Today we bring you a very special episode of The What Podcast, with our good friends Daniel, Sharla, Brooklin, and Chelsey from The Roo Bus! They made the trip to Chattanooga from Huntsville so they could sit down with us and record an episode. Along with special guests Bryan Stone of StoneOnAir and Kevin and Mitchell from Camp Reddaroo, we talk Roo lineup rumors for 2020, some favorite Bonnaroo memories, and more.
Topics: Bonnaroo, Roo Bus, Camp Reddaroo
Guests: Daniel Horton, Sharla Horton, Brooklin Johnson, Chelsey Ray, Mitchell Padgett, Kevin Barnes
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So for the first time in the history of podcasting
Two Bonnaroo podcasts
Have come together to make history on the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee
I'm Brad Steiner, that's Barry Courter
And that's the Real Roo Bus
Now, you might not be a
How does a bus talk?
How does an actual bus speak?
I speak on its behalf
Okay, that's nice
Even when it breaks down
Are you crying on the side of the road, too?
I mean, are you suggesting that we're like spiritually connected?
You might be, with the bus, that would be amazing
If you're spiritually connected with a bus, that would be amazing
Now that you mention that, I kind of wonder if it's like one of those Pixar cars
Like if it can talk
Oh my god, that'd be amazing
If it could, if it could
What would it actually sound like?
What would the bus's voice be like?
Would it be like Randy Newman singing a song?
Or
I imagine maybe like George Carlin
In the Cars movies
Really? George Carlin
Like an old hippie, like a hip-hop star
George Carlin
Like an old hippie?
Like Barry
Yes, Barry, you're now the official voice of the bus
Fair enough, I can do that
We can record it, when it pulls up, be my voice
Record me some phrases so I can use it like one of those old GPS's
Oh my god, when you honk the horn, it's just Barry complaining about his back hurting
Oh my god, when you honk the horn, it's just Barry complaining about his back hurting
Oh my god, when you honk the horn, it's just Barry complaining about his back hurting
It's like every old man
Get off, get off
Well, it is a 30 year old bus, so that would make sense
Jesus, this is pretty exciting
I think Daniel and the whole family, the whole gaggle of
Roo Bus patrons
Have joined us in Chattanooga
For a podcast, now go around the whole thing
Did you bring your whole camp with you?
What happened here?
This is almost everybody, we have a few tag alongs
But this is the core Roo Bus
Crew, why don't you guys introduce yourselves
I'm Brooklyn
Look at the, there is Brooklyn, alright
I'm Sharla, I'm Chelsea
Wow, you have much more
Like a
Like me too, is all I say
There's way more females with you guys than ever in our camp site
It's a prettier group
Than we're used to
Wait, who are you? What is that voice?
I'm just some guy
I just showed up
Also from Camp Nut Butter
Is Bryan Stone
At the Stone On Air Podcast
Most pleasant to do podcast in the history of the world
In the history of podcast
Now, Daniel, where are you guys from?
We are all in Huntsville, Alabama
Actually just a little outside, in Madison, Alabama
If anybody knows where that is
And you guys are in Huntsville too, right?
I think it's funny you feel the need to clarify that
If anybody is from our area, they wouldn't know what I'm talking about
I mean if you want to get really specific, we're near Harvest, Alabama
How far outside is that?
Outside of Huntsville we're about
20 minute, half hour drive
That's nothing, alright
What kind of gas mileage does that bus get?
Actually for the size, that thing is, it's not bad
If I was to calculate it out
I think it would cost me maybe 60 bucks to get to Manchester and back from Huntsville
No kidding, what's the drive from there to Manchester?
How long is it?
Well, in a regular car, about an hour and a half
In the rew bus
About day, day and a half
Start on Monday
I was going to say about 9 and a half
Miles of the gallon maybe
So, as has been
As has been chronicled, last year we had
A little bit of an issue with it
Yeah, you almost didn't make it last year
Oh, we made it, it took a very long time, but we made it
Like 9 hours? Yeah, if it was running great
We could make it probably 2, 2 and a half hours
Thankfully though, knock on wood
It's running a little bit better now
I'm going to get a look taken at it after Christmas
Just to make sure, but I think we're good
Well, lucky for you, we've got a bus expert
With, at Russ with the bus
At Lord Taco
Here with his Volkswagen bus right behind us
He's actually a bus expert
He's literally been keeping this 76
Volkswagen Westfalia
On the air, or on the air
I'm on the air, on the road for
How long have you had it Russ?
20 years
That's older than some of your dates
Is it a diesel?
Ours is, big difference
So, this is our bus
You brought your bus, you literally brought
Your bus with you, you brought pieces of your bus
With you
So, we have a little miniature Hot Wheels
Version of the bus that our good friend Cassandra
Davis for Christmas last year
I'll take it if we can't take the whole thing
And I brought the dashboard
Of the bus, kind of, that's got our hand prints
On it, and in the same color
Paint as the rest of the bus
Now, whose hands are on the, what part of the bus
Is this, this is a giant, just like a generic
Piece of the bus
You just ripping things off of the bus and bringing it with you
Everywhere you go? It's only two screws man
I took that off this morning
That sits kind of below the
Wheel, and it kind of muffles the engine
That pokes out in the back, so
We don't have that, you know, breaking our air drums
Wow, and so you basically
Just take the bus around and just get people to sign it
Essentially, right? Well there's no way I could have
Driven it around in downtown Chattanooga, so that's the way
I'm bringing it here
I literally have nightmares about that sometimes
I'm not exaggerating, I'll have a bad dream
Where I'm driving the bus in the city and I'm like
Just freezing out with fear
Really? Is it that hard to drive? Oh my god
Kanye West just started
Jesus is king
One of those party
Beer things is going on
So what we're doing, we are literally outside
At a hotel in Chattanooga called The Moxie
Hashtag at the Moxie
In downtown Chattanooga
Literally recreating Camp Nut Butter
We recreated our campsite, and by the way
This is essentially what we would bring to Camp Nut Butter
We try to bring as many couches
And podcasting equipment
Our giant bonnaroo heads
On a stick, our giant marquee
A very disheveled
Broken down piece of our marquee
But this is what you get when you get a Camp Nut Butter
With also 800 square feet of carpeting
Mailbox, which was a new addition last year
Has anyone brought anything to the mailbox?
I don't think so
Check it please, see if we got anything
If we get drugs again, I'm reporting them to the cops
Last year we got
What? Suckers
And a cigarette, we got one cigarette
A lot of jewelry
We got stickers
We were hoping for
Will you be
Will RooBus be the first entry
Into the mailbox
For I guess the 2020 season
Will you be the first entry into the mailbox
You put something in the mailbox for us
Absolutely, I got some stickers for you
And some other random things maybe
You go on your podcast
You basically, you talk bonnaroo
But you do it in a story time fashion
You basically tell stories
About your bonnaroo experiences
Yeah, so I wanted to leave
The news and such to the professionals
The two guys that are sitting in front of me
That's very loose
Way to use the word professional
I come down here and there's like a whole like outdoor studio
We're basically using an old microphone
From the rock band video games on my back porch
That's it, I promise
One of these days maybe I'll get professional
But yeah, I have to give credit to Sharla
Let's get her on the mic here in a minute
It was her idea, she came to me a couple of months ago
And she said one of her favorite aspects
Of Bonnaroo was all the crazy stories
The things that kind of crop up
And people retell year after year
And she thought it would be a good idea to kind of chronicle it
So I'm like, oh, let's do it in a podcast
So really, I mean I know I do a lot of the talking
But it was her baby
You want to tell us about it? Jane's her nickname by the way
I'm sure it was because of a story
That you always tell
Because I think everybody at camp
Especially at Bonnaroo has the story
That they tell
And it's the one they always come back to every year
It's somewhere like when dad reads the
Double Verse at Christmas
When I sang into the beer bottle during the Red Hot Chili Peppers
That Barry told me about
Brian, I know you want my first story
To be about you, but it's not
Oh, okay, sorry
Yes, I can still see that image though, Brian
Well, I'm absolutely a storyteller
At heart, and I know
All the good stories come out of Bonnaroo
And everybody has their Bonnaroo story
And not only that, but just
Year after year, there's all the
Good stories of Bonnaroo
I saw this awesome band
Here's my story about the pit
At Bonnaroo, but not only that
Here's my story about what happened
At my camp at Bonnaroo
Here's my funny story of how I set up my camp at Bonnaroo
But is it usually about camp or is it about an artist?
