The What Podcast
Bonnaroo 2026: Why Ticket Deals Are Dropping Now
Season 9, Episode 7
Published January 28, 2026
https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/bonnaroo-2026-why-ticket-deals-are-dropping-now

Hi guys, this is Keera's grandma and I just want to let you know that she's so excited and so happy

and you guys have just made their day. They really deserve this great getaway that they're

going to be able to afford now that they couldn't have before. So you guys are a blessing to my

granddaughter and she is just over the moon. So thank you so much for doing this for her.

We appreciate you guys. Bye-bye.

This is the What Podcast. Outside the air is rain. Some of you are getting ice and sleet.

We have a fire going upstairs. We're warm. We're hunkered down. I don't have to work tomorrow

because of this. It's a pretty good day. How are you guys? I'm doing well, finally.

Yeah, it's a great day. Welcome back, Brian. Yeah, thank you. The two-thirds of the country is

under some kind of winter advisory. It's not just us down here in the south.

As seems to be, it's not always we get plenty of snow. People's memories are bad, but it does seem

like oftentimes it hits everywhere except for right here in the valley. And I'm fine with that. I'm

good with it. I'm wonderful with it. I'm wonderful with it. But it's cold, sleet, and it's no reason

to go outside. So yeah, it is a cozy, comfortable temperature in my home as well, too. We have a

lot to talk about. We've got our winner. We'll get to that. We will announce our giveaway or ticket

winner. I feel really good about who we chose. You guys happy? Yeah, yeah. I'm happy with the

whole thing. I'm happy with how it all came together and really appreciate everybody

having such enthusiasm and such creativity in the entire process. Unbelievable. Yeah, it was a tough

decision. We deliberated over it for a while. There was a ton of entries this year, way more

than we've ever had. Way more. And a lot of people that truly deserve this. I mean, so just because

we didn't pick you per se, it doesn't mean anything that you didn't deserve it. But I do

want to mention real quick, Totem is looking to send, they do scholarships and they do,

this is exactly what they do. People that want to go to a festival, maybe they've never been,

can't afford it, can't make it work. They offer tickets and they offer resources and stuff like

that to get people on the farm. And they're trying to, they're raising a lot of money. They're

trying to get more applicants. And so, if you didn't win our contest, check them out and apply

through them. They might work something out. Yeah, Totem, it's T-O-T-E-M. Totemfnd.org.

Correct. Go to that. It's our friends, Daniel and Sharla. Brian, how you feeling?

Pretty good, actually. Yeah, sorry, I missed you guys last week and appreciate the church boner

guys coming in out of the bullpen at the last minute. But this is news to me. I'm a relatively

healthy guy after all the disastrousness I've treated myself over my first 20 years of my adult

life. A grown ass man or a grown ass woman with a debilitating ear infection? I thought those things

happened to kids and to like 10 year olds and seven year olds and maybe even a teenager.

This thing's no joke. Any experience with such things, either of you two in your adulthood?

I like what sounds like you had. I never had it either as an adult or a kid. I didn't have them

as kids either. When I was growing up, I was always hearing about all the ear infections,

especially the swimmer's ears. I had those. I had lots of friends who would get ear infections all

the time. I had those bad. Yeah, well, this one just shows up out of nowhere and it heals up pretty

good and went to an urgent care. If I'm going to an urgent care, there's some going on. I don't

believe those are even real doctors. Well, and just to tell everybody, I went full dad on you

last week because I was worried for you. I was like, dude, go see a doctor because that's the

kind of thing. If it gets really, really bad, you can lose your hearing. Well, it's funny you put it

that way. I'm about a week out of pain. I've taken all the antibiotics and the entire steroid pack,

the whole deal. Sorry to give everybody the medical specifics of this, but what has not the

only reason to even talk about this other than yeah, it was bad. Now it's better. Good to see

you guys again is that if you know, the little earplugs that are, that are made of foam, the

little junky cheap ones that you would rather, you'd rather have a nicer pair that does a little

noise cancellation of sorts, not just see shoving it in your ear. That's what it feels like in this

ear. Still, I still don't have incredible, like I've been saying about 30% hearing deficiency in

this right ear and it's now been nine days. And for a minute I started to think, Oh no, I'm going

deaf. Oh no, my livelihood. But by everything that chat GPTs and the AI generated doctors and the

web MDs before that, which we would all go to diagnose ourselves. Everything is going right

around, right, right, normal and don't be concerned. And if another week rolls around and the hearing is

still a problem, then go see a specialist. So that's where I'm at right now. It's, it's not painful,

but is it not every minute of my life, very, very annoyed. But happy to be back on the show with you.

You won't go to urgent care because they're not real doctors, but you'll just chat GPT and

with your life, with your hearing. Okay. Yeah. Google. Yeah. I just,

okay. Fair, fair, fair point. Fair point. I, I'm not the smartest guy, right? I never tried to pretend

like that. I just, you know, I'm the typical guy that doesn't want to go to a doctor. Like I'm just

not going to go, I'll be fine. Except this pain was really, really bad and it was really like

sudden. And so I did go, I went twice. I went two times. All right. Well, glad you're badder. We got,

we got several things from the bonderoo universe that came our way this week, right? We got the

after hours schedule. We also got a couple of schedule, but we got the lineup, the lineup,

excuse me, the lineup. And we got the, we got a couple of notes about how you can make money

by referring a friend basically. And which I found interesting. And I know we'll talk about that. So

which one do you want to talk about first? The after hours? Let's start with after hours. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Let's start with after hours. I don't, it feels a little bit to me that

the after hours aren't going to be as, as full as with other themes of this bonderoo as it's been

in the past, as far as how many they are, how late they might go. We won't know that until we get an

actual schedule. But the names on a couple of these are pretty solid. I don't know half of them,

but I mean, turnstile, right? Start on a Friday. That seems to be one of the most popular acts of

the year. And they're going to be late night on Friday. So that's a good place to start right

there. Yep. And little John. I really want to see little John. Oh yeah. Little John.

That makes so much sense to do a little John late night show. I'm pretty excited for that. Yeah.

