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Bonnaroo may be taking 2027 off, but festival season isn't over. This week Barry and Russ break down the two festivals they're hitting this fall, Shaky Knees in Atlanta and CaveFest at The Caverns, and share their tips for doing each one right.
One's a city festival, one's a camping festival, and they're very different experiences. We get into the Shaky Knees lineup (The Strokes, Turnstile, Fontaines D.C., Twenty One Pilots and more), how to handle a city fest (hotels, getting around, the stages), and what makes CaveFest special - the cave stage, the amphitheater, camping in October, and the lineup up at Pelham. Plus festival news, the Good Friends Music Festival in Manchester, and how we're all still keeping Manchester in our plans.
We're also giving away two tickets to CaveFest at The Caverns (October 10-11, camping included). Details in the episode and at thewhat.co/giveaway.
If you don't win, get tickets to CaveFest here! Oct 10-11, 2026 at The Caverns
Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube. As always, subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get podcasts for weekly updates on Bonnaroo and festival news!
Topics: CaveFest, Shaky Knees
| 00:00 | Catching Up + Festival News |
| 04:04 | Good Friends Fest & Manchester |
| 07:21 | CaveFest Ticket Giveaway: How to Win |
| 09:00 | Shaky Knees: The City Festival Guide |
| 16:43 | CaveFest: The Camping Festival Guide |
| 33:00 | What's Coming Up |
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Barry (00:04)
Welcome back to another edition of the What Podcast. I'm Barry. That's Russ. It's Labor Day weekend. Russ, I I you do what you always do on a weekend, right? You went camping.
Russ (00:17)
Went camping out at the other farm, just like usual. hung out with Lindsay and some folks out there, had a good time. Yeah, it was great.
Barry (00:25)
How many folks?
Russ (00:26)
four or five.
Barry (00:27)
Okay, a little smaller at this time around.
Russ (00:30)
a little bigger than usual, actually. Yeah.
Barry (00:32)
really? Okay. I
know you've had as many as seems like ten or twenty, but maybe that was back during the the down Bonnaroo mini ruse, yeah.
Russ (00:39)
Back during the the cancellation years, yeah.
Barry (00:42)
Well speaking of, was that a topic of conversation?
Russ (00:47)
yeah, a little bit. You know, Lindsay's bummed because twenty twenty seven he's turning fifty and his Bonnarooo his his birthday is the weekend of Bonnarooo. So he's kinda bummed that he's not he was looking forward to spending his fiftieth birthday at Bonnarooo and now he's not going to, so yeah,
Barry (01:03)
Wow. Yeah.
Russ (01:06)
it it hits us all a little hard.
Barry (01:08)
Any talk of him doing another mini roo?
Russ (01:10)
Yeah, I mean we're waiting to see what what shakes out come June, you know. after talking with Ryan, it sounds like maybe maybe there might be something in Manchester there, you know.
Barry (01:21)
Yeah.
Talking about Ryan French, the city council person, our guest a couple three weeks ago. You know, I always hate to be cryptic, but talking with him and some other folks, I will say that the conversations are forward, at least. They're not definitive as far as like twenty
Russ (01:38)
Yeah, yeah.
Barry (01:39)
twenty eight, but they are at least talking, right?
Russ (01:43)
Right.
Well, I was talking about twenty twenty seven, you know, they might
Barry (01:46)
I know.
Russ (01:47)
put something together for that. And, you know, we kinda heard some some of the same things from the caverns. They they might put something together for some kind of June event. You never know. So
Barry (01:59)
Glad you mentioned the cavern. So today I think maybe a little bit sh shorter episode, but I want to get into Shaky Knees, which you're going to in a couple of weeks. So what I want to do is kind of give, as we've done with Bonarou, sort of a I don't quite know if it's do's and don'ts, because I wouldn't say we're expert in Shaky Knees or CaveFest, but we've certainly been and can offer our tips and CaveFest, the City Fest, or sh
Excuse me. Shaky Knees is a city fast. CaveFest is essentially a camping fest. And I don't know anybody that knows more about camping than Russ with the bus. So
Russ (02:39)
Ha ha.
Barry (02:40)
any other news before we get into to get into some of that?
Russ (02:44)
you know, I just
saw this is the week of Burning Man. I saw there was a couple of attendees that have passed away at the festival. I don't think they've
Barry (02:52)
Yeah.
