, a, a Lord taco in Huntsville, which will only take a
minute. We'll do that on the tail end of this maybe, but music midtown has done the, in this
case, they use the word hiatus and it's not the most surprising thing in the world because that
festival is, it's kind of gone up and down since the early two thousands, but that festival were
really where shaky knees is now when, uh, when midtown first started to become one of the bigger
festivals in the country. And it's a city, city fast, go home fast kind of deal. Um,
shaky knees has kind of taken over a lot of that footprint where that original music
midtown was. And for me, before Bonnaroo, it was, uh, 2000, 2001, 2002, three years in a row,
midtown kind of turned into my annual music festival. I was 1920, 21 years old. Bonnaroo
wasn't a thing yet. And I was just, and I liked the music festival. We had one here in town that
was nowhere near like what they did down there. And it became my year round, not like this,
but year round anticipation because it was such a stacked lineup. And then it folded in early
around, uh, five maybe came back for a few years, had another hiccup might've been the COVID year.
And then again, and then I believe they've had an identity crisis for the last 15 years,
but from the early to late nineties and into the early two thousands, I, I'm, I'm,
Barry might be able to help me with these names. It was Alex and Peter, the promoters, I think it's
Alex and Peter. I don't remember him. I just remember maybe anyway, those two dudes were
legendary eighties nineties music promoters. And then they got this crazy idea to do this in town
music festival. And you would have little John on one stage and you'd have Bonnie Raitt on another
stage. And you'd have, I wrote down just a few as I went through a few of these years, Al green on
another John Mayer. These are ones I didn't see Bob Dylan, offspring, kid rock when he was becoming
a monster at that time. Um, bone thugs and harmony, so many different genres. Uh, and it was, it,
they kind of built so big, it kind of crumbled it because they put so much money into talent and
into infrastructure and they were ahead of their time at that time from kind of us trying to make
a comeback of music festivals that wasn't anywhere near what Bonnaroo designed themselves after. We've
talked about that for years. It was the fish shows, it was the gathering, the camping thing,
the European, the European model, the European model. And, but this was the more American model
that they brought popularity to in the late nineties. And just the quick list I got from the
three years and this won't impress a hell of a lot of people, but to me it was a great run. And this
is remember 22, 23 years ago where some of these artists were at the top of their games, Oasis,
Stone Devil Pilots, Incubus, Black Crows, Almond Brothers Band, um, are just a few I named that I
saw over those few years. And it was in 2002, first year of Bonnaroo, uh, music Midtown used to be in
May, uh, towards the end of May, if I remember right, but regardless in May and I'm broke as I
could be at 21, 22 years old, I can't go to two music festivals in two weeks. Like that's crazy
talk. And I just got back from music Midtown and my friends were starting to whisper about this
Bonnaroo thing. And I thought, well, I mean, I go to Midtown and that's going to exhaust my disposable
income. And then the, the excitement of this new idea forced me to, to go up and jump a fence and
spend a day at Bonnaroo in the first year and yeah, it changed my life from there. And his and I
haven't been back to one of these music festivals in a city other than shaky knees and one or two
other outliers since it's interesting to think back. Um, the idea at that time was city festivals
and diversity. It was the festivals. They tried to offer a little bit something for everybody,
which was a, which seemed to make sense at the time. And they were, it did make sense. It just
didn't work out long-term monetarily. They couldn't fund it. Correct. Well that and weather,
weather was so, uh, closer to the spring. So the, the weather, the rain, a lot of those Birmingham,
I know had a similar festival. Knoxville had a similar city stages in Boner in Birmingham.
Our own river bend was kind of the same. Um, similar thing in that, uh, Nashville had river
stages. Correct. All these were kind of modeled the same way after each other, but they all
took that music Midtown model and started building around it that same way. Because at first it was
a smash. I was looking at my tickets. They were $40 tickets for the whole weekend. Right. That
was the idea. Relatively inexpensive ticket and you could see bands that you wouldn't normally,
but you might get a country act in front of an Oasis or something. And, and at some level,
there was an appeal to that. Um, and then Bonnaroo kind of fine tuned everything by making it as we
talked about over and over and over the lanes, making it more, um, so that you, you know,
if you were an Oasis fan, you had somebody to see throughout the day. Yeah. Shocked by a little
Wayne or this was more about trying to impress you with the diversity. And while it might've
in your head, like that's neat. It didn't do as much for the festival itself. Once it got going.
I mean, I didn't even highlight. I'll just a few more three doors down. These are the three years
I was there. Rat dog, Georgia, satellites, blues traveler, blue oyster, cult, arrested development,
Kansas lover, boy, night ranger. You know, it just goes government mule Indigo girls. I mean,
the list doesn't stop of names, especially at the turn of the century that were still really big
names. Right. And, and whether crush could crush them. Could absolutely. If you got three days
of rain, they lost Saturday night in 2002 for stone devil pilots. And you're in the middle
of downtown Atlanta and you don't know which we don't have cell phones, not ones that tell
us where to go. And it's like, where the hell's the Marriott marquee? Oh my God, we're screwed.
Right. All right. Different world. So yeah, different world. Exactly. All right. Uh,
so what else happened this week? Uh, ACL announced their, uh, lineup, which is really nice,
but it is a lot of the same stuff playing everywhere else. But it's curated well and
like we all would know when they, and then Austin, I've never been, but Austin is its own,
keep it weird, the original keep it weird kind of place. And so it's a little bit more to travel
to Austin and spend some time then there, there than just to see a great music lineup. But this
one quite solid, Tyler, the creators, Stapleton blink 182, Sturgill, pretty lights, Leon bridges
at the top. Um, people have been screaming. I notice on a lot of socials, Reddit being primarily
like, where's foster the people been? Well, they're at your festival in Austin. For me,
when I've been wondering for a while, what happened to catfish and the bottle men, a British band
that's just raucous, loud, classic English rock. I've been wondering where they are. Well, they're
at ACL. So it's a, it's a, it's a very nice, it, to me, it rivals a jazz fest, which just wrapped up
here in the last couple of days. That's what you would, that's what I would expect from an Austin
city limits type of festival. That's exactly what I would expect. Uh, Russ, you had, uh, in our, our
show notes, you said you had sort of a celebrity encounter and, oh yeah. What was that? I assume
you were the celebrity. So who did you meet? Well, sorry, uh, got a little choked up there. Uh,
yeah, I just wanted to touch briefly on shaky knees. Uh, you know, we, yeah, yeah. Report from,
from it live last week. It was super fun. Sunday. I didn't make it though. Um, checked out of the
hotel early Sunday morning, went to the car to load my stuff up and then realize I've got a dead
battery in the car. One of his five cars didn't work. Shocking. Yeah, I know. Um, so, uh, had to
call AAA and they came out and, uh, got it jumped off. I wasn't sure if it was completely dead. You
know, they'll sell you a battery if you need one, but they managed to get me, uh, going. So I just
decided I'm going to, you know, take that and just go on home. Well, you got Friday and Saturday and
that's plenty. Oh yeah. Yeah. I didn't feel too bad. I had, I was looking forward to Sunday and
that was a plan. I was going to go put my stuff in the car and then walk to the festival. But I
thought, yeah, I don't want to risk a dead battery again. And I had a great Friday and Saturday, so
I don't feel too bad. Um, but Friday night, yeah, shaky knees. I'm walking around in the crowd and,
I walked past who I think is the lead singer from, uh, All Them Witches. You know, I was just on the
rail to see that show and, and here he is. He's just out in the middle of nowhere, well, in the
middle of the crowd, um, just by himself. And I wasn't sure at first. I thought, man, it looks like
him, but, uh, I walked past and then I turned around and, uh, right as he's lighting up a cigarette,
he looks at me and I look at him and he said, are you Russ? Are you Russ? Are you that guy from that
award winning podcast? He gives me a nod and I give him a nod back and I was like, okay, that's all
I needed. So I didn't, didn't run up to him or anything. So yeah, glad he didn't make it too
weird and be like, oh my God, that's Lord Tarkin. I'm glad he didn't make it weird. But he didn't
make it weird. That's Rich. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. He's telling, he's telling people right now
on the bus, man, I'm glad he didn't make it weird. I'm glad he didn't come up and make it weird. I
wouldn't know what to say to that guy. That's so funny, especially what we talked about. Yeah,
but yeah, it reminded me of, you know, we talked about celebrity encounters and I think it's neat
because, you know, a lot of these big names, of course they, they fly in, they get bussed in,
they come in the back, they do their show and then they're on the road. They go to the next thing.
But a lot of these smaller acts, you know, there's, they're just as much fans as we are.
Absolutely. And if they're in town, there's probably acts, you know, we always ask who are
you excited to see here? And they always mentioned two or three other bands that they want to see.
So you never know who you'll run into at, you know, just walking around just randomly at night.
Yeah. That's another big part of the Bonnaroo is we've learned doing this podcast is a lot of the
bands, like you just said, want to schedule a whole day. And if they're lucky, maybe an overnight so
that they can go see other acts. Yeah. You got a little downtime. You just finished your set.
You've got a few hours before you go back. Yeah. We're not checking out. I touched on it the other
week. I mean, you would be shocked if you knew how many really well-known members of bands,
maybe not the lead singer that most people recognize immediately, but you'd be shocked
how many of them are just hanging around right next to you that are just walking around in the
area that they, because that's what they do. They want to soak it all into. And some of them are
documented. Sometimes if someone finds out, they take a, you know, they'll do a little video if
it's, if it's sanctioned or, or even if it's not, but well, I mean, happens all the time.
I'm thinking three examples. What David Byrne when he was at Bonnaroo brought his bicycle
and would run around on a production road, going from stage to stage. We've heard,
what was Cheryl Crowe last year? Didn't she do like a video of her on skates?
Yeah, that one was, I think more put together by somebody in the production team, but it was still,
nobody bothered her. They didn't know who it was. We, well, I know, especially at the age of a lot
of these people, but, uh, uh, we talked about this a little bit too, the other week that, I mean,
Cheryl Crowe has been there a few years and she's from Nashville. So she, she gets it by all intents.
