How far do you travel to get to Bonnaroo? This week, Brad and Barry talk with two Patreon supporters to hear how they make traveling across country work. We also swap Bonnaroo stories and hear about what the festival means to them, and who they are excited about this year on The Farm. Thank you Timothy and Liesl for supporting The What Podcast on Patreon!
Topic: Bonnaroo
Guests: Liesl Kondor, Timothy Proctor
Hey, hey, hey, hey. How y'all feeling? Journey through the stories that define the artists playing by the rules. Who are they? What are they? What will you see? The what? Which bands? This show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? The show? Yeah, yeah. Nine and a half. The show? The show? The show? Yeah, yeah. My show? Now, that's the show. This year, that mattered with Brad Steiner and Barry Corner. A show that I did not expect to be as excited as I am for, but I am beyond, beyond excited now. Now that he's got two shows under his belt Ed O'Brien, E O B on your Bonnaroo lineup. This show is going to I think, be the sleeper. I want to talk about it in future episodes and let him get a couple more shows under his belt But Ed O'Brien from Radiohead put together something really special at Lincoln Hall last night This is a Bonnaroo podcast for Bonnaroovians by Bonnaroovians the what podcast. I'm Brad Steiner. It's Barry Courter Welcome to our little chat with some Patreons today. Yeah, pretty cool It's amazing to me that we keep finding people from literally across the country ones in Washington ones in Dallas For me you could have just stopped. I can't believe we keep finding people That are willing to talk to us Want to speak to these idiots Good point, but I mean The connections that we all have are it's pretty universal, isn't it? I mean we were hearing the same things That we have been saying Amongst ourselves and to hear from somebody, you know all the way across the country which by the way just blows my mind They're willing to make that track. No kidding. You know, it's easy for us We you know, we're 45 miles away But for somebody like Liesl who we'll talk to a little bit later on this afternoon Who's in Seattle or Timothy who's in Dallas for them to fly in and for Liesl put all of her camping equipment on her back and fly all the way from Seattle to do this is Beyond comprehension for me. Yeah, this is not how I interact with the festival I would I don't know if I ever could interact with the festival this way, but my god they do Yeah, I mean that is a huge commitment if we forget something we pop in the car and go home and get it right call a friend If they bring what if I don't feel so well, I just drive home. Yeah, just drive home or hey, I've seen forgot You know forgot to bring whatever we just pick it up. So these friends are on the way anyway So you might as well just ask them to do it. So that's that's a level of commitment and to do it repeatedly really speaks to the festival I think yeah, and and also the fact that they keep you know finding ways I'll put it this way you bring it up in the conversation we have with Timothy, you know They've spent so much time figuring out exactly the things that are necessary for somebody to come across country or get into an RV empower an RV or find a way to get into group camping or family camping like Liesl did They found very interesting ways of making the campsites in the plazas Acceptable for a living being for five days And that's a testament to them and the investment that they put into to this festival I was gonna say talk about investment Timothy spends all that time putting together as spreadsheets and set lists whole spreadsheet Set list. Yes, just set list. Yes, that's pretty interesting. Yeah, you might you might learn something from Timothy It's a really good idea though when when somebody's like willing to work that hard for every artist on the on the on the lineup If you've got somebody like that in your group use them use them in their music musical knowledge But his friends using they'll come to the show and they'll say alright, I want to leave but I want to hear this song How many more songs and he just wait? And I could use that so pine groves on the lineup this year and look I like pine grove. All right I find it to be a tad too whiny sometimes but we went to see pine grove music Midtown years ago when Old friends was like just hitting that song is if you don't know the song then then I'm sorry But the their main hit I was like, I just want to see this one song because I love this song so much And I show up and we're like two songs in I missed like the first two songs We listened to this entire show which by the way is the rule that I'll give any musician any tip I give me don't wear shorts on stage. Do not wear shorts on you look ridiculous so He they go through the whole show and by the end of it. I'm like every song My friends are ready to go. My friends like we got to get out of here. This is just not working But just wait my songs coming up. I know it's coming up. I know it's gonna be less we waited the entire show And I look back on the setlist doc. It was the first song they played I needed that I needed Timothy and his setlist Checklist I needed it and I didn't have it the beauty of having a setlist guy I mean we're talking to them because they're they're patreon's which we very much appreciate We can't believe you guys listen to us number one, but that kind of commitment It means a lot. It means a lot. So amongst us a lot of other patrons We're gonna talk to this year because we like talking to Bonaruvians, you know, we like talking to you We like talking about this festival. So we've got two today Liesl and Timothy Timothy from Dallas. Let's start there on the what podcast Barry Courter Brad Steiner Timothy from Dallas Dallas how long you been in Dallas mostly since 97 lived in LA one year, but otherwise Dallas really do you come from Dallas to Bonnaroo every year? That's obscene Yeah every year. No kidding. Do you drive or fly? I Fly I'm lucky enough to get other people to do the driving for me Yeah, we RV and there are a couple guys that get the RV up there and I just fly in fly out Oh, you're such a mooch total moocher. I know I try to make up for it in other ways though Oh, that's right. Don't don't start talking dirty to us. Don't start talking dirty So everybody's got a role to play. Yeah, it takes all kind So when you when you fly do you come with anything or you just expect it to be there ready for you when you get there? I've always thought about like somebody shipping something to the post office at Bonnaroo and going to pick up a post I'm here to get my camping equipment. Well, it's kind of the whole point of the group camping thing What it's one of the right? Yeah, you could ship your stuff and they'll take care of it for you and have it Like if you ship it, where do you pick it up? I don't know. Is that what you do or I? Don't I'm feeling very guilty as I sit here and answer this question thing about how But what you do we have other guys in Texas They load up the RV. I mean all the stuff that you guys have I mean all the groceries everything we need Canopy you name it they drive it up there I mean all I've got is a small bag that I just have to drag over to the campsite and And of course my friends are gonna see this and they're gonna know how easy that a couple of us have it after watching this But we show up and it's everything set up. It's beautiful. It's ready to go and it's Thursday You know morning kind of noon ish and we're we're just rolling. So we don't ship anything It's all just driven in with the RV. How many how many years? So our first year was 2013 we did firefly the year before the first firefly Loved it. That's kind of what got us on the really on the festival thing And then the idea was we would do it again and the lineup we like Bonnaroo better and We went with Bonnaroo and then never look back. Yeah, so you figured it out. That's like us We've over the years kind of I mean, it's very familiar now It's almost like home because everything is in the same place. Yeah, the same routines. Yeah I've really wanted to petition them to just like keep our setup there, you know, I can't what are you using this woods for? You're not using any of this. I Don't pick up my trash. Yeah Yeah, Barry wants to fence it off and put some chickens at our campsite just so he knows exactly where to go every year That's my goal is to get livestock this year. I Mean we have animals in our campsite just human ones. They are a disgusting bunch How much is has it changed over the years Timothy for you guys? Do you add something new every year or is it pretty much you got it figured out? Well, you know, I've heard you all talk about a lot how you kind of add something every year I don't know that we really have I do feel like we've kind of figured out what works for us and done it One thing Bonnaroo added that was a massive game changer for us was You know it used to be we would have to bring in gas and a generator and we joked this generator We called it the whisper 3000 because I mean you could hear this thing a million miles away our neighbors. I'm sure hated It's the time they were going crazy because it was so loud now We pull this RV or camper up and Bonnaroo has it where you can pay up a little bit and just plug in So you've got AC all the time and again, I know people listen to this are gonna be like, are you kidding me? I'm in a tent and you're in the AC in the RV spot. They have plug-in stations How like how far away from each other are they? I mean if you're in that area So like within camping and we do you know save up pay up and we do VIP camping And so there's a section of VIP camping for RVs and there's a section of that section That has electrical and you just when you're buying your ticket and you're buying your RV spot you pay up to get that and Okay, and plug it in and you're good to go the whole time. No, just as an aside how much you talking? What is the what is the the pay up? Cost for power. I don't I don't remember. I mean, it's it's not it's far from free But you know, we're like six ways but you know, I don't it's it's a few hundred dollars Is somebody who has parents at RV all over the country and when I say all over the country inside the hundred miles before my mother starts complaining When do they do what about the the you know, the the dumping process? Do they give you anything to do that or you got a it's all on you? No, it's I mean it gets more and more hectic as time goes on but there are people driving around one to give you water Two to handle the the dumping process and you you just pay them Now the bad part is you need somebody in your camp who is tired and wants to have an excuse that they can just sit back at camp and not go to I already know who that would be on our camp Everyone I know you. Hey, I cleaned the toilets today kids. We've got toilet today But you know, somebody can act like they're like the hero even though they want to stay back anyway And they're like, I'll I'll wait to you know, get everything taken care of so that we do that