The What Podcast
Bonnaroo's Cancellation: A City Official on the Long-Term Vision for The Farm
Season 9, Episode 33
Published August 26, 2026
https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/bonnaroos-cancellation-a-city-official-on-the-long-term-vision-for-the-farm

Barry (00:00)
This festival and this announcement touches so many more people and organizations than just, man, I don't get to go see my favorite band.

Ryan French (00:11)
I'm hoping twenty eight, we're back on the farm. But more than that, I'm hoping we're back on the farm with a vision for the next ten years. And not just like saying that like let's we're gonna enjoy the next ten years.

Barry (00:24)
Yeah.

Ryan French (00:25)
What are we actually doing to make sure those ten years are obtainable?

David Bruce (00:28)
I I actually have hope now. I honestly think that it's just gonna be a year off. You know, I want I wanna see it continue.

Barry (00:34)
Welcome back to the What Podcast. I'm Barry. That's Rush. You will notice that we are Sans Obrian. Kinda like San Zabelt. We're San Zabrian.

Russ (00:45)
Yeah,

he's either on a plane right now or he's in an airport. He's on his way to Seattle. Had his first day of school yesterday and now he's taking a trip out west to see Beth, our west coast correspondent. West and east, yeah, she's a multi, yeah, bicoastal, yeah.

Barry (00:58)
West and East. Let's don't forget. I yeah. Bicoastal.

Man, how you doin'? Friday was a Friday

Russ (01:09)
Doing fine.

Barry (01:10)
was in a I a roller coaster. I don't I don't know how else to describe what happened Friday.

Russ (01:16)
It was, yeah.

I'm feeling okay with the news. I mean, I'm not happy about it, of course. I want to go to Bonnarooo next year, just like anyone else. But getting, you know, last two years that it was canceled, 2020 and 21, we had a lineup. We had all this looking forward to. We were building up to it, especially 2021. mean, people were literally on site and traveling. And

Barry (01:38)
Right. Right.

Russ (01:39)
then we got the word that it was canceled.

This at least, we don't have all that. We know up front it's not coming. So, you know, it's just a

Barry (01:46)
Yeah.

Russ (01:46)
lot easier mentally to deal with, I think.

Barry (01:48)
Maybe. Yeah, it's funny, I ask you that, how are you doing? 'Cause that's what everybody on Friday, you know, I Friday was so weird because people were like, How you doing? You must be so sad. This is I know you care about this event. But also we, the what podcast was mentioned quoted in Rolling Stone online, Rolling Stone magazine. So I I was

Russ (02:09)
we were.

Barry (02:10)
getting all these texts from people like, Holy crap, dude.

You know, do you get five copies for your mother? And it

Russ (02:17)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (02:18)
ain't quite the picture on the cover, but Rolling Stone you know, recognizes our podcast. And then, you know, the next question is, how you feeling? 'Cause I know how much you care about this event. So it was a

Russ (02:29)
Right.

Barry (02:30)
weird and then I won't get into it too much, but we we got a little glimpse of the video that was shot.

Featuring us and some other people, shout out Rusty and David Bruce, who we will hear from here shortly. hopefully that comes to light. If it doesn't, well done. Amazing. So what a day. I

Russ (02:49)
Yeah, I don't know how much we can talk about that, but...

Barry (02:52)
know, but what a day Friday was.

Russ (02:55)
It was a day,

Barry (02:56)
and so what it did to me, was sort of cause obviously a lot of introspection.

And so that's kind of what I want to do here right now with just you and I. sort of how did we get here? How did all of a sudden the what podcast is mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine f because of Bonnarooo? I mean, that just is mind blowing. yeah. Thank you. Exactly.

Russ (03:18)
That sentence alone is just what? Yeah.

Barry (03:23)
so how did we get here? and then we have got a couple of guests,

that are gonna be on here in a little while. David Bruce and Ryan French. Ryan is a council person for Manchester, but also on a tourism committee. And I'll we'll get his official titles here in a little bit, but

Russ (03:42)
He wears many hats, but first and foremost, I think he's a Bonnarooo fan. He has been since the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Barry (03:47)
Unbelievable. Yeah, his wife is Mrs. Bonnaroo. yeah.

So so I'm really looking forward to hearing that. But I just thought you and I would take a few minutes. just because you know, how did we get here? I

Russ (04:01)
Right.

Barry (04:02)
and if you'll indulge me, indulge me for a little bit. So 2002, I've told this story many times. I'm the entertainment entertainment reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

I get into work and my bosses say, get in the car with Tim Barber, a photographer, go to Manchester. Traffic is backed up between here and there and between Manchester and Nashville. It's like nothing we've ever seen before. It's just stopped. Basically, Mon Eagle Mountain, not quite Chattanooga. So get up there. All I know is there's this sweaty hippie fest.

Jam ban hippie fest on a farm and there's a traffic jam. I don't want to go. I'm I'm already whining because we're I'm thinking we're sitting in a car. Get there, we get right in, get on the grounds. Tim and I right by that tree. I didn't know it then, but those the cluster of trees in front of the witch is where people were sort of hanging out. They're passing a bong around. And I'm like, okay, this is a little bit different.

Russ (05:05)
I

Barry (05:06)
This is

pretty cool. I've not seen this and nobody's busting you know? It's like, wow, okay.

Russ (05:11)
Right.

Barry (05:12)
And I remember coming home that night and telling my wife, that's really cool. I want to go back. Didn't go back because I didn't want to camp. I was forty-one, forty-two, maybe I guess, forty. didn't didn't well not a camper and not really a jam-ban fan, so

And we had younger reporters that wanted to go. So they did for the next four years. And then in 2007, the bosses said, We can't keep sending hourly employees. We we need to send somebody salaried.

Russ (05:45)
You

Barry (05:47)
And who do you think we should send? And I'm like, I guess that means me. So

Russ (05:51)
Yeah.

Barry (05:52)
started going in seven and to kind of bring it back to the Rolling Stone thing, Russ, I remember going

And being in the media area in the back and thinking, man, I'm I'm shoulder to shoulder with the guys from Rolling Stone and Spin and Relics and MTV. I mean, it was unbelievable. And I'm like, I can't believe I'm here. I I can't believe this is happening. And I was so impressed with the way they handled things. First of all, they had a media area.

I mean, I've been to other festivals. We had one in Chattanooga, River Bend. They didn't ever have

Russ (06:29)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (06:29)
a never had a media area, never had a press conference. They won. James Brown. I mean, it was this was it it was like this is big time. That was my that's what I kept thinking. This is this is this is the best event, music event in the country, and I'm there. Right? I mean I can't

Russ (06:49)
Yeah, and it's an hour

from where we live. Yeah.

Barry (06:51)
Yeah,

and I can't overstate it. And I and I'm so like, I can't believe we're here, you know, we're little bitty old Chattanooga. and at that time especially, that's I mean, that's how I felt about it. You know, we were I just felt we were lucky to be included in all of this stuff.

Russ (07:07)
Yeah, seat at the table.

Barry (07:09)
gotta see the the thank you. That's a good way to put it. And met a guy named Ken Weinstein, who is the head of Big Hassle.

And I very quickly realized he's a big deal. And I had his phone number. And so I you I I know I've told you, don't mess with Ken. Whatever you do, don't get between me and Ken. Don't make Ken mad,

Russ (07:29)
Mm-hmm

Barry (07:30)
whatever, because he's the he's the key to the he has the keys to the kingdom. and so over the years he and I, I think sort of developed a re excuse me, I'd like to think a relationship. And it was all based on that.

I remember I got to I was one of like about seven or eight photographers that got to shoot Paul McCartney in the pit. And I remember Ken walking us into that jam packed crowd in twenty thirteen. And I just I d I didn't do it on purpose. I was just random. I was just grabbing him by the elbow and I was like, Man, thank you. Thank you. I didn't know. I mean, that was

Russ (08:06)
Hahaha.