It's both, it's absolutely both
It's, you know, here's my
Funny story about when I stood in line for
Six hours to see my favorite artist
Here's my funny story about when I was
In line for 27 hours
And I got rerouted to the
Hillsboro Exit
That's not an exaggeration
It's really not an exaggeration
So everybody's got their Bonnaroo
Story, everybody's got their Bonnaroo stories
So, you know,
I thought it would be a great idea
To have people write in, have people
Tell on their social media, have people
Email us their Bonnaroo stories
And we could retell those on our
Podcast, and it's really never ending
Because year after year
People just have
Dozens, hundreds, thousands
Of their Bonnaroo stories
And it just goes on and on and on
And we could retell those on our
Podcast, so that was my idea
And, you know, last year
Daniel honestly took a lot
Of flack for starting
Bonnaroo rumors of artists
And I didn't want to do that this year
So I really wanted to take a different
Approach of what
The robust social media was
And I really wanted to be more that community
Effort, more that
Community focused goal
So I really wanted to bring together
People with their stories and their
Bonnaroo community experience
So I thought, what a great
Way to do this, by bringing together people
With their Bonnaroo stories
Again, so that was kind of my
Idea for the Podcast. So, you guys, why did you get
Flack about line of stuff?
When did that happen? What happened? I will be totally
Transparent, just by nature
Of having a big friendly blue bus
And, you know, making sure
That we're friends with all the rest
Of the community, yeah. Like, people come
Up to us sometimes, like, hey bro, I heard that
So-and-so is playing next year
So, like, I had two people tell me last year
On Good Faith that the Foo Fighters
Were going to play. It turns out that
Connections got crossed or whatever
And the Foo Fighters were playing a very
Close festival, but it was Pilgrimage, not
Bonnaroo. So I'm like, yeah, you know
I love playing that game, like, oh, who's
Playing next year? Yeah, you got one of those emails
That I get. They'll be in Tennessee
Sometime in the summer. Yeah. Sure. I did
Get Good Faith information that Fish
Was playing, like, October of the year
Before last. That was cool. That turned out to be
Accurate. The Foo Fighters, not so much.
So I'm like, you know what? I'm not playing this game
Anymore. The fun thing to me is, like, the community
Stuff. Well, see, that's exactly what Barry
And I talk about forever and ever and ever
And you guys know this too because you've been around
For so long, and of course,
You know, if you've been to Bonnaroo before
It has nothing really to do with
The lineup. It's fun and right about
Now is when we enjoy the lineup talk
The most, but it really has nothing to do
With the lineup. Well, let me jump in because
When you were talking, the fact that we are
Here in November
Talking about Bonnaroo
Is the thing that sort of stands out
To me. It's become
This almost year-round
Thing. You know, when we started
Talking about doing our podcast, we
Thought we would do it, what, for the three months leading
Up to it? Yeah, I actually told Barry, I said
I hope nobody listens to this
Yeah
And we thought, you know, Sunday when it ends
We'll maybe do a Monday the day
After, and then that's it, you know, shut it
Down till
What, the lineup the next year
And we've
Done, I mean, it's almost year-round
We haven't done so many this year
After, but people like you
The Bonnarooian,
Bonaroozter, I mean
It's this year-round thing
Now, right? I promise you that there
Isn't anybody doing a Coachella
Podcast right now
Well, we thought about it, they yelled at us
They didn't want us to do that
Yeah, we've tried to incorporate other
Festivals, they get very
Very touchy, because
The second that you say, yeah, well it's a
Bonnarooian podcast, and we talk about other stuff
But, we'd like you to
Not talk about Bonnarooian, or call
It a Bonnarooian podcast, or we want you
To change the name, we want you to
Tell anybody who that is, Hangout Festival
Oh, do you want to talk about that?
We'll edit that out
By the way, look at these guys
Welcome back, guys, look at these guys
So clean, you guys look so
Strange when you're showered
And adorable
Now, the
Remind me, is the beer, we met them at
The beer exchange, right? Beer exchange
Which was massive, what a great time
I was stunned as to how good that beer exchange
Was, if they do it, now what pod
Is that in?
It's in seven?
Is it changes every year, right?
Kevin from Camp
Rederoo, ladies and gentlemen
Hey guys, what's up?
I feel a lot cleaner
Since the last time I've seen you guys
That was a great time
Yeah, it's a great time
I'll tell you how dirty we
Were, Barry's hair
Wasn't gray
It was a sort of sandy, dusty
Color
It's funny because we were looking over some of the pictures
On the way over here from our podcast
And we were in that tent
And it's all sweaty and dirty
And then, you're like
We're going to go meet up with the family
We see a little bit of each other
Throughout the years and stuff like that
During the Bonnaroo offseason
When you see each other
Your first reaction is always that
Wow, you're so much cleaner now
It was fun to see those pictures
Interesting when you say the first reaction
When I see a Bonnaroo person
A Bonnarooian
In the wild
Outside of Bonnaroo, the first thing I say
It just gives me a big smile
And I just want to hug somebody
Because no other time in my life do I really like anyone
But when I
See a Bonnaroo person, I'm like, oh just come here
Just come here
I think we talked about this a little bit last time
During our podcast, but
The uniqueness about Camp Rederoo
And our family that we have is
We're so spread out through the US
That a lot of us
Travel throughout the year to visit each other
We've spent like friends giving together
Mitchell usually throws a big birthday bash
That we go to when we run out
When you met Mitch though, you guys had known each other before though
No, we didn't know each other before
No shit, so you guys met through Bonnaroo
Yeah, so funny enough
So how I came to Bonnaroo
Was through a
Camp Rederoo member
Who was a part of the original
2012
And we went to high school together
And so I went in 2015
Was my first year and then
You just instantly click
And I met Mitchell that first year and I think
We went to his birthday party
That October
And then we've almost been in separate
When we see each other literally year by year
I moved out to Salt Lake City
Was out there with, I actually moved to Salt Lake City
For groups
Or a group of individuals that are part of Camp Rederoo
Like I picked that city
My work gave me the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City
Or Colorado and I picked Salt Lake City
Because I knew people in that city
So it really does become a big part of our lives
That's amazing
Kyle
Your friend Kyle
Moved to
What, Murfreesboro? I listened to your podcast
The other day
Yeah, Kyle is a good buddy
He runs the Twitter account Bonaroovian
And he is the kindest
Like, general soul that you'll ever meet
I'm sorry, I don't work in radio
He's the kindest soul that you'll ever meet
No, you're good, man, you're good, go, go, go
He embodies the spirit of like the Bonaroo Code
He is always like kind
And like just generally wants to hang out or whatever
And he has done a good job
To kind of keep the spirit of
The community going year round
Yeah, he's one of those guys
He's all in
I mean to the point of moving, he was from what, New Jersey?
I think so, yeah
He's at Murfreesboro now
He's in school
Wait, did he move to Murfreesboro for Bonaroo?
In part
That's what he said
Dude is a class act
I could have rented him a room at my house if he needed it
He didn't have to do all that
I can give you so many people like that
That embody the community spirit year round
Like, one of our good buddies is Ron
The guy that's kind of the brain child of the Rue shoot
Celia
Is over Rue Fitness
There's so many people that kind of have their area
For like their specialty area
Of Bonaroo, right?
And we were talking a little bit before we started recording
Every year we joke around about who's headlining
Next year, but honestly
It's just a soundtrack to a great weekend with my good friends
That I see once or twice a year
Hey Daniel, can I ask you, I'm sorry to interrupt
You brought up Rue Shoot
I am so fascinated
By this Rue Shoot and how they
Coordinate this every year and get this
Massive
Whatever the hell it is
Yeah, because they don't just do it at Bonaroo, they do it at other places
Yeah, they take it all the way. How do they coordinate
Doing this and getting this inside the grounds
And everybody gets underneath
And it's
It's adding a whole other podcast in itself maybe?
Yes, either us or you guys should have
Them on to tell their story. Can you do it in two sentences
Real quick? Oh man, I don't want
To speak for them, but basically
They had some run ins with security
This past year? Yeah, shocking news
A massive
Parachute in there, but
No, I just like wearing a giant cape
I'm just happy to see you
Really, you should have them on or I should get him on
They have kind of
Transitioned to being the parachute people
Because they're going to so many different
Festivals and they do such a wonderful job
To spread like positive
Messages about mental health awareness
Oh no, nothing that I could have
Ever said was anything other than a positive
Message what they're doing. I just don't know how they get that damn thing
Into Centauru every year
And I love it. It's not easy I hear
Sorry to take over your show
There was this moment in my life when
I would buy anything that I saw
That was really clever on TV
And I bought this
Thing that wrapped around my body
And eventually was like
This pouch that you filled with
Beer and they called it the beer
Belly and you basically just
Walked around and you just looked like a big fat
Guy, but yet you had
Sloshing around beer in your stomach
And it had a tube that you could suck the beer out of
That's essentially how they get
The shoot in. They just shove it into
Their stomach and they just act like a big fat guy
Where'd you go with this, Brad?