I mean, she ain't my friend, but I'll untie. She loves just hanging out, hanging out. And, um,
my favorite, least favorite is, uh, I was with, uh, our campmates, uh, Mike and Denson and went
to go to the bathroom or whatever and came back and they said, yeah, Larry David was just standing
here drinking a glass of Chardonnay and a, in a glass, literally a wine glass. And I was like,
what, who? No, yeah, he was right here. That is a celebrity sighting that I would not go up and
talk to. I think they said, hi, I'm sure he would have been great if he probably, but just knowing,
yeah, it could go bad. It could go bad. He could go bad. Why are you bothering me?
If he had a perfect line in his head and he was in that mode, you can walk away thinking, boy,
I look stupid. I, I, it wouldn't bother me not much. I still just talked to the Larry David. So
I ain't worried about it. Apropos of nothing. My favorite Larry David is he, when he used to do
stand up, he apparently would walk out on stage sometime and look at the crowd and just say, nope
and leave. Not feeling this one. That's not funny. Nope. I also want to mention that real quick.
You know, I had a dead battery. I called AAA. That is the best deal. That's the one. Yeah. As far as
yes. I mean, of course, you know, I've got five shitty cars at least once a year. I have to call
AAA for something. Well, I have one shitty car and I am indebted to AAA. All right. So there's your
pro tip. There's your pro tip for the show. You guys are, especially if you're getting ready to
make that 15 hour drive. Well, that's what I was going to say. They came out in 15 minutes and I
was good to go. So if you're, yeah, if you're headed out on a long trip, AAA could be, you know,
just the best thing to have in your back pocket. Cause you just never know. So AAA, if you're
listening, it's four, two, three, six, six, seven, seven, eight, seven, seven. You're sponsored by
sponsorship opportunity. Please sponsor me. I know I need the, I need the AAA sponsorship.
Actually, it's funny since, since we're talking about that four, two, three, six, six, seven,
seven, eight, seven, seven, we are still running our contest. Give us a call on that number
and tell us what your, at your fate, your Bonnaroo question, if you have a question or your tip,
or, uh, we thought of, and you'll, you'll understand why later. Uh, I'd really kind of like to hear
people's, what is your favorite piece of memorabilia? It doesn't have to be the one that's worth
something the most, just whatever could be a blade of grass that you were standing on when something
special happened or whatever. I'd love to hear those stories. Send a picture through the website
email as well. If he's like, if you'd like it to be included in the show, cause the visuals always
make it more fun. Yeah. I love those comments at the whatpodcast.com. I'm sorry, Russ. I keep
talking over you. Go ahead. Comments at the whatpodcast.com. If you want to send us a picture
of your merch, that'd be cool. Yeah. Remember Buu, whatever. Um, and yeah, we're putting together a
prize pack and I reached out to the folks at C3 and, uh, going to see if they have some stuff in
their, uh, closets that they'd like to get rid of as well. So we're going to put together something.
So call and leave us that. But, uh, real quick, before we get to Russ's picks,
I didn't talk about this much last week because I didn't, I was so torn inside. I didn't want to
discuss it out loud. Um, Neil Young in, um, in, in Huntsville and on, uh, my local podcast, I got the,
it's the Orion amphitheater, right? I said it a thousand times wrong. It's the Orion amphitheater.
Orion. I think you said Orion. I was screaming in my car. I was like, really? I know. I, I know. I
knew at the time, I knew more afterwards. It was too late. Anyway, the Orion amphitheater. Yes. Named
after what was the star or the ship or the whatever the hell it was. Just some installation.
Sometimes I can't connect dots quickly. All right. So anyway, forget that. Forget, call it the first
bank America amphitheater or whatever you want to call it. It is absolutely beautiful and a
wonderful place. And if I didn't think that I just say, it was pretty good. I had fun time. And then
I'd move along. It was fabulous. I'm so sorry for coughing this for you guys that aren't in the south.
The pollen right now is, uh, we're, we're eating it. It's so it's everywhere. We're not breathing it.
We're eating it. Um, but what, what do you mean? I heard you say that on your podcast. I mean,
is it be the sightlines are great. The sound is great. The bathroom sightline, what sightlines,
ever all of it, all of it, sightlines, sound, uh, sound, um, the way it's, it's, it's, it's positioned
as far as sightlines from everywhere for, and I, and I ventured to every corner from top and it's
just, it's not that big. It feels big and it's not that big. And it was, it was a joy, so much fun
parking, so easy, everything to get to, to get to in Huntsville. You do have to drive just about
everywhere you go, but it's very easy to get around. And, um, I wanted to see Neil for the final time.
I tried to talk myself out of it because of a lot of just personal life reasons and Bonnaroo is
almost here and do I really need to travel to go do it? But the answer was yes, I did. And while it
was, it was Neil Young and crazy horse and it was very sloppy. It was very, very, very sloppy.
Yeah, it seemed to be. But that music was sloppy in 1978. You know, it's grungy. It was grunge
before grunge. It was, it was this just loud squealing guitars that sometimes ended up with
amazing songs and sometimes not so much short set. I wish it was the final tour,
so I could just know that because there doesn't need to be anymore. Right. Um, but I was happy as
I could be to be there, but when I got into town, I had all day. It was right after we got
on recording early, which worked out beautifully. It was a beautiful day. So I just, I just hit down.
I want to see all about as much as I could get in in Huntsville as I could. And I ended up downtown
and it turns out the brewery I ended up at Russ, you sent me a picture of your bus parked right
outside that exact brewery, a brewery taproom restaurant. Think that kind of thing in an old
area of downtown. And it was called green. What was it? Green bus brewing green bus. And I had a
little bit of cash on me and you know, it's what do they call that boy math or guy math or festival
math? Well, that money's already gone. It's it's in my wallet. I've already spent it. Right. So
might as well pick up a few things and Russ, I got you a on the way. Oh, nice. That's me. Green bus
brewing shirt. Hop on. I love it. It's a large, I think we're all in large, at least minimum t-shirt
wearing world these days. So I'll get this to you. Maybe you won't be until we see I see you on the
farm, but you have one of those now. I have one too. I got the baseball tee. So we're not going
to be twins. We don't have the same one. Great branding. Cool little place. I agree. Loved
every bit of my time. I drove the bus down there. Say that again. Huntsville's great. I drove the bus
down there and went to the green bus brewing company, tried to get free beer, you know,
because like I've been advertising for you for 20 years with this green bus. I have a green bus
that I drink. Give me a free beer. Yeah, like this. Exactly. This is my kind of place. They didn't go
for it, but still a great brewery. Had a great time. Yeah. Good beer, good food. Nice. But I
know you've been there several times, uh, uh, taco and, and, and Barry, I know you've been down to
Huntsville. You have not. I've been to Huntsville when I was a kid. Yeah. Same for me, but same for
me before that. And it was, uh, especially after, if you go back to when we were talking about these
kinds of things several months ago with our mayor here, and we talked a lot about the mayor and,
and then what they do, it was very obvious that conversation resonated more with me when I got
to the town. There's nothing wrong with the city at all. Chattanooga is a way cooler city. I'll just
tell you that right now for us locals, but it's needing itself. And that, and, and as, as Tim
mayor Kelly pointed out on our show, that amphitheater has been transformative and it absolutely
has. And it's almost got a mixed use nature to it where it's got this extension of the kind of the
back of it. I don't want to try to overly explain something you can't see, but you can do smaller
events there. That's not 8,000 and you can have kind of this separate little area. Yeah.
They're, they're bothering me here. Uh, they, they, you can do smaller events, yoga from, from that
small to anything, maybe even a little beer, craft beer festival gathering in this kind of wooded,
almost like a Grove style feel behind this place. It's a gotta see to believe. And if you're
skeptical and cynical, like I am on things and someone's like, this is so cool. The best thing
ever. And like, okay, whatever. Nice. This is pretty darn close to best thing ever. All right.
From an amphitheater standpoint. Yeah. That t-shirt is really cool. Uh, that's reminds me,
I have something for you, Brian. And I've had it in my wallet forever. It was given to me by Daniel,
um, at the beer exchange. I don't remember if it was last year or the year before, but, uh,
I don't know if you can see what that is. Oh my gosh. Is that the 2016 year? Pearl jam photo pass
for photography. Yeah. Oh, so I'll give that to you next time I see you. That's great. That'll
go right along with all the rest of the things that I didn't actually do that I can pretend like I did.
I took photos at Pearl jam. Me too. I've had it in my wallet. I looked at it the other day and I
thought, man, I need to give that to Brian. Cause that'll mean a whole lot more to you than, uh,
I mean, it's cool to me. I'm especially glad to have gotten it from Daniel, but I know you're a
big fan. So thank you. Yeah, that'd be great. I got it for you. Well, now I feel bad. I didn't
get anything for you guys. That's all right. I didn't know we were doing gifts. The gift exchange,
the beer exchange and the gift exchange. All right. So you want a beer? I got PBR.
Yeah. I know. All right. So here we go. We're going to, uh, transition to again, the longest
show we've ever done. Uh, but now we're going to go talk, uh, with Kevin Barnes. Um, who's going
to tell us about, uh, the beer exchange, which we just mentioned and, uh, sort of the history of it
and a great new product that they got, they have created. Um, guys, we say this every time,
Bonnaroo just different. And it's because of things like this. Somebody has a dumb idea. I
want to do a podcast. Okay. How can we help? I want to do sober. Okay. How can we help? Um,
I think we want to create a beer that's Bonnaroo related with a label that's Bonnaroo related.
Okay. How can we help? Right. I mean, and not get it officially licensed necessarily, but get,
but get the underwriting that makes it, uh, you know, kosher for lack of a better way to,
to put it within the festival ecosystem. It's very cool. I mean, I, I, I've told this when, uh,
Brad and I at lunch, you know, said, I said, we need to do something at Bonnaroo with my original
was like a Facebook live. And I mean, his whole face went, Nope, we need to do a podcast. And
he called you Russ and he called Nick Turner. And by that Monday, we had a website, we had a name
and he reached out and I reached out to, um, again, the folks at AC entertainment at that time,
which was a co-founder and said, we want to do a podcast. And they said, great,
all good. You just can't use our name. You can't put Bonnaroo in your name and you can't use
in our graphics. Cause that's what they sell. And we said, cool. Yeah. And, um, so, you know,
point being great idea. I mean, it helps them obviously we promote the event. Let's don't be,
you know, stupid. Uh, it, it benefits them, but they've been very helpful whenever I've needed,
you know, can you give me a contact for a band or whatever? They've been very helpful. So anyway,
uh, here we go with Kevin, another great interview came out of nowhere. He reached out about two days
ago and just texted me a picture of this, the beer can. And I was like, uh, can you join us on a
Sunday morning? And he said, yep, I'll be there. So love it. Love it. It's the best. It's this
community, man. It's so much fun. All right. So here we go with our interview with Kevin Barnes.
