While Brad is away celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Barry and Lord Taco get an exclusive first look Moon River Festival's 2023 lineup on this week's episode of The What Podcast.
A two-day event going down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, there's a lot about this year's Moon River that excites the The What Podcast crew. With Caamp and Hozier topping out the stacked lineup, Barry and Lord Taco find this crop of artists to be quite impressive. Bonnaroo fans and longtime listeners in particular are sure to recognize a number of names, including past The What Podcast guests like Larkin Poe and First Aid Kit.
With lineups like this, the crew is about ready to put Moon River on their festival calendar. Listen above as they break down the lineup as well as revisit a 2019 interview with festival founder Drew Holcomb. You can also watch the full discussion via YouTube, and you can also listen to our full interview with Drew Holcomb from 2019.
Also, remember to like, review, and subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Topic: Moon River
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Hello everybody.
Welcome back to another edition of The What Podcast.
I'm Barry.
That's Lord Taco.
As you'll notice once again, Brad is not here.
This is a podcast that we started six years ago,
originally to look at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
And it has expanded over the years to include any festival,
especially festivals that might have some connection
to the one that we love the most.
And this is certainly no exception to that.
We're going to talk about the Moon River lineup.
It came out Tuesday at noon.
We got an advanced look at it thanks to our friend Sue Marcus again.
Remember Taco, she's the one that helped us last year
get those two episodes together.
Yes.
And Moon River was rained out.
She was so great.
And that's still one of my favorite things,
that we were able to make that happen so quickly.
And the city was able, Chattanooga was able to get everything together
so quickly.
So we ought to probably link to that on this episode.
We'll drop a link to that in the description.
And yeah, pretty amazing story how everything turned out in the end.
Hopefully this year we don't have to have the same story.
Hopefully it's in the upper 70s and blue skies and everything is great.
But just real quick for people who don't remember,
our festival last Sunday had lots of rain all week
and they were not sure they could even make it happen on Saturday.
They did and then it rained Sunday.
Yeah, in fact I was there.
I had just gotten there Sunday afternoon
and saw the first show of the afternoon kickoff,
which I think was Sammy Ray.
And she got about one or two songs in
and then had to stop the music and make the announcement
that we had to evacuate because there was a storm coming in.
And she's going to be at Bonnaroo, as will Drew Holcomb.
Drew is the founder, co-founder of the Moon River Festival,
which takes place in September in Chattanooga.
Drew has been on our show three times.
He's not going to be on today, though we did pull a clip from the first time he was on.
It's one of my favorite clips from the entire show
where he talks about what he learned from doing it that first year.
The mistakes.
Yeah, it's a great look back.
And as we're about to find out, this Moon River Festival, if you've never been,
it does kind of intertwine with Bonnaroo in a lot of ways,
just in terms of artists that are shared on both lineups
and kind of the lanes that we've always talked about them having.
This is pretty much the same thing.
And it's in our backyard.
Exactly.
So yeah, that's a big reason that we have interest.
It's literally in our backyard,
but also the connection with AC Entertainment, Drew Holcomb,
just the whole it's a boutique festival.
So about 12,000 people as opposed to Bonnaroo, which is 80,000 people.
River Band, we talked about last week or two weeks ago.
It's now 15,000 people.
So the inside baseball stuff is what we love, right?
Yeah, that's part of what the show was founded upon.
It's exactly right, how it gets done.
And the short clip you're going to hear from Drew is based on that.
And I just love it.
What did you learn those first two years?
And it's like inviting, having a party.
You're going to have everybody over for Christmas.
And who got the ice?
Yeah.
Who got the sodas or the cokes or whatever?
All that stuff has to be taken care of.
And so it's kind of a funny, funny clip from him.
But the big thing today is we got the Moon River lineup.
And it's like I said, it's out today or tomorrow,
depending on when you're hearing this.
It's out Tuesday at noon.
And so you and I got an advanced look at it.
And what do you think?
I think it's really good.