Russ (02:53)
released names or details yet, but you hate to see stuff like that.
Barry (02:56)
They did the
the most recent death is a sixty year old man and they did give his name and I don't I
mean I
Russ (03:03)
okay.
Barry (03:03)
wouldn't know it, but that's always tragic. It's always always especially when I was writing for the paper, that was always a big question that I had to I had to call the Coffee County Sheriff in the morning and in the night, and find out, you know, traffic details and arrests and
Russ (03:24)
Right. hopefully
Barry (03:24)
Hopefully no deaths. So
Russ (03:26)
no deaths, which there have been in Bonnarooo's past. There's been a few people that have passed away. Thankfully
Barry (03:32)
Yeah.
Russ (03:33)
nobody, as far as I'm aware of, in the last few years, but it has happened.
Barry (03:38)
Yeah, gotta be careful. everything from heat, falling asleep in your tent and not getting up when the sun comes up to what, a fi asphyxiation? camping
Russ (03:48)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (03:49)
setting up your camp next to a generator or an R V exhaust.
Russ (03:53)
Yeah.
Somebody running their car at all hours with the exhaust backed up into your tent. That's not good. Yeah.
Barry (03:58)
No,
gotta be careful. and let's let's talk a little Shaky Knees. I d we just saw it's sold out. That's kind of big news.
Russ (04:08)
It is.
Yeah. Well, I was gonna before we got there, I was gonna mention this, have you s read about this Good Fest Good Friends Music Festival in Manchester in a couple weeks?
Barry (04:17)
No, no no, I have not.
Russ (04:19)
So apparently this is one they've done for nine years and it's a real small, free, family friendly, just kinda music festival. September twenty fourth and twenty fifth and twenty sixth. And you know
Not gonna lie, there's probably no name on here that you would know. This is all
Barry (04:36)
Yeah.
Russ (04:36)
this looks like smaller local bands. but it's all you know, community supported, sponsored, and that makes it free and and pretty cool. So it's
Barry (04:49)
Yeah.
Russ (04:50)
gonna be September twenty fourth at the Beans Creek Winery, and then twenty fifth at Common John, and then twenty sixth at the Rotary Park Amphitheater. So
Barry (05:00)
Yeah. Well there's still the the smaller ones like that, the community festivals.
Russ (05:05)
Yeah, and I was thinking about riding up at least for maybe the twenty fifth, go to Common John. I stopped at Common John on my way back from Lindsay's yesterday. Just decided to make a little detour, swing up through Manchester, stopped in for some lunch and a beer and
Barry (05:20)
Yeah, I couldn't tell. Was that a big slab of pizza or ribs? You sent me a picture. Okay,
Russ (05:24)
that was that was a flatbread pizza.
Barry (05:26)
that's what I kinda thought. Looked great. Look great.
Russ (05:28)
Mm. Yeah,
they've got awesome food and you know, especially with no Bonnarooo, I I just keep thinking I still wanna include Manchester in my plans
Barry (05:39)
Yeah.
Russ (05:40)
somehow, you know. So I might I might write up there for this one on Saturday, maybe, just just check it out. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I spent the night in their parking lot. And
Barry (05:50)
Of course not.
Russ (05:53)
I'm told they're ne they're gonna do this festival in June next year.
Barry (05:57)
Okay. I have a feeling we're gonna see a lot of that. So we we need
to kinda
Russ (06:00)
And that was
kinda what I was thinking, like that we're probably gonna catch wind of a lot of these that are gonna happen in June, so
Barry (06:08)
Yeah, I tell you what, if you guys are listening and you know of anything like that, send us a send us a note. Drop us a line in the comments and tell us about any kind of festivals that are Bonnarooo adjacent or festival adjacent and we'll get the word out.
Russ (06:24)
Absolutely.
Yeah, 'cause not gonna lie, we're kinda scratching our heads wondering what we're gonna talk about come next June. So anything would help.
Barry (06:31)
Sure, sure. Plus we want to be supportive, yeah.
Russ (06:34)
Yeah, yeah.
Barry (06:35)
Do have a couple of things in the works that I'm very excited about, upcoming shows, including your report from Shaky Knees, and then we'll do some stuff pre CaveFest and post CaveFest and maybe even during CaveFest since we're all gonna be
Russ (06:54)
Yeah.
Barry (06:55)
there.