Hey man, it's been a minute. Great to see you. How are you? I'm great, Barry. Good to see everybody.
Uh, thanks for having me on. Yeah. We were just kind of laughing off air about the Bonnaroo
environment and how it's sort of, some things are planned and some things aren't. And like anything,
the best ones, the best events are usually the ones that are unplanned. So, uh, I just posted
on Twitter a few days ago or X or whatever it is down. I don't use it anymore, but I said, uh,
you know, 10 years ago I would have been packed up everything already, everything planned. I'm
on like year 10 and I've backed nothing at all. So this is how it goes, but you're starting to
think about it. Aren't you a little bit? It's getting closer. I need to start thinking about
a little harder. Me too. Uh, so the reason Kevin is here is you've created again, a, uh, you can
kind of see the beer cans lined up behind him. Um, it's so cool. You've created a beer, right? Uh,
another, uh, beer, uh, I don't even know where to start. So you've been involved in the beer
exchange, right? That's part of why we know each other. Yeah. So I, yeah, that's how we met. Yes.
So I've been a part of Camp Red Roo since 2015 and, uh, uh, Camp Red Roo host, the, uh, the annual
Bonnaroo, uh, craft beer exchange. It started in 2014 and it's grown just exponentially. Um, and
you know, when I became a part of Camp Red Roo, I just instantly obviously came a part of that.
And it just, I just really latched onto it, made a lot of connections and, uh, you know, all of this
started, I'm sure we'll get a little bit more in detail, but it's been, yeah, it was, it's been a
fun experience and yeah, I got to do the podcast with you when you guys came in and did the live
podcast with us a few years ago. And that was a blast. You guys kind of got to see the craziness
up first. A few years ago, that was about five years ago, wasn't it? It was pre, it was pre COVID.
Yeah. Well, yeah, this was the beer that we gave them when they came in the very first one. I was
going to say, I recognize that first one. I think I gifted that into a Bonnaroo prize pack that
wasn't involved with a contest on an official show. And I don't think I have that beer, but it's a
great looking label. I love that. The mad, uh, it's a mad tea party. I guess the mad tea party. Yeah.
Yeah. I recognize that one. So we should, we should, for you guys that listen in your car
while you're driving and you're not on YouTube, this is going to be kind of a visual bit. So I
don't know how we're going to, uh, manage that other than to tell you, um, you might want to
go to YouTube or whatever. Cause part of what we're going to be talking about is the cans that you
guys are created. Cause they're really, really cool. Uh, so there's visuals is, is my point,
but you know, it's also about the whole, this is for us, the Bonnaroo experience, this, you know,
somebody has a stupid idea and they raised their hand and it's like, next thing you know,
somebody's making it. It's not so stupid anymore. It's not so stupid anymore.
The funniest thing is people always ask how we get here. And just to preface a little bit. So we
started the idea of, of having our own beer was never really a real idea. It was one of those
kinds of things. Like we were doing this big thing that brought all these people from the beer
community in together. We were like, how funny would it be if we had our own beer? But how do
you get there? Right? We're, we're a bunch of misfits on vacation on a rural farm in Georgia
or in Tennessee. Like how do you even get there? Um, but funny enough, you know, uh, and we are
kind of have this little circle of friends in this Bonnaroo community repeat, repeat just happened to
release a collaboration beer for, uh, Glaze an album that they had coming out. Or I think it was,
uh, the surf rock Shandy candy is the one that they had at the time was their collaboration with
Pond Chum Brewing out of Sandy Springs, Georgia. They were planned. They were promoting and coming
to Bonnaroo. And we met Sean from Pond Chum Brewing. He came to our beer exchange and like,
that's how it kind of starts. And it literally just kind of went crazy. And you know, our whole
idea was Pond Chum was kind of a startup brewery at that time. And it was a really cool way to,
to get them into the market, get their kind of name out there. We were like, we have this big
expansive community that's, that's from everywhere. Like, so they really didn't have a reason to
attach themselves to us. We weren't getting any monetary. We didn't have a partnership like that.
It was really just to drive business and kind of get their name out there. And it just kind of
became a thing. And you know, it just kind of took off. It's so funny. You mentioned repeat,
repeat. Uh, so for people who are long time listeners of the show, you will know that, uh,
Kristen and Jared, uh, created for us our theme music. The intro that you hear is repeat, repeat
who we met at Bonnaroo. I don't even remember how now 16 or 17. Yeah. I don't. Do you remember
Ross? How did we meet? I, I just know that year it was like every time I rounded a corner,
I nearly knocked Kristen over. Yeah. They made, they made the rounds that year. They were,
they were immersed in all of it and loved every bit of it from my vantage point.
They were the first band that came to camp. That's what it was. They came to camp,
Nut Butter to do an interview. I think Brad must've signed up, hooked them up with the label.
They came to Nut Butter and did an interview. And then we just kept running into them,
become great friends. They're awesome. They were, they, they did exactly what any up and coming band
should do. They, like they said, they, they took every opportunity. They played our Wednesday night
pre-party that year. That was kind of, and, and then they got, uh, Rolling Stones, uh, did a ride
up on them. Like after they played their set that year, like what a cool little crescendo, but that's
what you do. And yeah, that was, uh, the kind of big kind of platform for us to get to where we are.
And it's funny, you know, Jared and Christian are amazing. I, we love them so much. We appreciate
all they did for us. It's so much part of the story. Just, I think I remember now saying the,
the key thing for them was say yes, whatever the question is, say yes. Somebody wants you to come
to your camp and do a stupid interview on a stupid podcast. Say yes. And they did.
Eventually you got to start saying no in your career. But in the early days like that is,
is very advantageous for anybody up and coming for whatever it is you're trying to push to say yes.
Absolutely. That's pretty cool. All right. So let's get into it. Uh, you've created you guys. So,
uh, bring us up to date, I guess real quick, why are you on here? What happened between that? I mean,
so, I mean, that was a crazy sort of, you didn't plan it, but now you've created a, um,
a Bonnaroo beer, right? Or a Bonnaroo label. And it's so cool looking, uh, again, for those of you
who are listening and not looking, uh, you might want to go back and figure out how to look.
Cause there's a lot of, there's a lot of cool stuff on these, uh, and the, in the graphics.
Yeah. Everything that we wanted to do when we really did the beer, obviously we wanted to get
the beer into the community and try to get, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,
the flavor profiles were amazing on the first one was like a tea, like it was kind of like a, uh,
blueberry tea kind of thing. And then they kind of, it was all kind of stayed in like the sour
community, but really the, the, like you said, it kind of became the label thing. And then when we
started thinking, how do we outdo last year's the first one, we actually did the mad tea party. We
did a, uh, uh, social media contest. We allowed people to submit designs. So this one was actually
designed by Daniel Sage, who was a, uh, a camper at a root camper at the time. It was a fan submitted
design. And then they was turned into a label art, which was awesome. Um, and then the next
year's pontoon had actually brought in an in-house artist, um, that was doing a lot of their can art.
And if you've ever seen pontoon ruins can, they do really kind of silly, um, not silly, but they
just kind of incorporate their little otter mascot and like these different little like otter scene.
I mean, if you say, I don't want to give up, like I, you really should go look at them because they're
really cool, but that's kind of how we were like, how do we pull the community and put them into a
can? Cause that's kind of what people are going to gravitate to. So the first year we did, we were
like, we're going to do like an intergalactic space rate for this. How do we get incorporate?
So we turned the RootBus into basically like the magic school bus and sent it into space with all
Rufus and all his alien friends. And so, and then it got canceled and this one didn't get to go to
the community. And, but it was a really cool label art, but we're like, okay, how do we really talk
that one next year? So I kind of came, I love nineties movies and this, the, the, the back to
the ritual was kind of my brain design of we're going back to Boderu after being gone a few years.
And, you know, we wanted it. I really, really loved the RootBus idea from the ones that was like,
how do we incorporate it all? Okay. Let's turn the RootBus into the Deloria. Hey, let's go back to
Rio that way. And then this last final one is my favorite one that I kind of wanted to really push
back into the community about the craft beer exchanges. So we turned the craft beer exchange
into a beer, into a beer label art. So, and, and so we're here today to announce that we are doing
a fifth beer. This year, we're actually doing a collaboration with a common John brewery,
locally right there in Manchester. And it's called rainbows and waterfalls off of a playoff
of pretty lights. Who's probably one of the most anticipated headliners of Boderu this year.
Well, I was going to ask because it's one thing to come up with a cool label.
And that is a big percentage of the, of the, of the battle for any product that you're trying to
move, even if it's just in an exchange, I've been feeling some of the, this over the years has turned
into being want to be a little bit more than that. It's, it's one thing to come with a cool label,
but as they would say in the industry, the liquid, how is the liquid in these cans of beer, are they
different styles every year? Do you, are they tweaked with, are they similar and who, who
formulates this, this beer? Is there a, a, a, a once upon a time, a home brewing aficionado who's
built up over the years, or is it coming from a seasoned veteran brewers and craft brewers?