I'm not sure where that was going
I don't want to sink it down my pants, but
I guess for ladies I've seen that there's a bra that does that
Nowadays. Really?
They have bracelets
Yeah, they have bracelets that you can put
What's a wine bracelet?
Now Mitch says there's a wine bracelet
What is that?
It's just jewelry that was
And you fill it with wine
Sweet sweet hooch
Sweet sweet hooch
I dated her once
That's a good band name
You did not date her once
Let's be honest
Okay, so
We've talked about Bonnaroo
And how your podcast
Can we talk about specifically
Since I've got a group of
Bonnaroo people who are probably
Very well into the Bonnaroo
Culture and conversations happening
Right now. And since this podcast is
Happening in November
I really would like to address
A couple of things
Mock schedules
Now there's a
Person here, anybody here
Has actually made a mock schedule
Raise your hand
You guys made a mock schedule?
I was going to say I saw the real
Mock schedule
I kind of liked it by the way
Tell me how you made your
Mock schedule
Tell me what went into it
And then give me what you
Were trying to accomplish with your
Mock schedule
I made one that was more or less a joke
That was just in support of who we all
Want to see at some point, Miss Dolly
So it was a wish list
Well that one, if she could play three sets
That'd be amazing
Availability of artists for
2020 from what I saw
You knew that they were potentially
Available at that time
You weren't just saying I want to see the Rolling Stones
You were saying these potential
Artists can be available
In the summer of 2020
Which I think is a fun way to look
That's what we do, we speculate all year long
It's fun
You can look at who AC is booking
Who they have playing around that time
Who is not scheduled to play
In Nashville, and you can kind of put two and two together
And another example is like
What's a big artist that is touring
That has played other festivals that hasn't played
Bonnaroo recently
So Tame Impala is one that makes perfect sense
Well that's Brad Brand
Here's what I'd say
Before we get into what Mock schedules
Make sense or what don't make sense
I need to implore anybody that's actually
Listening to this, that's part of the Bonnaroo
Culture, if you're on Reddit
If you're not, it doesn't matter
If you're making Mock schedules
I really think it does a disservice
To Bonnaroo
I think that Mock schedules are a really, really
Bad thing if you do not specifically
Say this is a wish list
And I'm saying it for a reason
Expectations get completely
Out of
They get blown out of the water
Expectations do not get put back on
To Earth, and then when we get
The line up, it drops and we're like
Well this sucks
Well this person
I thought we were having
Miley into Rihanna, into the
Foo Fighters, into the Rolling Stones
I thought they were all, let me do a thing
So I did a little bit of math and I called
Some people in the industries that got
The numbers
I found a Mock line up on Reddit
I don't know who made it, I really don't know who made it
And I'm going to go through one day of the Mock line up
Okay
I'm not going to read the whole thing that they did on a Saturday
Because it was a random Saturday
Against the Machine, Vampire Weekend
Kid Cudi, My Chemical
Romance, Lizzo, Brittany Howard
The High Women, Danny Brown
Local Natives, Perfume Genius
That's an entire festival
Guys, like that's an entire weekend
Right? Do you know how much
Just that day
Costs? 5.5
Million dollars
5.5 million dollars in one day
They do not have a budget for 5.5 million
Dollars, and I'm going to go you one step better
If you put My Chemical Romance
On a Mock schedule
I want you to know that it is going to
Cost you 1.5 million dollars to put
My Chemical Romance on the festival line up
What did
Cardi B get last year? And what was
Her placement on the poster?
What was she, 5?
Was she on the top line or the second line?
Okay, well Cardi B got
$400,000 last year
Do you think that they're going to sell
Tickets putting My Chemical Romance at
$4.5 million on that line up's top line?
You think they're going to sell any tickets that way?
I don't think so
So, again, these Mock line ups
They're fun, they're really fun
But please, I hope there's not a human being
Ever taking them seriously
I hope that there is somebody saying to them
This is just for fun, this is just
Because by the way, this Mock line up that I saw
It was great, but it also had
The next day, Rihanna, Dolly
Farton, Damon Fowler
Oyster ahead and run the jewels
And they're $4 million
So I'll tell you one reason I think people do that
Is we're able to look at past line ups with
Rose colored glasses
If you look at like 13, 14, 15
You see a lot of bands that weren't as expensive
Back in that day
And you think, oh, well they can book acts like that again
No they can't
That's exactly right
Whoever on Reddit is posting
These snapshots back to the schedule
Like Saturdays of 2012
Or whatever
And you can go down and see like the national
On like
The who's stage
You're not getting that anymore
That's the whole point of kind of what
You and I have been talking about for a year
Is sort of this, the reality of this
How it works, how these festivals work
The thinking behind it
We've had Jeff Quay are on a couple of times
And he's been so insightful
Sort of giving us this
Insight on how it actually
Works, you know
I think your point is right
But it is a wish list
We all have our wish list
And I think you hit it right on the head
We don't think about
What they cost this year
You know? It is a great point
Danny makes a great point because in 2009
And I posted this on Twitter earlier
2009
We all, every one of us
I don't care how many people say that they did
They missed Adele
Adele was on the line up in 2009
And I read the Rolling Stone article earlier today
To a quote unquote
Smallest crowd
That's heartbreaking
And if you put Adele on the line up right now
She's going to cost you about 2.7 million dollars
So I'll give you a similar
Story, since that's kind of our deal
Storytelling, we went to go see Post Malone in 2016
There wasn't much
Of anybody there
And it was a bad show
He was also, Les if you face tattoos by the way too
Yeah
It was a bad show because basically every hip hop show is terrible
No doubt about that
I'm not kidding
A similar story I found out just because of YouTube
We like watching Bonnaroo videos
Walk the Moon literally won a contest
To show up in 2012
Or 2013
They had a music video where he enlisted his
Grandpa, the lead singer
And was like, we just want to go to Bonnaroo
Anybody that's on the who stage
I'm going to rip the bandaid off
And just say it
If you look behind the curtain
Anybody that plays on the who stage
Plays for free
And I don't really like saying that
And the other part that I've got to make sure
That I've talked to somebody about
But they even have to bring their own gear
They have to bring their own gear
And they have to pay for
Anybody that's traveling there
Which really sort of stinks
I've got to figure out
We can talk to Quaeyar about it
We can talk to somebody at Bonnaroo about it
For a pay to play
On the who stage
And especially the spots that mean so much
To people like the Black Keys
The Black Keys would not be who they are
I don't think
If not for the who stage in 2007
Well let's be clear
We don't know that they're not paid
They might be paid something
But they have to pick up a bunch of the expense
They would have had to pay their
They might have got a couple hundred dollars
As a fee, but the expense of travel
Was way too much for them to cover
So I can attest to this a little
Our mutual friends, repeat repeat
Played the who stage two years ago
They played the who stage a couple of days
After they played the bus for us
And we helped them set up when they came in
And it very much was
A DIY thing for them
They came in their van and a trailer
And that was it, they had to do everything themselves
Not just for us, but for the who stage too
Yeah, it is a weird
It's a tough thing, but when you go to the
Who stage, when you go through the list
Of people who were there, and back to your
I think it was a really really good point
The people that you
That are there and you look back in the past
And there's five years ago, oh my god
The national played
The smallest stage at Bonnaroo
If you had to find your biggest
Miss
If you had your biggest Bonnaroo miss, who would it be?
Like how do you mean?
The show you didn't go to
Matt and Kim
It was this tent
Right, it was this tent
And it was a Thursday
Or Friday, it was midday too
I remember being very very hot
They do a great show
It's a very lively
And he was out in the crowd
Or she was out in the crowd playing the drums
Carrying the drums
Biggest miss, Daniel, who do you got?
The one that immediately comes to mind
I think was 2015
I missed Tycho, is one of my favorite
I think was 2015's
The iconic acts, they played a late night show
I was just looking at the schedule the other day
And I think I must've just crashed that night
I know Barry's
Tom Petty
Do you know why he's Tom Petty?
I know exactly why he's Tom Petty
My daughter called
At two in the afternoon
And said I got us in the pit, you wanna go?