I mean, I'm trying to think how this stacks up compared to past years.
Last year, of course, they've all been good for me.
But I think this is out of the three, I guess this will be my fourth that I've been to.
I think this is probably high up there.
Maybe my favorite.
See?
I love to hear that because that's so interesting.
Because it's what we've always said.
If people you know are on it and you love them, it's a great lineup.
I'm looking at it and quite honestly, I know about 40%.
That doesn't mean it's bad or good.
I just am not familiar.
There are several on there that I'm very excited to see.
Larkin Poe, I've just become a huge fan of.
Who we've had on the show, by the way.
We've had on the show and we'll link to that.
Yeah, they started life as the Lovell Sisters about an hour from here, south of here in North Georgia.
And I remember writing about them when they were the Lovell Sisters.
And they were at our Riverbend Festival, probably what, 1918 or 19?
And just crushed it.
They were so good.
Very excited to see them.
That's the first aid kit.
Nickel Creek, you know, back.
They took a break and those guys are amazing as well.
Marcus King, we know.
Camp, I know.
I'm jumping through.
We'll go through the whole lineup here in a second.
But those are the names.
Hozier.
Sorry, I can't believe it took me that long to get there.
Sorry.
Literally the biggest name on there next to Camp, you know, headlining wise.
Yeah.
So what are the ones that jump out at you and then we'll go through it real quick?
Well, first of all, I see down here Flip Turn.
Shout out because Flip Turn has played Bonnaroo at the RooBus pre-party.
What was it last year or the year before?
I think it was last year.
I'm pretty sure it was last year.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we know Daniel and Charlotte, huge fans.
I talked to Daniel earlier today.
He said he was possibly interested in coming back to Moon River this year because they attended last year because Charlotte was such a big fan of, who was it?
Zach Bryan, right?
Yep.
Yep.
Exactly.
So yeah, I imagine they're going to be here.
I think when they, yeah.
They haven't seen the lineup yet, but I have a feeling once they see this, they're going to be on board.
So yeah, I agree.
I agree.
So let's just go through it real quick.
I mean, people are probably looking at it as well, but Saturday, this is September 9th.
Camp is the headliner.
Then you've got Goodbye Road, which Drew Holcomb and the neighbors, Drew always performs.
He hosts and performs now.
He's not so much involved in the planning like he was when it was in Memphis, when they brought it to Chattanooga three years ago, four years ago now.
Yeah, I think this will be the fourth year in Chattanooga.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He basically gave over, I guess, ownership, but to AC Entertainment, which now owned by C3 or Live Nation.
So the big time, he's still involved and still is the host and still performs.
This year, he's going to perform with Johnny Swim and their project, Goodbye Road.
So you've got that.
Then Marcus King, Larry Fleet.
Larry Fleet has become another one that I know has been through here once or twice a year and has developed quite a following.
Hound Mouth, another.
First of all, it's a great name.
No doubt.
It just is, right?
It just stands out.
Yeah.
Shane Smith and the Saints.
And I don't, I'm not sure how to, is that O'Keefe?
O'Donovan?
I can't tell on the poster.
I can't tell if that's an O or a Q on my printout.
Yeah, if I'm saying that wrong, forgive me.
Not familiar.
The Dip, as you pointed out, were at Bonnaroo last year, right?
They were, and I think they were, I don't, I can't remember if I saw them or not, but from everything I read, they were a fan favorite.
Yeah.
And then Flip Turn, which we've talked about, SG Goodman and Sonny War.
Unfamiliar.
So yeah, those last two, I don't know.
Yep.
As I've, we've always said, that's part of the fun, the discovery part of it.
So I'm looking forward to not only figuring out who they are, but listening to them on, in September.
Sunday, I'm more familiar with almost everybody on here.
Sunday's a little bit bigger.
Yeah.
Which I guess makes sense.
Hozier, as we've said, is the headliner.
That's a good get.
Looking forward to seeing that show.
I mean, that, that he was huge, what, four, five, six years ago.