Yeah. So I think tacos had a few of them. The tastes are, they're always a hit. I don't think
we've had one that's ever not been a hit. And it's always kind of been an experimental
fruited sour Berliner. Um, it's kind of always been our profile into this last year. We kind
of went like a shandy kind of like a citrus lemonade type, which is a summer, a summertime
beer. Yeah. Yeah. We've always wanted to make them crushable. Unfortunately, uh, they're,
they're quite dangerous, but we've always wanted to, you, we realized that we're in June and we
don't want a heavy beer. So, um, but going to your question about who brews it. So with Pond
too, and you know, obviously they have their master brewers and then they, they, myself and
the marketing team and the, the brew team kind of all get together. We start throwing ideas out
there about flavor profiles. They kind of came up with the first one on their own. And then we kind
of, from there is when we kind of started collaborating back and forth and what we would
like to see. And then they would tell us kind of what was seasonal fruits, how long things are
processed. I got to learn a lot about brewing beer inside the, inside the process about just
how they do different things in Pond tune. Um, the flavor profiles are all their master brewers
and all of them. I just, I just give them my ideas. I just, I just think up stuff, but, um,
just say really just kind of became a collaborative thing, but all the, all the glory and all the,
um, props go to Pond tuning their brew team there. Because when you started this,
you said when it was around 15, the craft brew, um, uh, sky rocket ship of, of popularity and sales
was really taken off at that time. I want to say it was around 13, 14, 15, and it's, it's leveled
out. It's still got its place. Uh, trajectory is kind of apex and it's kind of where it's at.
And so, yeah, these, these, these guys and gals that do this brewery stuff, even if it's on
a smaller level, they're not trying to make pretty cans. They're trying to make incredible beer to
get that great label to go along with it in a commemorative kind of way. Certainly is a, a,
a very cool angle to it. I see all your, uh, dogs championship gear. I'm not a fan of the dogs,
but I appreciate all the, uh, uh, the background. So is this, are these Georgia based breweries for
the most part of it? Or has this reached out more to the more areas of the South and beyond?
Funny enough, this wasn't planned. I'm just a massive Georgia fan, but, uh, pontoon is,
Oh, of course it was. Yeah. I didn't mean to have my Georgia dogs back to back. I didn't mean for
that. But, uh, yeah, it's a pontoon brewery is located in Sandy Springs, Georgia. So, um,
the, uh, the connection there is strong because their marketing manager is also, uh, a big Georgia
fan. So we, uh, just kind of, it got along, I guess. So yeah, common John brewing here in, uh,
Manchester, Tennessee, you know, we met the connection with him and we just kind of struck
up a friendship and just kind of, uh, pontoon started going through some, uh, some legal issues
with a distributor. They had a shut down for a little bit and, um, we didn't know where that was
going to go. And so we didn't want to add any extra stress to them by, you know, trying to get them
to do another year. Although I think they really wanted to, and I know Sean really wanted to, but,
you know, we had the connection with common John and we were like, Hey, you know, we really,
we really think it'd be something cool if we keep this local. I think there's a bigger opportunity
and there has been some of the cool things that we're doing this year. I think it's going to
really blow people's minds. Uh, number one, I probably shouldn't give this away, but the beer's
going to be actually sold inside of bar, which has never happened before. And I'm very happy for
common John that, and they're going to start to be distributed inside of the beer tents, because
that's the major sponsor stuff, but inside the brewer's brew house or brew tent or whatever it
is, you'll actually be able to get the beer inside of center, which we're obviously, uh, we would love
to see it sold throughout honor, but just being able to get in there is a big win for that. I mean,
that's, that's a crack in the door open, uh, to, uh, kind of moment. And that's a certainly something
to be proud of. Uh, another just more technical question when it comes to the beer itself and
state lines being very vital to alcohol distribution and really just driving across the line with it in
your car. There are still many laws of, you know, where the beer comes from, who makes it, what
territory it comes from and whether it is even illegal to take much around with you when with
travel, alcohol percentages has a lot to do with that. Distributors has a lot to do with that. Have
you had any issues with these beers over the last, we're damn near getting into 10 years. If you're
talking 15, when it started, has there been anybody messing with you? Cause this could be one where
they could just turn their head and not pay attention, but we know certain law enforcement
across the state will find any reason to make a couple of bucks on a citation. Have you had any
issues with, with, with moving beer from state to state, city to city, uh, territory to territory,
or has it been pretty simple? Have you, have you done any smoking the bandit? I think it's
it is a small version of smoking the bandit. Yes, it kind of is. So I will tell you, I'm not going
to pretend like I understand any of the beer distributing legal stuff. I'm in the industry
and I have trouble understanding half of it. Go ahead. What I, what I want to ask about is the can,
Kevin, the graphics I'm look, that's what I was sitting here looking at. Um,
there's so many, what do you, you know, they used to call them Easter eggs. There's so many
cool things, Rufus, uh, on the riding a unicorn two different ways. Uh, tell us about everything
that's in there. I mean, there's the, the, um, it looks like the what's the, the which stage,
I mean, there's the tents, there's all kinds of things going on. Yes. So the, uh, we really
wanted to kind of focus on kind of the main essence of botery. So we kind of incorporated
the big what stage. So as you kind of turn around the can, it also to know these are printed
cans. These aren't labels. Um, and, um, I'm doing a, I should have wrote it down. There's a company
that is actually donating their services to print these cans on our behalf for this community,
for all the beers that are completely donated by common John. So big shout out. Um, I'll have to
give you guys the name. I can't think it off the top of my head, but it's another company that common
John has a relationship with. Um, but the can are, as you turn it, it's going to look like you're
kind of submerged in the middle of the what stage. Um, and then as you kind of get deeper into some
of the details and fart bottom right hand corner, as you're going to hold a beer, once you get one
is a camp rhetoric is actual logo this year. Um, the theme of camp rhetoric is kind of this, uh,
cowboy, uh, unicorn, uh, so Rufus is, uh, ride, not a little unicorn down there. And then, uh,
if you, you'll be able to kind of see it closer once you have a beer camp, but you'll actually
kind of see some of the old labor art it's being held up into the crowds. So we kind of put some
little Easter eggs as a nod to some of the, uh, the past label arts that we've had. Yeah. I mean,
lots of rainbows, the, uh, the fountain clearly is, uh, an inspiration, right? The, uh, the mushroom
fountain, a lot of mushrooms. I'm looking at it all here. It's, uh, the Ferris wheel, uh, and really
cool for collectors to have that, uh, the, the non sticker label and to have a more embedded label
onto the can for a, uh, a, uh, a collector of containers full or empty. That's, that's a really
neat, um, addition cause that mad tea party is, is the one I owned and that is the sticker on the can.
Not that it takes away from the beauty of the overall look, but as a collector, you want that,
that one piece, right? That's got the artwork on the can or on the bottle or whatever. So that's
really neat too. And I, and just one thing, and I don't know if they want or care, but
Boderoo has fully approved this label art by the way. So we, you know, Corey, uh, up in C3 marketing,
you know, they, we, they know exactly what we're doing. We put it in front of them and they, you
know, understand that, you know, we're using their likeness and really they don't have to give us
permission to use them. No, they don't. That's important. I was going to say, I was about to say,
when you got done talking, sorry to interrupt as you said it exactly, they could totally quash
this. They could come in and say, uh, guys, I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah. We need our, we need our cut.
Yeah. Where's the licensing on this? They could totally do that. And so many would, and it's just
another nod to the coolness of Bonnaroo. They're not going to make any more money because they,
they cease and desist on your cool label. It's only going to make their brand cooler. And they get
that. And they come to our beer exchange there. They know who we are. I think they, I think, yeah,
I think Brad and Corey probably both started there like the rest of us. Yeah. If I remember
their story. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I mean, I like every year I try to make sure that we get some,
something to them. And last year I made sure that Corey got like a whole four pack of the beer. And
you know, he sent me a really nice note afterwards and just acknowledging that like, we love the
label art as much as anybody else does, but they just have obligations to big sponsors and all that
stuff. And they want to support us and they have 100% supported us on the ground at the beer exchange.
They give us, they allow us to bring in beer quantities that really we're not supposed to,
but they understand that we're not doing it in a malicious intent. Everything's being done in a
very honest intent. They're just kind of allowing us to do it without really breaking any rules.
That's such a great point. And this is the reason we want, I want to talk to you guys.
We've said it so many times. It doesn't feel like somebody has their hand in my wallet.
It's just a cool thing. Right. I want, I want one of these. I want a four pack. I, you know,
when you're going to be selling it in center, you're going to be selling the cans, right?
That you're not bringing kegs. I do not believe the cans are going to be sold inside. I think
it's going to be all, I think they set up taps in there. The liquid is Brian calls it. All right.
That's what I want. I think you have to buy the tickets or whatever to get the, the pour out.
All right. Before we go, I want to, it made me think, uh, I want to ask the three of you,
what is your most prized Bonnaroo memorabilia? What's the one thing you have that is the most
important to you? And I don't mean necessarily the most valuable. What's the one thing that means the
most to you? Uh, for me, I think it's that, uh, can of beer from a couple of years ago, the one
with the, the rebus in space, you know, uh, I think that was, uh, yeah, I've still got one of my fridge.
I didn't want to, I didn't want to open it, but it's still there. Yeah. I've got three. Yeah.
I'm looking at three of them over on my shelf. Yeah. I don't have that one. Yeah. I don't have
that one. I'll give you this was from the canceled year. This was, uh, well, if you have one of these,
this was the hurricane year. So if you have one, that's right, you are a very rare collectors
because unless you were at the mini farm, you probably didn't get one. I have, I have three
cans. I don't have liquid in them. I emptied. I have three of them. I'll give you one, Brian.
Thank you. Go ahead. I love that it's space themed because, you know, look what Bonnaroo did
right after they made everything space themed outer. Roo is now, you know, it's got a whole,
everything is a, you know, space and, uh, planets and solar systems. And so I think y'all were kind
of ahead on the game as far as the space theme there with the can. You know, we, we let Barrow
take our sauce all the time. Like us and RooBuzz and RooShoot, we had the first campground plaza
before there was a plaza. We had the craft beer exchange event in the campground because that's
what it, that's where it was birthed from. It was, we want to do something for people in the campground
because there was no activities in the campground as you guys, well, unless you guys ventured into
the campground for your little cushiness over there in VIP. Fair, fair. Kevin, I'll take it. That's fair.
I said, but there was nothing, there was nothing in the campgrounds. And so when the beer exchange
started in 2014, 15, those years, it was the only kind of real outside in the campground event. And
unless there was renegade pop-up sets. And so, you know, it was, you know, we, we, Barrow then
came out with these plazas after we were like, great, we love, and then they started letting
people come in on Tuesdays for pre-parties and we're like, great, we used to do that too.