Barry (08:08)
it. I mean, I can't think of a bigger, better

time in my life, you know, this is there would there's nothing bigger than to be able to shoot Paul McCartney. yeah, I mean

Russ (08:17)
Sure, yeah. I can't imagine anyone bigger than that.

Barry (08:21)
there isn't, not in my world anyway. and so, but there were so many other things, so many other moments backstage. I remember going to they y they have, and they do still do, they have the news conferences, panel discussions. they bring

Russ (08:35)
Mm.

Barry (08:36)
in artists and they

put them on a you know, the dais and chairs and they talk to media. You and I were there for Derek and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeski when the rains came just this last year for about ten minutes.

Russ (08:47)
That's right. Yeah, for about 10 minutes. We had to, had to evacuate.

Barry (08:53)
Rolling StWhat Podcast was doing an interview, but those s

Russ (08:57)
Yeah.

Barry (08:57)
those sorts of things. But I remember Steven Steeles, Richie Fure,

Kareem Abdul Jabbar. We're all on a panel. And I remember turning around and seeing our friend Mike Dewar. And he looked at me and he said, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

And we talked later and he was like, I can't, I mean, there's like, is there anyone more iconic in the 20th century than maybe Kareem, Muhammad Ali, you know, the Beatles, Elvis.

Russ (09:24)
Yeah, yeah.

Barry (09:26)
But he's up there, right? And I was like, Man, you're right.

Russ (09:28)
He's up there.

Barry (09:29)
And we're in the room. This is crazy. those kinds of things are what make this festival so different and unique. That and the the

Parachute. I don't remember the show. I think it was Arcade Fire, maybe. I'm terrible at years and and events and and and merging them together. But I remember going to the show and looking up, and there was a group of people parachuting out of an airplane onto the site.

Russ (09:57)
you

Barry (09:59)
And it was like, okay, that's that's Bonnarooo. That's why this is so unique and so different.

And so crazy and so surprising, you don't know what's gonna happen. and so that was the early sort of years, and then we ran into, I ran into Brad Steiner and Mike Dewar and Denson Lee and Nick Turner and gosh, who else in that group? And we all decided to start camping together, and then out of that came Camp Nut Butter.

which w Brad, our buddy Brad Steiner, decided if we're gonna do this thing every year, we need to do it upright and he went nuts crazy. Started buying carpeting and abyssal and a tent, and we had a

Russ (10:46)
Yeah, because if you know Brad, he is not a camper. He is not the type to rough it at all. He needs his amenities. So yeah, he's going to make this as big a production as he can. This ain't just sleeping on the ground for him.

Barry (11:00)
Yeah.

And so Camp Nut Butter was born and we had Picket Fence, we had a Bloody Mary tent,

Russ (11:05)
Yeah.

Barry (11:07)
I mean it was yeah, like I said, the carpeting and abyssal and and all of a sudden I'm not saying we were first, but I'm not saying we were last either. I

Russ (11:19)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (11:20)
It all of Bonnarooo folks started thinking we need to blow this out and shortly after that came the beer exchange guys. I think it was independent. I'm not trying to equate the two, but

Russ (11:33)
Right.

Barry (11:33)
the beer exchange I think was one of the first don't would would you agree? sort of

Russ (11:40)
I would.

Barry (11:41)
let's do this big. What how can we make this bigger than just the concert, the music?

Russ (11:48)
Yeah, because the concept was for the show was, let's explore who's playing on the lineup. Let's do interviews. Let's do deep dives. And it was music focused first. And then I think

Barry (11:59)
Right.

Russ (12:00)
the beer exchange is what cracked it open. And we realized there's a whole, whole other side to this that needs to be covered and talked about. And it was a whole new direction for the show, I would say.

Barry (12:12)
Yeah. Let me go back a little bit. So early on, so twenty eighteen, Brad and I as I've said many times, having lunch, realized we were talking about this all the time, and decided we should do something. I I Facebook Live, he came up

Russ (12:28)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (12:29)
with the podcast idea, reached out to you and Nick Turner. You you did the website, Nick Turner did the graphics, came up with all that stuff, which makes which looks amazing.

and then it was like you said, it was just because there was a a lineup of people that we weren't familiar with. And so we thought, well, we'll just talk about all these acts, do a deep dive, and have some fun with it. Three

Russ (12:54)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (12:55)
three months heading into it. And I had had a relationship with Ashley Caps because he was he had been booking shows in Chattanooga, which I wrote about for the paper.

For years. I knew him

Russ (13:06)
Yeah, Ashley

Capps, the co-founder of Bonnaroo and he's the AC in AC Entertainment.

Barry (13:11)
Correct. He and the guys from Superfly co founded. Ashley had Ashley knew about the farm. The guys from Superfly out of New Orleans were like, hey, we're we want to put on a festival. Do you know where? And Ashley said, I know a place, 'cause they had done what was it called? Itchiku. That's right, the year before. and so I knew Ashley, you know, professionally, and I had reached out to Ken about the

second week, third week of our doing this podcast, and said, Any chance Ashley might come on the show? And he agreed and gave us an hour. And honestly, Russ, that was the aha moment. That was the moment we're like,

Russ (13:50)
That's it. Yeah. That's when it was.

Barry (13:52)
okay, this thing could be something. These people think we're serious. We can be serious. We we've got an idea here for something.

And after that we've had so many guests, artists, insiders, other people, other people that do festivals. so it's it's just grown and developed and we love having the inside. During COVID we had what lawyers, promoters, all these

Russ (14:20)
Yeah, what a weird,

weird time. yeah, we were getting, it's another time we were like, okay, yeah, we need to talk to the lawyers that actually deal with the contracts to deal with these kinds of things. And, you know, the bookers and like the people that run venues and you know, how is all this changing? Yeah. Yeah, which was a term I'd never known.

Barry (14:34)
Yeah. Found out about force majeure. That was never heard of. I

remember that one. That was a lot of that was interesting.

Russ (14:45)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (14:45)
but again, that was sort of, you know, hey, this is we can the inside baseball stuff. That's what we we hung our hat on, is that that's something that we can do that

I'm interested in. And it turns out a lot of other people are interested in too, because that's

What our listeners had told us thanks to your survey that you did.

Russ (15:05)
That's

what we found out. That's the most number one thing they they tune in for.

Barry (15:09)
Yeah. yeah, that's what they so that's what we're trying to focus on and that's what we will focus on. and so

Russ (15:14)
Yeah, you're gonna

get some inside baseball today with our guests here for sure.

Barry (15:18)
Absolutely. We'll do that here in a little bit, but I just wanted to sort of I don't know, like I said, I've been going through looking at my bookshelf with all the the old booklets and all the paraphernalia, the lunch boxes, the bandanas, the beer cans, all that stuff.

Russ (15:38)
Yeah,

I got jealous looking at your little shrine. I need to build something like that because I have all that stuff, but it's just in a drawer. I've never really put effort into putting it on display and I should have a little corner dedicated, I think. And it does,

Barry (15:52)
Absolutely.

Russ (15:52)
it makes you reflect because this event that we've always kind of taken for granted, at least early on, that it's going to be here every year, suddenly it's not here every year.

Barry (16:04)
I mean, I just was when I was looking at this stuff, I texted my daughter who actually worked for for Bonnaroo. She was an intern while she was at UTK. I remember sitting back in the VIP, the media, it was combined. VIP and media were sort of in the same area.

Russ (16:19)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (16:20)
And she was working and she looked up, she said, there's Luda I'm like, What? She's yeah, there's Ludacris. He just was walking by and then

I think it was the same weekend, Ron Jeremy, you know, the porn star also went walking through.

Russ (16:34)
Yeah.

Barry (16:37)
I'm like, all right, all right, Bonnarooo

Russ (16:41)
Yeah, that's

one thing I like, kind of just hanging out in the media area or the little artist lounge. You just never know who you might look over and see, you know, just chilling.