Well each year we we deem somebody MVP of camp, right? So you get an MVP? Well, if you're the least valuable person, you're on toilets that you know, you're on toilets the next year This is what you have this year penance for screwing up camp last year I think it's sort of important to point out with the conversations we had last week with Sophie especially and and Bobby You asked the question why did it take so long for them to get to the plazas? And I think this is this is it this is this is the kind of thing that they were devoting a lot of time and energy to to make sure you guys were happy You know, and it's sort of one thing at a time. They can't do it all at once. So And you've never driven in you only fly. I only fly and it's so easy So the VIP thing for Bonnaroo, it's not one of my favorite VIPs There's a lot of them that do a better job to me The best part about a VIP if you're going to pay up or the viewing areas and the viewing area for VIP of Bonnaroo are terrible Yeah, they hardly exist. Yeah, there's but they keep moving that hill closer and closer No, they keep moving the hill. Okay, they keep moving the hill. Well my inside baseball I was getting ready to throw in that I don't know if you knew but they moved the hill and it made it work I speak to it. Yeah, it's come up. I'm going I'm going to my grave saying that they moved the hill and you can bury me on that hill Damn it. Before they moved that hill. It was still bad viewing area. But one thing that's huge is if you do VIP You don't have to wait in the car line to get in. There's a separate entrance to come in. So we the only reason we started doing VIP Because most of we don't use his are the people who drive in from Texas after like a 12 hour drive then sat one year for seven hours in line So now they just pull right in and then for those of us that fly we fly into Nashville. We take the shuttle usually jump right on it takes an hour It pulls straight in no line. You get out you walk to your campsite. So that's big and the VIP campsite is not that far from where the shuttle drops off Back when we used to do GA. I mean you had to lace up your shoes. I mean it was a hike and that's another advantage with VIP is you're a lot closer to center room I mean you know it used to be when we would do regular GA when we would get in a good mile walk before we were basically there and so that that's been nice I don't think I've ever told the story on this show before but my first year I sort of screwed up my credentials and I had no idea what I was doing I was supposed to be in the media area but again this is you know year three or two something like that of bonderoo so they didn't really understand where to go And there was it was not clearly marked and it was a total s show right so I I end up in GA and I have no idea this is a kid who didn't doesn't camp I don't go outdoors I don't like people I don't like they get just never was something that I even could wrap my head around So we get there we set up our camp and and you know we're walking and walking like you finally get into I mean this is like when when that when the walk was People along the way selling the dryer doors you know they would just tell you anything that they could pull off of their body here's a sock can I have a dollar It was so strange well at night because nothing was lit there was no markers there was no signs you take one right turn every car looks the same at night Okay there's no like discernible marker for you to go to so you take the wrong turn you're walking that hike that you're talking about imagine taking the wrong turn And making that mile walk in the wrong direction we did it and I could not have been more scared it was like the opening scene of lean on me You know where the principal is to get his head beat into the ground I was scared out of my mind I remember the real fire And then one girl ran up to me butt ass naked screaming PCP and crashing to the ground that was when we decided to leave I was going in the wrong direction and ever since then I've sort of like figured this whole thing out and I think the the world around it has gotten just a tad bit better It's a little better but it was a free for all back then and that hike is is not one to know it's 45 hours to an hour for some folks Well my first experience was not unlike yours we showed up on Thursday didn't know what we were doing went in had a great time everybody left with me I stayed late Not processing that my camp area was going to look totally different because it's Thursday and people are coming in and it's going to be right and it's going to be dark I wandered around for a couple hours it felt like until finally I was walking back to sleep in center and all of a sudden I saw my RV like a beacon in the night I mean have you ever been of course I'm calling my friends their phones are either dead or turned off they're not listening if I wanted to never come back again and then but you figure it out right and I was never camp or either for sure But this is the part of the bond route thing that I actually have turned around to love so much it's that first story that first year than the second year you get a little better at it and didn't matter if you started in 2013 or I started in 20 you know 2003 or so you know it didn't matter That first year is always such a you know mind screw and then the next year you get a little better and the next year you figure it out and then by then you're so hooked that it doesn't matter what happens Yeah I think you even commented last year when we were up there how it felt smaller or just different and I had to remind you it's because we've been 15 times we know pretty much where the you know all the Yeah for a new person their mind is like what in the world Disney world have I just put myself in but the people that work at Disney world know every step around the place I wonder how many times people have crawled into the wrong tent at three and four in the morning I had a kid try to crawl into mine last year at two or three in the morning Yeah I bet he tried to Left his shoes right outside Luring young ones into your tent late at night Yeah well I had the candy trail How many people in your group you said six? It varies a little bit but it's usually been about six we've had five or six almost every year and it's the RV is always completely full and it's about that amount Yeah that's pretty cool we have ours varies we've had what 20 to I mean in the heat of like Saturday morning there are people in our camp that I just don't I don't know who you are I have no idea who you are but you're eating all my food and you're taking all of my things so help yourself I guess I have no idea You said you go to several right? I did Compare I mean we talk about all the time the Bonnaroo being a camping it makes it so different but you know you experience a lot of the other ones how do you compare? You had Firefly 2013 or 2012? 2012 and then again I think it was 2015 we did a few of us not the whole crew did Bonnaroo Firefly back to back we took the RV from Manchester to Dover Wow Yeah and that was a great comparison for your question Barry because I mean they're all great in different ways but the reason we come back to Bonnaroo is the crochet answer it the experience the people and the I mean like nothing against Firefly it's beautiful we had a great time the lineup was maybe the best lineup I've ever seen Is that the McCartney year? It was McCartney and it was Morrissey and I'm a huge Morrissey guy No kidding I forgot Morrissey was there I mean it had all kinds of stuff but everyone's nice but it's just a totally different feel it feels more like you're going to a bunch of concerts where Bonnaroo feels like an experience and you know like I go to Hangout every year Hangout is beautiful they've got the VIP thing I mean it's worth paying up That's exactly right It's banked in obviously you're not getting it for free but the alcohol and food is all part of it you're sitting in swimming pools there's viewing areas I mean just being on the beach there would be great and there's music but why do you sweat it out in Bonnaroo and you know work to get there and all that stuff even if the lineup may not be my favorite it's because of the entire experience there's nothing even close and the camping is what makes it great and I was like I mean I never had a chance to go to Bonnaroo It was great and I was like I never had any interest in camping I mean before festivals you couldn't have paid me to do it but it really made me understand at least under this version I do it I mean I realize a lot of people are going to hear this and say you know being in an RV with an electro hookup is not doing Bonnaroo and I'm not saying that I agree it's probably not it works for me And that's the part of like the experience year after year after year is trying to figure out how it works for you. Yeah that's exactly right. Some people work really well in GA and love every second of it there are people that camp with us that would prefer to be in GA. Yeah. Now that they have the plazas and everything that they have out there like there are people that would spend more time in GA than spend time backstage with us and that's fine by me you know you really just got to find your niche and find your people you find anybody you meet anybody at Bonnaroo you come back to it or every year that you only see a Bonnaroo. You know we really haven't other than our core group. I mean we always make lots of friends and we'll end up hanging out with people at shows. I mean a bunch of things are running through my head of times but it is kind of like ships passing in the night and then it seemed like for the most part we've ended up seeing people again. I ask that because I wonder if it's the same guy every year that walks around because I was looking through some of my photos from the years past and I keep taking the same photo of the same sign every year and I wonder if it's the same guy holding the sign I eat ass. I'm dying to know that's the same guy every year. Oh yeah it's my thing. I did that first. I was the guy that had the I eat ass first sign. Everybody else is copying me. I get that question all the time Timothy people will say you camp you know looking I mean I'm 56 so I'm sure it's part of the reason they ask but some people just don't camp but we are due to look at day over 56. I appreciate that a lot. It means it means a bunch. But you know you figure it out. I bring two air mattresses which are key. We have a Bloody Mary tent which we talk about all the time. It's not exactly roughing it. You know we have a tent just for Bloody Marys. We have a tent just for a kitchen. We have you know I am a diva among all I mean of all the divas in the world I am the top of the top. I've got a Florida ceiling mirror ceiling fans you know I've got to have 700 square feet of carpeting. It's ridiculously stupid. Yeah so I mean we make it we make the best of it and I think that's what people what we what we have learned for people going for their first time they'll ask don't bring too much. I mean I