Well, somewhere, and I don't want, you know, I don't like to wander too far into mocks,

you know, and, and, and pure nothing but rumors. I mean, we live in a rumor land, but

that a Youngblood, which stage headline with turnstile to follow for the late night is what

some people are, are guessing and, and, and using as fodder online, you know, take that for what

it's worth. That'd be one hell of a back to back on a Friday that I could really get, I could get

into. Like I could, I could get into that even though I want Youngblood on the what, because

of course I do. That would be pretty. Yeah, you're now the Youngblood number one fan.

I'm the Youngblood. Yeah. Y'all are besties now. It's my new obsession. Brad Snyder's gotta help me

out with this guy. But so yeah, that would be, that would be pretty, regardless of how that falls,

that's going to be a good Friday. I mean, Friday is just shaping up to be quite nice. And then,

you know, I'll just quickly just the one thing really Saturday leaves a lot there for me to even

know what I'm looking at, except for Weird Al, right? Weird Al. I know where Russ will be.

That's exactly where I'll be. Yeah. Yeah. So Weird Al, I mean, I, that kind of feels like that's

going to be a witch stage midnight to two kind of thing is what it feels like to me. I kind of hope,

maybe I'm hoping that more than that's what I actually feel and believe. I don't know. What

do you guys think on where Weird Al would fit best? Two hours. I mean, he's definitely got enough

material to fill two hours. Or hour. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Whatever time frame it is. 90 minutes hour.

Yeah. I'm curious to see the having the new stage over in the what field.

I think they're going to utilize that differently than maybe we're even thinking about.

Does that make sense? I hope so. Because I don't know what the hell it's doing over there.

Yeah. I think I know what the story is. I know what Tuba told me. I know what happened.

But I can't still understand why it's there. So I hope it's utilized differently. Because if not,

why move it? So that could be interesting. That's what I'm saying. I think there may be something

happening that we don't know about, especially giving given the size of the crowd, which we sort

of alluded to. I don't think it's going to be very crowded. I think we're looking at a much smaller

festival, which allows them to do some different things. Like the what stage and the two stages,

the other or the not that that that that yeah, I've come around to thinking that there's a

there's a there is a good chance. And it's because of my trust in the organization,

that the that this move will work. And it doesn't mean I like it better, but that it will work.

And you know, as the what is releasing after a big night of show, because they don't I mean,

they've done late night on the web, but not usually. And, you know, they usually closing it down one,

you know, one or two o'clock by two o'clock, that thing's usually dark. Right. And, and, and I would

bet that they'll pull that back even more. And so as you're leaving the what,

whoever's playing will just say young blood, young blood gets done. And then all of a sudden that,

you know, is rocking as you start to leave. That might be a really good enhancement of of crowd

control, a and b, just something neat to do, because it's on a on a heavily trafficked day,

even on a low attendance year, that's saying that's guaranteed what we're getting. But even on a low

attendance year, if you're leaving what you want to go bounce around, you got a bunch of things you

want to do, it's the you're heard it in and out of there, you might say, Hey, that's right there.

Let us do this instead that instead might might work out quite well.

That's what I'm thinking. And I have absolutely no reason, you know, other than just that's my

thought. Yeah, same here. I mean, again, it's the trust factor. But I mean, any other names on here

that jumps off to you guys, because it doesn't really mean this this OSEs

band, OSEES, I've heard a lot of some apologize if I'm saying it wrong.

People have mentioned OSEs and Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist ever since Beth mentioned them.

I don't know, a month or so ago. I've checked them out. I like them a lot.

So okay. Yeah, that's right. She did mention that. Yeah.

Yeah. Now we need to we're going to do our deep dive.

By the way, if you guys haven't listened, the RooHamm guys did their mock draft, which is hilarious.

It's always a great show. It's so much fun what they do. Yeah, they're doing their they did their

super jam jam draft. Yeah, fantasy draft. Yeah. A lot of people have been a little disappointed

that Sarah Landry wasn't one of the late night after hours shows. She's played the Caverns here

locally many times recently. And I think I mentioned on the show, the only reason I even

can remember who this person is, I went to high school with a girl named Sarah Landry. So when I

see I'm like, Oh, yeah, Sarah Landry, she but she's she's packing amphitheater for those that know,

you know, you know, that the caverns she's filling the amphitheater. Filling the cave is one thing,

filling the amphitheater is another. And so there are little people a little a lot of people were

a little disappointed that she might not be a late night or looks like she won't be but certainly

will be another stage act because that's pure EDM. But I think it looks all right. Maybe they'll

listen to that and make some changes. It does say more late night acts to be announced. So

there's a chance I guess. What do you guys what's your inclination as far as crowd?

I mean, you know, we don't like to do a lot of rumor and read the tea leaves type of stuff. We

like to stick with facts. But what do you think? And I'm asking in particular because of the

announcement this week that you could, you know, refer a friend and make a little money.

Type of thing. Yeah, sounds like they're trying to sell tickets. Yeah, Taka, you want to start

there and then I'll pick it up. Yeah, I mean, if you're just going by the number of contest entries

we got, it doesn't seem like it's going to be I know, right? That's weird. It seems like there's

a lot of hype for this year. But also, it seems like they announced this program kind of late,

because I think a lot of people have already bought tickets, especially those that are the most

interested in going. So, you know, maybe you've already talked several friends into going and

they bought tickets. Well, you missed out on, you know, getting a referral because of, you know,

but who knows? Yeah, I don't know if this is this an indication that ticket sales aren't going like

they want them to or? I don't know. It's impossible for me to not think so. It's impossible for me to

not think so. I'm not going to dwell on it and worry about it a whole lot at this point,

but it's impossible for me to not think that. And so there's a couple different layers here on the

ticket sales that are giving me that impression. I still find it weird that there's an ethos of

like one day ticket sales is bad and people talk about this. I won't relitigate that, but

they just announced that too here recently is the one day ticket sales, which we, I think we're all,

we've been in agreement over the years. We think this is a very good addition. I wish they'd sell

them from day one. I just think that that's a, you know, a Bonnaroo four day weekend is not for

everybody. It's not for even a lot of people, but to go for a day, I just, I've always thought one

day would be a great deal because they didn't do it for 17 years, 18 years. It was not available.