So we'll let them have their sauce on that. We'll let them take it. We love them.
So to finish the round table of a memorabilia of my favorite, I actually have the, and this is away
from what you guys do, but it's the only thing that pops in my head is my favorite is the
Manchester times from January 20 or January, June 22nd, I think 2002 with the snarled interstates
on the front cover of the Manchester times in a frame in my living room. That's probably my
favorite memorabilia. That's the original 2002 year. Now I have probably every piece of paper
or newspaper that should probably just line burn cage, bird cages at this point,
but that one is probably my favorite for just quickly coming up with, with favorites over the
years, which will not be included in the prize pack that we put together later. That one's staying
right here. That's part of what made me think of it. Kevin, did you, or do you have a favorite
piece? You know, I have a whole shelf of memorabilia because I do love kind of collecting
memorabilia and trinkets, but actually my favorite one is something I actually gave myself. So I have
a Bodhrute tattoo that's right here that I got. Okay. I got after 2015, I actually saw somebody
had made a graffiti on one of the concrete things. And it's a Billy Joel logo. This is the time to
remember because it would not last forever. And you know, it was, I just, you know, it was going
through a real rough time in my life. And that year of Bodhrute was kind of a real kind of
rediscovery for me. So I kind of just, you know, commemorated it by in it every time I'm kind of
having a hard time. I just kind of looked down and say, you know, no matter what you're going
through, this is the time to remember because time's not a renewable source. It's not going to last
forever. Again, for people who are first time listeners to this show, we do this every week.
Yeah. I mean, you gotta ask yourself why in the hell is there a podcast about Bonnaroo
every week, every single week. And you just answered it, Kevin. I mean, this thing, man,
it, it hits, right? It, it has hit all of us. Yeah. Uh, it's not just an event that we go do
one week in June. It's, uh, it's an attitude, um, that we live with, right? Um, yeah, that's so cool.
Cool. It carries you through life and it kind of, I mean, we all, everybody that loves music always
will tell you, cause we all agree music will meet you where you are. And that's kind of the catalyst
for a lot of these relationships and Bonnaroo kind of brings us together. Cause it kind of meets you
where you are. And then you just might meet this community. And then you realize what this community
really is about and why it's so protected by a lot of us and why have us been doing it for 10
straight years and why there's a podcast about it. Why there's these groups that, you know, have
created 501 C profit, like the Rue shoot and parachute people. It just, it, it's a, it's a
lifestyle really. It just, it becomes so ingrained in your life. And that's why I love it so much.
It turns into its own little ethos, its own little ecosystem of, of a year round thing. And, and I,
I, I, I hear you on that a hundred percent. And I wondered, you know, these guys, I've been kind of
around while these guys have been doing this show for all these years. And I was just like, my God,
how do you do this? How do you do it all the time over and over again? And the more I do it, the more
I, you know, which I already knew, you know, like I already knew a lot of that. And it's a, it's,
it's, it's like nothing else. It's what we were going back talking about, which is the pricing.
When we're talking about the specialness of things to me, there's nothing more special
than this event. And it, and it brings out the best in a lot of creativity, a lot of originality
and a lot of coolness. And the fact that a, that a major, even, you know, underneath live nation,
which is the devil to all of us, but even within that umbrella, they still allow discretion within
to do some cool, the inner workings of the, it's kind of like the ownership of a major,
uh, sports team or some kind of conglomerate who often doesn't get out of the way sometimes do.
And in this case, they do get out of the way of that creativity and it's really cool.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, uh, it's amazing. It's so, it's so cool. It's so cool and important.
We can get Bryan Stone up on a Sunday morning at nine o'clock and I'm actually doing all right today.
I'm actually doing all right. It wasn't the worst thing ever. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I like, I,
I don't drink these days. We've talked about on the show, uh, plenty recently, but even when I did,
which when you guys first started this and when we were there four or five years ago,
I, I didn't drink that kind of beer, the, the, the different styles, the ventures, uh, craft beer.
Um, I would, and I did at the time we came by, but so it's been a while since I've, I've
been in that world of, of consuming that, that kind of, um, uh, beverages, but at that,
I remember getting there cause we were on, this was one of those, I was taco. You weren't,
I don't think, no, maybe you were there that year, but, but, but I was doing a bunch of the
technical crap that you do now and I'm not nearly as good at it. So thank, thank you for doing it.
And I had to lug all this crap all over and this was before we could condense our equipment into
like this, so much size. It was more like this much size and we had to drag this shit all across
the, and I'm like, where are we going? And Brad, uh, co-founder of the show, me and him get along,
but you wouldn't know better if you didn't know us. And I'm cussing him on the golf cart. This is
where are we going? Why are we doing this? I got, you know, there's a thousand things I could be
doing. And then we say, even while we're setting up, I'm like, okay, everybody looks cool here,
but still, what are we doing? And then we sit down, we do the show, we start going through the beers.
I didn't bring any to exchange. Nobody cared. They said, help yourself. That's where my mad tea party
came from. And I was just, it was pretty cool. This is wild. This is so cool. I don't want to even
drink any of these, even though I would drink motor oil at that point, if it got me high.
Man, it was so much fun. Yeah, that was a, that was a really weird year. They moved us and,
you know, I was given directions to the old place and cause we didn't know that we were going to get
moved and no sale of service at the time. It was a strange time back then. So they got sale service
now. Let's, uh, we're talking around it. Tell everybody, Kevin, the beer exchange, uh, it's become,
okay, so yeah, kind of the rules, if you will. Well, yeah. So, I mean, again, we have to remind
ourselves that not everybody has been every year like we have. So there's a lot of new people are
going to come. So let's describe the beer exchange. It's, um, well, I'll start. So Bonnaroo is Centeroo
and there are what? 10 stages. That's the music. That's what you see on the lineup. That's what
you see on the poster. That's what everybody tends to focus on. But as we're talking about today,
again, just to bring you up to speed, there's a lot that happens in your camping area.
Bonnaroo again is a camping festival. It's not a city festival where you're in a hotel. You walk
up, you see a show and you leave, um, your camping. So it's 24 hours. There's a lot of stuff going on
and Kevin, you alluded to it earlier. Back in the day, there wasn't much else going on other than
whatever you were doing within your own campsite. And so this one guy, right, reached out to somebody
and said, Hey, I'm bringing, what was it? A couple of cases of beer. Um, and, and, uh, I'll, you know,
I'll swap you one for one. And he ended up as if I remember right, eight hours late. Um, but, but
it's morphed into this event so much so that the Bonnaroo organizers said, Hey, this thing,
this cool thing is happening. Um, and no kidding. I mean, you're, you're not overstating. Not only
did it create this idea of other events, but this idea of things happening out in the plazas,
right? Am I? Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, all right. So you take it from there.
Yeah. So Camp Ritteroo, you know, started in 2012 when was, bought his first year of starting in
group camp. And that's kind of where the original idea of the beer exchange was. Cause we were in
group camp and we had this kind of designated spot that we could do something. And it was there,
wherever you're coming from, bring a beer from your city. And it was kind of the idea of them,
bring a couple beers wherever you're from, you'll bring a couple of beers and we'll all meet kind of
at this designated time and exchange. Love that. Sorry, man. I may cut you off. It's just, I mean,
there's so many great and not so great beers made all over the country and to be able to sample
other cities, jewels and not so jewels of beers either way. What a cool way. Not just, hey,
bring a couple extra natural lights while you're here so we can all have, you know,
so we don't run out. I don't need a Budweiser from Iowa. Yeah. It's not there to make sure we all
have ample amount of beers to drink at once. It's there to collect and swap stories, you know,
brewery stories, city stories. Where does that name come from? Where does the lineage of that
come from? It's a history lesson in some ways. That's beyond cool. We got to point out though,
Russ does bring Paps from Ringgold and Chattanooga. Yes. Especially designed for Rossville Boulevard.
That's his contribution. PBRs from hollow. And I'm looking for a west coast PBR or like a Midwest.
And just to continue, so it really just, it kind of became like an icebreaker after that first year.
It just kind of became like a, cause Camp Redder was kind of a real kind of burn ethos, like a burn
style ethos of kind of the community brings and provides. And that's kind of where the idea started
of the bring one kind of trade. And then it just kind of became a bigger icebreaker. And then we
kind of came to the event and then we were like, okay, people started bringing six packs and 12
packs. And you're right. People started talking about where they're from and hey, if you come
next year, can you get this brewery? Because I've heard really good things about this brewery over
here and you're close by or you're going to be passing through. Cause not everybody gets the
opportunity to travel. And so this community really started flourishing of, Hey, if you're coming from
here, this, and then, Oh, I'm going to be here. And then when people would travel, they would like
find a local brewery and like post on our social media page or where they were in that city, having
that beer. And it became a community thing. And then every year, and I think 2015, we were at like
500 ish people attending and that was big. And the Tennessean did a write-up on us, a little video
write-up on us that year, which was the coolest thing for us. Cause it was the Tennessean we're in
Tennessee. That was a big deal. And I think that was also the first year that Bonneville kind of
came over and they started putting us in some of their promotional stuff. And then we started just
asking for more like, Hey, we want to have speaker access. This is growing out of control. Can we get
this beer? Can we bring it in the back gate? Cause we're bringing a lot of quantity of beer. And they
just kind of started saying yes more. And then we just showed them that we're capable of not screwing
it up, you know, not asking, doing more than we're asking for just because we've always wanted to be
respectful of Bonnaroo, just knowing that they didn't have to let us do them. No, they didn't.
They didn't. They didn't. They could have shut it down. They didn't have to let us bring in beer.