Barry (16:51)
Yeah. Sean Lennon. Sean Lennon was backstage. I mean, if you know me, I'm a Beatle fan, so any any, you know, any Beatle related thing was

Russ (16:57)
Mm-hmm. Any connection? Yeah.

Barry (17:02)
like, my God, that's Sean Lennon. So that was amazing. I didn't get to see him, but our friend again and Mike Dewar was standing next to Larry David at one point, who

Russ (17:13)
Hahaha

Barry (17:14)
was drinking a

Glass of Chardonnay and a glass wine glass, which if you know Bonnaroo, glass is the one thing. So Mike was

Russ (17:23)
Glasses verboten. Correct. Yeah.

Barry (17:27)
like, That's Larry David, and he's got a glass wine. No. Those are the kind

Russ (17:31)
Yeah, that's not going to stop him from having a short night. Yeah. That's funny.

Barry (17:37)
of things. So amazing stuff. the people that we've met, the

And we're gonna talk about it a little bit here more. The the thing that sticks out, and I mentioned it Friday when we did our quick little live thing is

Russ (17:53)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (17:53)
the community. this announcement is has so many ramifications and we're gonna get into that more detail here with our guests. not just for us, you know, personally, like what are we gonna do for the next eighteen months or

Russ (18:06)
Yeah. Yeah.

Barry (18:07)
twenty months

or whatever it is. but it has the bigger ramifications and we'll talk about that. But I just wanted to jump on here with you, and kinda reminisce a little bit and like I said,

Russ (18:18)
Yeah, I'm

a little sad we don't have Brian because he would definitely have some memories and stuff to talk about. mean, he's been going to every single one of these.

Barry (18:26)
Everyone.

Yeah. And but like I said, I just wanted to take a moment and sort of like how did we get here? And

Russ (18:35)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (18:36)
that's how you and I got here. and so let's end that and then let's let's bring on our guests and we will talk about maybe how they got here as well, but also what it means going forward for them.

Our guest joining us are David Bruce. I am Bonnaroo, you know him, you love him, and also Ryan French. And Ryan, you have about eighteen million titles, so I'm gonna let you try to tell us which ones are relevant here.

Ryan French (19:04)
yeah, relevant

ones. I'm on city council in Manchester still. I have been since two thousand nine. but in my my daytime gig I work with the South Central Tennessee Tourism Association. so we focus on tourism in the South Central region of Tennessee, which obviously includes Manchester and Coffee County. and just recently I was actually appointed

the timing of this is kind of ironic, but I was appointed to the governor's music music advisory commission where we're actually analyzing some some music ecosystem stuff across the state and putting together hopefully policies that will be more supportive of the industry moving forward.

Barry (19:41)
And I don't think I'm overstating when I say you you're you're a big Bonnaroo supporter, right?

Ryan French (19:47)
Yeah, I've I've got that reputation, you could say. but no, I yeah, yeah.

Barry (19:50)
You and your wife.

Russ (19:51)
You're married to Mrs. Bonnarooo.

Ryan French (19:53)
That's right. I she'd probably kick me to the curb if I wasn't. but but no, I've I've been to every Botaroo. I've I kinda joke around. I was fifteen or so when it started and I think the first year or two or three, maybe the fence was down pretty quickly. my granddad lives

about half a mile from from the arch as a crow flies and so we would just cross we'd walk over and and then and I become addicted to it. And so I've been to everyone since and I actually live about two houses behind my grandfather now. He's still around, ninety six years old and doing well but so I I s I still live close and I've been a huge fan all all my life and or most of my life I s should say and I'm

It's part of our identity. I you know, Barry, you and I were talking, it's like it's more it's more than an event for me. It's I I look at it, you know, we've got we've got five boys and we've raised you know, we got two that are twenty four years old now, one that's eighteen, and a twelve year old and we've raised them through Bonnarooo, you know.

Barry (20:56)
And and to bring everybody up, David, what was your first year?

David Bruce (21:01)
two thousand and eleven. Yeah, so it's been sixteen

Barry (21:03)
Yeah. And

David Bruce (21:05)
years for sure.

Barry (21:06)
and if not gonna rehash it because you've been on you've been a guest several times. You're I I love the I am Bonnaroo project. For those of you who don't know, please look it up, look at his pictures. but you came, I mean, just to let everybody know, you came in two thousand eleven on a basically a a whim, and started taking pictures and decided I'm gonna do this project and you've been doing it ever since.

My point in saying all that is, like Russ and I, and like everybody associated with Bonroo, this thing means way more to us than just, hey, I got to see my favorite band at a at a festival. Let's start with you, Ryan. what did what what did this announcement on Friday what's it mean? You pick a hat. Pick a hat.

Ryan French (21:51)
Yeah, it's yeah, right.

Russ (21:52)
Ha ha ha ha.

Ryan French (21:53)
personally I'm still kinda reeling. professionally I think there's an opportunity. Like I said, the limited time I've I've only been I've served on this advisory council for you know, three months now. But before that we've the state of Tennessee and the Economic Community Development Department and the entertainment commission under Jimmy Wheeler, they've commissioned

Not just economic impact studies, but really true ecosystem studies from east to west Tennessee and across all the regions. And they've started analyzing these studies and it and for me, it actually before this announcement, before the event this year, before Pottery this year, we held round tables with musicians, venues, events, even education.

We had UT Southern Tissue involved in those conversations. And it was interesting because we were setting we're it w the conversation was holistic and we had a we had perspective from basically every angle that the industry offers. And at the end of the day, everyone was still trying to search searching for the revenue streams that would support them. I mean, you have artists saying, Hey, at the end of this,

There's not a lot left for us. You have venues saying at the end of this, there's not a lot left for us. and it's it's interesting. It's a it was a interesting process to go through. And I'll say, Shelby Goodson actually from came and participated in the rail tables and we had representation from the caverns and the Mule House. We we had a we had a lot we had a really great group. And so just having having that little bit of perspective heading into this year's festival.

And just kind of having a better understanding of what the industry as a whole is going through right now from a from a revenue standpoint. it didn't surprise me. I'll I'll be honest. Like I you know, you could you could see though those ramifications kind of filter through the Botaroo reality as well. And so yeah, it's just it's

It's interesting. I I'll say this, like there's a lot out there right now, as far as what's next and who's doing what and what's gonna happen. I don't know that I buy into the it's good to to take a year off, but but I do think it it creates an opportunity. And I think that's the most important part right now, is what we do with that opportunity. I think from

And this is all the hats. Like put everybody everybody's hat on, from a citizen to a fan to a patron, whatever. We all need to take a step back and and look at what we can do to support a more sustainable model for not just this event, but a lots of events that we love. 'cause the industry's changing. We have to understand that from the fan level to the production level across the board.

Barry (24:46)
One of the things that Russ, we were told, I don't remember if if if you were told or Brian, my or co co host, was that Bonnarooo is the bell cow, not just not just for C three and live nation. I think it was you, David, wasn't it? Yeah, it was Brad Parker told you that

David Bruce (25:07)
Yeah.

Barry (25:07)
Bonnaroo is not just the bell cow for C three, but for all of live music festivals, right? It

Russ (25:12)
Yeah, it's

kind of the tent pole holding all this up.

David Bruce (25:16)
Yeah,

ex exactly. That's that's what that's what he told me on the farm this year. And I don't want to paraphrase him or speak for him, but it it kind of gave me a different perspective on festivals, you know, in general. but basically that's kind of what he said. He said it's important to the festival industry, for lack of a better term, the United States that Bonnarooo continues, for multiple reasons.