He played, I want to say, yeah, he was everywhere, but he played Bonnaroo, was it 2019?
Maybe 2018 or 19, I can't remember.
Yep.
And then Nickel Creek, Jude and the Lion, they were at Riverbend, right?
I mean, we've seen them, not that long ago.
Yeah, I want to say they were at Bonnaroo.
Maybe it was Bonnaroo.
I don't remember.
Of course.
I just remember.
I think maybe even they were at Moon River.
Seems like they might have been.
I don't know.
And of course we've had two, two lineups that never happened that, you know, artists appeared on.
So that kind of jumbles the brain a little bit when you try to think back on who was there.
Right.
First Aid Kit, another guest on this show, right?
Yeah, we have.
First Aid Kit, I think was back in season one or season two.
It's probably two, if I remember right.
Yeah, early season.
That was a lot of fun.
But they were a great guest.
And then, you know, we keep talking about we want to see Miley and her godmother, Dolly.
We're not going to get Miley, but we're going to get her sister, Noah.
We're going to get Noah, yeah.
In Chattanooga.
And then Larkin Poe, who I mentioned, that's just a great rock and roll show.
If you haven't seen them, man, they're worth it, a lot of energy, good songwriters, great musicians.
And it's just good rock and roll.
So looking forward to that.
Wilder Woods, here's where we get a few of these.
I don't know as much about the 502s.
Son Little, Richie Mitch and the Coal Miners.
Another good name, Richie Mitch.
Richie Mitch.
And then Caitlin Butts.
So yeah, I mean, it's going to be a lot of fun.
This is, go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, I think I'm about half and half as far as what I recognize and what I'm familiar with.
So I think that's a pretty good balance of going to see what you know is going to be good and then finding out the other half, seeing how good they are.
Yeah, that's a great point, too.
We've had this debate, if that's the right word on here before.
Do you want to see bands that you've seen already once or twice and just see how, you know, what's new, what's progressed, what's up?
Or do you want to see maybe big time, you know, headlining acts that you've never seen to kind of tick off a bucket list?
Or do you want to discover?
Sure.
What's the new band that you had no clue about that suddenly becomes your, you know, your favorite?
Yeah, I can go either way.
I think it's different for everyone.
Just depends on, you know, some people are looking for that bucket list experience of, you know, I've got all these dream bands I want to see.
Other people are like, I just want to go and, you know, hang out and listen, listen to something and then, you know, go home and it's my new favorite.
It's funny. I had this conversation this week with some folks who are in my age bracket, I guess.
And it was the exact same conversation.
They kind of I want to see the bands that I know and I'm familiar with.
And another guy said, yeah, you know, if I haven't heard them on the radio, why should I care?
And, you know, other people were like, that's the wrong, you know, that's that's so 10 minutes ago.
You know, nobody does that anymore.
You got to get out and explore. So I can I can see it always.
I think you got to have somebody on a lineup that sells tickets.
Yeah, you got to have somebody that'll move tickets.
And I think they do. I think I do, too.
I'll be curious to see how if they sell out based on this or not.
But yeah, you know, I think last year was the first year they did the one day ticket thing.
Yeah.
Which if I remember right, kind of upset some folks who bought the two day tickets early because they were only interested in one day.
Yeah. Uh huh.
So that's a different and then of course it ends up everybody got one day anyways.
True. Very, very true.
Yeah, we'll see if they got to be careful what you pay.
Yeah. So we'll see if they do that again.
But and that's a good point about, you know, we've we've harped about wanting to get Miley on there and Dolly.
And you know, this is maybe as close as we get. I don't know.
But yeah.
And I do. I find it interesting that Drew is on the Bonnaroo lineup.
I think the other thing that we've talked about over the years, you and I and Brad have talked about, but also guests that we've had.
The people who put these things together, the booking agents, the bands themselves, it's all about relationships.
You know, we some of us tend to think of it in a vacuum as if each festival each year happens only that day or that year rather.