Russ (06:56)
Hopefully all of the above. Beth did Bumbershoot last weekend too.
Barry (07:01)
She will probably be on very soon.
Russ (07:03)
we gotta he get her on to talk about that. We've got some photos up that she took there as a fully authorized and deputized What Podcast
Barry (07:13)
Yeah, credentialed.
Russ (07:14)
correspondent credentials, yeah.
Barry (07:17)
That's pretty cool. It's very cool. Can't wait to hear from her about that.
Russ (07:21)
Yeah.
Barry (07:22)
and of course we've got two tickets, camping in tickets to give away to CaveFest, which I think we'll give away,
Russ (07:27)
that's right.
Barry (07:29)
what, two weeks from this weekend? Somewhere around in there, two weeks from
Russ (07:33)
Yeah, we'll we'll let it
Barry (07:34)
Wednesday, yeah.
Russ (07:35)
Yeah, we'll let it go a little early a little, you know, further on and then pick somebody.
Barry (07:39)
Give people enough time to win
and then make their plans.
Russ (07:42)
Yeah, yeah.
Barry (07:44)
Well go ahead, you just want to I know you did you want how do tell Russ.
Russ (07:47)
Well how do you enter that contest, Barry? Don't tease
Well, sounded like you were skipping right over that.
Barry (07:56)
No, I d
I do I was going to ask you and then I realized you did a nice little thing that we could just drop in. Or if you wanna go ahead and do it live right now. Either way is fine with me.
Russ (08:06)
Well, yeah, we just want you to leave a comment, either on this video here. tell us why you wanna go, who you wanna see, who you wanna bring, if you've got somebody to bring. we also want you to like this video and subscribe to us on YouTube. we'll also have similar things running on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, shorts, all of the above. So
Find us somewhere in social media and drop us a line and and we'll pick a winner from there. We've already had several people tell
Barry (08:42)
Mm-hmm.
Russ (08:42)
us who they want to bring, who they wanna see. So should be a good time.
If you're enjoying the show, take a moment and subscribe to our YouTube channel and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Barry (09:01)
All right, you ready, you wanna talk a little shaky?
Russ (09:03)
Sure.
Barry (09:04)
All right. This will be your what, third or fourth?
Russ (09:08)
Mm, more than that, maybe fifth, yeah.
Barry (09:09)
More? Okay.
I went last year, overnight went Saturday and Sunday, not nearly as long as you, but went down there specifically to see Devo and a couple other bands that were on the lineup. Had a good time. It's like I said, a city fest. It's in is it Centennial Park down there?
Russ (09:32)
Piedmont Park.
Barry (09:33)
Piedmont. It the they flip flop, right?
Russ (09:37)
Yeah, it used
to be at Central Park and then they moved it to Piedmont, which it has been at Piedmont before, so I think they rotated on purpose.
Barry (09:44)
Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was told. They do it to allow the park. basically a fallow year, they allow the park to regroup. We've heard that somewhere before, right?
Russ (09:56)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (09:58)
those things need time and but also the the neighbors tire of having that much traffic in their on their streets and everything.
Russ (10:08)
Yeah, I mean, sure, if
you live right there, yeah, it it can be a a c inconvenience just 'cause the streets are closed, traffic is all backed up, noise, you know, all the above.
Barry (10:19)
Yeah.
Russ (10:20)
So
Barry (10:22)
So lineup, Strokes on third on Friday, Strokes, Turnstyle, Fontaine's DC Geese, Danny Elfman, I'd love to see Danny Hott Mulligan. Saturday, 21 Pilots, Pierce, Veil, and the Prodigy, Veal the Prodigy, Veil, excuse me, the Veil. Pierce the Veil. I'm reading it weird. I'm sorry. I don't know who.
Russ (10:42)
No, Pierce the Veil and the Prodigy. Those are two different I don't know what you're doing.
Barry (10:49)
Obviously pavement. Ooh, I'd like to see pavement. Sundays Gorillas L C D sound system and Wu Tang and Knocked Loose. That's gonna be a good day. that's gonna be a really good day.
Russ (11:01)
Yeah, Sunday I
think that's the best day on the whole sheet is f is Sunday.
Barry (11:07)
So based on your years of experience, how's what's the best way to do this? You get a hotel, right? And then Uber in and out?
Russ (11:16)
Yeah.