That's right. And I always thought if you would sell one day, I know people back home that would

come up and hang out for a day. But anyway, so that being announced late is one reason,

but that's happened before. The other two here though, are a little different.

You get your own code and a link and a QR code or whatever it is. And if someone buys a ticket,

you get, I believe it's $20 festival cash. And that goes, you know, on your wristband and you

buy stuff. So that's not nothing. It's not a whole lot, but it's not nothing. So that's one,

that's new. If they've done this before, I didn't really, I didn't, I wasn't aware of.

No, I don't think they've ever done this. Yeah. That one's completely new. This other one too.

And this one makes even less sense to me. And I don't know what it means on the grand scale,

but they're doing the four and six pack ticket sales now. Have you seen this? Yeah. Yeah. I'm

glad you mentioned that because that's also new, I think. I've never seen this. So I'm believing

it's brand new too. And all these together are what is creating a lot of the, oh my God,

ticket sales are down. Oh my God. Tickets. But I don't, I would like to talk to the person who

came up with this idea to buy these four and six packs. You say $5. I saw some people talking about

it and I went to the website as if I'm buying tickets and I went and looked and pulled the

dollars, did the math. You save $5. That is not a deal. I don't understand why this deal's there.

Maybe there's something in a boardroom that was discussed that I am not privy to.

Six tickets, four tickets, and we all save a collective, you know, five bucks each.

I don't know what that's about and why, but you put all those together and it does feel like

maybe they're just trying to do anything that moves the needle because what is it Barry? You

probably don't remember this either. I always forget, but a lot of the promoters we've talked

to over the years, I mean, it's something like if you don't sell 20 or 30% of your capacity in the

first like month or three weeks, it's something about the early sales are such an indicative

number to the rest of the sale process. And if you don't hit that, sweat it, dude.

Yeah. If you don't get your nut, if you don't get your nut as they call it within the first

little bit, then yeah, they start getting really, really nervous.

Yeah. Because of all the reasons that should be somewhat obvious.

It's funny you say that because that reminds me for some reason, Kiss is the one that I always

think of. They were supposed to come to Engel Stadium and didn't sell their nut and canceled

was like, you know, Chattanooga can't even have Kiss.

We had a few of those back 30, 40 years ago. They got canceled because the sales didn't hit

certain numbers. And that seems to be less of an issue these days in the present day. But

I've always heard that I've always been told. So I'm wondering if maybe they're that number,

that early number wasn't hit. And this is a way to generate more social media activity

and more discussion and more podcast fodder and more Reddit discussion. And maybe that

picks up sales. I hope it works. That's what I want. Even if you, even if the sales are exactly

where you want them to be, I want this thing to sell every ticket that you have available,

Bon Rue. I absolutely do.

And I think Russ, you said it. I mean, we had more entries than ever and not just entries,

passionate entries. I can't, it's weird.

It's not what you would expect if ticket sales are down so much that it just seems like there'd be

less interest overall. There's a lot of interest.

Yeah. And like I said last week, it's not like, again, you know, we walked by the grocery store

and put our name on a ticket and put it in a bucket. It's people who really, really wanted

it to win. So anyway.

The only other thing I want to mention to tickets is I've actually had this on my list for a few,

maybe upwards of a month. And I just, we haven't, I haven't gotten to it.

Is there's been discussion on socials about people inquiring about warranties and the additional

like safety on tickets.

Oh, like the ticket insurance?

Yeah. Ticket insurances and things like that. And this is just one man's opinion.

So without any kind of agendas or any involvement with anything, I always steer clear of warranties

and extended insurances. I don't mean the traditional insurances. I mean like the

extended, like the Aflac, right? The Aflac version of coverage.

And I think people just, there's a lot of worry, younger people who haven't done this a lot.

So they're getting anxiety like, oh my God, what happens if this happens? What happens if that

happens? Man, if you were yourself crazy, I would not do that. If you're just listening to

one guy talking to a microphone, don't worry about the warranties. Don't worry about the extended

sales. If anybody's trying to sell you anything additional, because it's fear, it's fear mongering

on something that happened a year ago that I'm sorry if I'm jinxing it, it ain't happening again.

And if it does, what?

This is like when you go to Walmart and you buy a TV and they ask you, oh, do you want to add the

extended protections? Like, no, no, don't ever.

Well, speaking of industry stuff, all the money, especially in electronics, the big bucks are the

extended warranties and all those additional money. That's where the sales guys make their money. They

don't make the money on the TV. So I just wouldn't, the biggest point is don't be spooked

and don't worry. Don't spend your time worrying about that, because if something terrible happens

that ruins the whole festival, you're going to get your money back. Bronner has proved that.

Now, if you can't trust yourself and you buy a ticket and then you might end up in Canada the

next day and like, oh, I don't know if I can make it or you wake up at a ditch every other week,

I can't help you there. But don't be scared by it, I would say. And I guess if you can get four

people together and you want to save five bucks each, go ahead. I guess five bucks won't even buy

you a beer in Centauru anymore. No, and the only thing I could come up with on that quickly is that

the service fees for each transaction. So maybe you're saying that you're only having one service

fee for the four and six, but I mean, we've fixed this problem legislatively in the state of Tennessee

to where those service fees are not what they used to be. It's not like they jump up 70 bucks

at checkout. So anyway, they have to be upfront. That's right. That isn't a law in Tennessee that

that every fee and every tax or whatever has to be upfront on the price. Yeah. And

to the credit of our legislator, which doesn't do much right around here, that actually has been a

very helpful law passed. So anyway, it might be good for you to buy those in bulk.

I mean, if you were planning to buy four anyways, I don't know why you wouldn't

do the bulk deal, even though it's not really saving you 20 bucks total, maybe.

Well, if you were planning to buy four anyways, you would have probably already done it. And the

reason you haven't is because you don't have a lot of money. And saving five bucks is just reminding

you about how much money you don't have. Yeah, I don't think this is going to translate to,

oh, I wasn't going to buy four tickets, but now I am. You know, yeah.