You know what I mean? It's like this lineup is started six months ago and that's it.
We don't always think about what we can't do.
You know, we can't have you on our lineup in 2020, but maybe 2023 or, you know, last year didn't work.
We'll talk about next year. You know, yeah, it turns out there's a lot of I don't want to say like shady dealings or, you know, backroom deals being made.
But no, there is some conversation and there's some back and forth and there is a little bit of intention, I guess, to when somebody comes on.
And maybe this isn't the right year, but maybe next year.
Right. And there's just so many factors that that fall into place to make that make sense.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think it's at all untoward. I think it's just reality of, you know, doesn't fit this year.
But let's try. We like you. We don't have product. We're going to have product.
I think we've even come around. I think Brad has introduced the idea that maybe you don't hit a festival season when you just put something out because you need to.
There are other ways, you know, to run the business. Maybe next year, you know, all of those things come into play and they're all different for different acts.
Yeah. And we've also I think we've talked to some artists or at least read some articles about, you know, since everything kind of exploded after the pandemic and now people are going on tour again.
They're finding out, you know, I'm kind of fatigued from touring so much and I kind of want to, you know, go back to the studio and just kind of.
Right. You know, regroup and I think was it a repeat repeat kind of hinted towards that.
That was in their interview. Yeah. So that was what he flat out said. We don't want to ever go on the road again.
I may be overstating, but it was like, no, we're pretty happy here in the studio and we're very, very busy. So, yeah, that that was kind of a new thought for me.
Yeah, I don't I don't think that that's ever really been considered. I mean, because, you know, we went a good two years without the ability to go on tour.
So, you know, not having something for so long and then you go too hard the other way.
Right. The other thing it just feels like and we mentioned this before last year felt like the lineups were I don't want to say all over the place, but, you know, it felt a little bit disjointed like like you said everybody was just so anxious to get back out.
And there were so many festivals and events that it was, you know, grab the first thing that falls off the tree. And now it feels like everybody sort of dialing it back in.
Yeah, this feels like everything is kind of coming back into place as far as I guess the lanes like we've mentioned before.
And it does feel like there's some more intention to this lineup rather than just, you know, grabbing grabbing names as they come up as they come available.
Right. Yeah. First available. Yeah. This feels a lot more intentional. I've talked to some other folks who put put these lineups together and it's a little tougher for them.
And that's good. That means the competition is there. You know, they couldn't just get who all they wanted because those people were looking at other festivals.
So I think that makes everybody a little bit stronger, to be honest. So I think so. Plus, you know, you had a few canceled festivals this year that maybe some of these artists wouldn't have been on here if it weren't for, you know, circumstances as they are.
Yeah, exactly. All right. So we have we're we're back. I mean, this is we this is what episode three of season six. I think episode four.
Okay. Four. And we have two in the can, so to speak, that we've already done the interviews for and three or four others lined up with people who are now reaching out to us and want to be on the show. And that's really exciting.
It is. Yeah. You want to tease a little bit of what we've got? Yeah, we're going to talk to Lindsey, who helps book Murlfest. I'm very excited about that. Murlfest is an independent festival, so it's a little bit different look than Bonnaroo or Moon River or I guess it's more similar to Riverbend, our Riverbend here in Chattanooga.
They're not affiliated with, you know, the big guys, so they have to do things a little bit differently. But I don't know about you. I knew it was big. In fact, I knew it was one of the more popular and one of the older festivals, but I didn't know they got 70 or 80,000 people.
I didn't either. I had no idea. I was blown away.
So that was really cool talking to her. I don't know. I don't know our exact schedule when we'll have her, but she'll be coming up very soon. And then we talked to Noah Cahan, who is, what'd Brad say, most streamed artist?
Most streamed artist on Spotify in 2022, I think is what he said, which I was surprised that, well, that we were able to get somebody like that.
I know, right? He was great. He was great. They were both great, but he was terrific. We got into some stuff. It got a little deep.
Pretty quick, you know. Yeah.