You know, I don't even know if I should really be saying that, but it's not even like, we're not
doing anything wrong. They're just allowing us to say, Hey, like we're going to escort you in. So
we know exactly what you have. So, you know, it's, we know that you're not trying to hide it, push,
because that's the thing we didn't want to hide it from them that these are the things that we
wanted to do. That's another thing they, they, they could have totally said no to any of this,
especially bringing the product on and back to me talking about different cities and the stories of
the beers. A lot of these beers struggle. I mean, there's small pop-up breweries everywhere. I mean,
now it's dime a dozen. There's jokes about it and getting distribution for them is, is the biggest
struggle in their business model, not making necessarily the good beer, the good label. That's
sometimes the easy part. Same thing I talk about with things like we do here with recorded stuff
and, and, and podcasts and ready work. The part of doing it is the easiest part. The part of getting
it out there is what's so difficult. And for them to allow that to happen, now you're going to have
people who are going to be saying, I'm going to Pittsburgh next year. Didn't we drink a beer from
Pittsburgh? You know, that I was talking to some guy, Camp Ritteroo. I mean, I'm just picking a
city out of the east of the Mississippi. That, that's strong free branding for your, for your,
your beer making venture, not you use the generalized you. And it just continues to go beyond
cool. I know I've said that like three times, but it's just in big, big, big business, marketing
business, conglomerate business. They usually tell the little guy to get missing, man. We don't have
time for your, for your little thing over there. And that's testament to Bonnaroo. And we encouraged
it. Like we actually, a few years we allowed, we found people that worked at breweries that came to
our event as just a camper, you know, and then the next year they're like, oh, I worked for this
brewery. And so they started handing out cards. They started bringing swag. And then I met a couple
that worked here in Birmingham in a brewery and they were like, oh, we got this new release. We're
going to bring. And so they like basically brought, like you said, free marketing and put it into the
barrel and allowed people to grab it. And there's your free marketing and these are, and they were
doing it purposely. We were encouraging it. And same thing with a lot of people that bring like
large quantities from, if they had a favorite brewery that they just knew that wanted to give
them stuff, we allowed them like larger tables outside the kind of common trading areas to kind
of do bigger trading, like 12 packs at a time with larger people that brought more quantity.
So it kind of, there's like these little mini little trading posts going on of large quantity
or one-to-one kind of beer. So it really did kind of have free marketing. And this is exactly what
we wanted to promote. It was, it was all about the beer. It was the beer, all the stuff that we do
with our beer is kind of an extra, but the big things, the beer exchange, it's, it's about the
community and the beer community and just being able to, to interact with everybody that kind of
has some of the same interests, but also get slammed on a Tennessee hot day in the summer.
And I think that's kind of the key. I mean, it could be, it couldn't be any other product or maybe
it could be, but beer, craft beer has that sort of Bonnaroo vibe to it, right? It's that independent,
it's grassroot independent. Yeah, exactly. So it's a thought starter. It's a conversation starter.
Right. It just, it really, especially with the people who are really into it and the ones that
are not so much into it, it really, it is a, it's a common ground that most people like a good beer
and like to talk about it and like to talk about the bad beers too. You know, like it's, it's,
it's such a, you can be sitting around talking to strangers and become instant friends because
you both like a hefeweizen that your best friends tell you you're crazy for liking. And that kind
of stuff. And that one's from Pittsburgh, as you said, and that one's from the West coast. So yeah.
It really blew our mind in 2022 when Bonnaroo decided to put us on the official lineup. And
that was a, that was a cool thing for us because it was- I hope you've gotten that in a frame
somewhere. I bet that looks pretty- I do. I have, I have the original and I do have a picture of the
sign when they, you know, had it out in the plaza. That's awesome. It was just, it was a real cool
thing for us, especially a lot of us that had been a part of, you know, I wasn't there for the first
year in 2014. I was there in 15, but I've grown with it. A lot of us have grown with it. Mitchell,
Carrie, Carrie Jackson, who was kind of the originator of kind of the planner. I wasn't the
originator, you know, this is all a idea of everybody in the community. Yeah. I kind of
spearheaded, I kind of helped with the design. I was kind of the liaison to the brewery kind of,
because I run a business in my day-to-day job and kind of, I do this kind of marketing stuff. So it's
just natural for me to kind of be the voice, but I'm not everything. It's our whole barter leadership
group. There's that core group that's been there for, since 15, then we're all kind of starting to
die off now. I say die off leaving, getting married, having kids. Getting old. I get it, man.
We just want to pass it on and keep it going for the next generation of barter audience. All right.
Got to ask you, because we ask everybody, first of all, thank you for giving up so much of your
time. And I'm so glad you reached out the other day. It was like, I was just sitting around and
I get this text, here's our beer can. I'm like, oh man, you got to come on. And you immediately
said yes. I appreciate that. But who are you looking forward to seeing? I mean, no doubt.
Look at our can art. It's Pretty Lights. I mean, I think everybody, if you're not excited about
Pretty Lights, and if you don't know Pretty Lights, please just get it. No matter what genre you like,
everybody can like Pretty Lights because you can dance, you can groove, you can feel good.
Agreed. Pretty Lights is where it's at. All right, man. Kevin, guys, you got anything else for Kevin?
Yeah. When is the beer exchange this year? Are you on the schedule? What times and how can we get
there? Yep. So it will 100% be on the official barter schedule. I also believe that barter is
going to do a push notification out as well. I think they did that last year. If you have the
app, they'll do the push notifications of the beer exchange. So it's going to be every year,
Friday morning, 11 a.m. I know that's early for some people. Little early, but. Hey, pop it
top at 11 a.m. We're not, I mean, we're no judging. You can't drink all day if you don't start in the
morning. I'd say the most overused one ever. You can't do it all day without the morning.
And my only one quickly, finally, would just be for people who might be lurkers, we'll call them
or maybe just kind of see what is that over there? Am I welcome? Is it OK if I show up? I don't have
a beer to exchange. That's not a big sticking point with you guys a whole lot, right? If somebody
wants to try a beer, they see I'm not there to come over there hoarding all your beers. We got
different conversation. But that from my vantage point that year, it did look to be like a very
much come as you are and feel no intimidation by what you see over here, because this is a very
welcoming place. Yep. Some people find out the day of whether they have the app notification or
whatever. But if you plan to come or if you're just a lurker, if you get the notification on the day
of come, yeah, everybody can come no matter if you have beer or not. Obviously, we encourage you to
bring beer. So because if you have one, at least one to one to exchange with the other, it's a
bring one, take one kind of trade system. So if you bring six, don't take ten, please. But if you
see something you really like, you know, we're not going to discourage you because we want you to
enjoy the experience. If you don't have beer to bring or you only have something in your camp,
bring it is better than anything or just kind of wait till some of the traders kind of clear out.
There will always kind of be beer left in the cooler and the kind of the ice coolers that we
have. And as kind of people start clearing out, if you didn't bring something, but you want to try,
you can still grab in and nobody's going to think anything of it. It's about coming together.
You're going to have a good experience, talk with everybody. It's in the group camping plaza. I know
it doesn't have a number or pod anymore. So on the map, I think is, yeah, it's the galactic
giddy up plaza. Look for the huge crowd. Russ, what are you missing? Which states are you missing?
The PBR. I'm putting it out there for you right now. What do you need somebody to come from where?
Oh, all over. I don't know. I should probably get a map at some point. Yeah, I thought you had like a
pin pin cushion wherever you're from. Bring it. Bring a PBR. I'll bring you one too. Kevin,
thanks so much, man. I appreciate it. Look forward to see you in a month. Can you guys believe it?
Thank you guys so much. Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity to come on. Yeah, I can't wait to see
you guys. I know Lord talk. I saw him briefly at shaky knees last week, but that's right. I think
we were at Weezer maybe and he just kind of went off somewhere, but I didn't see you on Sunday,
but it was good to see you briefly. Great to see you too. Yeah. All right. Cool. Thanks, man.
All right. That was a lot of fun, right? I mean, that's amazing. I love talking to people like
Kevin and tattoo. That's commitment now. I don't have a tattoo, Bonnaroo tattoo. I'm not that
committed. I would in my earlier ages. I don't know if I would anymore, but I'm never say never.
No, I just, I just, again, it's that whole, this is how much this festival means to us all. So
all right. So the real reason, the intended reason for this particular episode was Lord
taco's picks. This is my day. This is hang it on. We're hanging on, man. We got to know.
What's going to get you out of the bus to actually go hear some music? Let's see. Well, first of all,
you know, talking about the beer exchange, we, we got to go back, right? Oh yeah. This year we have
to make the appearance. We're going. Yeah. Cause remember, I think Barry, you and I went, we tried
to go what two years ago and the girl on the golf cart took us out there. And as soon as we got there,
they announced a storm's coming. I ran, I was outside getting ice as a matter of fact, and I
got stuck outside the grounds with 10 pounds, toy to 10 pounds, 40 pounds of ice. And yeah,
that was about bad. Guess that was about that same time. It was, yeah, Barry and I literally
just got off the cart and I think we opened a beer and started talking and I was like, time to go.
Yeah. Time to go. It was so cool. Cause I wish I could remember her name. Cause she was there last
year too. And I'm hoping she's there this year. Remember she was so cool. Cause you, you, you and
I gave her a couple of beers and to, you know, here's how this works. And she was like, this is
amazing. This is so cool. She was in the mixed and yeah, I think this was her first year at
Bonnaroo. She worked for AC, but yeah, she was just soaking it all in. She's like, this is, I can't
believe all this is happening. She didn't know there was a beer exchange. She didn't know what
it was. Didn't understand. Yeah. She's like, is it cool if I hang out with y'all? And we're like,
absolutely. You know, and then of course it turns out that we had to go cause she had to get back to
base and she was our ride. So, you know, and she probably, you know, she, she's moving people
around. Part of her job is to transport people around the festival and it, it, there very well
could have been just a, you know, is it bad form for me to kind of tag along with what you guys are
doing rather than just be the chauffeur. And of course we're going to be like, yeah, you got five
other friends, bring them too. Yeah. That's interesting. You bring that up Russ, cause that's
an, that's a good inside baseball thing. Cause we were all starting to hear there's a storm coming.
She got the call on her walkie that said, you need to get back now. It wasn't, yeah, that was our
first, yeah, we knew about it before the announcement. We knew about it. Cause she was like, you,
where are you? You need to get back to base. Cause there's a bad storm coming or you're going to
get stuck wherever you are. Yeah. Right. We got back. And if you, for people who were there that
year, that was the year of the flying, uh, easy up tents, right? I mean, they were all over.