You know, it's just it's such a large event. It's it's sort of like I I guess the the model for a lot of festivals in the United States. And you know, of course it's been extremely successful and it's had some hard knocks, but you know, but yeah, I I kinda wish I could remember, you know, his words exactly. and I don't think he would mind me repeating those, but yeah, he's he said it's it's it's you know imperative for

the stability of festivals in the US specifically, the Bonnarooo continues. So

Barry (26:13)
And I think that echoes what you were saying, Ryan, and not to put, you know, words in Brad's mouth or yours, but as part of that and and I it's I guess what I wanna sort of echo or not echo, but the point that I think we want to make today is that this festival and this announcement touches so many more people and organizations

than just, man, I don't get to go see my favorite band. I don't get to go camp with my buddies. the city of Manchester r I assume relies heavily on the revenue. The state of Tennessee relies heavily heavily. the artists need these events. The charities. I mean we we met with you a couple of years ago, Ryan and on the panel discussion there to talk about the the

non profits that benefit from this. So talk about that a little bit. You you I think you're the probably the best person that I can think of. how the scope of just what this festival means to so many people.

Ryan French (27:19)
Yeah, it's

it's no, I mean it it does. It the the the ripple effect is is hard to really kind of understand from just a from hearing the initial announcement. It's like i yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I keep I keep having that. yeah, it's gonna affect this, yeah, it's gonna affect that. You know, I think one of the things that you know, first and foremost kind of s stood out to my mind was

Yeah, they're the number one contributor to the Grandy County food pantry every year. You know, and that like what how d how does that affect something as at that level?

Barry (27:55)
Just let

me stop you right there, just 'cause that's a great examp. I'm glad you brought that up. It's not just that, they feed people. They plan, they budget.

Ryan French (28:04)
Yeah.

Barry (28:04)
They plan their year on that. They you know,

Russ (28:06)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (28:06)
Yeah.

Barry (28:07)
and now that that re that source is gone.

Ryan French (28:10)
Exactly. It's a i you and you said it like it the it it's not just a revenue piece, right? It's the the ability to plan and and to to serve people the best that you can and and the this event allows them I say the event, this organization allows them to do things like that. You know, Moderatory Works Fund's a perfect example. Kelsey is absolutely amazing. You guys know that. You work with her. She's a she's

Barry (28:32)
Rockstar.

Ryan French (28:33)
a rock star.

Russ (28:33)
Mm-hmm. We love her.

Ryan French (28:34)
the impact, again, it's just th it

From school uniforms, yeah, to food pantries and to investments into mental health this year that was just, you know, an extraordinary investment from them. Like these are things that, you know, obviously can't continue if there's not an event. I'm not saying I don't know what their intentions are with a one year layover, but the event obviously is where they're able to supply the revenue needed to do these things. And it's not, you know, you think about

small businesses like Bonnaroo from fr had they have embraced that same model from the get go. They they're gonna support your local little league team, right? They're they are that. They've been that from the from the rip. and they they realize how important that is and they've continued to make that investment. Now things have changed over the years as they have to, but they've they've stayed stayed committed to that. And I think I you know, back to David's point just briefly, like I had

You know, he was talking to Brad at at Bonnaroo. I was having, and I don't I don't mind I don't think he would mind me saying this because there's there was nothing really substantive about it. It was this perspective that was lent to me. but I was having a conversation conversation with Jeff Cuellar after the ticketmaster settlement or judgment. And he and I had the

same conversations like, yeah, it's it's easy to kind of paint this big, bad, evil thing that's happening. But till we all have a kind of a realistic look at the industry as a whole from a revenue standpoint, things like this, you know, they're gonna take the headlines, but we're kind of glossing over the real issue of a sustainable industry. And right now it's it's not it's heading into an area where

expenses are just overwhelming these events from a standpoint of that they're they're just simply not sustainable. I don't know that that's where Bonnaroou is. I you know I I don't want to speak to their their particular situation, but I obviously being in Manchester as from the from the get-go, right? Why were they in Manchester? Well, it was because the proximity of the rest of the country, it was a very fan driven mindset. But with that,

comes obvious sacrifices. Our our city does not have the infrastructure to support a hundred thousand people on a day-to-day basis. And so there's there's this constant give and take that you have with it being in Manchester. And we have to understand that from how we treat to what our expectations are, to how we as a community, fans, the actual community of Coffee County,

And and the event itself, how how we all kind of coalesce to make this thing what it can be.

Barry (31:18)
For those not familiar, Jeff Gwayar, I don't remember what his t tal about titles and hats. He wore every all of for Bonaro for many, many years, that you that mentioned. so and and certainly an industry in insider. He helped build Bonnarooo to what it is. and to your to your point, and it's a bigger it's a bigger look.

It's not just Bonnaru that's dealing with this. Gas prices affect the bands, the travel. It the it affects the setup. just, you know, the fifty cents to a dollar difference per gallon of gas impacts Bonnaru. It imp it impacts the staging. It impacts the travel for the bands. we were talking off air. younger people don't drink.

They're not drinking as much alcohol anymore. That's a revenue stream that's, you know, diminished. So you got higher, you know, travel and less revenue. So all of those things, and again, it's not just Bonnaru. So it's a it's a bigger picture issue that I'm I I don't know what the answer is.

Russ (32:28)
Yeah, I'm even thinking about businesses like Spicy Pie. They don't have a physical restaurant anywhere. They built their business on selling pizza at festivals and Bonnarooo, I don't know their financials, but Bonnarooo may be the one event that keeps them sustainable to be able to do that at other events throughout the year. So taking that away is going to hurt their business a lot.

David Bruce (32:48)
I don't know really a whole lot about Live Nation, you know, specifically other than the people that we've met were were super cool people. but you know a lot of people sort of knock them in their affiliation with Bonaru and you know definitely don't wanna get into a debate about that because most people's you know the things they're saying are valid. But you know, the the based on what Ryan just said, I mean, the the underlying thing is

for things like Bonnuru, they need a financial partner like that to stay afloat, especially when they start having two or three years in a row that aren't very good financially. You know what I'm saying? that that's why a lot of smaller festivals I think sort of go under that were, you know, for a hot minute very successful. And then the next minute, you know, they're saying they're taking a year off and then they never come back again. You know, they

Barry (33:39)
Sure.

David Bruce (33:40)
just don't they don't have

Russ (33:40)
Mm-hmm.

David Bruce (33:42)
the the financial stability to continue and take a gamble on the next year being profitable or not, you know.

Barry (33:49)
We've said on here without Live Nation in their their deep pockets, Bonnaru would have probably folded twenty twenty, twenty one, twenty five. I mean,

David Bruce (33:55)
Pro yeah, or or somebody. Yeah. Or or

Russ (33:56)
Yeah, I think that's true.

Barry (33:59)
who can survive that?

David Bruce (34:01)
yeah, or somebody, you know, somebody a financial partner like Log Nation. I mean, you know, and the thing that that sort of, you know, that I find really interesting is a l a lot of the naysayers, every time Bonaru, you know, releases an announcement and and says tickets are going on sale, immediately people start to complain about any ticketing, you know, ticket price increase.

I can tell you that I haven't gone to see a single artist show in Madison Square Garden and I can't remember how long because tickets are like three and four hundred dollars a piece. That's

Barry (34:33)
Yeah.

David Bruce (34:34)
for an hour and a half

Russ (34:34)
Mm-hmm.

David Bruce (34:35)
show for a single artist. So, you know, if you think about, you know, everything that a festival like Bonnaroo, you know, has to offer, everything they bring, and the the you know, and and you start comparing those ticket prices, there's there's no conversation, you know.

Barry (34:51)
Ryan, w you you kind of alluded to the the your the mental thing of and then and then and then what about this? So if you don't mind, sort of when Friday's announcement, what walk me through a little bit what went through what has gone through your mind. We're recording on Sunday, so we've had two days. And and I'm I'm I guess I'm picking at a scab. A a

Ryan French (35:16)
Yeah.