That was, that was cool, but also very funny.
Good guy. That was, he's, I think when, I think when we hung up, I said, all right, I might, my new man crush.
Yeah, I was 100% sincere.
We've got those both coming up. I don't know. I don't want to commit as to when, because I also want to have Drew Holcomb back on for a fourth time when Brad can join us because Drew, like I said, not only is an artist that will be on this Moon River lineup, but he'll be on the Bonnaroo lineup.
But he also has been a, you know, a presenter, created his own festival. So he comes at it from a lot of different angles. And he's also just one of the nicest guys ever.
Yeah, every time we've sat down and talked to him, he's been very, very good to talk to. And yeah, I mean, he's not just an artist and he's not just an organizer.
You know, he's kind of, he wears all these different hats and especially that. Literally, he wears a lot of hats. A lot of hats. Especially last year when, you know, he talked about what they had to do when they had to close down the, the festival grounds.
And then he and Ellie just went out with a guitar into the parking lot and just started playing, you know, just some, just some neat stories from, from all that.
Yeah, not to relive that again, but we alluded to it earlier and probably for new people listening. Yeah, they were rained out Sunday. I started to explain that they were rain, rain lightning started at one o'clock ish.
Yeah, it was about one o'clock. Yeah. And like I said, it wasn't just rain. It was thunder and lightning.
And so it put everything on hold, which can happen at any festival. And, and like you said, he and Ellie, his wife went out with a guitar and started entertaining the crowd because we all thought it was going to start back up.
So there was the logistics of what do you do with all these people that are in downtown Chattanooga.
Some of the other artists did the same. And then 435 o'clock, I guess they started, he floated the idea or somebody.
Hey, what if we move this over to the auditorium, the chat, this Memorial Auditorium, which is the city's about 3700 3500 seats.
What are the chances we can move it over there, which sounds great. You know, I mean, it sounds so simple. What's the big deal? You know, just open up. Yeah, just unlock the door and yeah, move everything.
It's no, what's the problem? And as you and I found, we talked to not only the city and the people at the auditorium, but drew.
It's not that simple. You know, you've got to have security. You've got to have sound. You've got to have lights. You've got to have ushers, people making popcorn.
And I think they told me what every employee, but maybe one who was out of town or something. Yeah, showed up. Everybody showed up literally the last minute.
And yeah, within an hour hour. So it's pretty remarkable thing. But and it's also interesting not just, you know, to brag on those guys, but it kind of gives you an idea of what it takes to put on these types of events.
Right. Yeah. And that's really that's what we love. We geek out on that pretty, pretty big because yeah, any any behind the scenes, you know, the nuts and bolts.
We love hearing about that and just it's fascinating. And like you said, all those things had to fall into place. And if just one of them had fallen through, the whole thing would have been a waste.
So yeah, you're playing somebody else's guitar. And you know what the thing that that really I guess I remember well two things.
The fact that, you know, the people at the city were able to say, yeah, let's give it a try. And it worked. But also, Drew, if you remember saying, you don't want to suck. Yeah.
The last thing an artist wants to do is unrehearsed, unprepared, without his crew, without his sound guy, without his guitar, you know, somebody else's amp taking the stage. And there were what? 2500 people? Something like that. Something like that. Yeah.
Yeah. Because as you said, this is a city festival. This is downtown Chattanooga. There's no camping there. I mean, so when you have to close the venue, you suddenly have all these people displaced and nothing.
You know, I remember, you know, everybody, I think every restaurant there on the on the road was packed because everybody was just like, well, you know, every, you know, every shop was packed. I mean, you couldn't hardly find any place to eat or do anything because everybody was just looking for something to do.
Right. And if people will remember, a similar thing happened with Bonnaroo the year before when it got canceled. I mean, there were pop-up events. You attended one or two, I guess, really. I attended one.
Really, two, yeah.
Yeah, we were part of one. It, you know, it happens. I'm not trying to say that it doesn't. It doesn't happen like it did here last year where like a city facility opens up and employees show up. It certainly people adapt.
