The What Podcast
What Everyone Forgets to Pack at Bonnaroo - and Where to Get It
Season 9, Episode 23
Published June 3, 2026
https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/what-everyone-forgets-to-pack-at-bonnaroo-and-where-to-get-it

Toothbrush and pillow. Those are the ones that most people forget. I have done that and I go every

year. How can I forget a pillow? Oddly enough, if you had told me I could sell a tent to someone at

a camping music festival, I would have called you crazy. Our slogan since the beginning has always

been, "If you forgot it, we brought it." This is the What Podcast. I'm Barry. That's Brian. That's

Russ. Guys, I am so excited. I'm tingling. Sorry, that's probably way too much information, but I'm

so excited. We are so close to Bonnaroo and the weather. This is what we're going to talk about here

a little bit. Well, speaking of weather real quick, just, I mean, I'm sitting out in it right now.

This feels amazing. This is some of the best weather. Yeah, where are you at again, Taco? I'm on a

lake in North Georgia. We'll put it that way. Okay. I don't want to give too many specifics. You

don't want the crowd to crush the fence down, right? Exactly. Beautiful spot out here. You can see

behind me, we've got the lake. I'm set up here. I've got the bus going, so this is a good trial run

before Bonnaroo, but yeah, things are looking good. Let's get to the specifics, though, because on

our extensive pre-show meeting, I did not know anything about this TikTok explosion of ours. Yeah,

Russ kind of dropped that right as we hit start. The Bonnaroo and Austin the squeegee guy. Fill us

in on that one, Taco. The clip just hit 4.2 million, and it's still going. I mean, we're still

getting likes and views and follows and everything on it. I mean, I'd like to think that's because

we have the best show that's ever been made. I think so, but, you know. I don't know. We release

clips every week, and this one has done far better than anything else we've ever put out there. How

funny is that, though, to run into, you know, have that all serendipitously come together? It's

spread to the point where it's going to people that have not heard of Bonnaroo, don't know about

Bonnaroo, so they're leaving comments like, "What is the context here? What is happening? What's

going on?" It's like, well, if you know, you know, but yeah. It's reaching a whole new audience.

Lots of positive comments. People love Austin. People are like, you know, "Oh, the squeegee guy. I

remember running into him and hugging him, and, you know, he made the weekend better for me." So

good stuff. Go back and listen to the full episode if you haven't. So along those lines, if you are

one of those 4.2 and you stumbled across this, we do a weekly show about the Bonnaroo Music and Arts

Festival and other music and festival entertainment news. That's why we're here. We will be on the

farm, what, in, good golly, you'll be there in a week. I'll be there, not quite a week, but yeah,

probably about a week. Depending on when you listen, when you hear this. Yeah, and not only are we

going to be there, we're going to perform. Yeah. Ooh, when you say it like that. But you're not

wrong. We're going to be on stage inside Planet Roo on the house stage. We're going to be leading a

panel discussion. I'm super excited about that. I can't even, when the words come out of my mouth,

I'm like, what are you talking about? I know. Well, I'm excited about it. Also anxious as I could

be, because that kind of stuff, I can do just fine. I enjoy it. But boy, it'll rattle me a little

bit till it gets here. But we had a great turnout and met so many cool people last year. And I don't

think it matters about attendance. I feel like because of the way the festival schedule is falling

that day, it's going to be a big crowd of people who've never even heard of us ever. They're not

there to see these three goofs. Yeah, it's going to be that face they walk by and they're, what

the-- what the fuck? Why are they up there? I get it. Our interview today is with Mr. B. We're going

to talk about packing and preparing for Bonnaroo. I'm not going to give too much away. Except that,

again, if you're listening to this, it is probably the Wednesday before, right? Where are we? Where

does this fall? You're a week and a day away, basically, on drop date of this. So at any point that

you're hearing this, I'm guessing this is where you're going, Barry, as far as-- we'll get into what

we're talking about with Brendan here shortly of his services. But one of them that Bonnaroo's been

pushing recently, too, is that you can preorder-- Correct. --a lot of-- or damn near anything. It's

kind of a new feature with this. And the 7th, June 7th, is the cutoff date for your preordering. So

if you want to do that, we didn't-- when we talked to Brendan, I'm not sure we knew that date. We

did. We did, right at the end. But I'm glad you put that out front, because that is important to put

that out front if you're just now listening. But also the weather, because I know that has got

everybody puckered. We're all worried about the weather. Guys, I mowed the grass this morning. It

has rained every day for the last 465 days. I mowed the grass, and it was fine. Yeah. We are going--

it's going to be perfect. Bonnaroo is going to be-- Yeah, it's fresh in our mind just because it's

rained so much recently. But overall, for the season, we really haven't gotten that much rain. So

the ground is fine. It's soaking it up well. Everything's doing what it's supposed to be doing.