And I said yep, and then I sat in the chair
And I said
I gotta go home, I'm done
He sat in a chair
That is why you missed a show
Of an artist who you'll never see ever again
I sat in a chair
Well I don't really have a story for myself
But my best friend, Amanda
So she went when the Beastie Boys played
Except she fell asleep
Just fell asleep
Fell asleep with the Beastie Boys?
Yep, fell asleep and just missed it
They would be second or third
I saw that show, but I didn't know
I didn't know that they were going to
Third, I saw that show, but I
Wasn't really into it
I didn't know them like I do now
You know what I mean? I have a bunch of those
The My Morning Jacket
Who I now adore
The biggest problem to Barry's weekend
Is a little thing called a chair
His entire
Weekend gets thrown off because of a chair
It's partly true
The dad sits at camp and just wants all the kids to come home safely
He will miss more shows
So he's just sitting around at camp
Under a blanket
Curled up, all like this
Are the kids home? Is everybody here?
I put that to bed last year with
Gucci Mane at 4.30
In the morning when we were dancing
You were bitching about your lower back the whole time
No I wasn't either because I didn't feel
A lot of pain at that point
It was a good night
What about you Brad, what did you miss?
I have two that are very very embarrassing
First off, I'm really upset that I missed King Princess
Last year, considering how much I love
This album now
Brooklyn went to see that show, can you tell us about it?
It was fun
A 45 year old woman, I'm assuming
Flashed her boobs
At King Princess
It was just like a
Real rainbow
Party
There was pride stickers
Going around, it was so wonderful
So
And I hate telling the story
But when I was
Before I do what I do now
Which is live in the top 40 world
I had to run a rock station
And believe me, this rock station sucked
There was nothing that
Made any sense about it
But as a guy
Who thought that he knew what he was doing
For a long time
Me
I thought that I was
I thought I had my finger on the pulse
2010
I look at the line up and I see this band called
LCD Sound System and I don't give a damn
I don't know who they are
I don't care
And then I started listening to them a few months later
And I was like
Oh my god, this band's amazing
I gotta see them
I go online and I find out where they're playing next
It's Madison Square Garden, it's their breakup show
I totally missed
LCD Sound System for a decade
And I blew it
Because they were on the
2009 or 2010 line up
I didn't even sniff it
Didn't care, didn't want it
Had no interest in being there
I missed LCD Sound System
So when they came back in the year that we all talk about
Being the most embarrassing line up
And
Crowd in Bonnaroo history
I look back at that as my favorite Bonnaroo
Because I got to be there with literally
No one else
Can I interrupt the what podcast
And the real Roo Bus podcast
It hasn't stopped you yet
Didn't Paul McCartney
Play in 2013?
Yeah I didn't
You didn't go
You have to walk away in shame right now
Bye
I was there
Why did we let him in?
Why did we let him talk?
I'm just trying to clarify
The reason why Bryan Stone lives in infamy
And kept nut butter is because he showed up one time
And it happened to be the Friday night after
McCartney
And he was on Cloud 9
Every one of us were losing our minds
And he looked at us like
Overrated
I hated the show
It was stupid
It was every other show you've ever seen of Paul McCartney
He played the same show in Memphis the next week
We looked at Brian and we said
Brian did you watch it?
Can you believe he played live and let die?
He played live and let die
I said Brian do you see the show?
Nope I said a camp
To be fair our camp is about 100 yards from the stage
So yeah I heard it
He played live and let die can y'all believe it?
So it was that
And then 2009 Al Green
I missed Al Green
Because I decided to
Chase a girl down
The path and we decided to go see
Ani DeFranco
Instead of Al Green
Who no longer
I love you more now
Than I've ever loved you before
I love Al Green
Because I chose Ani DeFranco
So I got a quick story to tell you about LCD Sound System
I already went through this story on our podcast
A couple weeks ago that was my favorite year
Of all time I know that the crowd sucked
That year but it made for such a good
Vibe and it was easy to get around like me and my buddy Brandon
Went up front
That LCD Sound Show
Was amazing
Now my follow up story to that was
About 2 or 3 years later we go to
The Voodoo Festival in New Orleans
Pretty good city festival we had a good time
It was a good headliners that year it was LCD Sound System
The Killers and The Food Fighters
We go walking around in the French quarter
The next day after LCD
Sound System Show just looking for a place to eat
Or whatever I walk right by
James Murphy who's taking a stroll through there
And I pass him and I'm like
I ask Sharala and them I'm like should I go
Say something oh my god I don't want to be like a dork or whatever
But I was like you know what I'm never going to get
This opportunity again I'm going to go say something
I went up next to him I was keeping
It cool at first I was like oh hey James
I want you to know that was a great show last night man
That was really good he was like oh I appreciate it
And I was like dude I was at your show at Bonnaroo like 3 years ago
I was having such an awesome time
He was like oh that's your job man
Yeah it opened up the sieve
As soon as you turn the water on everything
Came out right
That's a whole lot better than good work
Oh I knew that was going to come up
I knew you were going to say that
So I've told this story before
It breaks my heart to tell it
But it is my Bonnaroo story
That you guys talk about all the time
It's Billy Joel
It's Sunday night
And I'm dying to get out of there before Billy Joel
I just can't I can't do it I can't do it
And Spoon happened right before them
On the What Stage
And that's when I left and I could have been on the stage with you guys
Thanks Brian that mattered a lot to the story
Go ahead Brad
So
We got lucky and we were standing on stage
For Spoon and behind the What Stage
There's this very very long
Ramp that takes you back into artist
I mean this ramp might be
150 yards it's really really long
And
There's one way down and then there's a
Thing that separates you and then
You come up there's nobody coming up
The stage this is after Spoon Spoon's done Billy Joel's next
A whole crowd
Of people are walking down the ramp
One figure
Just keeps getting closer and closer to us
As it comes up the ramp
One figure closer and closer
Closer as it gets closer
I look at my buddy Nick and Hillary
That's Billy Joel
Billy Joel's walking up the ramp
Nobody's talking to Billy Joel
Nobody's stopping him
Nobody's saying hello so
I said screw it and I stopped Billy Joel
I was like Billy Joel
Great work
And he said
Thanks
And walked straight past me
It was in that moment I realized
I've got nothing to say to Billy Joel
I've got no conversation
You're not not
You're the piano man I've got Christy Brinkley
I've got no conversation for Billy Joel
Other than
Great work
So you guys get to live in Valhalla for like
The Bonnaroo weekend back there where you are more likely
We don't like talking about it because somebody's going to
Pick it and riot us
You guys are media everybody's going to put two and two together
But you get to live back there where you're more likely
To run into artists so don't you have like
A bullet point or two in mind for your favorite ones
That you might run into
His point is he doesn't like Billy Joel
I think
It's not that I don't like Billy Joel it was fine
He's a fellow Met fan but I love him but I don't
Have anything to say to him
You had your chance
But Dua Lipa you were on
Cloud 9
We did more than talk
So I will say
This person is going to remain nameless
But we did have a band stop by
And sit down with Camp Nut Butter
And decide
That year to tell me
Who is the biggest Alabama Shakes fan on the planet
How much the Alabama Shakes sucked
And how much they were overrated
And how irritated he was
About Alabama Shakes
Name them
Any attention what you want
That they should deserve
I cannot because they've
Been very very good to me
Since then
It's an interesting
We talked before we went on air
About the different experiences
We are definitely
We come at it
A different way we're in
The IP area backstage I guess
You said you didn't know if you'd want to be in the trees
Where we are
And I can tell you
Four years ago we would never
Have considered even going out into
General camping
Oh no
That was not happening
No but now with all of the changes
The experiences and all of that
Once we started doing this
I think we talked about it several times
On the podcast
It sounds like a lot of fun
It feels like and this is a credit
To the people who put this on
They have created an event
In an
World for
General admission that is
Better than anything that you can get anywhere
Else in the festival and if I
Headed in me to deal with
Bugs, heat,
People, germs
Whatever
We've never seen a bug
Kevin's brother does that
Kevin's brother sprays for the bug
All these new people you don't know Brad as well as we do
But let them continue
I'm too neurotic to live out there
I can't do it
The only way
I can do it is in the creature comforts
Of being tucked away in a
World that is all to our own
But with that being said
It is really phenomenal out there
And the times that I've spent
I didn't want to leave
Now granted I did
But he didn't want to
He didn't want to until he did
Barry we were talking about this earlier
The way that the festival world
Has gotten in the past couple years
It's tougher to book good acts right
It's tougher to have a line
Up that's that much
More festivals, more demand
But AC has done a very good job
To realize that their strength is
In the camps and the community
They've built those new barns
And they've had really cool people like the house
Of yes out of New York come down
And do really cool stuff
Yeah can you tell us real quick about that
Chelsea that was one of your favorite things right
Yeah I had this whole like
New Orleans parade
At the house of yes but it was like all
Just like rainbows and like
The band was playing I don't know it was really cool
Pride parade Yeah it was awesome
No is it the same parade that used to happen
10 years ago 15 years ago that used to go
Through the festival they just move it to
The house of yes I think they move it around
I mean it's still sort of the house of yes
And then I guess like this big kind of party
Type thing then they just kind of just moved
It around everywhere so I don't know it was fun
Now because it seems like a natural segue
But Jeff
Quayar I had reached out to him
A week ago to see if he had some
News that we could maybe announce
For this podcast
They've been so good to us
And so helpful
And he called this morning actually
And it's not you know I knew
He wasn't going to give us an artist
Or anything like that
But he said to your
Point and to what we've been talking about
Every year they address something
You know they've planted trees
They've planted grass they've redone
The added the bathrooms
And they when the festival
Ends they all gather and they think
What do we need to fix and this year he told
Me today that the
The parking or the
Traffic not
From the freeway but once you get
Past the sort of security
How do they get you to
Your campsite is their focus
And I actually had asked him I said
Is the delay I figured it was the security
And he said no that's really not
It they can add lanes
The issue is there's
88 camping there's VIP
Camping there's group camping
But everybody comes in
You know in the line and then it's
How they filter them out so
I mean to me
It's one of those things
It doesn't sound sexy
But if you're sitting there in that car
It's needed exactly
Is it needed because you have to explain to me
How bad it is because I don't
Know is that an actual
Issue yes it definitely was
A big issue this past year there
Was a huge line of people
Back to 80,000 people yeah for one thing
Well there was a ton of people that were backed
Up on the interstate this past year
And we spoke to people who dropped by the
Bus to come speak to us that said they
Waited more than six seven hours
That had been unheard of for many years
Now
Before we had the bus we would drive in and it would take
Like an hour or two at most but we talked to a lot
Of folks that got frustrated beyond
Belief this past year so for Jeff to say
That that's awesome I think that is one of the biggest
Needs yeah and we look Mitchell's
Here I think he's got a word has something to add
So we have a contingency
That comes from Chicago each year
And Kerry arrived
At the gate at the gate
To get in line at
11 15 11 20
And she finally got to us
At around 9 30 a.m.