You'd look up and here goes a tent. Looked like the wicked witch flying through the sky. One of those
classic cases that I have done many times, I'll get around to staking that later. Let's go. Let's
hurry up. We're missing stuff. I'll do that later on. Bad, bad move. A rookie move made 17 years into,
uh, of regularly attending. So it's like, like, uh, the comedian Ron White, it's, it's not the 80 mile
an hour wind. It's the Volkswagen in it. Yeah. It's not that the wind is blowing. It's what the wind
is blowing. Exactly. So anyway, go ahead, man. I'm sorry. All right. Yeah. Sorry to derail. No, but,
uh, let's jump into our picks. So you're gonna start Thursday, go day by day, right? Thursday,
day by day. Yeah. I'm kind of follow what you did and, uh, mine a little different. I don't necessarily
listen to all these, you know, I know a lot of people play the playlist and want to listen to
every band. Sometimes I would rather just show up and just be surprised. So a lot of these I
necessarily haven't heard, but I've been recommended. So like, I know if I hear two or three people
mention a band, okay, I probably need to go check them out. Yeah. And that first one for me is two
o'clock on Thursday. I want to, I want to check out eggy, which is apparently going to be like a jam
band kind of jam band. Yeah, that's very early. I think the first one on the tent that day.
They're literally, I think the first act, which is another reason, you know, it's like the first
band you're going to see. So, um, and then I don't really have much else Thursday, but I do want to go
eight 15 to the heavy, heavy on that tent. That's another one. I think Pondo was a, one,
a call in with a recommendation for that. Yep. And, and that's gonna, I guess, lead me into the
pretty lights because you know, they're, they're the ones opening the what stage on Thursday,
which is a big deal. And can't say enough. How excited I am about that. Just that stage open
at all is making me excited. Right. Absolutely. And we just talked to Kevin Barnes and you know,
that that's part of the can design is, is pretty lights. So, you know, there's something to this.
I got to check it out. Yeah. Boy, that's going to get the pretty light. I didn't even think about
that. The pretty lights fans are going to eat that, that can of beer up man. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
I don't know if I'll stay for the whole thing. We'll see. Uh, you know, sometimes I'm like,
yeah, I'll do a walk by. I ended up glued there the whole set, you know? Um, if not, I also do
want to go check out a geese and Neil Francis over at that tent. So we're, we line up on that.
Yeah. Uh, some of these, you know, we will line up. So, um, but that's, that's really all I got
Thursday. That's a, that's a big Thursday in my book. Do we, well, you know, there's a big gap.
Can I jump in just because some news, maybe Fisher might be canceling cause his wife is having,
he's pregnant. I did read that. Huh? Whoa. I didn't see that. Yeah. Uh, he's canceled several
shows, but he hasn't canceled Bonnaroo yet. And, and from what I understand, he doesn't want to
cancel Bonnaroo. Cause without pretty lights, Fisher is the, is the story of, of, of Thursday
as far as name recognition, uh, in, in that, in, especially in that genre. But, uh, I had not heard
that one. Yeah. His wife is, uh, in his late pregnancy and I don't, I mean, it's a, such a
personal thing, but having some issues, right? I mean, so that it's not just that she's going to
have a baby. Am I wrong, Russ? Yeah. Is that what you're reading? No, I think you're right. Uh,
there might be some complications. I don't know for sure. I don't know that they've said, but yeah,
um, reality sets in, man, you gotta be with your family. So, you know, yeah. And babies,
not really something you can schedule. They do what they want to do. Trust me. They do what they
want to do. So I think, you know, fingers crossed he makes it. Cause I know a lot of people are
excited to see Fisher. Yeah, definitely. But, uh, yeah, that, that could be up in the air. And at
this late in the game, I don't know if they could get a replacement this quickly, you know? Yeah,
I'm betting they do. For that spot? I'm not worried about that so much as, but yeah, it, that is for,
you know, fans, that's kind of a big deal. So. Yeah. Good point. I'm glad you brought that up.
Yep. All right. Go ahead. All right. Let's go to Friday. Uh, Friday, I want to see
M.D. Moctar. I am pretty jazz about this. If you listen to it, it's, you know, he's a very
talented guitarist from, uh, where is he from again? Somewhere in. He ain't from around here.
That's all I can get. I want to say African continent somewhere in Africa. Yeah. Um,
yeah. I mean, yeah, we've talked about that name on here many times. Uh, the legend,
he's the one that released the, uh, schedule. He's the one that leaked the lineup accidentally.
Yeah. It's always one of those. And you know, we always joke that, you know, he'll never play
Bonnaroo again after, you know, that faux pas, but apparently not. Apparently they're cool.
So he'll play it. He became everybody loves him. Yeah. Yeah. He's kind of legendary. I mean,
that's brilliant. Really. Um, after that, going into the evening, I definitely want to see
Krungman. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. Krungman. You know, Krungman, we've had
him on the show. Um, so I'm pretty excited about that. And then get into my first real conflict,
which is, uh, I do want to see Interpol, but I also want to see Joe Russo's almost dead. And
they're kind of, there's a little bit of overlap there. I just saw Interpol at Shaky Knees and
they were great and I want to see them again. But you know, if I have to miss a little Interpol for
Jay Rad, I could. Yeah. So you're, you're way in a scale goes a little different since you just saw
them. You're going to be able to see Jay Rad as many times as you want to see him for the next
10 years, probably. Also, but it won't be a Bonnaroo necessarily. So yeah. Yeah. I see that,
that, that, that balance of decision is probably, I would guess, hovering right, like kind of like
that. At this point, I'm still leaning more Interpol, but you know, it could change.
Never know that Grateful Dead. You never know when that Grateful Dead it starts going and just got to
go scratch. No, no Maggie Rogers for you. No, I mean, I could be, I can be talked into it.
You know, that's, that's another thing about this is just cause I have them on the list doesn't mean,
you know, there's blind spots. There's stuff that I'm not considering. And I definitely take, you
know, when people are like, Oh, why aren't you going to see that or that? I might. Maybe I should.
Maybe. Yeah. That's how, that's how I saw Royal Blood last week at Shaky Knees.
Evan Bonnaroo was like, are you going to Royal Blood? And I was like, no, I hadn't planned on it.
And he's like, Oh, you got to. And that was the one I ended up, I guess I am now, if you, if you say so.
And I ended up staying the whole set. We had a great time. So what's Post Malone do for you as a
headliner, Tago? I do want to see Post Malone just because I saw him in 2019. It was a good, and that
was surprised by that show then, you know, it was good. And I think he's, you know, we've talked
about it. He's kind of in a different direction now. He's, you know, as far as his collaborations
with other artists and stuff, he's doing a lot more like what country and. It does seem to be that no
one really knows what Post Malone they're going to get, which is a very cool Bonnaroo vibe too.
It's like, what's he going to do? Yeah. That mystery, that mysteriousness. Yeah. So I definitely
want to see that just for, just for the surprise aspect. Like what's it, what's he going to do?
So I just made a note of something you said about, you know, somebody coming up and saying, hey, are
you going to go to this one? That's, that's going to be probably a heavy part of my picks next week.
That whole sort of attitude of just being adaptable. So be adaptable and, you know, I can be
talked into, you know, like you said, Maggie Rogers hadn't really considered it, but sure, why not?
You know, I can't wait, but the one I, the one I won't miss for, for Friday and probably all weekend,
obviously is the Mars Volta. And you know, that breaks my heart that they put them right up against
T-Pain and, and Thundercat, right? And Thundercat. Yeah. I want to see all of them.
But no, I won't miss the Mars Volta for sure. One of my favorites and excited to see him at
Shakin' Ease two years ago. So I'll be there for the whole thing. Maybe on the rail. I don't know.
Nice. But that's, I think that closes out Friday.
Saturday, I think this is another one that we got recommended early in the day is Half Moon Run.
And I think Brian, you said you were going to that one or?
I don't remember if that was on my official highlighted list or not. I don't, I couldn't
find it here this morning, but that's certainly a possibility. We've, we've talked about them before.
Then later on Saturday, I got to go see Brittany Howard. Brad would kill me if I didn't see,
you know, his girl. Brittany Howard going into John Baptiste, I think it's going to be a pretty good.
That's, that's a pretty good set, right? That's, yeah. And Brittany's on the witch,
right? So you could shoot right over back and forth. No problem. Brittany's on, yeah.
This is going from witch to the what for Brittany and John. So yeah, that'll be easy.
Pop in there, get a little, you know, Bloody Mary or whatever. Walk across. Yeah, I can see it. Okay.
And then let's talk about this. Neither of you have really, we haven't really talked about this
at all on the show, the, the emo super jam with dashboard confessional.
Yeah. Emo is not my thing. Shocking, right? I could see how that could be pretty interesting
though. I don't have the time schedule. I'm looking at the overall schedule. They're on a tent and like
10 15. Yeah. Doesn't it have some, doesn't it overlap with some good stuff? Cage, cigarettes,
there you go. Yeah. Yeah. That, yeah, that's right. Which and what on Saturday back and forth are
doing a lot for me. So that's right. That does conflict with that a lot. Yeah. And you know,
we've gotten excited about super jams in the past and talked about going to them.
I've never really ended up staying long for any. I've been to one. I've been to one and there's only,
it was the Billy Idol or yeah, Billy Idol, uh, um, holland oats. What was the dudes? John
Oates. Uh, yeah, I believe it was John and Brittany Howard. Uh, that was the best one.
And Larry Graham, Larry Graham, the bass player, you know, who literally invented the slap bass.
That one was great. Yeah. I went to one that and, and it usually was just schedule conflicts was
nothing else. And they used to do the super jam late every night. Correct. It was almost, it was
almost like a wind down. It was like, oh my, we just saw, you know, the superstar.
Now let's go sit in the grass and listen to, you know, people we love play music. They love.
And then the one year I went was in 2018. So it was September or October that Tom Petty died in
17 and in, in the 2018 super jam was a, was a Tom Petty jam, which I'm a big petty guy. I can't
remember who was a music director and who was all involved with that. And that's the one that I went
to and, and I enjoyed it. And it was late, it was late. It was like 12 30 at night. And that's the
main reason I've missed those super jams is because at night all bets are off. So, but to your, to
your point, eight 30 on what is that Friday? Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, 8 15 to super jam.