Russ (35:16)
You

Barry (35:17)
a sore, but I mean

You know, I've done the same. I know Russ has done the same. You know, what about this? How is this? Is this gonna affect my my June next year? This is gonna affect today. but you have so many tentacles. You know, you're talking to the local cheerleading organization, the Little League. So if you don't mind, just sort of walk me through what the last I don't know, seventy two hours.

Ryan French (35:44)
A lot of that, you know, one of my one of my good friends, Chris Elam runs the Dusty Elam Foundation and this is a big event for them every year. They run a a booth. In fact, it's like the first thing I do every year. I go to their booth and I give a hundred dollar tip. That's that's my contribution right away and hopefully the rest of the weekend. Which I will say in twenty five I I did get that tip. Did not

was not able to visit the rest of the time, but I did get that tip in. but no, it's yeah, like talking to Chris is like, you know, they're gonna have to make big adjustments. I mean, you know, it's a it's a for them, you know, I can I thou tens of thousands of dollars that they raise. that then they reinvest in the community throughout the year. So that that's kind of that ripple that I'm saying. It's like, yeah, you got the initial pot of money that's not going there.

But then how many things are they gonna have to pull back on throughout the year, the course of a year? And man, they I mean, they they donate money to people that they're in hardships and th I mean, throughout the year that happens. And so there there's that. I I've had a lot of conversations with people like that, how that's gonna financially affect the you know, people who depend on things like the Bonnaroo Works Fund, how that's going.

to affect them. that so there there's definitely that. Obviously there's a tax component to this too. I mean a sales tax component, you know, you can imagine those four days a year, it's a significant impact on the city of Manchester from from a sales tax standpoint. from Coffee County, same same kind of thing. A lot of the event still happens in the county. and so there's a sales tax component for them, but there's

The county also has initiated a ticket tax fee, which that's you know, obviously they're not going to be able to to collect on that. so those those financial ramifications. Now I'll say this, Barry. One of the things that I've I have tripped in 72 hours, and of course, you know, I I kind of knew the storm was coming. It's not like it was it's I wasn't shocked.

Russ (37:46)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (37:47)
but

after you step away from the personal element of it and then you go through, you know, that ripple effect of who it's gonna affect and that that's gonna continue to happen. I do have some optimism around this idea of like everyone taking a step back and and how can we put our best foot forward when we come back together collectively. And I think that's real important. I think in fact I think that's the most important thing that can happen right now.

And I'm I mean I I'm not surprised you by what I'm talking about when I'm saying who that is. you know, I mentioned the ticket fee with the county. You know, right now the the county government has very little obligation to the festival. Most of the the policing's handled by the city and there's still partnerships with the sheriff's department and the the county's a great partner, and has been for years and years and years. But, you know, is that ticket fee the best

Is that the best model to move forward with or do we look at that a little bit differently? Because you know, Botaru, we talk about contributions. They bought ambulances for the ambulance authority. They bought school buses. I mean, these these are significant investments. I think having a ticket fee in some weird way almost kind of takes a little bit of the negotiation of what we can do is is best moving forward off the table. Hoteliers is another thing. Like that that has

And and let me say this, this is not a one sided issue, but this is an issue that I've monitored. And and going back to when Live Nation kind of did first take over, they they're they're they have a way of doing things, right? They're in Chicago, this is how we do things. In Los Angeles, this is how we do things. Those things didn't quite all translate to rural Tennessee. And one of those was an example of, you know, how they booked hotel rooms. Previous years, Botaroo had

basically bought a block of rooms, right? Well, when you block off rooms, you pay for those rooms. Live Nation didn't want those rooms to be reserved, but they didn't want to pay for rooms that they didn't use. That's not unreasonable. But when you're talking about me holding these out of my system, you know, so there

Barry (39:53)
Sure.

Ryan French (39:53)
like there's all these little details.

Russ (39:54)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (39:55)
Well what that ended up happening was and then you had hotels that didn't want to pay a booking commission. And so what ended up happening is we lost those hotel rooms

over a six week period in in Manchester and all the hotels were were basically being booked in Murfreesboro and and then you create a new expense and a logistics nightmare for Bonnaroo having to shuttle staff back and forth from Murfreesboro. I think it's an opportunity to look at that issue. How can we how can we reapproach that and and create a better, more sustainable model there? Because let me tell you what's what's worse than

than the situation that was is no hotel rooms, right? Like that's that's certainly not where we want

Barry (40:36)
Yeah.

Russ (40:37)
Yeah.

Ryan French (40:38)
to be. So it does give us the opportunity

Barry (40:40)
Right.

Ryan French (40:41)
to kind of take a step back and analyze these these issues. that are that are not one party issues. They're they're partnership type conversations that we need to have. And I think, you know, I obviously Shelby, Corey, you know, Kelsey, they're all very engaged with the community.

but there's there's there has been over the years, there's been a little bit of a drop off of what how it used to be. you have a community that wants to be engaged and I think it's an opportunity for us to kind of reassess that and and and and take a step forward. I and I'll I'll this is one last like little local issue that just this is an observation. previous years and I had another conversation, someone said, Well, you gotta stop the bleeding somewhere. Previous years Monaro had impact ticketing.

where they would actually give tickets to groups of neighborhoods that were impacted by the event over, you know, the course of the event. Well, they did away with

Barry (41:35)
Right.

Ryan French (41:36)
that program. Well, why'd they do away with it? Well, it was abused tremendously. I mean, that was one of the things. but when that happened, like it broke some good it broke goodwill with a lot of people that weren't abusing it. And it was just

It it's little things like that. I'm not saying you go back to that. I'm not saying you, you know, open up the the gates again. That's not what I'm saying. But I do think that we we need to look back at the history of this whole entire thing and say what worked, what didn't work, what's sustainable, what's not sustainable. How do we work together to build a more complete structure, not just the four days, but relationship-wise. And I do think that this year is going to give us that opportunity to step back.

I'd love see Botaroo invest kind of like into a a le community liaison more specifically. I I mean I'm not taking away from anybody that that does anything but the currently, but just having someone where their focus is more community oriented throughout the year, I think is an opportunity to come from this. because again, I I'm hoping twenty eight, we're back on the farm. But more than that, I'm hoping we're back on the farm with a vision.

For the next ten years and not just like saying that like let's we're gonna enjoy the next ten years.

Barry (42:49)
Yeah.

Ryan French (42:49)
What are we actually doing to make sure those ten years are obtainable?

Barry (42:53)
Wow, that's a lot to unpack.

Ryan French (42:55)
Sorry.

Barry (42:57)
No, no,

no, no. I it's awesome. w one of the things and I don't wanna open this r go down this rabbit hole too much, but one of the rumors was that they were trying to sell it, that they were gonna move it so and move it somewhere else. And I think what you just said is th you don't pick this thing up and and move it, 'cause just what you were talking about. Put it you know, what neighborhood do you drop this thing in? I mean, we have twenty five years of Manchester

you know, going from the city to the county to the plumbing. I mean, I remember all those issues, you know, putting in new roads and sewer lines and all that with the city and the county. and like you said, the you know, taking care of the neighbors 'cause there are people who literally live right there. And so you you kinda have to deal with all that. So it's a it's a lot more complicated than just you know, the old I don't know if you guys are

young rascal fans, but the old, hey guys, we let's we've got costumes, we got a barn, let's put on a show,

Ryan French (43:55)
Yeah.

Barry (43:55)
you know? It's a little more complicated.

Russ (43:56)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

David Bruce (43:59)
It's a different perspective for sure. And it's a lot of things that most people don't really have to think about. But you know, there they're it's extremely, you know, they're they're important things, you know, to the stability and continuation of something like Bonaro. there ha there has to be, you know, there has to be a game plan.