Uber in and out. I've done it several different ways. You know, I have an aunt that lives I would say about an hour or so north of Atlanta and did it one year and stayed at her place and then drove into Atlanta, it and got on Marta, rode the train from North Springs all the way down to Central Park basically where it was held, then walked. so you know, that was
Kind of inconvenient. I mean,
Barry (11:47)
Yeah.
Russ (11:47)
I I liked having a place to stay and all that, but by the time you, you know, drive an hour to the train station, get on the train, ride the train about thirty minutes, get off, and then walk about fifteen minutes, you're already exhausted. You haven't even walked into the gate yet, and you're already pooped.
So
Barry (12:04)
Right.
Russ (12:05)
and then you gotta think, well, you know, when this when this thing ends, I gotta do all that again. I gotta walk for
Barry (12:10)
Rinse and repeat,
yeah.
Russ (12:12)
Yeah, rinse and repeat. I gotta walk, I gotta get on the train, I gotta get to my car, I gotta drive home. So, yeah, we there is now a hotel in downtown Atlanta, a few blocks from the festival. I think that's just a much better way to do it. Uber back and forth is easy when you're in town right there.
Barry (12:33)
Yeah. I was very, very fortunate. I got a buddy that lives there in Highland what is it, Virginia Highlands, which is
Russ (12:41)
Virginia Islands. Yeah, you got the best deal.
Barry (12:43)
yeah, a literally like five blocks and we just piled into his car and he drove me to the gate and in I walked. So
Russ (12:51)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (12:52)
but I love the layout of the park. I I guess that's kind of the the thing. depending on the weather
September in Atlanta, if it's, you know, anything like it is now is gonna be warm to hot, probably eighties, maybe not the ninety nine and a hundred and five that it was last week in this area.
Russ (13:15)
Yeah,
man, it was hot this past weekend.
Barry (13:17)
So you got a plan for that.
Russ (13:19)
Yeah, of course it's not camping, so you have to think about what you're gonna bring because if it doesn't fit on you, you know, you can't really bring it. They do have lockers. You can bring extra stuff and and stow it away if you need to.
Barry (13:33)
Yeah.
Russ (13:34)
might do that. But yeah, the layout is great. I I love the the two stages, the positioning and and all that. Easy to get around.
Barry (13:43)
Yeah. Yeah, they're not facing each other, they're side by side, but you
Russ (13:49)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (13:49)
could literally plant yourself sort of in the middle and not have to walk far at all, if at all really to be able to see and hear both, depending, you know, if you're a front of stage or back of house type of person. I I like to be comfortable. I'm not a not a fight my way up to the front type.
Russ (14:09)
Yeah, I never really got all that up close for either stage and b which was great. It you know, like you said, I was able to just kinda switch from one to the other and not really have to move too much. So
Barry (14:20)
Now their secondary stages, I never made it back there. You did for a couple of shows, right? Yeah. A little bit f farther walk.
Russ (14:27)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's some a
little bit further away you can get to some of the other stages, but yeah, they have the Peachtree and the name of the other one, Piedmont, I think, is the two main stages. And then there's, you know, criminal records stage, there's another little stage that are will have some of the smaller acts.
Barry (14:50)
Yeah. And it's kind of a I don't think you could bring chairs, but you could bring a blanket and it's got like a natural amphitheater hilled or berm,
I guess.
Russ (14:59)
You could bring a blanket.
Yeah, there's there's a hill, there's a spot you could bring a blanket and set up at for sure.
Barry (15:05)
Yeah. So it's I mean it's really well laid out and the sound was great. everything was pretty accessible. So yeah, I I really like it. It's it's a cool event.
Russ (15:18)
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's just I don't wanna I don't wanna spend too much energy and get too tired and then leave early, you know. Like, 'cause you can't really it's not like you could w go back to camp and and take a nap for thirty minutes if you needed to. You don't really
Barry (15:34)
That is it.
Russ (15:35)
have a way to to wind down.
Barry (15:38)
That is a good point. I guess you could get up there in the shade in the trees if you can find a picnic bench and just sort of relax, but it's not like you could go take a nap. Or I mean I guess you could, but it's not like going back to camp, like you said. And getting back to your
Russ (15:48)
Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Barry (15:54)
hotel, back and forth, I I can I guess I don't know. I guess if you had like a afternoon session and then go have dinner and then go back, you could maybe do that. But
Russ (16:05)
You could do that. Right.
you know, and if you go in VIP or GA plus, you know, they've got little lounges that have shade and chairs and, you know, comfy spots like that. So if you're just G A, you know, it's
Barry (16:21)
Yeah.