And it can, and it really in some ways can be as memorable an occasion as the, you know, the festival itself. So, sure. I mean, that could be in the difference between somebody saying, well, I'm not coming back after this to, I will definitely be back this next year because, you know, even though it half of it got canceled, they did the right thing and they managed to pull off a good weekend.
So, yeah, and I had ended up having a great time. So, yeah, again, it's not to, it's not to talk about an old news. It's just that I were just fascinated by how these things happen and all of the stuff that has to happen.
And the fact that Moon River is back this year, you know, proves that they handled it well.
Good point.
Yeah, good point. Because that could have easily gone the other way and they could have lost a bunch of money and they could have just said, we can't do it again.
Destroyed the brand. Yeah, destroyed the brand, destroyed the faith that fans have.
And along those lines, I went back and pulled, because we had, you know, this is Moon River and it's basically Drew's baby. I went back and pulled a clip from that first interview that we did.
It's one of my favorites. It's kind of a funny moment where he talks about what they learned from that first year when they were in Memphis.
And it's exactly what we're just talking about. It's that kind of, you know, thing like, you know, who remembered to do, you know, who remembered to order toilet paper?
Yeah.
Which ha ha ha, you don't think about until everybody needs toilet paper. So yeah, that's not so funny.
It's not so funny.
So let's listen to that and then we'll come back and you and I will wrap things up and we'll talk about, I guess, what else we got going forward.
Is that you guys have for the future to make it even bigger to increase the footprint, or do you feel really comfortable in the lane that you're in?
Yeah, I don't I don't want to speak for the whole team, but my perception is that we really like what we've got going on. Yeah.
The other thing to add to the park is the park. You know, you can't really build a bigger park in that spot. And so that's part of what makes it so magical.
I've got an idea about I've got a very good idea about a stage on the water.
On the water. Let me tell you about this idea.
Well, the other thing that's it's notable about it is it's what 60 percent of the fans last year and this year are out of towners, right?
That's right. That gets to that whole curated thing and bringing people to town and all that's just really interesting for people who don't know what you guys did is it's an open park.
It's a public park. It had never had a gated ticketed event.
There is a walking bridge above it. You could you literally can just walk over the event.
Yeah. Which I'm sure causes you guys a lot of headaches, by the way. I can't imagine.
But you guys with AC and our city and our public works all came together and figured out not only how to gate it, but you built a waterfall that became the entrance.
You put just two stages up. You built a swing that hangs under that bridge. I mean, it was you took advantage of what was there and changed what you needed.
Again, we keep saying that curated thing. So let me drew and I hate to make this about me, but it's my favorite topic.
So I've got this dumb little event that I do with my radio station called the running of the Chihuahuas and we essentially have created Disney World for 200 racing Chihuahuas every year.
Right. So I get 200. I know. So over 12 years, it's grown from 12 dogs in my parking lot to 200 Chihuahuas racing at the first Tennessee Pavilion.
And along the way, we decided to add music and start curating some sort of like music festival atmosphere, even though it's just a day and the artists are usually top 40 artists.
But just just the fact that those five hours of my day, my year take up five months of my year, five hours and wait to five months.
And I don't have to deal with a thing that you guys deal with. I tell you that the thing that I would love if I was you would be exactly what you do.
You play a little bit, you host a little bit, you get to make a lineup. And then when you get on site, you get to create something.
Right. You get to be creative and almost budgets can just be whatever you want them to be. If the idea is good enough.
That to me sounds like the dream job. That sounds like exactly what I've ever wanted to do.
The most that we talk about me and Barry about Bonnaroo, it's usually about things like plumbing, you know, just how how water lines get from.
Yes, it is fascinating to me. So when you had to start putting all this stuff together and you were taking month after month after month of your of your year,
what was the one thing that you didn't think of that hits you is like, oh, my God, I never knew that I needed blank. Yeah.
Well, most of those those things were in the Memphis years.