And then one more quick one here on the on the on the one days. So they're ranging in the in the

from the top end price from 180 to 350. I mean, after after any fees, because there are, you know,

taxes at the end, they don't have to tell you every dime, but about 180 to 350, they have a

little collectible credential thing that which I love these kinds of things. I think it's cool.

They offer these things, you know, 180 to 350 would be more like the G.A. plus stuff.

180 closer to just a regular G.A. But I speaking of Roobus, you guys mentioned this or mentioned

them with Totem. Sharla posted on Reddit. I did not know this. I guess I don't know that it's true,

but I believe that she does that if you have a one day and I've wondered about this,

you can't get into center after midnight. So if you've got a Friday of yeah, I think this is known

information. I just didn't know it. So if you've got a Friday one day and you're there all day

having a big time and you're in line at 12 55 and it turns into 1201 and you're not through into

center, then your your bracelet won't scan. I did not. I did not know that. And so get in early and

stay all night, I say. Yeah, they got to cut it off at some point. You know, it is just one day.

But if you're still in center past midnight, I mean, you could stay as long as you want. I

wouldn't think they'll come track you down. They're not sending anybody to yeah, to come check

wristbands. We don't think. But didn't you do that once or twice early on, Brian, when you snuck in?

Didn't you not have a wristband early the first year? Yeah, I was just scared enough and like

nervous enough that I didn't want to push my luck. And I think that year didn't matter at all. I

don't think anything mattered. No. But yeah, I didn't have a wristband. I was just trying to

maneuver my way through. But I've also I've also wondered like, OK, you got these guys, they buy

or gals, they buy a one day ticket. Who's going to make them leave? You know, they just hang out

in center the whole weekend. You don't go outside the perimeter as long as they don't scan out.

Yeah. I mean, what's the worst that's going to happen? They're going to buy spicy pie and they're

going to spend more money, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you go into center on Friday and then you

never leave. That's not a very good experience. You want to leave center at some point. But

yeah, but there are worse places to spend a lot of your time. So anyway, a lot of let us know if

you've done this. If you bought a one day ticket before and stayed all weekend, we want to we want

to talk to you. Yeah. Actually, I want to hear all about different people's ways of kind of skirt.

We still need to get Sean back on to talk about that. Oh, my God. Sean, boy, we don't have enough

time in the world to reset all this one. But our buddy here in local media in Chattanooga just came

up one night or one day and ended up in every single area. He made it his mission. He was like,

I'm going to see just how I can how far I can get. Oh, my God. He made a video. I'll try to

send it to you. Maybe we can link it. Or you might already have a taco. But it was on YouTube. Yeah.

It was so impressive. It's like you've gone to places I've never seen. And you don't even

barely have even a regular GA like you're it was wild. Yeah, he showed up at our camp.

I'm a YouTuber. I'm a YouTube thing. I'm gonna be a big YouTube star one day. This is

YouTube right now. How do you high fives the boner for the YouTube

camp nut butter, which he shouldn't have been able to get to. No, no, he should. And then he was like,

I think I'm just going to make this my mission. Yeah. And just for disclosure on this, he was

with Camp Nut Butter for years and years and years. Right. Right. Yeah. So he knew where to go. He

just didn't have the level the credentials that year. But he knew he knew exactly where to go.

Yeah, he's out of the media business for the most part these days. And, you know, Mr. Mom for the

most part. But that was so funny. It was great. Yeah, I remember standing. Was it you and I Russ

were standing there? Or was it you and me, Brian, we turned around and there he was in the pit.

It seemed like everywhere I went all weekend, I kept seeing the guy. That was funny stuff. That

was funny stuff. We will have him on to talk about that sometime. But back to one day real quick,

you know, they're not doing Thursday one day. And I guess because Thursday isn't a full day

of programming makes kind of a lower, you know, scheduled day. So if you want to see Skrillex,

you have to buy a four day. Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe that's part of their reasoning to

also know late night on Thursday, you know, so like the late night schedule looks a lot smaller

because it is smaller. The whole festival footprint is so we'll see. We'll see. All right,

you are about to hear our interview with our contest winner, Keera and Tyler. Congratulations

to them. What a journey. What a story. And don't hate them. Don't hate them for their for their

approach because there was no rules here. There were no regulations. It's you do you and we'll go

from there. I mean, is there anything missing? They're getting married. They're pregnant. I

mean, what do we I know, I feel like regulations within the life. I feel like we've loved a whole

life with them because of this. You said it was like a reality show. Yeah. Yeah. It's an interesting

journey. We'll definitely get to that here momentarily.

Keera, in the history of the What Podcast, I don't think we've ever had

as much attention as you've given us. I felt you all deserved it. Truly. It's truly amazing.

I mean, your grandmother, your boss, your neighbor, I think, I mean, who didn't call?

I mean, last year, the year before, I always talk about Bonnaroo at work. So all my co workers,

all my friends, all the people that are always around me, they know that I love Bonnaroo. So

as soon as I told them I was trying for this, they were like, give me the number and I will call.

They did. I pulled the sheet and Keera, you called 38 times. Tyler, I think, two or three.

10 other people called on your behalf. You made a video. You made a PowerPoint.

So yeah, and this wasn't a, you know, stuff the ballot box, whoever, you know, calls in the most.

That's not what made you the winner. It's just your story and persistence and

your grandmother and your grandmother. That's what nobody else had their grandmother. Yeah.

Yeah, I actually, I was on the phone with my grandma and it was after I told her about it.