Russ (16:22)
it's limited your options.
Barry (16:24)
Bring your sunscreen. Drink lots of fluid.
Russ (16:26)
Yeah.
Yeah. even in September, I mean you can get sunburned. yeah. Bring sunscreen, bring
Barry (16:32)
absolutely. Absolutely.
Russ (16:35)
bring yeah, drink lots of water. plenty of food and beverage vendors there. No shortage of that.
Barry (16:43)
All right. So we have said for years now that our second favorite place on I don't know about planet Earth, that may be a little strong, but our second favorite place
Russ (16:56)
Ha ha.
Barry (16:57)
is is the caverns up at Pelham. and we are gonna go, this will be again, how many years? You've gone to a couple of Cave Jam, Cape Fest, and then another show up there, right?
Russ (17:12)
Well, this'll be their fifth CaveFest. yeah, they did Cave Jam a couple of years and th you know, they just have shows year round up there.
Barry (17:21)
Yeah. For those who don't know, it's fifteen minutes, maybe, from the farm. If that, yeah the
Russ (17:29)
If that, yeah. I mean, we
drive roo we drive right by it on our way up to Manchester.
Barry (17:34)
It's beautiful, beautiful just what it says. It's a it's a giant cave that Todd Mayo and his bunch have converted into one of the coolest venues in the world, literally. during the COVID years, when you couldn't gather inside a a place like that, they cleared out the hill literally right outside the mouth of the cave and created an amphitheater, which
I don't think I'm overstating w I mean, you tell me also one of the best venues in this area. So you got two
Russ (18:11)
Yeah.
Barry (18:12)
of feet feet apart.
Russ (18:15)
Right, and they'll have both going for CaveFest. They've got programming on the amphitheater stage and in the cave and you can go back and forth between The cave i it kind of stays cool year round, right? I mean Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.
Barry (18:28)
Yeah, it's consistent. Yeah, humid. Humid but cool, comfortable.
Sound is great. the the amenities, the the bar is awesome. Todd is very, very proud of his toilet paper, if you remember from our interview with him. What was it? He said,
Russ (18:43)
Yeah.
Barry (18:49)
I love standing outside the women's bathroom door listening to them talk about that's really good toilet paper. I like
Todd (18:56)
I like
to stand near the women's restroom and listen to the women come out and say, my God, that's the softest toilet paper I've ever and people are right about it on the reviews. And so I'm hoping you had a good ending. Right, right, right, right. Exactly Exactly. What I like to do, I like to stand right there. I know, I know, I know.
Bryan (18:57)
near the women's restroom and listen to the women come out and say, my god, that's the softest toilet paper I've ever had people write about it all the reviews and so hopefully good point Barry. I like to stand around the women's bathrooms
Barry (19:06)
I was hoping you had a good ending for that for that.
Russ (19:04)
And people will write about it on the review. Yeah.
Barry (19:18)
Okay, where's this going?
Russ (19:20)
Yeah. Yeah. It was funny, but that's yeah, that's kind of the level of detail that he that he goes to. He doesn't want to
Barry (19:28)
Yes.
Russ (19:28)
leave anything cheap out on anything. He wants to make this a world class experience in it every way. And yeah, part of that's
Barry (19:37)
Yeah.
Russ (19:38)
the amenities, part of that's the food, part of that's the beverage. It's all first class.
Barry (19:43)
It i yeah, it is it is funny, but you're exactly right. Those are the types of things that you remember the next day. You know, was
Russ (19:51)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (19:51)
the bathroom clean? If it was hideous, that's what you remember. If it was clean, then if if you have a surprising a positive surprising moment, then it it makes it even even better. So you're a hundred percent right. same with the amphitheater. I mean, it it it is literally a natural terraced
Up the side of that they call it a mountain, but it's probably a big hill.
Russ (20:17)
Yeah.
Barry (20:20)
but in addition to that, as if that wasn't enough, they have created a gift shop, a lounge,
Russ (20:30)
Mm-hmm. The cavern tavern.
Barry (20:32)
cabin tabern, they have camping, they have built yurts, they have what, little mini eye the cabins.