That was
Thursday Friday morning that was
That happened this year at Bonnaroo
Because the line was that intense
Ten hours roughly
And now to go
400 yards well
I'm not sure how long the
Line was because you know it stacks
Up out there on the interstate
But she got in line at around
11 15 because we saw it in the group chat
And then it was just a long
List of extremities
That she screamed about yeah so this
Is exactly what
Rightfully so if I had a
Group of women that screamed at my extremities
If I can't
Understand these guys know
Much better than I do you fill out a form
At the end of the year right
You do what is your would you like
What you do not like yeah
What are the survey yeah they
Can do so many surveys right but
How do they actually know these things
Are problems that's what I like to talk
Jeff about if we had Jeff
Or somebody and they also we
Know because they do our moon river here
And some and
Forecastle this is what they do
Those guys
Are walking around noticing
Where the lines are
Where the bottlenecks are the problems
Are there's only so many
Things that they can address like you just
Said it you know each year
But
This is this one has jumped
To the top of the line I guess so
If there's a thing that I've learned how much I love
About Bonnaroo
And Festival Life to begin with
Just overall when we
Started doing this I didn't know how much I loved
Infrastructure as much as I love it
It is so fascinating to
Me how they can find a problem identify
It and then figure it
Out either on the fly or then
The next year and so what I'd love to
Talk to Jeff or insert person here from
From whoever is working the infrastructure part
Of it I'd love to know when they identified
A problem how they found it and how are
They then going to fix it that is fascinating
To me so yeah that's the I think that's
The reason I brought it up because it's that level
Of detail that makes us all
Like this festival so much
In that vein and I am very glad to hear
That Jeff is making that priority
In that vein one of the things probably
The top thing that I would say is
The biggest room for improvement
And I love Bonnaroo I'm critiquing it
Because I love it but the biggest thing I could
Say that needs improvement is
The integration with folks
Like Kevin from Camp Red Roo with
Supergroup with Roo Shoot
We talked a little bit about the issues that they had
Getting the shoot through security
We've been thinking about it
And through the interaction
That we have literally every day
Sometimes with the general community
The folks that keep coming back and back
We're keeping the conversation going
Probably more so maybe even better
In some cases than their official channels do
We would love to have better
Integration with them to
Work with them on our events we hosted
Repeat Repeat two years ago the folks
With Red Roo are having literally
A thousand or more come in for the
Beer exchange and
We understand AC has a ton of things
They're working on Moon River here they're doing
That festival at the horse track
In Kentucky and things like that
We realize that they have limited resources
But just having a line to talk with them
So we can have infrastructure to support what we're doing
I think that is probably
The biggest improvement because as I said before
It's not necessarily the line up
That keeps us coming back I'm coming back to hang
With Kevin I'm coming back to hang with Mitchell it's the
Community that's the biggest aspect. Well they're so dreamy
Look at them. Yeah. Yeah so one of the
You know one of the things that I
Wanted to just interject and again this is
Not a complaint towards Bonnaroo
Because you know they do put on this and they do
It really well but you know over the years
As I've had to wait in line
And then there's been times where I've got to get in early
With Bonnaroo's blessing to allow us
In early but you know we
We got tracked by the
Local you know they had the
Local PD get out that are directing traffic
So it's like their mission doesn't get
All the time
Communicated to those that are locally helping
So you know that seems to be some of the problem
And again this is not bashing them but you know
We've made it all the way to the
We got told to go to the East
Toll booth and then when we got
To the East toll booth we were like oh you
Got to get back in line so then we got back in line
For another couple hours to get all the way back
To the West toll booth so like Daniel was
Saying you know with some of these groups and stuff like that
One of the biggest things that
It's good to hear that they're going to
To be really focusing on that but you know
Maybe have you know additional
You can't cut down gates to probably
Make more entries but you know make
Make ones where if you're going to be in
This side of the
Campgrounds you're going to enter this gate if you're going to enter on this side of the campgrounds
That would just make so much
More sense and I mean I know they do have
A few other gates to do that so
You know I think it's just that confusion
Where you know maybe it's the local
Help that's pushing people over but
You know I think just open it up
And say it okay you know if you come
To this side you're going to get assigned to this side of the campgrounds
If you're coming in this side go to this side of the campgrounds
And then maybe it would
Tool up that you know you know
Traffic once you get past the security
Yeah that was my understanding was as
He said there's still going to be delays they're still going to have to go through security
And all that but
Figuring out a way you know
If you're ADA camping
Or you're group camping
To better filter it through so
It goes a little bit quicker so
I mean to me
Like I said it's as we've talked
About so many times
All the little things add up to your overall
Experience
My bet is that the 12 hour
Person the person that we
Didn't think about that the rest of the weekend
My bet is
It didn't even occur
I don't know man that's a long time
I don't know I heard people pretty salty and that's why they
Left early on Sundays because they were just
They did not want to get stuck in the
Have you had a year speaking of stories have you had a
Year where you just said screw it I gotta get
Out of here you know the last
Year when it rained
When it stormed
In 2018 I'm
The one that I will I was in the military
I've been out there I've been in rain
Sleet snow about just about
Everything you get I mean the desert in Iraq
In the summertime 125
Degree heat I've been
Through it all but is it as bad
As me wearing two pair of pants right now
I prepared for a much colder
Day I'm wearing two pair of underwear but
Being waterlogged you know
It raining what overnight Saturday
Night into Sunday morning and just being waterlogged
We stuck it out
Throughout the day and then when it started storming
And getting really windy again that evening
Thankfully my brother does live five minutes
Down the road from Bonnaroo and we were like you know what
We're packing up and we're
Just going to go to the house because you know
There's just so much that you can do in
Rain and we knew that time of the day was this
This was after the headliners
On Saturday night so we didn't stick out
The party we usually have because on Sunday
Night we usually try to have kind of a blow
Out bash you know it's like that
Big send off in Camp Ritteroo because you know
You're not going to see your friends again for another year
And we just couldn't do it
There's a small group of us were like
You know what we're going to go to the hot shower
And get the hot shower early
I've told many many people I can handle the heat
The rain at Bonnaroo is the game changer
Because you can't get away from it
You take all that into your tent
With you and your clothes and yeah
That's the one I worry about
No I would never be able to handle
Mud and rain oh no that would kill me
Here's my problem with mud
Sometimes it might be shit
So
I don't really know the difference sometimes
No I've never bailed out at Bonnaroo
But my first and second year
I just did not know what I was
Doing and I left on Sunday
And it wasn't because I was tired of Bonnaroo or anything
I just literally did not know what I was
Doing just literally like was
A newbie and I was like oh well oh yeah
We skipped Tom Petty the first year
Yeah the first year I was at Bonnaroo
I skipped Tom Petty just because I honestly
Did not know what I was doing
No I love Tom Petty it was a mistake
Oh yeah I know that now
But I was just like oh yeah I need to get home
I also really enjoyed how during the rain
Especially you know we're talking about
The rain in 2018 it was like
The ditches
That they just put hay on top of
And the hay just floats on the water
So it creates the illusion that there's actually
Hard ground and just watching people go
See y'all I mean
My first one was 15
Years ago or so
What they have done to that site
To fix stuff like that
The one year I went
The rain created little
Riverlets yeah in between the what
And center and then as every
As 80,000 people walked
Through it over time
This little two foot became
18 foot became Shrek
Swamp yeah and then you couldn't walk between
Cars I mean it's just so
But like and
I love you guys
But I can hear all of you