Ryan French (44:17)
Well, let me point out the the the fact that we're even doing this podcast, the difference in just an event versus a community, right? This this is a community

Russ (44:26)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (44:26)
because of things like this, because of things that what David does. Like this so you have to leverage that in this situation and call on us as a collective to say, Hey, how do we do this together? Like what is that? And that's why I think that the conversation needs to be

move to this reality of like this is more than we need to let the grass heal. Like we all know that it's more than that. But how do we collectively take that first step? I'm not saying we're gonna have all the answers, but our next step forward together from all of our different perspectives, needs to be with the same end game, same goal in mind at the end. And I think this year is going to give us that opportunity, if nothing else.

to kind of assess what that next step looks like.

Barry (45:12)
Yeah, the community is the is the next topic that I I wanted to s sort of address. obviously we do this podcast every week and so we're familiar. We get to touch a lot of different communities. the real Roo Bus, Daniel and Charla, the work that they've done with Totem, I mean, that whole thing is amazing what they've created and the lives that they've touched with that. church boners, you know, the

The beer exchange guys, there's hundreds, hundreds of communities within communities. and and David, you you know, you've you've been around, you've seen them all, you've touched them all, you know them like like we do. That's that's part of why I'm I'm mentioning it mentioning it. it's a year round thing. That's what people who don't know Bonnarooo probably can't grasp is how much

It's a year round everyday thing.

David Bruce (46:09)
Yeah, I mean you you know, you meet people and you form, you know, truly, genuine relationships. And when that happens, you know, those things don't turn on and off for a four day festival. They they just continue because they're real relationships. And that's why we, you know, hang out outside of Bon Run and that's why we stay in touch year round. And, you know, it's people get it. I mean it the can be the Yeah.

Russ (46:32)
That's why I'm on your Christmas card list.

Ryan French (46:34)
Yeah.

Barry (46:35)
Yeah.

David Bruce (46:35)
That's why you're on my

Christ that's why I actually I think Ryan is on my Christmas card was too.

Ryan French (46:38)
I am. I am. I look forward

to that every year. It's a it's it's a great car.

Russ (46:40)
Me too.

David Bruce (46:41)
Yeah.

You know, the thing of it is is yeah, I mean, you know, the the community is the foundation of of Bonnarooo. I mean, it's you know, it sounds cliche about the whole radiate positivity thing, you know, blah, blah, blah. Some people get up every day and that's just who they are. It's not how they dress up and pretend to be. and these are the people that that I have sort of gravitated towards on the farm, you know, like like a magnet.

And you know, when you connect with these people, you have a relationship that lasts outside of Bonnarooo. But, you know, it's it's truly the foundation of something, well, not something like Bonaru. It's for me, it's been the foundation of Bonaru. It's the community. and you know, that that's why it's really more important than just another music festival. I've been to a ton of music festivals, you know. there's nothing like Bonnaru, and and everybody says that that goes there.

And again, it sounds cliche, but it's not. And you know, it's it's something different. It's it's special, you know.

Barry (47:42)
Ryan, not to again not put words, but you and I have been talking for a while. We actually I had reached out to book you on the show a month or so ago and you agreed before all of this. So

Ryan French (47:54)
Yeah.

Barry (47:55)
you and I have been talking, I think you knew this was coming. but one of the things you said, and I've heard from a lot of other people, Bonnaroo related.

The tone changed Thursday. It seemed like doom and gloom up until maybe Wednesday or Thursday. And then everyone that I got emails or texts from, the last thing they said was, I have hope. I feel good about it. I I I'm optimistic. Is that fair?

Ryan French (48:25)
Yeah.

Well, yeah, for sure. and that I think that's kind of who we are as a people, if if you will, if you want to put us all into one bucket. 'cause once we go out there, it's a different it's almost like it's own country. It's a different collective of people that truly you know, Degan said, irradiate positivity. I think one of the something that happened years ago, after again, I was

Jeff Cuellar and I just kind of built a relationship over the years. I he and I was texting, something had happened. I was, I was like, man, I wish this would happen. And he's told me, like, stay true to Rue. Like that is also part of, you know, the mission statement. And that that one sentence to me made me set back and like, okay, yeah. Even not to just be an apologist for everything, because

I think Bonnaroo is bigger than who owns Bonnarooo. Bonnaru isn't yeah, so Live Nation C three, like they own the intellectual property, the logo and the whatever. But Bonnaru is us. It's the community. And they know that. And they're invested into that because they're part of it too. That and that's that's the thing, like at the end of the day, and I think David, you said it, like everybody you've met from Live Nation C three.

A lot of them have tentacles that go back to the AEC days and all that. And they're part of this. They they've they've grown up in it as well. And I think, you know,

Barry (49:49)
Yeah.

Ryan French (49:49)
you can say what you want about

Russ (49:50)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (49:51)
whoever owns whatever. The commitment from that staff is is here. so yeah, I think it's it doesn't surprise me that it it's led to an optimistic tone. I I hope at the same time we can stay vigilant on

really addressing some of these issues and not just sitting back and crossing our fingers that everything's gonna get better, but actually putting in the real work. You know, I I've had conversations with our mayor over the weekend, just like, you know, we're gonna keep going as a city, we're gonna keep doing the things that we're already doing. Cause you you mentioned like sewer and this and that. Like we're we're those things are going to continue to happen to position the city to host this event.

in a better way. That's optimistic at from my viewpoint. But what else do you do? I think at this point, like if we just want to sit around and moan and and and bitch about it, we're not going to do any good. We we really need to put our hard hats on and say, hey, what can we do to make this thing happen? and where it happened where it is. I will say that. Like that is that is a sore spot for me. I don't think the the idea of moving Bonaru, I I get it from a business standpoint.

you know, you you what if that if that comes to the table and that's something that they have to consider. I do think you obviously from a traditional standpoint, rural Tennessee is not going to compete with a a major metro market. The only thing that we really have going for us is the investment that they've already made into that property. That has to be considered in any kind of thing like that. but at the end of the day, I think if we can kind of rally around the mission,

together, I don't I don't think you go you go down those paths of of talking about selling it or moving it or whatever. I don't I you know I think that's that's a lot of wasted time

Russ (51:40)
Yeah.

Ryan French (51:41)
and energy if you want to go there. From a community standpoint, we need to focus on the task at hand and and and making this thing what it can be.

Russ (51:49)
Well, on the subject of moving it, not necessarily moving the location, but there's also been rumors of changing the date. And I know that they put that on the survey, like would you attend if it were in a different time of year? But is that on the table at all as far as keeping it in the same month or?

Ryan French (52:04)
Yeah, I mean, what is traditional weather patterns anymore, right? I mean we all we all

Barry (52:09)
Yeah. There it is.

Russ (52:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan French (52:10)
don't believe in, you know, climate change, but we continue to see what it does to the to the country. And this is another perfect example of that. It just is what it is. yeah, I think, you know, again, that's a conversation, you know, I would kind of be a you know, just a speculation type person to say, you know, obviously the date that they currently have in

But June allows for more college students and you know, things like that. I

Barry (52:36)
Right.

Ryan French (52:37)
so I mean I from a demographic standpoint, obviously there's some things to consider with moving the dates. but yeah, I mean I I would I really wish the post COVID September ru could have happened. Like I I was interested to see how that looked.

Russ (52:53)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (52:53)
but you know, David brought up the other fest that

Okay. We had

Barry (52:58)
Yeah.

Ryan French (52:58)
to we had to pivot to that. It's a hurricane.

Russ (52:59)
Ha ha.

Ryan French (53:00)
So I mean that's it. I mean we did because of because of, you know, this pandemic and then a hurricane blows us out of the the event in September. So I don't know. I don't know what the answer is to that. But I you know, I'd be willing I I think we would pivot as a community. I I think I think the support would be there, whatever they need to do.

Russ (53:20)
Yeah, the one time that they did exit 111, that was in October. I thought it was pretty great.

Ryan French (53:26)
Yeah, it was like thirty two degrees one night, but but but I mean, yeah, I mean it's yeah.

Barry (53:29)
Yeah, it was

Russ (53:30)
Yeah, it was, it was cold.