think people over pack. We bring too much. We do. But I mean you don't need to bring everything to eat. It's going to go bad. There's plenty of good food inside Santa Cruz. So that's one of those things. I remember my daughter and a couple of her friends went and they spent 12 months making lists and I kind of did too. And then you learn you know you don't need that. You do need that. Right. But here's here's the secret about these lists that people make and I see a whole lot of them on on Reddit. And the reason they're making the list is not because they're like super anal it's because they're just excited. There's some you're just wanting to like talk about it and think about it like I've got to move soon. Right. And I started packing like three weeks ago. I don't need to pack for another two weeks. But I'm doing it now because I'm just excited to go. I'm ready to get going. You know I get that. And the lists are fun and reading and listening to podcasts and you know getting other people to experiences. But it's it's again you don't have to pack like you're going to the you know Alaska for six months or whatever. That's how you and I are different. I. Other Africa. I feel like I feel like I can't take enough. Like I want to keep bringing more things you know I want to get like the deal for like camp is I want to keep making this experience not just more comfortable for me. But I want you to remember when you walked into our camp you know our our buddy Lord taco who you know is our is our producer of the show. He brings the the Volkswagen bus. And if you know if our marquee wasn't the thing that that reminds you of the camp. The Volkswagen bus is going to. Yeah. And if it's not the Volkswagen bus it's going to be everybody's giant cartoon heads on a stick. And that's the reason why we have like 20 people that we don't know end up on Saturday morning hanging out with us. That's what I like about it. You know let me let me clarify what you're talking about is the glamping type of stuff. And I agree with that. We do we bring like last year we brought a mailbox which I still think is pretty fun for no reason whatsoever. Just a real. It was funny. I'm talking about like the essential type of things or you know the overpack clothes or they overpack food or things like that. So are you are you telling me that I shouldn't bring my bunny outfit. You're telling me I can't bring my bunny onesie. You know what we didn't bring a robes. We never did do that. We didn't bring a robe. No. Turns out here's the thing about the road party in especially late at night. It's a little too cold for a robe. It's pretty chilly at night. I don't want to be tracing around the campgrounds and center route in a robe. What's the essentials that you bring. Is it the same thing every year. Very basic and pretty boring. In fact I do listen to you. You all talk about your camp and we probably need to up our game in terms of a lot of the things you were just talking about. It's for us. It's it's t shirt shorts or bathing suits comfortable shoes hats sunglasses and you're getting pretty close to the end of the list. You got a camp name. You got a camp name. You got a you got a guy that that operates the whole thing. You got a camp leader. What do you got. Well we that's it. We don't have a camp name. So we need to work on that in terms of camp leader. We really do have like a like I was talking about. Everybody has a role like I'm an obsessive by nature. I go through and figure out all the shows we think we're going to go to. I go to set list FM. Really. Setlist preferably a festival setlist where a band has done it before. Not the regular one. And I put all of them on Spotify. So anybody in our group if they want to listen to it. They can hear the whole setlist will be there. You know somebody's thinking they want to take a break and they're like what songs coming on next. And I can use the obsessive bar. You've got a spreadsheet ready to go every time you go to a show. I've never heard this before. It's an illness but it is what it is. You know you got to know who you are. And that's why. So we've got me handling that. We've got other people handling getting the RV there doing the grocery shopping. But it's a kind of everybody knows this is your strength. This is my strength. This guy maybe is just here to have a good time. And we all work on it kind of together. So do they come to you and they're like OK I don't know who I use her a lot. Yola is. Are you the guy that's that's trying to you know you know put the pin in the cushion explaining who Yola is. Is that your role. Right. So usually it starts with the bands that I'm interested in I know or other people say hey have you heard Yola. I don't have any idea. What's that. OK. Well let me check it out and I'll make the setlist for the act. And then we'll all listen to it and kind of decide as you all have said many times as you can imagine then we get to Bonnaroo and the plan goes out the window. I was gonna say we have a we have a spreadsheet guy too. And it first of all it gets it wrong. Well yeah because he sleeps till six o'clock in the afternoon every day. It's it wrong. And then and then we we go to none of it. So when you when you make this when you make your spreadsheet or or your Spotify playlist you're taking all of your people to these shows. They don't like branch off and go somewhere else. We do have some branching off. It depends. There's sometimes there'll be people in the group that have a little bit different musical taste than me and they'll branch off more. Some are not as much you know the music nerd that I am and so they kind of just follow me. And but then if they don't like it they'll leave halfway through or if there's something else they want to do they'll do it. But sometimes they'll just kind of take my word for it. And especially as we're leading up to Bonnaroo there'll be things that we're getting really excited about that we'll share and say hey you have to check out this band. Here's the playlist or start with this song first. And then they may have when the lineup came out never heard of the band. But by the time it's go time they know it doesn't matter. So if you if you're making a playlist and a Spotify list and a spreadsheet for us where are you going. Where are you taking us to. Here. Yeah. Well I will tell you I'm kind of I love that everybody is so excited about this line. I love that. And I love that it is a Bonnaroo lineup like last year. I tried so hard with fish. I really did. We did. I knew I couldn't get into it but I love that they were there. Yeah I gave it. I gave it. I gave it you know 50 minutes and two songs. I gave it the time. I gave it a close to an hour and I just couldn't get there. Well you must have heard one of the short ones if they got two and. Yeah. I did. The one I heard was an hour and a half and I think they were still going when I walked off. But this lineup for me is not a lot of bands that I listen to a lot and I love. It's not one of my favorite. But I'm not worried about that at all. One thing we figured out you know we used to fret about lineups and then we figured out it didn't matter. And like if you were to ask me my favorite shows. All of them are ones that have the element of surprise. Going into it I was like I don't know if I'm going to love this or when the lineup came out I was like oh man that band. And then I got into it. So I don't know anything about Tool. I've given it a little bit of a try. It feels like we're going to have a fish situation on our hands with Tool but I'm going to try it. I'm very excited about Lizzo. And I know as you are as well. I have nothing to say. I love Young the Giant which I don't know how much you all have talked about them. I love the Alabama Shakes so Brittany Howard's going to be great. Vampire Weekend, Tame and Paul. I mean there's plenty of bands I like. It's not a lot of my kind of wheelhouse bands. What's your wheelhouse? Well my favorite band I mean Springsteen is number one for me. The Killers are right there with it. It's probably whatever it means alternative these days. I love LCD Sound System. That was a total Bonnaroo find. You would think I'm of the age that that probably should have been right in my wheelhouse. When they were put on the lineup I was like oh I'll check this out. That was one of my all time favorite Bonnaroo shows. In 2016 or before? Yeah because you weren't there in 2010. Yeah I mean that one is like Jack White in 2014 I think is the best show I've ever been to. And again I'm not a big Jack White guy at least going into that. But you know it had the Tennessee flavor to it. He played a long time. He had this whole thing he was doing where he kept saying you know if you haven't got something better to do I'll keep playing. And everyone was calling for 7H and Army and he finally got it right at the end. I mean that was a great one. He had that element of surprise. I love the National. I love the Ava Brothers. Last year had a lot of bands I really you know were right in my wheelhouse. Future Islands, Walk the Moon, Morrissey. So there's stuff here but it wouldn't have been. I've seen a lot of lineups I absolutely love this year. This one is not as high up the list as some but I want to go to Bonnaroo and that trumps any lineup for me. I wish I had my phone or the lineup in front of me I could go through a couple of things with you and suggest something but I'm going to I'm going to throw something at you that you might like a lot. And I'm stunned as to how much I like it. This Ed O'Brien set is going to be phenomenal. EOB. Yeah he's from Radiohead and he's doing like a cross of Radiohead and Tame Impala. But it sounds to me like you really like a lane that's pop alternative. And you know he's got a little bit of that. This song that we started the show with it is phenomenal. Shrengar Lha. He did his first show in Chicago. His second show in Chicago. This Bonnaroo show is going to be one of those things that you look back like oh my god this has turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be. I think he's got something man. This show is going to be one of the sleepers. The sleepers to check out. And I feel like if they put it on at a time early afternoon not going to be a lot of people there because I don't think a lot of people are making the connection that especially guys like us and you know the people who listen to the show will know who Ed O'Brien is and EOB because we figured it out. But I don't know if there's going to be a lot of like you know right. We had to figure it out. We had to figure it out. We're like you know whatever. And then the next day I think we were what. I would check that out. I will make an obsessive set list and then I will share with my friend. Well he's only done two shows. So I don't know if there's going to be much of a set list but he did the entire album at Lincoln Hall last night. We're doing this on a Sunday. So Saturday night he did a second show Lincoln Hall. I mean this this guy's good. He's really good. I was stunned as to how good the show was. Where does that obsessive. Does it