I mean, they're basically
Russ (20:43)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (20:43)
two beds and I haven't even been in I don't know what else is in besides probably a couple of cots, but and it's all easily walkable, right?
Russ (20:54)
Yeah.
yeah, I think he's figured out kind of like Bonnarooo. not everyone is keen to come sleep on the ground in a tent. So he's structured this to where there's options. Yeah. If you want to those yurts are really nice. I don't know if you looked inside those. those are an option. Yeah, like you said, the the cabins down the road are great. if you want if you got an R V, he's got an R V area.
Barry (21:20)
I was gonna ask, does he have the hook ups?
Russ (21:22)
yeah, he's got hookups and all that.
and then of course just regular car camping for us, you know. So pretty pretty much any way you want to do this, you can. And it's yeah, it's all very walkable. getting from the campgrounds into the venue for sure.
Barry (21:37)
Yeah.
It's kind of interesting. the he got the land. I I recommend you go back and listen to our interview. We'll put a link up. Russ and Brian
Russ (21:48)
Yeah, yeah.
Barry (21:49)
and I got to spend a couple hours up there sat down with Todd in the cave outside of the cave, the cavern, and got to hear all the background and the history of how it came to be and kind of interesting that he bought the land for next to nothing.
according to him, 'cause nobody thought somebody'd be stupid enough to build a music venue in Pelham, Tennessee in a cave.
Russ (22:13)
Yeah. Yeah,
he kept that part real quiet about what he was intending to use the land for. 'Cause you know, once
Barry (22:20)
Yeah, but
Russ (22:21)
you start talking about this then the price goes up. So
Barry (22:23)
Yeah.
Russ (22:24)
yeah.
Barry (22:25)
But the guy who owns I don't know how many acres i in kind of in between, doesn't care to sell, so you you kinda have to
Russ (22:34)
Yeah.
Barry (22:34)
go around and back, but it it actually it makes for a nice walk, doesn't it? The way they've cut through
Russ (22:39)
It does,
yeah. There's like a little strip in between the campground and the venue, that you've gotta walk around to get to it. And yeah, I'm sure Todd would love to get that land and and turn it into something, but as it is, it's really not bad.
Barry (22:53)
No, no. It so what are some good tips? big difference. We're talking October. Theoretically, it will be warm in the afternoon and cool at night as opposed to I mean, we say it gets cold in Manchester at night, and I guess it does if you're sleeping on the ground, but this is more like you can have campfires, right?
Russ (23:19)
You can. if you got a fire ring, bring it. I believe they're selling bundles of firewood if you and ma I think they also rent a fire ring if you don't have one, is that right?
Barry (23:29)
I don't know. That's a good that's why I'm asking you. Yeah, the
Russ (23:32)
Yeah.
Barry (23:33)
you you don't you have one? You have everything else in that butt now? Okay.
Russ (23:37)
No. Mm-mm.
Barry (23:40)
Well we'll have to figure that out. I have one. Maybe I can bring that and I have some firewood, so
Russ (23:45)
Yeah,
I think last time either Lindsay brought that one or maybe one of the church boners, but we had a fire going for sure. I I did bring some fire wood. but yeah, you can have a fire, which is mainly one of the big differences between camping there and at Bonaro.
Barry (24:01)
Yeah. So prepare for all weather, right? That'd be probably t tip
Russ (24:05)
Yeah.
Barry (24:07)
one.
Russ (24:07)
layer up. you know, bring a jacket, maybe you can tie around your waist so that you can put it on in the evening. And then yeah, prepare for it to get cold.
Barry (24:18)
same with the blankets on the on
Russ (24:20)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (24:21)
the amphitheater, the in the caverns it's sort of standing, right? In the cave, I mean.
Russ (24:26)
In the cave it's standing only. but around the amphitheater, it's permitted you could bring your own chairs in.
Barry (24:33)
Okay. See that's big for
Russ (24:35)
That is big and
Barry (24:36)
for us full size gals. I like a good chair.
Russ (24:39)
Yeah. Yeah.
And bring an extra blanket that you could sit in and bundle up to watch some music 'cause not only can you bring a chair, you can leave a chair. you could pretty much pick a spot, set up your chairs, and just leave there. And it's you know, it's an understood that that nobody's gonna come take your chair.
Barry (25:02)
Nice.
Yeah, that's a some that's good and bad. I've seen that work both
Russ (25:07)
Yeah.