And I know that none of you
Went to Bonnaroo before 2008
Nope and the rain
The rainstorm of I think
2003 or 2004 or something like
That was damn near the worst thing that's ever
Happened to my life and
I will never
Forget and again this is one
Of my stories I tell at camp every year
The first year I went to Bonnaroo
I screwed everything up
I went to the wrong entrance
I was stuck out into general
Admission and I had no idea what I
Was doing I didn't know what camping was
I mean if I'm neurotic now
Imagine you know 22
Year old me I had no idea
What was happening
We got there we were miserable
Immediately we were so irritated
By that night the rain
Just hammered us
And the rain what year was it Nate
That the rain was so it was it was
The year of Matthews and friends or something
2004 it was the worst
Rainstorm I have ever been in my life
To the point where I literally
Looked next to me and saw a woman
Defocating
Into a puddle
This is why I was like I can't do
Mud I don't know the difference
It was
The worst I've ever and I said
To myself I'm never coming back
This place is disgusting
I don't want to see these people anymore
This is the opening scene of lean on me
Where the principals get his head slammed
Into the wall
I was never coming to
And so the guy that I was with he
Drove the car so fast while
Dead and friends were on I felt as though
We were running over tents
And what happened karma
Hit us we got stuck in a mud
Puddle 20 yards away
From the exit 20 yards to
Freedom I could get the hell out of this
Hell hole that was Bonnaroo
20 yards and we got stuck there
We fell asleep in the car I was
In the passenger seat and
I woke up to this brrrr
Brrrrrrr
Sound and it was a kid
From Manchester
In a 4x4 pulling people
Out of the mud
I mean we were when we got out of the car
I'm not kidding
Our half of
The wheel was under mud
Half of the wheel it was that dug in
There was like you paid the kid $20
He pulled you out I've never been so
Happy to get out of a place in my life and I
Swore on that day I would never
Ever ever
Walk back into Bonnaroo
And now I host a podcast about Bonnaroo
I think my second year it rained
And I was in a pup tent and
I had an air mattress that
Leaked and it was
Stundering and lightning and storming and
I remember looking at the top of my tent thinking
I can't go anywhere I'm either
Going to die or I'm not
This isn't the Titanic Barry you're overstating
No I'm going to get hit by lightning
I was convinced lightning was just
And then I woke up in a puddle because
My air mattress lost all the air
And the tent leaked
Like yeah why am I doing this
I'm like you this is awful
It felt miserable there are times in Bonnaroo
Where you're like this is the worst place
In America why am I here
My first campsite I
Had the foresight for some reason
To throw cheap saw horses
And a 2x4 piece of plywood
In my truck yeah this is why he's my
Dad because he comes over and builds
Things like this at my house that became
My table but I didn't think of shade
So I happened to have my
Umbrella you know which is always in the vehicle
And so I put the umbrella
On that table and bungee
Corded it and then we followed
It like a sundial
To find that two feet of
Shade for the rest
For lunch you know or whatever
That was awful
By the way is that the Heaven and Ale
Stout it's delicious
This is my second one yeah it's Love Supreme
It's very very delicious yeah it's good
I was going to go to Bloody Mary and then I saw
Them pour this spell out by the way if you ever come
To Bonnaroo go to the Camp Reddaroo
Beer exchange I brought you the Odd Story
Which is the right around the corner
Now you got the Heaven and Ale Love Supreme
You're doing very well
The Odd Story Lager the Viennial Lager is very good
You're welcome to Chattanooga
So my first year coming to Bonnaroo
I didn't know I was coming to Bonnaroo until the month
Before this was 2009
And
My buddy is literally like Mitchell
You're coming to Bonnaroo with me we're going to give you
A hundred dollars you have to pay for the rest
I was like okay
And so I go to Bonnaroo
And I have no preparation
I literally have
Looking at my supplies and I have a sleeping bag
A really shitty tin I haven't used in like three years
End of discussion
We're done we're prepped
This is like the polar opposite of where you are now
Oh it was bad so and I'm looking at
Space and there's six of us total
In a truck and they go
Leave your tent one of us has a
Twelve person tent it's going to be great
So everybody leaves their tent
Behind I buy a bag chair
And I have my bag chair
And my clothes that's
About all I've got so we
No one thinks to bring a
Big damn easy up none of us
And the truck breaks down
About a mile away from the entrance while we're
Waiting in line and we're like
Alright just grab the essentials we're going to get the truck
Fixed we'll get that back so the girl
That brought the twelve person tent she's like I'll grab
My tent just picks it up out of there
None of us even flinch
To think about the fact that this little
Tiny four foot eleven girl
Hooked a twelve person tent on her shoulder
And started walking we just grab our
Supplies which for me is my clothes my bag
Chair I got everything out of the truck
So we walk all the way
In on foot check in get
To campsite start setting up and she goes
Oh no guys
She had left
Every pole at the house
And this was all
Six of us
Four went foregone our
Entire camping supplies because
The holy grail of a twelve person
Tent that she brought and so we have an
Over glorified tarp and that's
Our camping situation our neighbors are nice enough
To be like hey guys you can put your
Your chairs under our easy up
And that's that was after day one
Because I woke up in the rain and my neighbor was like
Buddy you can
Move your chair over here at least
Because everybody else they
They went and they bought a one of those
Really expensive
Tents from Bonnaroo's like emergency
Shop up front wow yeah
I think it's like a hundred and twenty dollars for a
Two person sweat box
And so I was like fuck that
I'm going to drink this weekend I can't spend
A hundred and twenty dollars on a box
So I slept in the rain
In an easy easy in my
Bag chair for the first day and then under my
Friends from Louisiana's easy up
For the rest of it and that was
My first experience and I had so much fun I came back
I love this story so much because
The way that you prioritize
Your funds it's
It is drinking
And then eh
Comfort is second because
I can buy comfort by the can
That's right
One more and you're comfortable
My god Don Draper would
Kill for that that line
I find comfort in a can
So
Biggest mess we've had the
The news from Jeff Cuellar
And Mock Lime alright I've
Got one final question
That I will ask
Around the table here
You know how Vegas has residency acts
And you know how
Like now
Somebody called me up the other day and
They said hey you want to send somebody to see the
Chainsmokers in the
No
So Vegas
Has residency acts
If Bonnaroo had a residency act
If Bonnaroo had one act that played
Every year it was the same
Time every year and you knew it was
Going to happen who would it be
Warren Haynes
I knew it was going to be a My Morning Jacket
I knew there was going to be some sort of My Morning Jacket
But My Morning Jacket
Would be good
My Morning Jacket
Or Warren
I would say Chance
Or you know Marcus from Lumpford and Sons
I feel like they kind of grew through Bonnaroo
House band
Just as coked or something
I find
There's a piece
Of the Bonnaroo experience
Shut up
She's going to be here some year
You know what I mean
There is a
There is a thing about Bonnaroo
That I have missed for damn near five
Years that doesn't happen anymore
And it really bugs me
There was a thing in our camp that we
All went to Camp Nut Butter
Every single year found the same show
And we all wanted to go no matter what
We don't agree on anything
There's nothing we agree with
But Sunday morning church
At one o'clock on the what
It happened every year
If it was Charles Bradley it went to Mavis Staples
If it went from Mavis Staples
Over and over and over
I missed church on Sunday
On the what stage
I know not many people show up
That Charles Bradley show broke my heart
Because Charles Bradley was my favorite album of that year
But nobody came
But if there's one piece of residency
That I
Now there's the Grand Ole Oprys there
That is your residency
Residency is Grand Ole Opry
Every year you know Grand Ole Oprys
I want Sunday church back
For now
I mean I guess they could argue that the
Calliope stage is it but that's not us
You're going to bother me here
It's Calliope
Please stop saying this
What is it or what is it not
I can't figure out which one it is
It's Calliope
It's Calliope
Charlie knows how to pronounce it
It's not Calliope
It's Calliope
I'm just going to say this by the time anybody gets there
I don't want to say move the hill
By the time anybody gets there they don't care how it's pronounced
Yeah that's right
If you want to go see the weirdest stuff at Bonnaroo
Go there after 3am
Gucci Mane, it was awesome
So
I know we went through wish list
Not Dolly
Who do you think will absolutely be there
Barry Courter
Yes sir
Daniel
They're my favorite
I am unashamedly a Kevin fanboy