intersect with the element of surprise. When you were talking about being obsessive. You can almost do too much study and you know 100 percent. I think so. And you know like I got to see the killers at Bonnaroo and it was great. And that's like one of my favorite bands at Bonnaroo. But I think there is something where I've seen the killers probably 30 times. They are one of those bands that plays all the hits. So it doesn't change that much. Where when you aren't as prepared you know it does kind of set my obsessiveness to the side in a way that is freeing and liberating and makes it more fun. And with something like LCD it was like I had been listening to the music but I just didn't totally know what I was getting into. When the big go ball comes out and it's you know the whole thing is just amazing. I think that really is what what does it is to kind of set some of that aside. I think that that LCD sound system show in 2016 was was damn near one of the greatest shows ever seen in my life. I mean I have been waiting to see them for over a decade. And that moment was was one of the glorious glorious moments I've ever had a Bonnaroo and LCD is not for everybody. I get it. I know there are people that dog him out. But else he's outside of Alabama shakes my favorite band on the planet. And that was as euphoric as I felt. And why I'm so excited excited to see tame this year is because tame and Paula got no favors to me. I mean they were given no favors going literally from the what to the which that year I had to go from the greatest experience I had ever had a Bonnaroo with LCD sound system outside of McCartney. And then I had to go with tape and Paula and I'm like whatever. I felt really bad about tame. I was like this is a great band. This is a great show. But I just don't care. I'm so at a high from from LCD sound system. So that's why I'm excited to go back and see tame because I sort of missed half of it the first time go around. That right. And I share your concern. I mean the which stage has always been a battle for us. And it took us a while to figure out why. Like we but but there is something with the sound over there. The sound is not good. Coming from LCD and it's really not good. And I don't know exactly what the deal is. But they have this on the side. I guess it's so far the side is where the VIP viewing area is. And you know that show was crowded. We're running over from LCD. So we come and we stand in there. And yeah I mean that's a great band. I've seen them. I love tame. But man it was not the experience. I think this year is going to be awesome. Well that's why that's why I'm sort of bummed out that you know we can't ask these people everything. But I'm really bummed out that we never got around to asking Brian and Steve what exactly are the changes for the witch. I mean if one thing that we missed that I'm more irritated about is when we talk to Steve and Brian is not asking more about what the actual changes in the which were. Now I appreciate the screen. I appreciate you know them putting some stuff into the which stage in years past. I have had an argument with the sound guy the which stage in years past. Because of how inadequate it feels when I go from tent to tent to the what stage which is the best sounding stage I have ever seen. You've been to a lot of festivals you've you've seen. I've never heard a better stage. The sound quality for the what is unbelievable. And I can't stress that enough to anybody who thinks that we're just Bonnaroo you know groupies. The reason why we are like this is because it's so well done. The what stage sounds better than any stage I have ever heard in my life. And then you know you're like I'm going to go to the next stage. And then you can go to the which where it sounds damn near like you just forgot about it sometimes. And I know a lot of it has to do with the artist and a lot of it has to do with you know a million of other. There's so many things that go into it. I get it. But boy there's just something that just misses in that space sometimes. And I it really bums me out. I mean actually the best show I ever saw at the which was like 14 years ago 13 years ago is the yeah yeah yes. I mean the only time that you can get sound that goes that far into the into the the field is just hard driving guitars. Anything else that's got intricacies. It just gets lost in the ether out there. So I do have one little trick which I hate to give away because if lots of people do it is going to go away. But the trick I figured out for the which is to if you really want to see somebody get there early get in the pit line and get the pit. Now that that's not going to change the sound totally. You're you're so close and in it that it seems to overcome some of those other issues. And when I'm in the pit there I've really been pretty happy. It's when I'm away from the pit. That's right. That's where I started to the trees. When you get to the trees are behind the soundboard. Things just get lost. That's right. That is one of the things. And we haven't talked about it much since since Jeff Quay are I guess told us about it. But the traffic is there is there focus and then fixing the which and we'll have to follow up to see what's going on. Follow up to see what exactly they're going to do about that. I mean I think when they sort of move some of the staging around and opened it up it seemed to help the flow getting around. But I'm not sure it helped the sound so much. Maybe that's what they're having to deal with. Yeah. You're not. I mean you're asking the wrong guy. I know nothing about sound. All the only thing I know about sound is how I hear it. And I don't know how to fix it. I don't know. This stuff is somebody else's deal. I have no idea how this works. Me either. I'm hoping it's working. I just worry about my hair looking OK. I worry about the same thing. He looked good. Look good. I do have a pretty good shine on the head here with the open. Y'all can take that out and post you know. We'll talk to our people. We'll get there guys. All right man. What else. Thank you for being a patron. Oh yeah. And by the way as a patron many of the patrons get one of these which I'm very excited about. This is a mixtape in our what podcast specially designed box a mixtape from. We've gone back and forth on whether or not you get me Barry or Lord Taco I sort of now get in the poem just send them all three. Yeah. And then it's and then you guys will realize how much better mine is than all of these two people. OK. I just wanted to say that this show with you guys sort of answers the question as to whether or not we can be bought. And so here we are. Yeah. Dad needs a new golf shirt. The answer is a resounding yes. Now we truly appreciate you guys. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Not not just being patreons but listening. I mean it's it's me. And that's like if there's if there's a show that you absolutely have to go to that you're going to take your entire campsite at which ones are going to be this year. What's the absolute go to. Well it's going to be Lizzo because my campsite is definitely not on the surface going to be excited about that. And I really think last year the example of that was they had no interest in Post Malone and I got into Post Malone because of the line up into them before. But I dragged everybody there and they had an amazing time. And I Lizzo is going to be like that too. Or even if they're not sure it's their thing it may not be what they queue up when they're in the car. I think that's going to be the people are going to talk. It's just going to be it's going to be nonstop fun. I was going to say if you find the one show that you all go to we'll join you but we're not going to find you Lizzo. We're not going to find you there. Although that is another trick and my friends are really going to be upset about me giving this trick away. But I mean my my biggest regret of Bonnaroo is I was literally walking away as Paul McCartney was playing Hey Jude and I did get to make it up because I've seen him several times. But we were so overwhelmed. It was year one. We get to what stage we're like there's 80,000 people here like we can't there's ants down there. What we figured out is you go to the left side of the stage and down to the front. Can't say that out loud. Can't say that out loud. It's going to irritate people. But if you end up down finding yourself left of stage maybe we'll see you Lizzo because we will be down there for sure. Yeah that McCartney Hey Jude moment I told the story before the Hey Jude moment was unbelievable because if I'm I was literally standing behind a group of people and the guy dropped down to one knee and asked the girl to marry him during Hey Jude and I just oh god I lost it. I absolutely lost it. And then the fireworks right? Yeah live and let die fireworks. That kid was living right. Oh no it wasn't Hey Jude. I'm sorry it wasn't Hey Jude. It was it was maybe I'm amazed. I screwed it up. Either way I was crying during Hey Jude too so it didn't matter. I was crying through the whole show. What do I know? We learned some lessons. We got to see I know you guys have talked about petty. We saw petty but again we were like at the very back of the what and you know we were totally disconnected. We finally now figured out a little bit about how to get a better spot there. Well Timothy thank you so much for for listening being Patreon and enjoying the show and talking about her with us. That's what we love. We love talking about her. So hopefully we'll see on the farm buddy. Yeah, thank you. I love. Oh I really was happy to contribute to it and it's become my favorite podcast. I mean I was I obsessively you know the update waiting for it to drop so it's my favorite. Thanks. Thanks man. We appreciate it. It's very thanks for doing. Very humbling. Appreciate it buddy. See you soon. All right. Take care guys. Timothy from Dallas a Patreon a Patreon centric episode here on the what podcast today just so that we can talk to you the Bonarovian and some of our patrons who have been so gracious to to help us out along this way and they're going to get some stuff along the way like this this this this mixtape that from you me and Lord taco mixtape that interesting to hear and we'll hear more from Liesl but how people get there and how they can't he does RV with his buddies he flies in they drive the RV she flies in and did tent camping for a while. I mean I know right I mean that that confounds my brain. She is a dedicated dedicated woman. Yeah. And she loves this. I mean like I love the idea of talking to somebody who is an absolute dedicated musical discovery person because that's what we feel like we are and where I think that the festival does best with people who are really really trying to expand their palette. Well to that end to you'll hear her say she has to test people gives them a test. I love that part. I love that part. Let's think some other patrons as well. Jason Hazel Baker Chloe how Lucy Young Phil Hanley Dan Sweeney Dustin Garragh Chelsea Davis Ella Frank Swanson Linda Dole's David Grimes