Barry (25:07)
ways.
Russ (25:08)
Right. but yeah, pretty neat that you can kind of just set up camp at the stage and have have a place to sit. And of course they've got food trucks right behind you, they've got bathrooms,
Barry (25:21)
That's what I was I was getting ready to say.
Russ (25:23)
yeah.
Barry (25:24)
Yeah, the food trucks are kinda lined up along the back, near the walkway that you just talked about between the camping area and the and the venues, but their trucks in in there too, right? In the the music areas. Yeah.
Russ (25:41)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Barry (25:44)
lots of local beer, craft beers, all just everything you'd expect, right? They don't they have their own even?
Russ (25:51)
They do, they've got the limestone lager, which is actually brewed for them by Comajon.
Barry (25:55)
Nice. That's one of the cool things that we liked about not just the venue itself, which like I said is first class, but it has that independent local we're glad you're here, we wanna take care of you, vibe about it,
Russ (26:12)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (26:13)
right? Very much.
Russ (26:15)
Everything about it is is is that way, yeah. from the people parking your car when you first get there. it's all yeah, local independent employees, promoters, all of the above, yeah.
Barry (26:30)
Yeah, who've all bought in. That was the other thing
Russ (26:32)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (26:33)
I kinda remember from our conversation with Todd is it's like if somebody has an idea, bring it up, let's talk about it and figure out if we can make it work. doesn't matter if it's the guy
Russ (26:43)
Yeah, this is not a corporate
Barry (26:45)
yeah, if it's the guy parking the cars or Todd or Jeff themselves.
Russ (26:50)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (26:51)
yeah, let's talk about it. I think the lounge
Russ (26:53)
And
Barry (26:54)
kinda came out of that sort of talk, didn't it? Yeah.
Russ (26:56)
I think so. Yeah.
they they kind of that's only been there within the last year, I think was the first time they had it open. But yeah. little sports bar, a place you can sit down, they've got a big TV on, grab a beer. The merch shop is right there. You can get T shirts, posters, stickers, all that.
Barry (27:17)
Who are you looking forward to seeing?
Russ (27:21)
as far as the lineup? yeah, I was gonna say you, but
Barry (27:22)
Yep. I I'm I mean I know me, obviously, but
Russ (27:31)
the you know, this Tree of Forgiveness band, they're doing a John Prime eightieth birthday tribute celebration. that's probably the thing I'm looking forward to most.
Barry (27:44)
Yeah, that's right up there. I wanna see Gillian and David Rollins, that Gillian Welch
Russ (27:48)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (27:49)
and David Rollins again. Peter Rowan, Sam Grisman are great. but yeah, the John Prime thing is and Lindsay Lou, I think I missed was she Bonnarooo, right? Or where that she was local somewhere around in Mr. before.
Russ (28:09)
Well she's I think she's one of the artists in residence for CaveFest, so she's always
Barry (28:13)
Yep.
Russ (28:14)
there.
Barry (28:15)
Yep. three tall pines. Yeah, it's good. Scott Miller. Scott Miller's been to Chattanooga many, many times. I think he even comes to Barking Leg, which is like a eighty seat, really, really
Russ (28:27)
Yeah.
Barry (28:27)
intimate venue. So
Russ (28:30)
Okay. Highly recommend you take a cave tour if you get a chance. They do guided tours down into one of the smaller caves in the area, but I mean it just goes on and on and you know the the tour guides are are pretty good. They explain everything you learn about stalagtites, stalagmites and all that stuff. it's pretty cool.
Barry (28:53)
Yeah, if you don't know, a little trivia, Tennessee has more caves than any other state in the country. and this one what did the I don't remember the the guy's name, but sort of the caretaker manager or whatever. Remember when he came up and was talking to us and I think he said he spent eight hours one day exploring and didn't even get close to seeing all of it.
Russ (29:20)
Yeah, yeah. even with the cave tour, they're only taking you on a small part of you know, this cave system is massive. And yeah, I don't think that's something Tennessee's really known for as being the most caves in the state, but it's it's pretty pretty neat.
Barry (29:36)
Yeah. Yeah. okay. So you've got an unusual venue, a beautiful venue. You've got a good lineup. We're all gonna be there. Come say hi. Come hang out. we'll be doing a couple of things. Don't know exactly what yet. Interviews, show, that kind of thing. don't know. You're you'll be up there all three days or two nights, three days.