I'd sent you her year old's number. And then the next week, whenever you will had posted the podcast,

she didn't answer when I called. So I left her a voicemail to call me back because I was in your

old podcast. And she said, before she called me back, she made sure to call so that I wasn't mad

at her for not calling. Well, and it's not just that you called because you wanted to get these

tickets, but you've had some pretty significant life changing events that we've talked about or

you shared with us on this show, right? Yes, indeed. Yeah, I was going to say this is one

hell of a story arc. It's almost like when like those reality shows occasionally where they start

and then things happen throughout. And then it's like, is that real? Like, did that really like the

real life happen like that throughout? And usually the answer to that in those cases is yes. And it

appears that this is a version of that. It starts here, it gets to the middle here. And here we are

at the, not the end end. The end would be when you're at Bonnaroo, but what an interesting start to

finish to this whole thing, Kara, if you just talk about your mindset going into it, I guess it

would be December. Like, what are you thinking in the middle of December? I'll do this exact thing

for the next month and a half or this is just how it happened? Yeah, let me plan this out.

Honestly, I just, I saw that you had posted again, you started talking about Bonnaroo and I was like,

you know what, let me just keep tuning in because I know I can't afford to go this year, but I still

want to hear the story. I want to know what's going on. And then I heard about the contest

from you guys and I was like, you know what, I'm just going to keep calling. I mean, like

the sweet, what's that saying? Squeaky wheel gets the cheese or something like that. I don't know

the saying, but I was trying. I don't know what the saying is, but you know what I'm getting at.

But as far as like my pregnancy announcement, I definitely did not see that coming. Tyler and

I didn't think that we could have kids. We did not think that was in the works for us with my

health issues. So yeah, really excited. We didn't see it coming either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was just

sitting there and I was, I was like, you know what, maybe I should go take a test. And I called Tyler

first and then I called my best friend and then I think I called you guys. So that's high up on the

priority list. Yeah. We're glad you're on your list. Yeah. Brian's gotten those calls before.

They weren't welcome. They weren't welcome calls. Sorry. That's a bad phone call.

Yeah. Ted, walk us through. I mean, we're making light of it a little bit, but 30, what'd you say,

Russ? 38 times? 38. 38 just from Keira. Just from Keira. And it'd be like, I just called you

before. Now I'm on break at lunch and I called you this morning. It was almost daily. Sometimes

twice a day, sometimes three times a day. So yeah, it was almost like a daily, not like a soap opera,

but you know, like, what's the next thing that's going to happen? And so, you know, we went through

ups, we went through downs. I feel like we kind of lived part of your life with you this past month.

Yeah. Just because of the daily check-in. Yeah. I mean, I remember one time I called you guys one

morning because there was a really pretty sunset or sunrise. Yeah. Yeah. It was like really pink.

And I'm like, man, I remember watching the sunrise at Bonnaroo. I should call them. Like I just,

everything reminds me about Bonnaroo. So I just call you guys. Well, there's a big trend online

with targeted ads. Most anybody of certain ages, the older you get, you're going to get more of

them. I don't know. I guess young people would get them too, but like that therapy session kind

of stuff, right? Like click here and, you know, get your life fixed through therapy or whatever.

And as I was listening to some of these, I was like, this kind of sounds like here is like

check-in, just, you know, just a wellness check overall. Happy to be the lifeline on the other end

that can help. And then clearly, you know, there's a carrot at the end of that stick that

it's a little more than just, we're not your therapist. I'm not trying to say. Yeah. We are

not licensed by the way. We are not qualified in any way to give advice or therapy or anything

like that. Yeah. I just thought it was, it was an interesting. You sure don't want it from Brian

either. No, you don't. You don't need any therapy from either of us. No. What is it though? Let's

talk about, what is it about Bonnaroo? It's not just us. I mean, obviously we want you to tell us

why you love this show so much. And we'll get to that. Cause that's what I really want to hear.

But now what is it about Bonnaroo? Why Bonnaroo? What's so special about Bonnaroo?

I'd honestly never been to a music festival until I'd gone to Bonnaroo. And the first time I went

was in 2024. My brother was actually going, supposed to be going with his friend solely

just to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And his friend sadly had to back out. And I told my

brother like, I'll go. Okay. I had never heard of Bonnaroo before. Never. Like the only music

festivals I really knew of was Louder Than Life and Bourbon and Beyond. And that's just because

they're right in my backyard. But yeah, my brother told me, you know, let's go. So I worked an 18

hour shift the night before the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Bonnaroo. We drove straight there.

And I mean, I had like hardly no sleep. And I just remember walking in, I was so exhausted. And it

just kind of like the energy and the camaraderie between everybody. I just really needed that

because, you know, life's hard, family's hard, friendship's hard. And I felt like when I was

there, none of that mattered because I felt like I was part of it. Like I didn't have to go up and

talk with somebody for 30 minutes to feel welcomed. Like I just was. And, you know, grief kind of

played a big role in that. My sister and my dad got me into a lot of music. And when my dad

passed, that really hurt me. But when my brother and I went to go fill up our water bottle,

there was a spray paint on one of like the water fill up stations. And it said,

it had the word dragons on it. So I was like, I feel like I'm meant to be here. Like I'm meant

to meet these people. I'm meant to have this experience and I'm meant to listen to this music.

So it just kind of drew me in. Quickly expand. Dragons, does that have a special meaning

specifically to you and or your dad or other family members?

Yeah. When my dad was growing up, he went into the military and every time he like had a big life

altering experience, he got a dragon tattoo. So he joined the military. He got a dragon tattoo.

I was born. He got a dragon tattoo. My brother was born. He got a dragon tattoo. It was just

everything about that. So it literally said, live like dragons on the water fill up station. And I

saw that and I had to take a picture of it. I think I put it in my PowerPoint for you guys.

But yeah, it just it felt like a message. That's really cool. I'm guessing he might

have been a Game of Thrones fan too then maybe with all the dragons or little not his.

He was a little bit of a nerd. He played Dungeons and Dragons.

Okay, there you go. That makes more sense. Yeah.

All right. There you go. Well, speak to one of your and I only heard a handful of your submissions,

but you spoke very highly of and I can't remember the context of Noah Khan and the

headlining closer on Sunday. And there's a lot of debate on these headliners in all the

Reddit threads and all the podcast. You seem to be quite excited about this. This means more

potentially than just a random show, if you would speak to that.