Is that, I mean, is that right? Is that, that's right. Does that hit dashboard confessional?
Does that hit dashboard confessional? Yeah. Does that, is that, you mean, is it that right? Is that a hit?
Is that a good idea? Is that the best spot? Oh yeah. My answer is no, no, it's not. Yeah.
It's not because I could find myself because I was a young person when all that stuff was
really exploding. I was surprised, surprised. I'm stuck 10 years behind in my life and every 10
year stretch of my life. And so when that emo stuff was going on, I was still, you know, hanging
it onto that grunge thing from 10 years before an emo never hit well with me. Um, but I can appreciate
what it did and the John and, and, and the, the importance of that music for that period of time.
Well, let's say what 90 to 93 or 90, 2000 to 2003 or four, where that was really the most popular
music out there. Again, I'm trying to put myself on the farm at eight 30 on Saturday night with
Renee rap right before it cage, the elephant opposite and cigarettes after sex opposite.
You're not going to the eighties and not to and white thing.
Probably not going to not probably not going to hit the, I'm sorry, Russ. I'm not trying to hijack
your picks just hosted by a taking back Sunday, right? They're, they're the emo band of the year.
Dashboard confession. Oh my God. I'm sorry. Dashboard even, even, even better.
That's what I'm saying. And you know, me, you know, I'm, I'm going to be there. You know,
they're sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. So sorry. Got that one way wrong.
So Russ will be sitting in a chair on stage by himself
with having the best time of his life.
No, if you'll let me finish though, you know, me, the dashboard moms, you know, they're going to be
Oh, there we go. That's my man. Now the truth comes out and now I'm a little more intrigued.
My man. Right. But yeah, I don't know if I'm going to watch the whole thing,
cage and then cigarettes after sex. I think it's probably going to be the better choice.
If we're being honest and you can do all three, you're, you're, you're savvy enough. You can
weave your way in and out of that. That's right. Maybe I'll pick up a dashboard mom and then we'll
go over to KGL. I don't know. Crazier shit's happened.
Yeah. But then let's see the next thing for me, I think what did I have down here?
Well, the garden wait, are they on Saturday? Yeah. Did I get that? Yes. 9 30. Okay. Right next door.
Yeah. Right next door. That's probably going to be one of the heavier acts. I think which
there's not a lot of on this lineup. And then, you know, red hot chili peppers. Yeah. I'm kind
of with you, Brian. I'm not a huge fan, but I think I'll at least check out a little bit.
Well, the only, well, again, I don't want to jump on your, it's your pick, but the only,
and I'm a huge fan, as you guys know, have been since the beginning, but this is with the first
Shiani, right? He's back. Yeah. And that's really the main reason I want to that matters. He's
important. He's a real, real important member of that band. Yeah. I mean, I go back to the halo
days, but for Shiani replaced him. And so, yeah, I'll see it. And he's played with the Mars Volta.
He's played with a bunch of acts and, you know, he's a great guitar player. So yeah, I think that's,
that's probably going to make it worth going to that show. So weird. And then this, how do you
guys feel? It's so, I can't watch it because that drummer looks just like Will Ferrell.
It's just so freaky to me. It bothers me too. Yeah. It's, it's pretty uncanny.
That's a, it really is. That's not the reason to like or dislike a band, but I can't get over it.
All right. Moving on. Moving on. Yeah. I don't know how much of this pretty light sunrise set
I'm going to make. For me, no, I think we're over that. And that's a pretty stacked Saturday. So
I don't think I'm going to commit to that. Yeah. We'll see. It's a long day. Is that what stage
again? No, that's going to be on the other. They did the one on Thursday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
But then he'll be in that makes more sense. That's going to be crazy. That is going to be crazy.
Yeah. So let's just, well, let's move to Sunday then. This will be the last day.
All right. I'm with you, Brian. I want to see the beaches. Mostly I want to see Brian watch the
beaches. Cause I know he's going to be. I can't wait. I can't wait. And the good news, it was such
a short 45 minute set. They, it almost can't be a disappointing because it's just going to be fast,
ferocious. All their songs are fast. Anyway, it it'll be a blink and that show will be over. Yeah.
Yeah. We're going to have to get a coalition, man. We're going to get Patrick from sober.
You, yeah, me, Barry. We'll get the, the, the, the VLANS in with us. We'll get the whole,
we'll get a whole crew going. Maybe, or maybe not. Or maybe I'll fly solo. We'll see. No,
we'll all be there. That's a good point too. Cause a lot of these, you know,
who you see the show with makes the difference. And I know a lot of these, yeah,
can ruin it too. Sometimes you're like, it could also ruin it, but sometimes you're like, no,
let's all meet up and let's go to one show. You know, if we don't see each other the rest of the
time, let's go to this one show. So I think, yeah, always pick a, one of those, maybe one a day,
or just at least one for the weekend. You know, everyone's going to be there. I like it. And
that's going to be early on a Sunday. So she'd have no issues being able to be a maneuver,
how we want to. And that's a really good, that's a really good point, especially with our group.
And you mentioned the VLANS who we had on the show a couple of weeks ago, that's Kai and Joe and Tara.
Great people to see a show with. They love this as much as we do. Yeah, they're vets. That's a good
pick. That's a good pull right there. And then my next one on Sunday is another one we haven't
really talked about much. Bad, bad, not good. Do you know much about these? Other than just
the last four months of talking about different things on the lineup, but no, I couldn't tell you
any more than the band. I think it's a good band name. Mostly instrumental. Yeah, it's a good band
name, good band. Mostly instrumental. They're kind of jazz-ish. I know they've kind of reworked a lot
of songs. They've done a lot of collabs with a bunch of hip hop artists and stuff. It's different.
It's interesting. So that's what I'm looking forward to. Goth Babe on The Witch. I think,
you know, of course the name lured me in, but as we found out, it's not really Goth nor a Babe.
Yeah, it's not Goth or a Babe. And on The Witch stage, it's intriguing. When I was making my list,
I wanted to put that one on there, but my Sunday's so loaded, I didn't. And after we did a little
research on this artist, he's a very interesting guy, and I bet it'll be a big crowd at that Witch
stage. I think it will be. I think that's one not to miss Sunday. Isbell, of course I got to see
Jason Isbell. And you know, my Sunday's kind of lighter than yours, I think, because I don't
really have much else. You know, The Fredigan Show, I guess I'll see. Of course, I'm going to be there
until Monday, Tuesday. You're going to see. You're going to be there. Yeah, I mean, yeah. You're going
to help them break down. Yeah. I will be at home. Hopefully they'll be streaming it, but because I
will watch it. I'd love to, you know, I'm interested to see what it sounds like. You're already
committed to going back early, huh? Okay. All right. Oh, absolutely. Jason Isbell is my,
that's my closeout show. That's your mic, Joe. That's your heart out. Okay. I'm torn. We'll see.
No chapel road for you though, Russ. I didn't put it down, but I think I do want to see her with,
you know, it's another one, you know, we got to go see her, Brian. You got to go check it out.
That's another one that we got so many recommendations for. It's like, you can't
ignore it. I just love the brashness and the youthfulness and the angriness of it. And I mean,
it's not all that way, but it's, I, there's something that speaks to me about just screw you guys.
Tell you all about it. I agree. Yeah. Very, very pop, you know, uh, uh, performance intensive show,
right? Like a little flamboyant. I'm looking forward to it a lot. All right. All right. Which
night, uh, which night Russ are you putting the, the, uh, what is it? The, and I get it wrong every
time. The dragon costume or what is it? Oh, the dinosaur, which night, which ones does the ones
he come out? Uh, you know what, the look at what the weather's going to do. Cause if it's, if it's
too warm, you know, I don't want to wear it, but didn't stop you last year. I never really know.
And that's probably, you know, probably not a good idea. Remember I was really fast for the next
couple of weeks, which when that couple of weeks is over, June is a couple of days away. We are
mild, mild, mild, mild in the South right now. And can that mildness hang on for another three weeks?
I don't know, but if it does, even a little bit, we're talking a little warmer than it is the last
couple of days. Those nights can still get cold. That's the, the never forget moment that should
never be forgotten to be brought up on this show for anybody going, Oh, it's blazing hot summer.
Just scorcher. It can be thawing at night. Now not, not every year and not even normally,
but if it gets you, yeah, you gotta bring some stuff. So it could be onesie weather like crazy
for you there. That's what I'm looking for. I want one chill night of onesie weather or the,
or the low is going to be 79. Yeah, we've had both. Exactly. If, if Bonnaroo was this weekend,
I'd be cold, cold, cold, cold, but it's gorgeous. But also the pollen for you folks who are not
used to it's going to kill you and you're going to think you're dying. It'll be, it'll be gone by June.
You don't know why. Yeah, it'll be, the pollen will be gone. The pollen will be gone. But I hope so.
All right, guys, man, we're right at almost two hours, but I think it's a great show. I think
it's good information. Thanks to Kevin. That one came out of nowhere. Russ, good picks.
Thank you. I can't wait for July when we look back and say, all right, Brian, Russ,
these were your picks. Who did you actually see? Red X's. Who did you actually see?
No, that's a good point. I don't think we've ever done a follow-up from the, from the picks
because it's like, okay, here's who we picked. We're doing that. It's like the NFL draft. We can
talk about it all day long before it starts. What we need to talk about is what happens long down,
down the road. That's what really matters. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be a fun, fun follow-up. So,
all right, anything else guys? I think this was fun. Think it covers it all. We, we, we,
we went through a lot. Yeah. Good show. All right. Thank you guys for listening. Like,
share, do all that. Tell your friends. If you're going to Bona, your picks are next. My picks will
be next week. I don't know what else we'll talk about. I'm thinking about maybe doing kind of a
review of all the merch. So maybe you guys can pull out. We talked about it a little bit.
Uh, it's been, you know, we've done, Bonnaroo is 22 years. So there's a lot of bandanas. There's a
lot of merch. Uh, I've got a lot of it in my basement. Little show and tell. Yeah, exactly.
Okay. We'll do some of that. The good stuff, the good, bad, and the ugly. Maybe. All right.
All right. Love you guys. Thanks. See you guys next week. Yeah.
All right.