And to be honest, it was more about what we got to Chattanooga and I learned that what he does and I went to myself.
I can't believe we didn't do blank. Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
That's how that's how the big boys do. Right. That's right.
It was like, oh, wow. That's how you deal with like the threat of weather.
Like they have these, you know, contracts with, you know, the National Weather Service, you know, track lightning and all it's going to be.
Paul and I are looking at AccuWeather on our phone. Yeah.
I start looking at the 30 day forecast. I'll be OK here. I'll be fine. Yeah, right.
You know, or yeah, like I remember year one of Memphis, it was it was in the heat of the summer.
It was in August. And, you know, we knew we had like two thousand people coming.
So we bought like four thousand bottles of water. You know, oh, no, no, no.
Those were gone. But those were gone by 10 a.m. Yeah. Yeah.
My favorite my favorite story from that that first year was my wife was we had a seven month old.
So she doesn't think she's she's in the sort of office that we have behind the stage.
And about 10 a.m. we run out of ones. We ran out of ones.
And sorry about that. We just a lot of kids stepped on the house.
We ran out of ones like 10 a.m. and all it's a Saturday and all the banks are closed.
So we have no way to get all this cash.
Well, my wife's sitting there holding the seven month old in this room.
And she's like, isn't there a dog racing like casino on the other side of the river?
And so Ellie gets in the car with the baby with five hundred dollars
and big bills and rushes to the dog park and comes back with five hundred waffles from the casino
so that we can keep selling food for the rest of the day.
That's a problem. So that's good stuff.
I don't know. Like those are the kind of things you just don't prepare for.
You're like, yeah, we had like three hundred dollars for the change.
Well, we have two dozen people buying, you know, four dollars beers or eight dollars beers, whatever they were.
You need a lot of one. That's pretty great.
So what was it like that Saturday night? Is Ellie left Sunday morning, right?
Or that Saturday night last year? Sunday night after heading heart.
OK, so that no, you're right. She left after heading heart Saturday night.
Yeah. Yeah. So I think I ran into you guys that night.
You know, this is last year. Last year you were having sort of a quiet moment,
which, you know, being the professional I am, I interrupted and probably ruined, probably ruined for you.
But you seemed extremely relaxed. And I think I remember Ellie saying something like she was just so proud to have seen,
you know, to be able to be backstage and see what it had become.
What was that like? Is here, like we said earlier, you gave up control, you moved it to a town.
I mean, there had to have been some questions, you know, going into it.
Plus, you had a wife that was 12 months pregnant.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that was my honestly, my main concern at that point was, you know,
she heard due day was like the following Thursday.
Yeah. So there you go. I mean, things like, you know, dollar bills, like I said, toilet paper,
garbage cleanup, you know, did you order enough hot dog buns? All those things. Yeah.
Have to be considered. And to their credit, of course, now this is going into what
the festival started in 2014. So they're 14. Yeah. So by this point, they remembered the toilet paper.
Everything, everything is so well executed. And, you know, just just a delightful weekend festival.
Yeah. Oh, it's a beautiful location. You can't. It's hard to beat that location.
But the other thing he said, you know, is once he sort of realized once it got so big in Memphis
that he realized it was bigger than his skill set and he partnered with AC,
it's kind of funny to hear him say, yeah, once you see how the big boys do it,
it's like, oh, yeah, OK, that makes sense. So, yeah, I just love that.
And what do you got so good at this? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, to be fair,
those guys probably made their mistakes, too. Like, we all know, you know,
Bonnaroo's had issues with traffic and some other things, so they've learned.
But I just find that fascinating. So all right.
So like coming up, we have several guests from bands that we want to target.
We've got some other got a couple of people that actually book these type of events,
not just Live Nation events, but other festivals.
So we're going to interview them in the coming weeks. And I taco.
This thing's going to be on June's going to be here before we know it.
Oh, I know. I know. Yeah. I can't believe we're already talking about September
festivals and, you know, we still got.