Yeah, Noah Khan. He has a few songs, some of which that really resonated with me

with my grief when I was grieving because I really clung on to music during that time. And I feel

like he's just really raw. And he talks about some of the hard things that not everyone can really

put into words. And I feel like he just does that so beautifully. His music really touches me. I

cannot wait for his show. Tell me about, I mean, again, we mentioned the fact that you had so many

people reach out on your behalf and we talked about that in the last month or so, not just you.

We've been amazed at all the applicants, the entries for these tickets, the people that have

reached out, not just for themselves, but for other people. And you said you talk to, you're like us.

Our friends are tired of hearing us talk about Bonnaroo 365 days a year. It's like,

shut the hell up, man. Get over it. Yeah, we get it.

What is it about that? Why do you do it? I know why I do it. But why do you talk about it all the time?

I feel like I talk about it all the time because, I mean, really before I started going to Bonnaroo,

I didn't go on vacations. That wasn't something that I prioritized or really had in my time or

my money-wise. But last year I made it happen. I had gotten a raise last year and I was like,

you know what? I'm going to go again this year and I'm going to make it. I'm going to go all the

days. We showed up on Tuesday and we were there until Friday afternoon whenever the storm came.

I feel like I talk about it all the time because it's something that I look forward to.

It's just a connectability with everybody and the music. I love music. I love people and just being

able to feel like I'm welcomed. So it just makes me want to talk about it because the more people

that know, maybe the more people will feel this joy and this passion that I have for it.

I think you just said this, Keera, but sorry I was looking down at notes as you were talking. You did

go last year, the 25th year. Quickly your experience of that. You got there when and

getting out of there and your experience with last year's Bonnaroo, if you would.

So I told you all about 24. I went with my brother. So after we went to that,

as soon as we left, my brother and I were like, we got to go next year. I was like, for sure,

we got to go next year. Me and my brother and Tyler, we planned a trip. We bought gear together. We

planned all year and we packed our cars together. We drove down there. Ty and I actually left a day

early and rented a houseboat on a lake so that we could cut our drive in half to not make our car

overheat or anything. So that was fun. But yeah, we got there Tuesday, super excited. My brother

had a lot of car issues, so that was kind of nerve wracking. We were in line and different,

I think at a school and they were waiting to have people go into Bonnaroo for the security.

And my brother's car wouldn't turn on. His car overheated.

Oh no. Oh no.

Yeah. So we lost our place in line. That was really stressful. My brother thought maybe if

he can't get his car running, he's not going to be able to go. So we were trying to figure out,

well, I'm not missing it, bub. I'm sorry, but I'm getting in there. I'll try and help you figure out

how to get your stuff home. I'll figure that out for you, but I'm going into that place.

Anyway- Where did y'all drive from?

We drove from Southern Indiana, New Albany, Indiana, which is right across the bridge from

Louisville, Kentucky. Okay.

Yeah. Wow. So you got there Tuesday, so that gave you time to work on the car issue.

You got settled in on the farm Tuesday or Wednesday?

We got in there Tuesday. I made it happen. Yeah. Good for you.

Yeah. The car side people brought him some more oil because I think he just burnt through his oil

because he didn't get a house, but he drove straight through. So his car just got really

hot and waiting in that line, he had his car running. So it just overheated. But we got his

car better and we babied it all the way through that line, got stuck in the mud before we got to

security. That was an experience. Yeah. We had a police escort because they knew that our car had

broke. So they told us as soon as we got our car fixed, they'd take us up past some of the line.

Wow. And they did, which we were thankful for. Yeah. We got in there and we camped in Plaza Two.

It was so great. We were right by, we're in the woods. We were right by the bathroom station

it was great. We loved our location. And so you had Tuesday evening, I would guess, and then all day

Wednesday, I'm sure that was, I mean, the weather was great. So I'm sure you had a good day then.

Thursday, we all had a great day. I'm guessing you did too, right? Yes. Weather was good, saw music,

and then Friday. Yeah. Yeah. And then Friday. We did. Ty and I, I was honestly on edge a little bit

last year because I knew he was going to propose. I wasn't, I knew what he had going. I just didn't

know when, like Thursday night, I was like, maybe he's going to do it at the closing concert. Maybe

he's going to do it then. And then he didn't do it Thursday. So I was like, all right, I bet he's

waiting until like Tyler, the creator or something. I don't know. But I was, I was, it was nervous,

but we woke up Friday and we went to the Grove and we saw the Harpist and that was really fun.

We got to see more of her show because the day before we had only saw a small part of it.

And so we spent Friday morning just kind of laying on a blanket, eating some snacks and

listened to the Harpist. And it was beautiful. And then right as we get back to the camp,

it started to sprinkle. Yeah. Yeah. And we were getting bad memories coming back to that Friday

morning. Friday morning was a great morning. It was beautiful. It was beautiful until it wasn't,

but it's the calm before the storm. Yeah. It was, it was definitely an experience, but I know that

my brother and Ty had actually left to go to Walmart to get us some more water and like a few

extra knickknacks that we thought that we needed. And I was at the campsite alone when the first,

like the first big rain came and we had like a big 10 by 20 pop-up and we only had like some of our

walls down. So I'm going around by myself, like trying to tie these walls together and put my

blanket up to get the rain out of there and moving all of our stuff inside. It was definitely

experience. So then they got back and they were like, Oh man. And then more rain came. So.

And getting out, how was getting out just, and we can fast forward to that part, getting out

and getting home. Was that, was that a long, long, long difficult trek or, or did you get lucky and

get out okay? We actually got pretty lucky. My Tyler and I did, my brother actually decided he

wanted to stay and see if they weren't going to cancel, but the people, our neighbors,

the neighbors right next to us, they were like, you know, I think they're going to cancel. We've

gone to music festivals for 20 something years and I don't think this is going to happen.

And Tyler at the time, we had just gotten this car. We had been without a car for about a year

because our car had broke down and we just had been trying to save money to get a new one.

We had just gotten this car and we did not want to risk getting stuck. So

as soon as like the delays kept coming, we were like, you know what, we should get out of here

before it gets dark, before it gets even more muddy. And so we, Tyler and I left about an hour

before they announced the entire cancellation. I have lots of questions for you, Tyler.