Russ (30:00)
Three days.
Barry (30:01)
Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out which whether I'm going up Friday or
Saturday, but I know I'm doing it. I gotta figure out how to repack my camping stuff. That's I guess that's part of what I'm you know, you think about the heat, now I gotta think about the cold. But I'm excited about it.
Russ (30:21)
Yeah.
camping in summer and camping in winter, yeah, you kinda need different different stuff.
Barry (30:29)
As far as layout, how do they how do you do they do it pretty similar? It's a first in, you they park you where they park you and then you get certain amount of space.
Russ (30:38)
Yeah, it's
Barry (30:39)
Are they pretty pretty cool about it, pretty casual about it?
Russ (30:43)
It's pretty similar to the way Bonnarooo does it. You know, they line you up in rows just like at Bonnarooo. and of course you were there for Cave Jam, you saw how it was laid out.
Barry (30:52)
Yeah. Yeah.
Russ (30:54)
so but unlike Bonnarooo, you're not gonna get a bad spot. They're
Barry (30:59)
Right.
Russ (30:59)
not gonna park you way out that it's gonna take you thirty minutes to walk in. I mean you're you know, the campground is so close to the venue. wherever you're at you'll you'll have good access.
Barry (31:09)
That's what I was getting ready to say. It's so convenient and it's so beautiful.
Russ (31:12)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (31:13)
I mean, when you get up there on that hill and you're looking bad back over the valley, I guess, or looking down below and everything, it's really gorgeous. And it's gonna be October. Maybe too early for some good leaf leaf color, but maybe. Yeah.
Russ (31:29)
Maybe.
Barry (31:31)
Hopefully it'll cool off. Like I said, there's food there. You can certainly bring all the same rules, right?
No glass,
Russ (31:40)
No glass, yeah, but you can certainly bring your own food. You can bring your own beer. and, you know, people do. They set up quite of, you know, elaborate camps just like at Bonnarooo. along the front row, you know, they've got vendors, they've got people selling, you know, sweaters and tie dyed stuff and jewelry and all that. So
Barry (32:03)
Yeah.
Russ (32:04)
got their own little version of a shakedown street.
Barry (32:06)
Yeah. Very much just a smaller smaller Bonnaroo, with two stages, two very cool stages. So
Russ (32:17)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (32:17)
all right. once again, Russ, how can people win tickets?
Russ (32:23)
Well, drop us a comment. We'd love to hear from you on this video. Make sure you like the video, make sure you subscribe and then leave us a comment telling telling us you wanna go. you know, and tell us why. We'll we'll let this run a couple more weeks before we have a winner picked. We've already got a lot of great entries, so I'm
Barry (32:45)
All right.
Russ (32:45)
ex I'm glad to get this thing and hopefully give some tickets away to somebody that's gonna come.
Barry (32:50)
Yeah, and thanks to Jeff and those guys for for working with us on that. excited to be a part of it.
Russ (32:59)
Mm-hmm.
Barry (33:00)
All right. like I said, a little shorter version. We will be back. We've got other guests planned. Beth will be joining us, don't know ex if it's next week or week after, but we want to hear about Bumper Chute and any of the other events that she's gone to and have some other folks come on and we'll
Figure out how to get through this time before we have another Bonnaroo.
Russ (33:26)
Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be a interesting year. but you know, we've done it before and we've had we've gone through two years with a show about a festival that didn't happen, so it's
Barry (33:36)
Yeah, I was thinking about that
this morning. How are we we've promoted ourselves as the world's oldest, the world's first, the world's biggest, the world's only show about event that didn't happen. So so we're adaptable.
Russ (33:50)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Exactly.
Yep. We'll make it work. I'm looking forward to changing it up a little bit. I see it as an opportunity. We can find some other stuff to cover and talk about, maybe go to and have a good time.
Barry (34:06)
Yeah. I'm ac
actually kind of excited 'cause we've had some conversations and some things come up that might not have happened otherwise. So
Russ (34:16)
Right.
Yeah, just like last time. It's it's an opportunity.
Barry (34:19)
Exactly. All right, guys, if you're still listening, thanks so much. Please hit that subscribe, send us a comment or two, try to win those tickets, because we look forward to seeing you in Pelham, Tennessee, October 10th and 11th. And if you're in Atlanta, September 18th, 19th, or 20th, come up and say hi to Russ.
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