Lizzo
Yeah
You know anything about that
I'll let you know
All I know
Is there has not been a schedule
Made for Lizzo for 2019
Nate's a tool
For me
The 17, 15 to 17 year old
Me really wants to see Rage there this year
I don't think it's going to happen but I would really like to see Rage on this machine
Why do you think it won't happen
I'll put every dollar that I have
In my paycheck on it would not happen
And that's what I'm thinking too
I don't think it would happen but that would be
If I'm looking at the landscape of who I want to see
The one thing I really want to see
I'm going into my
Six years
And I'm starting to become an old vet at this point in time
I really want to see Bonnaroo bring back
The true legacy act
If they did that this year who do you think it would be
I've been saying it might be Springsteen
But I don't know what do you think
You guys have got to see
This is what I got to stop you at
You got to start thinking about dollars
There's no possible way
They're going to bring Bruce Springsteen
Tame Impala, Tool
Rage on this machine
You got to think about money here
Of course the logistics
And the financials around it
I think
And that's one of the things that I remember
My fond memories of the 15
You go back and look at the line up
And you had a true legacy
Although
Billy Joel, now it makes sense
Why Billy Joel cut his set short because he had an interaction with Brad
That makes complete sense now
Those kind of doofuses
Do you know how many people
When I got back to camp said
Billy Joel is never coming back to Vodderoo
He hates Vodderoo because of the one interaction
He had with some doper
He was going to do an encore but you stopped it from happening
Killed it
The thing about Rage on this machine
Here's the other thing I wanted to say earlier
By the way
I know that there was some sort of
Hubbub about the Coldplay thing
That I said
Let me make sure I clarify what I said about Coldplay
Coldplay is not going to do
2020 and 2021
Because what I was told
Is that they do
Tours one way
They do an album
Then they go silent
And then they do another album
And then they do an arena tour
They've done every tour that way
Since they were Coldplay
So it was based on every single
Thing that has happened in the past
If it was going to go forward
And the person told me that it was not going to be any different
Than the past
I wouldn't say it's not going to happen in the next two years
If they go silent this year
Because they just put out an album
They're going to wait for another album
That means the next album
They're going to do nothing but arenas
So again
Be that as it may
It's not a complete out
I'm sure they could do thing after thing here and there
But based on everything that I was told
That they're going to do this exact same
Structure that they've done every other album
Secondly
Thing about Coachella
Give me an artist
That has done a reunion show
At Coachella that has also done
At a Bonnaroo
Cool, Earth Wind and Fire
Found one
Now give me a headliner
No, it's not Earth Wind and Fire
On the Rage Against the Machine level
When you go back and see all of the
Things that Coachella has done
It does not translate to
Anything that Bonnaroo does
So when somebody says Rage Against the Machine
I would love that
I would kill for that
I think you have a better shot of profits
Against Rage Against the Machine
So Brad, you're being the voice of reason about
Our expectations
Because every year our expectations go here
And we all get the line up and we're all like
Womp, womp
So what do you think would be realistic
Names for a legacy slot
For next year
Where did this Diana Ross thing come from?
That came from Kyle the Bonnaroobian
He's a big fanboy
You know
I don't know
I don't know what the legacy would be
This is not where I'm good
I don't do well with the guesses
I did a mock line up one time
Like 10 years ago and it was the worst
Thing that I've ever done
It was so stupid, I look like a fool
So in terms of expectations in the line up
Me and Sarah do the same
Thing every year
We pay no attention to any of the rumors
Sometimes it comes across
But we wait until the line up drops
And then somebody always does the Lord's work
And sorts the line up by genre
And we just go to genres we like and listen to shit we've never heard of
And it's just Christmas every year
Even by mocks
Kikugaku Moyo is actually one of the best things I found this year
We're gonna go see them again Tuesday
And they're my favorite show
Mitchell, what was the jazz infusion band
That you turned me on to
I met you there, you were in your skeleton costume last year
Oh god
The comet comes
The comet is coming
The comet is coming and the only reason we found
That is because I was like
Chaotic jazz
Let me play on that
Psychedelic jazz and just free form
Anything jazz, I'll play you a list
That's how I found Mastodon
Because somebody told me jazz metal and I was like that
You just checked two boxes off
You get really high
Let me just
Just to kind of piggyback
On what Mitchell was saying
When you run these camps
We try to stay relevant with the rumors
For our campers
And for everybody there
And you know a lot of it is really just to kind of
Try to keep the energy up and everything
But I'm much like Mitchell
I will not really
And Daniel said it best earlier
I come for the people and stay for the music
I could really care
I've been with Bonnaroo lately
Let me say this
I think that the music industry is starting to change
Because you don't see the traditional
Album tour, album tour anymore
And you know like the festival is being
So saturated
To me in the last couple years
I don't even care who's coming because
It's such a toss up at this point in time
It's such a toss up because
There's no real way to
Put it into a formula and say you know what
Okay well Tim and Paula just dropped the album
Okay so now they're going to tour
But no bands really doing that traditionally
Anymore and I think you were talking about this a minute ago
Like it just, you just don't know
And so for us when we run these communities
It's just like you know we try to keep
The hype up for the participation but
Here's what I know
I know that stadium tours
Arena tours are going to pay a lot more than festivals
Because you can do a lot of them at once
And one person buys all of them
Right so if you're going to do a festival
It's going to be a one off and it's usually
If you go buy the money you're going to do
A festival on an off year
Not many people do a festival
On an on year of an album
Because an on year of an album gets you all the heat
Alright so
I don't know what that means for most people
I don't but you're not getting
The Eagles, you're not getting the Eagles
It's a three and a half million dollar show
It's not happening you know
So it's, all I know
About the line up is that
Every year it always
Underwhelms us and we always
Are shocked by what
Is being paid to the top line
And if I can
Again going back to what I said earlier
My Chemical Romance is one point
Five million dollars on the base
Are you going to find
Anyone that is going to
Make or break their Bonnaroo
Purchase on My Chemical Romance
No I don't think that you are
Those guys don't want to be in a field
Plus they're not doing many shows
And one point five million dollars
Exists on the top line of your line up
And does
That sell a ticket
To everybody else
So let me give you the example
If the line up is Tool
Vampire Weekend and My Chemical
Romance, do you think that
Sells tickets? I don't think so either
We're all saying the same thing
Kevin is saying
The
Organizers of these things have
Learned the experience
Has become as much a part of it as the line up
So they don't have to spend
They don't need to spend
Three million to get
Because the money
That they're spending out in the campsites that are
Experiences by
Haley Williams etc. Do you remember back in
2009, 2008 David Byrne
Curated an entire stage
He curated that tent
And he brought Saint Vincent
And people that we didn't know about
At the time, Andy DeFranco was on that stage
And he curated an entire stage
Now they're taking that idea and putting it out in the campsites
And to me, for the
People that live in the
GA world, that to me is such
A better experience than if
Insert person here that I'm dying
To see at a show
What you guys have created
And that's the thing, and I'm sure you get
We were talking about the residency earlier and I'm sure you guys saw this
On the news as well, where you know
You have these residency programs in
Vegas where one of the big nightclubs
Just shut down because the asking
Price of the artist was
Way beyond what they could, because the
Participation wasn't there. Do you think
That these festivals start to run into that problem?
That they're not going to be able to book
These talents because of the asking price?
And that's why Bonnaroo
May be ahead of the game of creating these
Outside experience which then
Brings, it's like
You know, you look at the lineup every year and you're like
Who's the headliner is going to be? But really
I mean we could probably take a poll here
You know, how many of us have really got excited
About the headliners? We found more enjoyment
In the mid card. Right, exactly.