Barry (53:33)
I was gonna go back to what you were talking about the Ryan. I my conversation with I've mentioned on here many, many times, Ken Weinstein, who is he's not one of the founders, but he's the founder adjacent. He's one of the original OG guys that was on the stage. We you've heard the story many, many times.

Russ (53:51)
He was in the room.

Barry (53:53)
He's become I I just think the world of him.

But he and I have been texting back and forth because I've, you know, obviously reaching out saying, hey, I'm hearing these rumors and and whatever. And he said something to me, texted, he said, we're in this together. And

Ryan French (54:06)
Amen. Yeah.

Barry (54:08)
I mean, I can't tell you, Ryan. That hit me right in the feels. I was like, that is the coolest thing I've heard I've heard.

Ryan French (54:15)
Yeah.

Barry (54:16)
And it's a, it's for people who don't, I mean, that meant so much. and he's so right.

Ryan French (54:21)
There's no

Barry (54:22)
'Cause it does mean something to him and to Shelby and Corey and Jeff, you know, who's not who hasn't been involved in five years, but I mean he helped build this thing. And and that's what I've tr we've tried to impress on people on this show. Tuba, who's been on this

Ryan French (54:37)
yeah.

Barry (54:37)
show. I mean, why does Tuba

Russ (54:38)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (54:38)
get up on a Sunday morning and talk to to me and Russ?

Ryan French (54:41)
Yeah.

Barry (54:42)
You know? He

Russ (54:43)
Yeah.

Barry (54:43)
didn't have to do that. but but they love this event and I I just I think it shows.

And that's that's why we're talking, right? People care, passionate about this thing.

David Bruce (54:53)
And I I honestly believe that if it continues, it's for that reason specifically. And I think that the people that actually you know can control that a little bit more than, you know, us, the general population. I think I think they get that that it really matters to a lot of people and that's gonna be one of the driving forces to keep it moving forward. Because guess what I mean? It would be easy as a mu from from a music fan standpoint to just say, Okay, bummer, you know, Bonnarooo's gone.

or Bumber, you know, Moon River's gone, what fest am I going to replace it with next year? Because, you know, I I know personally that if Bonnaru goes bye bye, wh whatever I attend, you know, and replace of that for lack of a better term, definitely isn't going to be the same thing.

Barry (55:38)
those lines. We've talked now for 40 minutes and thankfully we've not really tried to predict the future. David, Ryan, can you predict the future? Do you want to try? because I I

David Bruce (55:51)
No.

Barry (55:51)
I'm not gonna ask you to, but if you can, go ahead.

David Bruce (55:55)
Well, you know, the just I I try not to read the the too much of the chatter that's online unless I I see a name from somebody that I think might actually have, you know, something concrete to to lend. And I did go from you know, we w you and Barry and Russ and I talked earlier in the week and I got the phone call right as I was getting ready to walk out the door to s to shoot a show. And only because I saw Barry's name pop up my my phone did I

Did I take the time to pick up the call? And I'm saying that because I was literally stepping out the door to go shoot a show that I was late for. But I'm like, okay, why is Barry Corter calling me? And that's how I answered the phone. I said, Why is Barry Corter calling me? And we chatted about it. And

Russ (56:35)
Hahaha.

David Bruce (56:36)
I got I gotta be honest with you, man. It was a fucking gut punch for me. And all night it was the only thing that I had in the back of my mind. Cause I never really considered, to be honest with you, that this was gonna happen.

So, you know, it went from that to starting to hair little bits of pieces like, you know, it's done. it's not just a a a year off, it's it's not gonna continue. And I stopped kind of reading that stuff, you know. And, you know, I I will say for me personally, and and it's not about it's not about me, but Friday I had such a roller coaster range of emotion because

probably shortly after the official announcement was made and my phone started to light up from people that I know, including our good friend Geraldine from Ireland, by the way, about the the

Russ (57:22)
Mm-hmm.

David Bruce (57:23)
the cancellation.

Barry (57:23)
Hi Geraldine. Missed ya.

David Bruce (57:24)
Very shortly after that, you know, I got an email from Live Nation about a video that I've never seen before that literally brought a tear to my eye. So Friday, the range of me personally of emotions from being super low to super high were was

was pretty incredible. And you know, I I I actually have hope now. I honestly think that it's just gonna be a year off. I think the I hope that it's gonna continue in twenty twenty eight. Of course I'm gonna be, you know, almost two years older by then. So, you know, I wanna I want to see it continue, you know. and, you know, the other thing that I would say too is, you know, I guess I guess in my my my fantasy perfect world is

When the day comes that I can no longer, you know, ph physically go to Bonnaroo, I want to be able to sit back on my couch and I want to watch it on YouTube and live it vicariously and see how the trajectory of the festival and the community has progressed, you know, and changed. So, you know, the idea of it just completely going bye-bye and everything that I've done personally for 16 years in and for the I and Bonnaroo project just

kind of being insignificant because of that. It's just literally a it's a it's a gut punch, you know.

Ryan French (58:39)
My thing is like predicting the future. I mean, what I wanna say is that there's always been this speculation of like, what if, what if, what if there was no Bonnarooo? What how would our community react? And I when I say community again, I'm going back to those buckets, the city, the the county, but also the patrons. You know, I think now we've got that reality in front of us, right? Of this is this is what it feels like. It sucks.

But what we do about it? And I I want to just be optimistic about it. Barry, I told you earlier the week I didn't meet my wife at Bonnaroo, but I certainly fell in love with my wife at Bonnaroo. I've raised my kids through this event because I don't I I've truly I I like I say this, like I'm not there's no other reason for me to say this. It's that it's the most incredible place in the world. Like I I have never been, I've never been somewhere where

Just everyone has a place, right? And it's just it's it's a beautiful thing. And, you know, for us, like being able to tell our kids like this is what's acceptable. this is how we treat people, this is what this is what that's all about. It just means so much more. and then the music is just like an incredible bonus.

so I want to predict the future that we're all gonna kind of use this reset as an opportunity to to to look into look inward and say, you know, what is our role in making sure that this thing continues to be a magical place.

Barry (1:00:12)
Hey guys, we would love to hear from you. Please write us a comment below. Drop us an email at comments at the what podcast.com or leave us a voicemail at 423-667-7877. Russ, you've seen all the comments on the socials. I've

Russ (1:00:29)
Yeah.

Barry (1:00:30)
been encouraged, per well, some of that,

David Bruce (1:00:30)
Brutal.

Barry (1:00:32)
but I I I was gonna go the other way. I've been very encouraged, especially

Russ (1:00:35)
Hahaha.

Barry (1:00:36)
on our Discord with the the folks.

kind of to your point, Ryan, is how do we let's go forward. I mean, it's not the yes, there is the, you know, screw live nation. There's that bunch. It's the end of the world. They're the same people who say, I've never been, it sucks. you know, those my

Ryan French (1:00:52)
Ha ha ha.

Barry (1:00:53)
my favorite comment of all time, I've never been, it sucks. I've been really sort of encouraged with the let's let's figure out how to not just move forward but

What's let's get together, you know, mini ruse and all that other kind of conversation. Basically, I love you guys. I wanna see ya. Let's figure out how we can get back together. And I know David, you and I have had that conversation for sure.

David Bruce (1:01:18)
yeah. And and honestly I truly believe that if enough people want it to happen, it's gonna happen at at at some level anyway. I I think you know, things like this are really, really encouraging, you know. And as far as, you know, what we all do, you know, individually to sort of, you know, keep this wave going, until, you know, hopefully Bonnarooo does happen again in twenty twenty eight. I mean, I'm I'm just gonna c I'm gonna ride this wave until it crashes. I'm gonna

I I've got so much stuff that I shot from BLET this past year and that I haven't even edited and posted yet. I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing. I'm gonna keep spinning it spinning it every once in a while. I get somebody be sending me a direct message saying, Man, you know, you just you just keep this thing alive for me all year long. Thank you for what you do. And that's truly what keeps the wind

Barry (1:02:04)
Yep. Yep.