Bill Ryan Matthews and Sean McCarthy and William Wilhoyt. Thank you for your patronage on Patreon. Let's get into a part two. We've got Liesl from Seattle calling in now on the What Podcast. So we are talking to Liesl. Sounds like diesel. Leslie. Yeah and I keep saying Leslie I apologize. I've really screwed that up. I have really blown it. When you have a lifelong name like that you kind of deal with it. Who's who's your friend there. Who do you. This is Leo. Hi Leo. My cat's name is Leo. I know I've got a black cat named Leo. Awesome. And weirdly enough my middle name is Liesl. It's so strange. How in the world did that happen. World collide. Thank you for doing this. Yeah of course. Thanks for listening too. Yeah no kidding. Why. So this is really early for you. You where. Where. I'm sorry. You're where. Where are you. Seattle. You're in Seattle. So you come from Seattle to Bonnaroo every year. Yeah. No kidding. Cat muted the whole thing. Get a cat. That's cool. Cat is my spirit animal right now. DJ Leo is right here. I think I'm fine. She's that is hysterical. I like the sweatshirt. Do you get that. Do you get that there. Nice. Many roos ago I thought you know I should go full on roos so I have my necklace and my sweatshirt. But I've been doing Bonnaroo for a few years now. Well in a second we're going to show you Barry's ass tattoo. It's really good. Wait till that happens. It just gets uglier and uglier. How many of them have you done. Let's see. 2008 was my first. So I'm coming up on my ninth. Wow. Good. That's good. Yeah. I guess we talked to Timothy just now about how he comes from Dallas. I guess you fly to you fly as well. Yeah I fly. I pack everything. All my camping gear and my two suitcases. So ultra light. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a group of people that you meet every year there or. How does it work for you when you come from Seattle. Well now I do. So 2008 was my first and then after that I took a hiatus and then I got laid off from my job. I'm like screw it. I'm going to Bonnaroo. And so at that time it was info roo was the only kind of chat medium that you had. So I'm kind of a nerd. So I'm on the computer researching everything I can and reading through all the chat. So I went by myself with all of my camping gear and my two rolling suitcases and showed up at infoware intent only. And so I made friends. Yeah. Yeah. Is that normal behavior for you to venture out on your own like that or was it just for this normal. Yeah. It's pretty bold brave. Yeah. Well I mean it's kind of like why not. You know I felt really comfortable with the messaging that had been going on an info roo and what was the worst that was going to happen. Right. Camping by myself but I knew Bonnaroo I'd been there once. Everyone was great. So why wouldn't I be fine. So you know I rented a car. I asked for family camping so I didn't get put out into quarantine which at that time was like pods one and two. People used to get stuck out there and not be able to get into tent only until Thursday. So we called it quarantine. Yeah. Yeah. And so I asked for family camping walked right up 5 p.m. on a Wednesday. I was there setting up my tent and I'm like OK. And then all of a sudden these info roo people showed up. But that is phenomenal. Yeah. I mean that's that that that is essentially the story of this whole festival and that you're just you're just going to find the people that you belong with no matter what you're going to find the experience that you belong with. You know if you're open you're if you're open to it it will find you no matter what was it that experience and that type of thing that wanted you made you come back or was it an act or particular lineup. It's never about the line. Yeah it's so we keep hearing that. It's so it's it's never. Yeah it's kind of an interesting thing because you know I mean I met these people and now you know you become these lifelong friends you hear that story over and over again. You know I I find music I love in the lineup every year and I happen to be friends with. You remember that you guys once did a podcast with Randy who was the recorder you know. Yeah. Yeah. He's got right. Yeah we met him at the Warren treaty show. Yeah. Yeah. He's sending me files. He's terrific. Yeah. Yeah. I'm friends with him and his group. So I have that group of friends. I have info roo. I have some super group friends and you know just over time you know through the Randy group I've really kind of dug into the undercard. And so I love that. I just you know I find I look at this year's lineup. I'm more into the undercard than the top two. If you if you've been going to 2008 you took a little sabbatical and you came back and you're doing it because not the lineup and you're doing because the experience and the people and what it does for your soul. I imagine. What is the what was what was the artist. What was the show that that got you even if it was even if it was a main stage act. Do you have a moment that that hit you that was that was musical. Well OK. In 2008 there were two. There was I decided being such a Pearl Jam fan at that time I would wait in line all day for the Pearl Jam show working my way through Ozell Motley B.B. King Jack Johnson and getting to Pearl Jam. So the Pearl Jam show in 2008. That was the year that Jack brought Eddie onto the stage with him when he was playing by himself. Yeah. Yeah. And so that year also the RAC on tours that two o'clock show of the RAC on tours whatever day that was face melted. I'm like cemented. You had a phenomenal what stage lineup that year. I mean that I mean just B.B. King alone. You just sat there in the in the sun you know I remember that you're being very very hot. I remember being insanely hot. And when you and for some reason Jack Johnson was a fill in that year was he not. Yeah. He showed up because he he was not on the lineup. He showed up by himself because he was filling in from somebody who just canceled. I think that was Mumford and Sons. That was after that was it. That was later. OK. Playing with A.L.O. his friends A.L.O. were on on campus. It's not campus. I think that was another year that Mumford the guy had some heart problems brain problems canceled and they put on Jack Johnson which I was happy because I could nap in the campground with some background music. But yeah I mean 2008 it was great. The following year I went to Coachella and said in 2009 it was different. I mean it was what you looked like and what you wore and it was just a different scene. Well walk me through walk me through how it's a closer trek for you from Seattle to L.A. and India. But tell me what it was like when you got there. Was it a camping experience with you. Did you run a house. Did you find people to stay with. I'm so confused about the Coachella thing of all the major festivals in the country. It's the only one I haven't been to and I'm very confused about how it works. Well at that time they didn't have camping at Coachella in 2009. So I'm originally from Redlands California which is about an hour from Palm Springs. So I still had some friends down there and they lived in La Quinta which is right there by the Polo Grounds. So my friend Nancy who was my Bonnaroo buddy my first year she and I went down there to Coachella and just wanted to check it out. It had been on the list and you know I knew someone so it was pretty easy to get there and no camping required. And that made it kind of a no brainer. Nowadays I don't know what the camping experience is like. I don't either. The only people I know that ever go get a house. That seems so strange and I know we glamp and I know that we set it up really stupidly and make a fool out of ourselves but it's not a house with a pool and beaver three doors down. You know we did it at forecast. We got the house and yeah but of all that that's a city festival right. Yeah Coachella is not a city festival but yet you have to operate like it's a city festival and that's the craziest craziest thing. I think that's why you can't really get a feel of the culture and the soul like you get a Bonnaroo because you still had to go to somebody's house at the end of the night and drive however long or drive back to L.A. or drive to a house that you've rented for four thousand dollars. You know it's it's just doesn't doesn't really doesn't really ever get into you right. It just doesn't hit the same nerve. I mean so I feel like you know it's so dark and rainy up here. I hit June and it's like yes it's my hippie dippy vibe new music. I love it in June and then my past has been to kind of then in September go to Riot Fest in Chicago to kind of get a little more punk and a little more to get me through the dark winter. So that has tended to be my my my music. So I recently been going to Picathon in Portland which is like takes all of the undercard of Bonnaroo but I don't know why I need the hand. It takes all of the undercard and moves it into one festival with about 3000 people. Really. I actually don't know Picathon is it like who's who's there. Who is there. Well last year while the Warren treaty was there the same year that they were at Bonnaroo Alton Goon and Madhu Mokdar played last year. Jen Cloer Courtney Barnett's girlfriend was playing there so Courtney Barnett was there and had people like Phil Lesh. You've had people like some Austin Texas acts like the Black Pumas were there two years ago. So I mean I feel like those are some pretty solid acts. No kidding. And you do you take these you even like go see them when they're at Bonnaroo or you're just like I've seen it. It depends. Warren treaty you don't miss. I mean you know Alton Goon. Okay. It was a great show. I've seen him at Picathon. I there's a conflict. I you know and it depends where I am on the farm how far I have to work what my alcohol content is and what you know all of those factors that play into what you're going to do. Do you make a list or you like all of us you make a list because it's something that by the time and then you get there and you throw it out. Oh gosh my friend Lindsey he was part of roof it. He makes a grid an Excel spreadsheet that and then he sends it to me and we highlight green means must see yellow means maybe orange means I don't know what I'm going to do. And then he laminates it and we can wear it around our necks and it's about kind of that big. And so you know last year just looked like a whole bunch of color everywhere. And I have a feeling this year is going to be the same. Yeah that Friday alone. That's true. That's a really funny way of putting it together. Like I wonder if there is you know a level even higher than must see and like five alarm fire like you have to like you cannot if anything that you see this year it has to be who. Oh anyone that I have to see this year. Oh don't make me do this. Well my my it is really hard and mine's you know I don't really know who mine is yet either. I don't know who mine is. Yes I do. It knows Yola. It's you know I've seen like 15 times at this point. I know I'm going to see the show. It's not going. I'm not going to miss it. But you'll let