You know what you're, you, you clearly know what you're in for, right? I mean, that you've got a

special woman right there. Yes, I do. I know that for a fact. She's kind of tenacious. Is that the

word? That's one word. Obsessive could be another. Yeah. Are you at all surprised by any of this?

When she first called me after I think she got the phone with Eberry,

she said that you called. I was like, no way. And she's like, yeah, we want, I was just like,

there's no way that we want. We don't win anything like this. So we're like, there's no way.

So she sent me a screenshot of the call. I was like, damn, we, we've really won. That's crazy.

It was mind boggling. Like we had, but go, go back to December when this whole journey starts,

where you thinking, oh God, Keera, just give it up already. Or what was your, what was your mindset

at the beginning? After like the first week, I was like, all right, I think that's enough calling.

But it was like, no, I'm calling every day. I was like, if we're going to win, they're going to win

from the first five. And she's like, I'm making a PowerPoint or not. Yeah. PowerPoint. She made a

video. I had no idea of the video. She told me she was making a video, but I didn't know it was like

dedicated to me. That's not shocked me. I didn't know until y'all uploaded it. Then I actually got

to watch it fully. So I was like, damn, that, that took me back on that. But with her, like I said,

when she makes her mind up on something, she, she follows through. She doesn't back down from anything.

Yeah. And you know, when she, she said, you know, that you guys were engaged,

you know, my question was, does Tyler know? And then when she said, I'm pregnant, my,

you know, my question was, does Tyler know? Are we, you know, first?

Yeah, honestly, I was surprised that when I saw that episode, I was like, yeah, I know. But she was,

I was sure she was going to call you guys first.

So I'm curious, Tyler, when, when last year is coming together and, and Keera's saying she's,

I don't know, feels it in her bones or I don't know if there was like rose petals giving some

kind of like message or something that you would propose last year. What was your plan? Clearly it

got axed because of the weather, but what was your plan that weekend for that? So the plan was I,

on Facebook, I found somebody that does photography. So we made up a plan. Then we're going to do it by

the Ferris wheel on Friday. It was the day of the cancellation. We're going to do it after,

what was the first concert we were going to go watch this Friday? I can't remember.

Leon Thomas. Yeah, after Leon, Leon Thomas, we're going to go over towards the Ferris wheel,

probably eat. She was going to meet me at the, not the Ferris wheel. It was right on the other side

of the Ferris wheel. It was like a booth. I can't remember the name of that booth. Then we were going

to, she was going to like follow me to Keera. Then she was going to get a bunch of photos and all that

stuff right in front of the Ferris wheel. So you were just hours away from that. Hours away.

I bet your insides were turning, man. Oh yeah. It was not a fun day. After we got out, there was a

church parking lot not too far away from the entrance to Bonnaroo. We pulled in there and we

just kind of lost it for a minute there. We were just in there talking like she knew,

she knew it was coming. That's a lot of stress. That's what you're going at, Ryan. I mean,

we were all stressed about the festival and you got this going on too. You got to find the

photographer. You got to meet the right places. You've only been there one time. So it's not like

you know the landscape all that well. And then you get a little bit of weather in the 4k. Yeah,

that'd be a pretty stressful day. Oh yeah. It was very stressful.

You went ahead and went through and did the proposal later outside of Bonnaroo.

I think it was a couple of weeks after Bonnaroo. 22nd of June. It was a big party with my family

at Hardy Lake. It was a birthday party, I believe. Your brothers. My little brothers, yeah.

So we did it there. My little sister kind of blew the whistle on it though.

We were all out swimming in 1.9 railings. Let's go do it now. I'm like,

we're swimming. What are you talking about? We'll do it later. But we got back to where we were

set up, the picnic table and everything. And everybody's eyes was on Keera.

And they had their phones out. They were like trying to be non-slot, but they were like this

the whole time on Keera. So they kind of blew the whistle. She knew it was coming,

but at least it got done. All right. Obvious question. What does it mean to you

to win these tickets? It's a redemption for us to go back again and have the full experience.

Hopefully no weather comes in this time. But it means a lot, especially for me, just because I

know how much it means to her, the community, to her. It's everything. The whole atmosphere.

She absorbs it in. The whole thing, the whole experience. I just can't believe we won.

That's cool. It means a lot to us. It's especially cool since, I mean, really only a couple of years

you've been, right? One and a half. I've only been one time. That was my first time. She's been twice.

But I've been to Loudern Life a couple of times, but that's a whole separate.

Yeah. And I got maybe one more for you real quick, Keera, that I just, I noticed you were talking

about that if you didn't win the tickets that you wouldn't, you probably wouldn't be able to go.

Referencing just a couple of the reasons you said that, you know, a lot of people are dealing with

this across the country. Student loans are, you know, been reactivated through a lot of different

reasons. You were picking up a bunch of overtime and a bunch of other things, and it just, the math

wasn't adding up for you. It doesn't sound like. So this was, we just got done talking about the

tickets and sales and how much they cost and all those things, and nothing's getting cheaper. So

you were working your behind off to try to figure out a way, right? But it didn't look like the

math was going to work. No, I feel like all my overtime right now really goes towards me

paying off my debt. So I'm paying off my student loans. I had finished half of my bachelor's degree,

but my dad got really sick. And when he got sick, I just couldn't handle taking care of him and

going into school and working. So one had to give and the only one that could give was school.

And it really sucks because. Yeah, it was not fun. I'm a very studious person. I loved learning. I've

always been like the straight A student, tried my hardest and I'm dyslexic. So it doesn't come the

easiest to me. I have to really fight for it, but I love learning. But yeah, I couldn't do that and

I couldn't pay the student loan or continue school. So now I'm paying my student loans. But

after my dad passed, I had gone to get some help at a mental facility. And during that time,

I was using a credit card to pay my bills because at that point, the only thing that really mattered

was making sure that I could be okay. So now I'm paying off that credit card. I'm paying two

payments a month and I'm paying one payment towards my student loans. So it's like I pay more

with those three bills than I do in rent every month. So yeah, I just knew that I was not going

to be able to swing it. And I had gotten a different job last year, a promotion. And that's why I was

kind of able to afford it last year. But like the stress and the pressure of that job just became a

little bit too much for me. So I no longer am in that position, which is why I work all this over

time to make sure that I can pay my bills and I have a little extra. But that little extra would

not have been enough to suffice to go to Bonnaroo. Well, so many of your coworkers just talked very

highly about how hard you work and how much they enjoy working with you. And I was blown away by

that. I don't think any of us would have that many people that we work with that would say anything

nice about us. So that was pretty amazing. Yeah, I'm definitely thankful for my work family. They

know everything that I've been through and they know how hard I work. Like I'm such a team player.