Russ (1:02:05)
Absolutely.

David Bruce (1:02:06)
in my cell, you know. So I'm gonna ride the wave till it crashes and you wanna know something? The wave is high right now. I'm gonna I'm I'm I'm on it, so.

Barry (1:02:13)
Thank you. That's what I'm sc it feels like. You know, two days after Bonnarooo announces that's not happening in twenty twenty seven, I f feel I'm energized about our next several shows that we're gonna do.

David Bruce (1:02:27)
For real. Yeah.

Barry (1:02:28)
including K Fest. And I know we'll see you there. And I know all of our Bonnaroo people

Russ (1:02:34)
Hehehehe

Barry (1:02:35)
are gonna be there, so

Russ (1:02:37)
Cave Fest is gonna hit a little more special this time, I think, because we're all seeing it as an opportunity to get together and do this, kind of like Bonnarooo.

Ryan French (1:02:46)
No, that's another special place. I could I can attest that Rebecca or aka Miss Rue constantly monitors the IM monitor post to see if she if she makes it. Don't tell her I

Russ (1:02:58)
Don't we all?

David Bruce (1:03:00)
I so

Barry (1:03:00)
Yeah, me

too.

David Bruce (1:03:00)
this a while this is kind of semi related, but

Ryan French (1:03:02)
Mm-hmm.

David Bruce (1:03:03)
you know, so you know, I knew who Ryan and Rebecca were before I actually met them and it's amazing how many people I kinda know I get to know a little bit, but never really crossed paths on the farm, you know. And the irony of it is is the first time that I actually met Rebecca and Ryan was because of a Bonaro cancellation. and it happened to be, you know,

The the pop-up festival, and that's why I pulled this out earlier, was the other fest. You know, but that was the first time

Russ (1:03:32)
Mm-hmm.

David Bruce (1:03:32)
we actually met, right, Ryan? Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan French (1:03:33)
Yeah, yeah, it was. W I w I followed you for a while, but yeah, that was the first time.

David Bruce (1:03:37)
Yeah. And and you want to know something? That was amazing, man. I mean, I I came home after driving a thousand miles down there for the cancellation. All of these pop-up things happened, you know, and the

You know, the improvisation part of that is what made it so beautiful. I mean, we went there, Russ and I were there. we we were camping on Lindsay's farm and you got a

Ryan French (1:03:58)
Yeah.

David Bruce (1:03:58)
text or calling you're like, Hey, something's going on in Manchester. Do you want to go? And we all piled in a car, you know, and impulsively drove out there and it

Barry (1:04:05)
yeah, yeah.

Russ (1:04:05)
Yeah.

David Bruce (1:04:06)
it was going off. It was a lot of fun. Good times.

Ryan French (1:04:08)
Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, that

was and it's funny looking back on that because again, the community made that happen, right? Of course there was a lot of people coming to town, but I think thirty seconds after it canceled that the push notification went out, the chamber of commerce director, Katie Real, text and was like, We have to do something and I'm like, In two days like what what what are we gonna possibly do? And so I called I called Bo from

Andy Frasco, which ironically I just saw Lindsay at the Andy Frasco concert, David, at the cave at the at the caverns.

Russ (1:04:41)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (1:04:42)
But yeah, we that came together. But let me say this, like we're we book big something in Andy Frasco within, you know, thirty minutes of pottery canceling. And then we've got to build a website. We've got to start selling tickets somehow. We have to get all the the all these things have to go in motion. yeah, we need a stage.

David Bruce (1:05:01)
Bulge.

Ryan French (1:05:02)
We need merch. We

Barry (1:05:02)
Yeah.

Ryan French (1:05:03)
need someone to run sound.

Russ (1:05:04)
Merge.

Ryan French (1:05:05)
We we were able to we well that's a that's

Barry (1:05:05)
hour you need electricity.

Russ (1:05:07)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (1:05:08)
a key point. so all of these things are going on at the same time. and we were able to pull this off in two days. It was canceled Tuesday, we went live on Thursday, we booked 35 bands. but in the in the most intense moment of it all, we're literally the op the night for Big Something and Andy Frasco.

We think we've done everything right. We've got this massive generator that we've rented. but apparently they forgot to put like oil in it or whatever. So as as it gets dark,

Russ (1:05:36)
You

Ryan French (1:05:38)
our generator stops working. And we're like, what where do we get a hundred and ten thousand watt generator? and that was Jeff that was going to be Jeff Quirr's last ball route. And I called him and I was like, Jeff, I know you're hurting right now, buddy, but is there any chance

that you guys have a generator. We can borrow our generator just went out. And he's like, I'll call you right back. He he later tells me the guy over the electric grid for Botaroo was walking by his office, his pod at that very exact moment. He ran out. He's like, You gotta come get this thing. He goes, but a couple of things. We have to have a staff member stay with it and yeah, that you have to come get it. And so I'll never forget

It had gotten dark. We'd gotten on stage and told everybody, like, hey, we're we're working on it. Well, we're gonna try to find out, find some power. I'll never forget pulling back into that field with this massive generator and two or three vehicles behind us from with Bonaru staff. at the end of the day, Bonaru, the event itself made that night happen. Otherwise we would have just I don't know what we would have done, you know. So

Barry (1:06:46)
Awesome.

Russ (1:06:47)
Yeah. Yeah. I will say for me, there's no Bonaire next year, but I still want to participate and do some stuff in Manchester. Like I still want to go to Common John, have a beer. I want to go to Jiffy Burger and have lunch. I'm, know.

Barry (1:07:00)
Ryan Ryan, what he's asking is can he can he park in your driveway sometime?

Russ (1:07:05)
Yeah.

Ryan French (1:07:05)
Absolutely. I will say this,

though I have do not hit the mailbox if you do. And that that's a funny story. We let the rude bus come down and park there for a week before the event one time. And Daniel,

Russ (1:07:18)
Mm-hmm.

Ryan French (1:07:19)
I think was still fresh and learning how to drive a school bus, ran completely over our mailbox. But now you can't

Russ (1:07:26)
no.

Ryan French (1:07:26)
run over our mailbox. It will total your vehicle because it is it is way too

Barry (1:07:29)
Ha ha.

Ryan French (1:07:30)
far in the ground.

Russ (1:07:31)
Hahaha!

Ryan French (1:07:32)
But no, absolutely.

And I listen, I like I talked to Lil Ron with Conor John already. There there are rumors. Here's the thing. There are gonna be little mini ruse pop up here and there. I do think it's important. I'm gonna talk to some people. We've already had some conversations. We need to do something in Manchester. I I think that is is is critical. it's not gonna replace the income that leaves, but I think that the the spirit of Bonnaroo needs to carry on, at least in this in this whole

you know, one year off. in Manchester to support those businesses like Common John, like Jiffy Berger. you know, we did this years ago. We had a a a little event called Music Dree that was like a lead up event for Bonnarooo. I I definitely think we gotta look at something like that in June and and coming together and making it happen. If nothing else, just to get people in town and enjoying the enjoying the area.

Russ (1:08:22)
Yeah, I'm serious. would love nothing more than to come visit Manchester and do all

Barry (1:08:26)
Yeah.

Russ (1:08:26)
that.

Barry (1:08:27)
I I can I can commit a podcast, we'll we'll get the word out and I think I know a photographer or two, so

Ryan French (1:08:34)
Ha ha ha.

Barry (1:08:35)
we we can make that work.

Russ (1:08:36)
There you go.

Ryan French (1:08:37)
Hey, for the other fest we got spicy

David Bruce (1:08:38)
Yeah.

Ryan French (1:08:39)
pie. Maybe we could get them to come back. Yeah, they are the best.

Russ (1:08:42)
Ooh, yeah, okay. They could use some love,