me is like the one I've been waiting for and dying to see this entire this entire time. She's got just this this beautiful beautiful connection of of country and soul. If a little bit of war and treaty a little bit of Tammy Wynette a little bit of you know Dan Arbok I love and puts it all together into a package that's you know you know spiritual and soulful. Oh God I love this woman so much. I love her so so much. Yeah I'm the one for me and I have a feeling it's going to be the one that I'm going to say I have to go to and then I'm going to hear. Here we go is going to be the the talking heads thing which I know you keep making fun of me about but I really want to see if you can believe that I did not make fun of you about it. I was just absurd. It thought it was absurd when you saw the lineup and we were like wow our eyes popped out of our head. You went to Turquoise and not Miley Cyrus. I said we already talked about it. I stand by it. That's the one I'm excited about. OK. And Miley my I think Miley is going to be really I least be pretty up there for me. I mean when I look at this lineup and I've seen a lot of kind of the larger acts over the years you know you kind of get seen vampire weekend. I've seen. And so that's why I'm excited for for like a Miley for Lizzo which I heard the 2016 show and didn't see. Yeah well you know that was everybody. That was everybody. I mean you find me somebody that actually went to the Adele show you know 10 years ago. Yeah I'll give him a hundred dollars. It just didn't. It just didn't. I'm not doing that by the way. But you know it's just like I got excited. We got we just we just have these things and like nobody knew who Lizzo was then. And if you did go you were super underground and just happened to stop by. I can't imagine anybody like you have to go see Lizzo in 2015 or whatever. I just don't. I don't know if that really was a thing. Yeah this this is an interesting lineup for me because of the top has more acts that I want to see than sometimes in the past. Miley Cyrus Lizzo. But I've really have gotten into the discovery thing. That's the part about Bonnaroo that I really like coming home with an act that I'd never heard of that's now you know on play all the time. Bahamas for me still I listen to that all the time. Never had heard of him before before seeing it. And those are Warren Treating. I mean golly. That was golly bum. Golly bum. Do you whittlers. Every act has two shows at Picathon. So you have two. No kidding. Yeah. So you get to see them on a main stage and then maybe a smaller wood stage. And yeah. So I mean that year was three Warren Treating shows. So that was pretty fantastic. I'm excited to see Camp. Camp was at a Picathon last year. Colony House. I'm excited to see them. I saw them do an in-store show in Seattle when I was working for Filson for a bit. So I'm excited to see them. Oliver Tree. I'm kind of curious about that. This is interesting. The struts are great. So you know here's what's interesting is you live in a city that you're getting these kind of things come through all the time. And even if you don't you live within you know one hundred and fifty two hundred miles that you could go to on a pretty easy basis. Right. You could go to Portland if you really wanted to. It's weird that you choose Bonnaroo. Which is twelve hundred miles away. God knows how many miles away it is. And those are the bands that you're talking about seeing. I mean Camp Oliver Tree those things are probably coming through Seattle every week. But you know it's a school night. And it's an hour drive up to Seattle and they play until eleven or twelve and I have a day job. So you know. Good point. Good point. Good point. I get it. And I make this point all the time. It's just something that's different about Bonnaroo and the fact that it's it's all right there. And that's why you're there. You're there to go see music. I mean it's an hour drive to Seattle but it's also a 45 minute walk to Centaroo. So it's just a school night. And a school night. I mean that's a legit you know that type of thing. Life gets in. And you have a cat. You got to get home to that cat. Well the cat is self sufficient. You know someone checks in once in a while but I have an automatic feeder. Feeds it twice a day. That's how I treat Barry. What day do you get. Do you get to Manchester. Do you get there Wednesday or Thursday morning or is it Barry. It varies if I'm doing tent only I've gotten there typically Tuesday. Spent the night somewhere and then into Manchester by about 10 a.m. Really. Yeah. So that way I can get in line to kind of get in early enough and not have to deal with any traffic. Where do you usually stay on Tuesday. Most years I've done Nashville itself. OK. Yeah I got you. Last year we did. Murphy's Borough I think we did. Yeah. Because we did VIP last year and I'm doing VIP again this year. So but my daughter's graduating from high school so I won't get in. I'm taking a red eye flight Thursday night. Whoa. Friday. So I'm sad to miss several acts on Thursday but. Yeah I was gonna say you're not doing the tent. So I was going to ask you know they're moved that they moved the tent only. I think you're gonna say they moved the hill because they did. They did. They totally moved the hill and they moved the which. Thank you. I guess you fence the which stage and angled it differently. See. See. This is why we're connected you know by the universe. Cats cats. Yeah. All right. Same name. I'm being. I'm being ganged up on here. What was the decision to go VIP for you versus 10 only. Was that. I mean was that a have to kind of thing or you just want to experience or. Well I had 2008 I actually my first year did VIP so I knew what was it was all about. And last year you know I usually travel by myself. It's like my hodge my pilgrimage and I don't have to worry about what you want to go see. I don't know what you want to go see. None of that. So but I brought my friend from West Hollywood to come with me. She was a bottom virgin last year. And so she wouldn't do anything but VIP. How did she do. She does pretty well. She was you know until you experience Bonnaroo no matter what you say no matter what tidbits of knowledge about. Listen there's going to be a point where you do not want to hike back over to this tent because you're over at the VIP hill or you're over at the main stage. And there's no way no matter how badly you want to see that act and you know until you experience it and the vibe you just don't know no matter what. So she loved it and she's coming back except I've connected her with my friend Lindsay and she's going to come in Wednesday and actually go out to RV. And then wait for me to come in on Friday and then we'll do the VIP. You know I just sit in here thinking if I had to describe it to somebody who had never been. I don't know that I don't even know where I would start. You know what I mean. If you had somebody that you really wanted to go that lived in West Hollywood. Yeah I mean we didn't want to camp. Yeah I would have a hard time explaining what it was. We there is a guy that's going to go with us this year for the first time and it's because he's been hearing me tell these stories over and over and has he been approved by Camp Nutbutter. Yeah he has. But he's he's obsessed and petrified. I mean to the point of me he's got camping gear for Christmas and all this he's really wants to go he's into it but he just can't wrap his head around what this is like you know he hears me say and it's great and it's fun and we do the the Bloody Mary tent but he keeps thinking I'm not a camper you know it just. It's hard it's hard to tell somebody like her friend or tell Lindsay or tell your guy the amount of. Yeah her friend. Oh OK. Are you paying attention. No no I thought you called her Lindsay. Please. We owe Amy huh. We owe Amy West Hollywood. So it's like you can't explain the euphoria that you sense in some parts of the festival and you sure as hell can't explain the struggle sometime around Saturday morning or Friday morning when the heat has hit you and it's way too early and the heat is driving you out of your tent. There's no way to explain that struggle and she's right. Like you can't you can't explain how hard it is to get your ass up off of a field off of the ground of a field in the what stage and then walk all the way over to this tent just because you wanted to hear Pine Grove. It's impossible to explain. You just have to trust that the person that you are bringing along has you know a little bit you know less lazy than you. Well we talked about it. Lisa the ones that go to camp with us Brad and his wife go. There's a couple others where you know the couples go but like my wife doesn't go. I don't think we have any other couples do we. Tara. Oh yeah Tara and Joe. But it's don't don't go if you're not committed right. I mean it's really not a halfway kind of thing. You know I knew she would be OK because we had gone to Cal Jam in Southern California the last and 2018 where the Foo Fighters put on a two day fest and in San Bernardino. And that's where I met her and I was able to observe her being her festival behavior and I could see that she could do you know get separated for four hours come back and be fine and have a lemonade and we're good. We're golden. You know what I mean. Like you could you could kind of you can sense someone's ability versus someone who constantly needs to know what's happening. You took her through a test drive. Yeah yeah you took her for a test drive and you're like yes Carl go OK I can take this to bond or that's really really interesting. That is such a phenomenally funny way of thinking about is like the person you're going to take. You've got to put them through a little bit of a test before you're OK with them coming with you. That is hysterical. Well it makes perfect sense because we haven't really talked about this at length on the show I don't think but that would it's it would be a real drag to be with somebody who doesn't want to be there. Or who you feel like you're responsible for their entertainment. That is almost why I tell friends of mine do not bring your significant other. Yeah that's what I'm saying. Don't bring your girlfriend or boyfriend because if they're not all in and if you can't trust them to be OK with themselves if they need to go somewhere else and I want to go this way don't take your significant other. Like you may love each other. You may really love each other but you also probably don't want to be. Luckily the wife is all in on every artist that I see and she is all we have damn near the exact same taste about everything and she's got a spirit and a level and energy better than mine. So she drags me to things. That's the only way I would take somebody is if they were going to push me to go somewhere else. I would never want to trust some of our friends and some of our teammates girlfriends to go with them to this thing. It would just be miserable. Yeah it would be awful. I call it kind of like dragon dead bodies. You know it's heavy. You're trying to get it across. Yeah. You