Absolutely. And so it seems like
That's where maybe these festivals are
Starting to go because these artists asking
Price are so much. I mean just to add on to
What Kevin said, I'm not going to Bonnaroo
For the music, honestly. Good for you.
And that's the honest to god's truth. I'm going to Bonnaroo for the community
It's a vacation for me, it's a way to get away
From my normal life, it's a way to get away from
Work, and I can't
Be the only person out there
That's going to Bonnaroo for the community
Just to go to Bonnaroo
For that aspect. I mean I honestly
Can't be the only person
Who, I mean honestly, you know
To me
And I'm going to say this in the honest to god's truth
Nickelback could play Bonnaroo
And I would still buy a ticket and go.
I would throw down at a terrible
Nickelback concert. I would still buy a ticket
And go. I would still buy a ticket and go.
You just got voted off of the campsite.
Sorry, bye. Bye.
My friends make the concert. The talent
On stage just adds flavor.
No, I mean I would probably
Stay in the campsite all day
And probably drink and get drunk and do whatever
But, you know, I would still buy a ticket and go.
It's so funny you say that about
Nickelback. I was listening to a podcast
Recently where somebody said the exact same thing
Of, you know, it's like
But the, if Nickelback
Was booked, there'd be so many people
There because of that cult.
You know, in a weird way
I can actually see Nickelback
At 111.
In a very strange way that would make a lot of sense
At 111 Fest. If Bryan Stone
Talks right now, I'm going to lose my mind.
I got a microphone again.
I mean this is my gear here. I got a microphone again.
Her point is
That is an incredible point.
Nickelback doesn't matter
Is a great point. And they have
A couple songs that are okay. Thank god you
Jumped in.
I saved the show at an hour and fifteen.
Well, first off
We thank you so much for coming down
The whole Roobust crowd and so many
Bonnaroo people.
It really does. And I'll say this about
The Camp Red Roob. Before I get to Roobust
The Camp Red Roob people. First off
You guys coming means the world.
But
What you guys have created
And what you've done out
In whatever pod you find yourself in
To me is exactly
Why I'm so dying
To be a part of Bonnaroo every single year.
Even in the trees.
You guys personify
What the experience is.
You took a blank piece of land
And then you created a world
Around it. And I love
Everything about that. So all
The credit in the world to you guys.
Smuggle on all magic.
You smuggle what in?
Smuggle magic in.
He means that metaphorically. No wonder you were there for twelve hours.
So Roobust
Thank you so much for coming and
Being a part of this and supporting us the way
That you have. You guys
Took a chance
Two years ago to do
The repeat repeat thing. And
In a weird way. In a weird way
I feel like that repeat repeat
Show at least
Created a community that changed
The conversation. And
I don't know if this podcast
Exists without like Jared
And Kristen. They are so
Great to us and they made us feel like
There was a community out there that we didn't know
Existed. And you guys
Started that. So
Congratulations creating something really really well done.
You were asking who should be the house band.
It's them. Because they embody Bonnaroo
So much. Yeah.
Well, yeah. Those guys are terrific.
I kept
I was thinking about them after listening to your
Podcast with them. They're just
Yes. That's the
Word to them. Yes.
What do you want? What do you need? What can we do?
Yes. So I'm going to
Finish this with going around real quick.
I want to find, we are in November.
We've got a month. There's a month
Before the hangout line up comes out the first week
Of December. Coachella
Will be right before that. My bet. And then
Bonnaroo first of the year.
Let's go around and just tell me what to listen
To between now and then. Give me
An artist to listen to between now and then.
Matt Mason. Matt Mason.
We've had him right down the road. I've had him
In my building. He's terrific.
I love him. He's great. Yeah.
I mentioned this on our Twitter the other day.
One that I'm really into is called Fly
Golden Eagle. They're kind of a psychedelic
Rock band out of Nashville. I think they'd be a good ad.
I've seen them. Listen to the new Third Eye
Blind album. Yeah.
Man, you didn't have a Nickelback track you want to share?
Third Eye Blind. No, no, no. Me and Charles
Will go into the story about that some other time. Okay. I'd love to hear
The story, but man, I love that
Smash mouth that you're about to tell me about.
I'm actually never listening to Nickelback.
You remind me.
Please take his mic away from him.
Hey, I'm the guy in control.
Unfortunately. I like Michael
Kuanda. He'd be cool to see. Yes. God, I love
Him so much. I love that new project.
Or Labyrinth, sorry. I got nothing. I want to hear
The, was it the Blam Blams you were talking
About? The Blams Blams. They're incredible. Okay.
That's the one I want to listen to. Yes. Okay.
They are literally a mix of LCD sound system,
Queen,
The Beatles, the Bowie, everything.
Like amazing stage presence,
Like incredible vocals, incredible
Like musicianship.
Awesome.
Alright, so he's been sitting here
Quietly the whole time. What is your name?
Zack. My name is
Zack. Alright, give me something you're listening to right now.
I've been listening,
Can you hear me on this thing? I can hear you. Okay. Everybody can hear me?
Alright. I've been listening to a lot
Of Beck since I saw him at Shaky Knees
This past, yeah, his new album
Hyperspace is coming out
Next month, actually it's coming out
This month in November in like two weeks
Time so, and from the
Songs I've been hearing, you know, Beck
Is eclectic, I mean,
He's really, he's
Beck-lectic, I mean he's his own genre.
It's like it's going to like a vapor wave
Sort of kind of style.
You know, I did.
Yeah, so keep an eye out
On Hyperspace, your new album
By Beck, that'd be
Alright.
So, what's up with Beck, up and coming artist?
Mitchell, you got anything?
You got something for Mitchell? You got a thing for Mitchell?
Mitchell, let me see here.
What do you got? Give me something to listen to.
Well, in all honesty, I'm going to tell you to go into the past
And there's a genre called Nya Rock
That is so incredible.
Oh my god.
It's like Zydeco jazz funk.
Imagine, like Lonnie Liston Smith with the second line.
Alright, at the table,
Brian and Nate, you got an idea
What you're listening to right now?
Pearl Jam. Almond Brothers all weekend long.
Shut up.
Three days of Almond Brothers back to back.
Have y'all heard about Blackberry Smoke?
Then the Pearl Jam cover band.
Okay, great.
Alright, so I'm going to...
Les Zeppelin.
How am I supposed to follow that?
Okay, you're not.
So, if
I got two,
and she knows it, the King Princess album
is the best album of the year. It's absolutely
the absolute best album of the year.
I'm obsessed with it. But I've found
a girl. I found a girl in England.
Her name is Litany.
She is followed by nobody.
She has no management.
She has no record label.
And if I was an A&R guy tomorrow,
I'd be dragging her from England
to America to bring her to
my boss.
Her name is Litany.
Listen to
My Dude.
Listen to her new song, which is
something. I don't remember.
Litany is my girl.
She is unbelievable.
And she sounds like every sort of
King Princess slash her outfit that you can
find. I'm obsessed with her.
There you go. That's what I got.
Barry, anything else?
Thanks to the Moxie. Thanks to you guys for traveling up here.
That means a bunch.
Not only thanks to the guys, but thanks to the Moxie
hashtag at the Moxie.
The Moxie Chattanooga has
been more, more,
more than gracious than
I could have ever expected.
They let us drive a car
into their patio.
I know you're going to laugh,
but we need to thank Lord Taco.
Yes, Lord Taco, by the way, if you want to follow
Lord Taco at Russell on the Bus is the guy
that puts literally everything that we do.
He is the guy that is
the heart and soul of it. And then, of
course, that guy.
Thanks to Brian and Nate.
One last thing. I'll make this super quick.
And Nate over here, by the way.
Sorry, Daniel. Go ahead.
I'll make this super quick. Take a minute.
One important thing that has always been a mantra
for us with the Roobus is
keeping this community going,
continuing to radiate positivity. I want us all
to recognize that we have a lot of new people coming
in every year. It is our responsibility
as the upperclassmen to continue to
pass on the code and radiating
positivity because we want to keep this community going
forever. That is really wonderful.
I was never good in high school, so I don't
know if I'm the best person to do that.
No, you suck up
for positivity.
I was about to say something clever, but...
Today's rave babies are tomorrow's
wookatree.
Hey, man, can I borrow
everything?
The What Podcast, Barry Courter,
Brad Steiner, Daniel from the Roobus, the whole
Roobus crew. Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you for listening. I guess we'll see you
pretty soon.
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