And like I said, my first year that I went, I worked that 18 hour shift. I only worked that 18

hour shift to ensure that my team and my department looked good for when our higher ups came. That's

all I was worried about. I was like, you know, if you all are going to let me go to this, I'm going

to make sure that we're going to ace this walk. Our management and our leaders are going to know

that our department is good. And I'm going to make sure of that before I leave to go to Bonnaroo. And

that's exactly what I did. Sounds like you're doing it right. Yeah. And your boss called, she said she

would give you the time off for Bonnaroo. So you've been approved for that. I'm sure you do. Double

check with AR though. You know, people just kind of say stuff sometimes. Yeah. I just made one note

and you just make it as long or as little of a commentary on it. But you said your last submission

according to your phone call would have been January 6th. And then there was like 20 more

after that immediately. It was not your last. Just comments. That's all. Just making, not even a

question. Yeah. I think for a little bit, once I heard how you all talk about how many submissions

you got, you were getting a lot. There's no way I'm winning this. I was like, there's no way.

And I kind of got down on myself. I'm like, I don't know if all my calling and all my ideas

are going to work because of how many submissions you all had. And I even remember hearing one of

the people, one of your all submissions, his story moved me. And I was like, if I don't win, I hope

he wins. So Felipe, right? Felipe. Yeah. I loved his story and it really touched, it made me cry.

And yeah, I just, I went through ups and downs calling you guys, but then every time I saw the

podcast, I was just like, the adrenaline that I had, I cannot expect to you.

Yeah. Some days you'd call and you were upbeat and happy. And some days you were kind of down

and just kind of thinking, you know, this is what I meant by like the daily therapy check-in.

Yeah. That's what it kind of felt like. It was like a mental health check. Yeah. She is killing

it today. Today. I don't know if she's all right. I think she's fine, but you know, I don't know.

Yeah. I'm just joking with you and having fun with you. I think it was a hell of a

approach. You'll won, right? So what else? Congratulations. Congratulations to you both.

It honestly still doesn't feel real that we won or that we're expecting it all kind of,

I just feel like I need to pinch myself a little bit. I think we have a couple of surprises for you,

which we'll, you know, I've talked to you about off air and we won't talk about here, but I'm

looking forward to seeing you guys on the farm. Looking forward. I don't know what, you know,

pregnant in June is going to look like, but you know, that's not my problem. It's your

September 17th, right? Isn't that you said your due date is. Yeah. September should be just,

you should be just fine on time. I'm no doctor, but yeah, I don't know if Barry told you, but one

of the stipulations for winning this was that we get to name your baby. Oh, I mean, what's your

options here? Maybe we'll consider it. Brian Jr. Sorry, Tyler. Sorry. Congratulations to you both.

Can't think of any, I mean, it was, it was, this was the hardest decision in some ways and in some

ways not. We had so many good applications or entries, but I think you guys were the clear

winners. So yeah, we went through a lot of entries and there's a lot that we considered, you know,

and there's a lot that we're deserving. I think now I'm just looking forward to see you guys on

the farm and hopefully we have a wonderful weather and a good overall time. I am fully confident that

we will. So I look forward to that. Definitely excited to see you guys on the farm. We watched

you all do your own podcast at the farm last year. Oh, okay. Nice. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They are cool.

Yeah. We were sitting on a couch. Nice. Very cool. Big show. A lot to talk about this week.

They were great. Looking forward to seeing those guys on the farm. Looking forward to seeing you

guys on the farm. Don't know what we have coming up. I mean, we need to sort of reset

now that we've got the contest behind us. Yeah. With everything so early, you know,

it's just kind of change the scheduling up, but happy to get to be moving on into to pass the,

pass the contest and thank you everybody for joining in and playing along and being so,

so passionately creative with it too. That's really cool stuff. But Keera's story kind of

rose above and now sucks. It's only one fair. It's all we can do. I know. Well, and if you

didn't win, you know, we still interested in hearing from you. You know, you could leave a

comment. You keep calling. Tell us if you do manage to make it to the farm. We'd love to see you.

You know, there was a, there's a lot of people that we felt like could have deserved this.

And like I mentioned before, you know, Totem might be one avenue to get some of these people

able to be on the farm. So yeah, it was a tough decision. It really was. Or just find those boxes

in a grocery store that says enter to win now for Bonnaroo. You won't win that one, but you might

as well go ahead and put your name in it. I, I reached out to Dan Teevers. He's the guy. Thanks

to Dan. He's the guy that gives us the tickets. And I reached out and sent him an email,

Russ, to your point and just shared with him that I don't think of all of the entries that we got

did anybody mention they wanted to win because they wanted to see XYZ band. If they did, it was

like an afterthought. Yeah, a couple. I mean, it wasn't certainly the main thing that people want,

was driving people to go. One person called in and said she wanted to come because she wanted to do

Molly and that's, we're not helping with that. Hey, give me a ring. I can get you some of that.

I don't know how good a stuff it is, but we don't have to go to Bonnaroo. Yeah. But, but to your

point, yeah. It seems like the headliners or no, any of the artists, none of them were the main

drivers. It was about the farm and the experience. That's my point. It was about, you know,

just the environment and the community and everything like that. And the Molly.

Not big, and the Molly. I just hope that stuff's not cut up real bad with a bunch of junk.

Fentanyl now, fentanyl. I want to be careful with that stuff.

All right. Good show. Thank you guys.