Yeah, we've got Shakin' Ease and then we've got Well River Bend and then Bonnaroo.
And then, yeah, it's coming up quick. Hey, what's the update on the bus?
I haven't heard anything yet.
I'm still waiting on him to call to say when he's ready. I'm on the I'm on the waitlist.
So OK, so you haven't delivered it yet.
No, I haven't delivered it yet. Hopefully. I mean, just keep my fingers crossed.
Brad to call. You want me to get Brad to call him?
Brad knows people. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Speaking of red, I guess we should mention he is out this week because he is in New Orleans.
Yeah, I was going to ask if you heard from him, his goal,
if you remember from a week or so ago was to eat 100 pounds of crawfish.
I wonder if he came close.
I think the last update I saw, I think I got a snap from him or something that said he was he was on.
He's like working his way through and he was up to like 30 to 45 pounds.
So that's hilarious. He's going to turn into a crawfish.
Yeah, I know. I just wow. Good for him. Yeah.
All right. Well, he is supposed to be back this week and he's fired up and got a bunch of ideas on shows.
So I can't wait to see what the next several weeks and months bring.
Yeah, I mean, I think we're getting a good good season lined up here.
We've got a lot of good shows coming out. We've got some good things in the works.
And hopefully we can even get some of these artists on the Moon River line up on as guests.
You mentioned Drew Holcomb, of course. And yeah, maybe we can get some of these other names.
Yeah, for sure. One of them also, I don't I don't know if we do this every time,
but I want to thank the consequence folks for making this happen and pushing this out there to people.
It still amazes me that we're part of their network.
Yeah. Yeah. Big shout out to the Consequence Podcast Network and their other shows that they also.
Support. So yeah, it's good to be part of all that if you're at all.
You're all at all interested in music and the music industry and artists and all that.
They have other shows as well. And also, don't forget, please like and subscribe.
It really makes a big difference for us and for all podcasts. So yes, doesn't cost you anything.
Yeah. And it doesn't. Yeah, doesn't doesn't doesn't hurt you.
And, you know, whether you're a longtime listener or just starting out, just thank you for listening.
We really appreciate the people that tune in and comment and get a lot of feedback that.
So, you know, we're excited that so many people enjoy it. Yeah.
And I hope you know, we're pulling these high five clips and the more I keep pulling from from them,
I realized the show really does have sort of an evergreen element to it.
You can go back and listen and, you know, there might be some stuff that's dated.
But for the most part, if you're in at all interested in a band like a Larkin Poe or a first aid kit or Drew Holcomb,
you know, they've been guests on our show.
And what we talk about is not necessarily dated stuff.
It gives you a good insight on their career and what they think and and what their plans are and all that.
Yeah. And hopefully these clips, I mean, we're just pulling five minutes at a time,
but we hope that it makes you want to go back and maybe listen to the whole episode.
Yeah, exactly. All right.
I guess we should also. We've got tickets to give away that we haven't really got tickets.
That's right. We haven't really followed up with.
I don't think we have a ready to announce how to enter or anything like that.
I guess once Brad gets back, we'll we'll get that.
We'll probably need to nail that down next week because we know people need to make plans
and especially with these new ticket buying options, we want to give you enough time to get what you want.
Yeah, it's going to happen soon. So stay tuned for that.
Yep. Good point. Glad you remembered that.
All right. Anything else?
I think that does it this week.
I do, too. Thanks again to Sue over at Stunt Media.
Let me make sure Stunt Company, I think, make sure I got that right.
I certainly don't want to get that wrong because she's been so helpful.
We do appreciate Sue.
Yeah, she was great. She really helped get that together last year, the whole Stunt Company,
the whole thing after Moon River fell apart. She was on her phone driving home.
And within what, two hours, we had Drew on the phone and the folks from the city.
And it was just great. So anyway, thanks again to Sue.
And thank you all for listening. And we will be back next week.
I don't know which show we'll have, but we will be back.
Thank you. See you then.
See you.