feel guilty if you left it on the road. It's like Dexter and just chop you up and throw you in the river. It's a real it's a real big deal. It's a big part of it because you know one of you wants to go out at two in the morning or not or go see this show or that show. And I know you know you go ahead. Man that's the worst. When when when the wife doesn't want to go I've got a backup. Our buddy Nick you know he drags me to things that I even then I don't want to go to but he's pushing and pushing and pushing for me to go to something. Last year you know drug us to the other at three o'clock in the morning once all the kids were back and in bed. Now dad was ready to go out go back out and see girl talk. Yeah it was a lot of fun. And in our group we don't go in mass. You know we ever. It's very rare. We might start out somewhere and then I try to find one artist one act every year that I'd want the entire camp to go to. I made everybody years ago to go to Alabama shakes because I knew it was going to be pretty special. We made everybody go to war and treaty years ago a couple years ago because we knew it was just going to be something that I think that we would all like this year. And I've said it and I'll keep saying it I'm dragging every single person to our campsite to Yola because I know that everyone in our campsites going to love her. But I feel like there's one of those every year we don't we don't have many though. I keep talking about war and treaty and I wanted to tell I got to interview them the other couple of months ago they were coming to town and I asked him I said how awesome it was when he gets down on a knee you can just feel that passion. And Michael and he said he said if I'm down on one knee in front of Tanya I've done something bad wrong. It's so much fun. I love those new shows tank in the bangas when they play Sunday morning. That's why I relate to when you say take me to church on Sunday. I want something that kind of moves me get shakes off the residue of a and just kind of writes my head. You know you like the bank show huh. Yeah. It didn't get it didn't get to like R&B for you. No. Okay. No. I'm kind of open to a lot of different kinds of music. You'd asked me 10 years ago would I be listening to country music but I've been listening to Sturgill or Margot or any of that. I would not but because of Bonnaroo and that bluegrass situation on Sunday. They used to have you know that kind of has opened my mind so I find myself listening to more genres of music than I did before. Man I've never thought about it like that before. Like you know yeah we we we tend to oversell you know maybe how how important Bonnaroo is or or AC Entertainment or festivals in general but I never thought about how I listened to artists and then it's all because of the other experiences I've had at Bonnaroo and maybe it's because I'm trying to search out where they would go in the festival or if I'd like to see them on the festival. But yeah I've never thought about how it expands my mind to like things that I probably never would have liked in the first place. Oh absolutely. I think that's that's it for me. That's when I when I first went and and my morning jacket was not a band that I would have ever found without Bonnaroo. And it's it's exactly that it became sort of a discovery thing. What what's out there that I don't know that's not going to be force fed. Yeah. But what she said what she's saying is not on the front end. It's on the back end. It's like yes you walk in discovering things. But how does it then shape how you listen to something. Yeah I know the next time that you go to discover something how does the feeling that you have a discovery on the farm then lends you to discovery when you're at Spotify in the middle of September or October before before you even know anything about Bonnaroo. How does that discovery then feed into everything else in your life. That's the part that I've never really thought about before. Well I'm surprised to hear you say that because to me that gets to the whole when you talk to Ashley Caps and thanked him for saving music. That's that to me is how I know I'm not making fun of you because I knew exactly what you were saying. He's always making fun of you. I'm like say what? Well I mean I've told this story we were at Fourcastle in the beer barn there. It was not the beer barn it was a whiskey tent. The bourbon tent sorry. The bourbon. It was just drinking. The bourbon. Yeah we started pretty early and I introduced him to Ashley and the first thing out of his mouth is thank you for saving music. I like to leave an impression. It's a funny story but I really did get what you meant and I think it's what we're just talking about. For me it going opened my mind to want to find different not just acts but genres and all of that which I think we're saying the same thing. But I mean I'm a newspaper reporter so covering music at least is what I've done. But I really was in a rut. I mean everything was just so same until going and realizing there are 90 acts on this lineup and I probably don't know 75 of them. But now I want to and so it opened up Spotify and Pandora and all that. Like Pandora is a good example. I would have never listened to music that way before where I just pick a song and then let it pick for me. OK so let me ask you this. Does that make sense? It does make sense. Is it Bonnaroo or is it culture in general and how everything has sort of just changed in the way that we. I think it's all of that. I think it's Bonnaroo but then you get Pandora and Spotify and all those. They came MP3s. I mean just it's more accessible that way than it used to be. I think. I rely on these playlists. You know what? Russ put one out. Bonnaroo puts them out. I download them to Spotify, convert them over to Apple Music so that I can just kind of start listening and getting a feel for what I like. And you know and then I do that for Pickathon and different festivals now and then I might just click on it and see where it takes me. But you seem to me as somebody like is a musical discovery person. What about the person that's not into that? I mean like that's the craziest thing is that we I think we tend to talk to each other in our bubble. But a lot of people don't really care about discovering things. They want to be told what is what is what is big. And then they just sort of follow that. And what I would hopefully I would hopefully implore on to someone is if you have a chance to say no to. I'm not dogging too loud. But if you have a chance to say no to tool save up your energy and go to some other things that may may give you may give you a little bit of a different show. I just I do I do sort of wonder if I'd love to talk to somebody who literally just goes for the headliners who would just go because they want to see three artists on that line up. And then I'd ask him why in the hell did you choose Bonnaroo because you could choose these you could choose that guy or that girl any time of the year for in any city that you want to do in a much smaller venue. And then probably have a you know you obviously don't really care about the experience. So the experience doesn't really matter to you. And then and then after they went to Bonnaroo I wonder how their mind changed. I don't know that we run into many people that don't know that they campers or the day people are probably closest that I can think of. You know that I think you know I have friends in super group. They were in info room then they formed super group. And I have people that maybe hear five bands the whole time. They just don't make it in out of super group. I know festival you know and they have you know maybe it was what dead mouse five or Skrillex or whatever it was. That might be the only reason they went in. And so for them it was just about being there with their friends and in you know the pods before the pre plaza time. You know where like super group they bring a circus tent and set up a theme every year and they have been you know enrolling stone for their encampment. And it was kind of the pre plaza camping experience. So there was no reason for people to leave unless you know all of their friends were going you know to that 5 a.m. Skrillex show at Calliope the first time. That's a really good point. And I think that's I guess that's sort of where I'm going. Like I guess we don't spend too much time with the people who are don't really give a damn about the lineup or don't really give a damn about the artists. They're literally just there to hang out with their friends and they might they might go see tool and they might go see fish. And that's about it. I think there's more and more of that especially as the plazas get better and better. You know Sharla Rubas she she's talking like I may go in and see music I may not. She just likes hanging out at their camp. So I get it. Yeah I mean I do get it and it's OK. I mean anybody can you know use their time however the hell they want to spend it. But it is a different world that we're used to. It's a totally different world. Absolutely. You said like somebody who spends you know their time seeing five acts and we have somebody in our group Brian we've had him on the podcast before. The the son of a bitch does not leave camp. I mean he would he would prefer to listen to the like give me an artist on the on the lineup. Just give me any of the vampire weekend. He would rather sit in his car at camp listening to vampire weekend than going out to the show and watching the show. It is the most bizarre way to experience this. But you know he loves everything about it. It's the best week the best week of his life every year. He's the most unhappy man in the world. But yet but yet he loves that week of monitor even though he doesn't listen to music outside of his car. The sway guy. No that's Nick. OK. Get high and sway. Yeah that's that's Nick. That's right. Brian Brian let me tell you sort of Brian he's not here so I can talk behind his back. This this guy wanted gate got a ticket for a girl that he desperately wanted to bring to Bonnaroo. And so he finagled a ticket so that she would come and so he they could watch Pearl Jam together. So Pearl Jam is there and he's ready to go. She is a huge Pearl Jam huge Pearl Jam fan. He shows up in the middle of the field. I mean this guy I don't know how he did but he snuck a cooler in. So he's got all of his Miller lights and a cooler and he's got him. He's he's let's just say very politely a little loopy out of his mind. Well he gets to the middle of the field he's got a great spot and she shows up. He's finally she's finally gotten to him. She shows up and she goes hey thanks for the ticket. He's been trying to get this girl for years and years and years. Hey thanks for the ticket. She turns on. I'm going to go meet up with my friend Gary some other dude literally turns around and leaves him within 30 seconds. The Pearl Jam shows over fireworks are going. Me and the wife walk out of the pit and we turn left and we just see poor Brian standing by himself holding an empty cooler looking at fireworks looking like. The saddest moment I have ever experienced in my life. Talk about talk about talk about a festival that would not love you back. Talk about an experience that love you back but you still keep coming back for more. Well he's a good example. I think you like to discover. I like to discover. He he puts a lot of energy into the lead up like anticipating how great something's going to be. And then he's disappointed. Yeah well happens all the time. Whereas you know some of us just go hey let's go see what happens and if it's great it's great. No he hates it. I mean over time you know I mean Japanese breakfast. I wanted to see that show and I was just kind of. Oh that show was terrible. Oh God it was terrible. The 30 minutes of dinking around a sound check for half an hour. So disappointing. Let me tell you let me tell you something about that. And I love her but that show was so bad. And I know the manager is going to get really mad at me about saying this but I saw that show. There's a there's a what is it called a trailer backstage where they do the sessions. What is that damn. It's the hay bale sessions right. So you can stand in there and watch. There's like you have maybe four or five people can stand there and watch the hay bale sessions and recording into a thing. They spent 30 minutes on the stage sound checking in the hay bale session. They spent 30 minutes sound checking to play two songs. So everything that they did on stage out in this tent was exactly what they did just a few hours earlier in the hay bale session. I remember the two people I was with I looked at them like this is not going to go well. If this is what they do on stage this is not going to go well and that's exactly what happened. Now I have heard plenty of people tell me that they've gone to other shows of theirs and it's been perfectly fine. Man that was as irritating as they got. Irritating as they got. What was the show that you love the most out of Bonner? What was the one that you that you remember the most. My morning jacket 2 a.m. 2008 with the rain. 2008 year was really good for you. Such a good year. And like I my first Bonner right. And so I took a nap. I fell asleep while Chris Rock was on stage in my tent and then woke up four songs into Metallica. And I'm like where am I what's going on. But I was trying to get a little rest because I knew like I had to see this 2 a.m. show my first 2 a.m. show you know. And it was just pretty pretty intense and amazing. I mean I have seen them now so many times since and the fact that it went for four hours. I saw two hours of that for I didn't make the whole thing. Well and it's just it was just the most amazing and intense thing that I had ever been to you know. So now it's like I've seen them in Mexico like I love like Jim James you guys were crying. I was at Jim James. I mean you know and my other friends like listen how many years John Prine has. And I'm like no I have to see James. Yeah I miss the John Prine show. I took a nap. I took a nap. I was very emotional. Sometimes you don't wake up in enough time. You gotta do what you gotta do. So you've been to a lot of boundaries you travel across country you go to a lot of festivals you see a lot of shows. What is the one tip that you'd give a newbie. Let's see the tip that I would give the newbie don't bring too much stuff. You know what I mean there's plenty of people around that can help you out. There's always an extra chair. There's always extra cooler space. Just don't lug around so much stuff and worry about everything that you're bringing and everything that you're bringing in the center. You know I mean I think people spend a lot of time and kind of get worked up in that kind of like oh my gosh I need to have my pour over coffee. That might be me but I need to have the chair and I need to have the rain boots and I need to have you know all of it. I need to have food planned for every meal. I'm like you're not eating much at this festival. Sorry. Yeah we talk about all the time the food the food is the the one thing that you just owe everybody over does. I brought I brought a grill my first year. We tried to grill up a whole bunch of nonsense and we ended up eating you know cheese sandwiches. It's like trail trail mix. It's just too much work. And plus I'll be honest with you not only is the food a lot of work to make it campsite. You really need to be really under control of the of the body. You got to be really under control of what you put in and be very careful. I don't really go too crazy thinking like barter is the place for me to eat Asian food. I don't really know if that's the best idea. I stick to the skewers by the witch stage. You know on the right side when I'm looking at the stage there's like kebabs. That's it. I stick to the Indian food. There's a one brave brave. That's really good. Like I could write by the brewers tent. I know it well. Yeah. Oh I'm not hungry. And I mean yeah. Meats it's spicy pie and cremasties. I got to get a cremastie the vegetarian jalapeno corn dog and a pizza. That's pretty much my entire diet for four days. I will have to have an Amish donut or a bite bite someone's Amish. Don't have a bite. Sounds a little dirty. Please don't say that way. Words don't always flow right. So you can imagine if I have a delightful. All right. And then thank you so much for listening. Thanks for doing this. Thanks. Thanks for embodying the Bonnaroo spirit from Seattle all the way in Washington. And that is that is pretty special. And I got to imagine if the Bonnaroo people are listening as much as they say that they listen. I mean I've dedicated people that are not just regional but are all the way in Washington and that are flying in every year. That's a big big deal. I mean we talked to Timothy earlier. He's in Dallas. So it's you know we're spoiled. We're an hour away from Manchester so it just blows my mind to think what it must take to get you here. No kidding. That's a commitment. No kidding. I love it. I suggest I'm willing to take a red eye fight this year so I don't miss. You're going to take a red eye. I'm just saying you better. You better like nap on the plane because when you show up on Friday you've got a big day on Friday. Friday is the most stacked day in the I've ever seen in a festival lineup before. Oh I know I feel the anxiety and pain right now. Please don't. Please don't. No anxiety. Please God no. It will work out. It always does. Absolutely. I'll always see some great acts. So I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. I love what you do. I listen to it and I like I just scream at you in my car when you say something and I'm going to remember. I'm going to remember to tell them yes. I'm going to remember to tell them no. But you know so be it. I hate to tweet you guys. I enjoy it so much. We thank you so much and we love the interaction. And if there's anything that I think that we have grown to appreciate and didn't. Well maybe you didn't grow to appreciate we already appreciate it but we didn't know it was going to come is sort of the we started this just to talk to each other because you know we that's all we talk about. But the amount of people that have become people that we really want to talk about this with as well is just exponentially grown by the thousands. So now we get to talk about bond with a whole bunch of other people which is honestly I mean look at him. How many how many more times do I need to talk to him about the same things. I need new blood. I need new people. Different viewpoints. You know exactly. Well thank you so much. We appreciate you. Have a great day. Bye. Bye. Bye. Among some of our patreons Timothy, Liso, we've got more to thank. Sean McCarthy, William Woodhoyt, Parker Reed, Meredith Ritman, William Richards, Ross McNamara, Evan Brown, Aaron Carlson, Timothy Proctor, Catherine Richie. Richie. Oh, Richie. Oh, Gordon Silver, Tyrone Baskett and Melanie and Jesse Feldman. You know we were talking about some artists that you know you've discovered and things that you want to see. I've recently gotten all in on this Ed O'Brien project. EOB. Go listen to Shangri-La. The album I got I sneaky got to hear it over the phone because they won't send it to me. But I got to listen. My God. This album is good. It comes out April. I am ecstatic about what this show could be. And I think it's going to be the sleeper. But I you know going through the lineup talking to Liso. Do you know this lineup is so good. I forgot Lana Del Rey was on it. I know. I know. How is that possible? I know. I forgot and run the jewels is on it. Well I've been listening. You know I did the Spotify playlist which is linked on our on the What Podcast dot com. I keep finding things and loving it. I have not spent any time with Ed O'Brien. That's going to be next probably this week. So there's a lot to find in this lineup. That's the that's the part that almost sends me into a panic panic attack. There's so much to find and there's so much that I've got to remember that's even there. I can't I you go through this thing. It's just so it's just so even across the board that when you forget that Lana Del Rey is there. I'm really worried. I'm really worried. The trick for me is going to be we've talked about before the walk bys you know I've made it a habit in past Bonnaroo's to go lay eyes on somebody to see him. There's going to be some of these where I'm going to want to stay the entire time. I mean this is why we always said Liso said it too about about not being a lineup driven thing for her. You know I almost I wonder if like I'm going to get to Saturday and remember that I really like the years where I didn't like the lineup the most. Yeah. Yeah. I can relax. I've got this feels like too much work all this already. It's what are we in February March. I'm already I'm already upset. I totally agree. It's going to take it may you know we always go with a plan and then it never happens. So I'm torn between even worrying about it and just let's get there and see what happens. So we appreciate you next week. We're very excited. Bonnaroo let is back. We just spin the wheel and we see where it lands and play some music from artists that we may or may not know. Years past we've felt we've found so many artists that we love just based on Bonnaroo. And we found friends via Bonnaroo. Absolutely. Yeah I think it's one of the funnest things we do. I'm looking forward to it. All right. Other patrons to think Haley Nick Geetman Lauren at home Joshua Herndon Brooke Tussie David Solano David Henson Schuyler. Sean McCain film I the Bonnaroo guy Justin Negro Andrew McBride Mary T and musical antlers. Whatever that is but I'm now intrigued by musical antlers one of our new Patreon. Let's say by the way you can sign up at the what podcast dot com or the what underscore podcast on Twitter. We'll see you next week. Good Bonnaroo let on the what podcast. The stories that define the artist playing who are they what are they what will you see the what which bands this year that matter. Hey Brad Steiner and Barry Carter.
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