Yeah. Loophole on Facebook, which I enjoy most discourse and commentary on there, and Reddit, the

Bonnaroo Reddit page, which I don't enjoy as much, but I still like it. It's been talked about

multiple threads, multiple threads. And I've been very kind on them. And I've been just jumping and

saying, I'm going to comment on every one of these. There's nothing to worry about here. Because we

have had rain in the forecast. We're getting a late spring is what we're getting. March and April

were, I mean, to die for weather. I mean, we were-- I was out hiking every single weekend for eight

weeks. And so this is just a little catch up on that. And a quick reference point that just popped

in my head because of the way you just gave a reference point, Barry, of cutting the grass is I was

on a company golf outing yesterday, Saturday, or this past weekend on a Saturday up in Knoxville.

And it was a deluge on the way there in the morning. It was like, oh my god, nobody can do anything

outdoors in this kind of thing for a day and a half maybe. And golf courses are well kept, and they

drain well. We know that. But boy, you didn't look at this and think we're playing golf today. Two

hours later, stops raining. We play 18 hole. It's a little wet. Yeah, sure. No problem whatsoever.

And Bonnaroo does-- there's been a lot of discussion in the last year about they need to make a

bunch of upgrades to the grounds. They really didn't. That was a lot of reactionary kind of things.

They have a few low-lying areas. That's what they've addressed. The farm generally-- Right, it's a

farm. It drains pretty-- yeah. It drains pretty well, except for a few spots that we're all aware of

over by the what, which they've also worked on for a while. So it's perfectly understandable. No

reason to get mad at anybody for being concerned and wanting to get on socials and talk about it.

But I'm telling you, you're wasting your time letting your anxiety build there. There's plenty of

other places to let your anxiety build. There it is. That's true. It doesn't have to be there. And

then here's another one real quick that many people were-- and it's just words, right? People are

just banging out in the comments and stuff. But many of them are talking about, well, I don't know.

Should I bring my-- I don't know if I should bring my rain gear. How much should I bring? And, Taco,

you could be the one to talk about this the most. Always bring your rain boots. Yeah, for sure.

Always bring your rain gear. Always, no matter what, have those available, because you never know if

you want to talk to that a little bit more. Sure. I mean, I even have stuff packed in the bus

year-round for weather. I've got an umbrella. I've got rain slicks. I've got emergency ponchos if it

gets that bad. But yeah, always be prepared. Gutters. I never considered the idea of gutters. Like,

if you have easy-up tents and you put them together, as we all do, they now make something that

basically is a gutter between the two so that the rain doesn't drip down into the middle. Yeah,

especially because they bow down and then, you know, kind of come down the middle. Absolutely. So

that's one of my things I'm going to go get this week. And the other is basically using $6 shower

curtains as your walls for when it's really raining. I know, right? Right. Thank you. You did

exactly like I did. I was like, that's just genius. Just put up a shower curtain. Put up a shower--

well, I mean, the gutters thing, my head's trying to wrap my head around that one. Me too. It's

like, what the-- why didn't we think of that before? Yeah. The old hack was-- and probably the

reason that pool noodle for Squeegee Guy was available, and you see them all over the farm, that

hack, you put those up into the corners of your easy-ups. And then it helps keep the sagging of the

buildup of the water, which was one of those-- poof! Yeah. Who thought of a pool noodle? Put them

around, and it doesn't take your eyeball out either if you hit it late at night. So yeah. I love

this stuff. But I will say, though, and I'm no weather expert any more than anybody who can follow

some radar, there's a chance we do have a somewhat little bit rainy weekend at Bonnaroo. There's a

chance we might, because we have had-- It's summer, and it's June in the south. Yeah. The long-look

forecast for Chattanooga and the surrounding areas, which is very close to Bonnaroo, is about the

same that it is right now, which means 50%, 45% chance of rain at any given time. And it could rain

on one side of the farm and not the other. And not the other. And that's just how it normally goes.

Totally understandable to be very concerned about this, but I'm telling you, I was pretty optimistic

last year, too, so I don't know. I'm not usually all that optimistic, but last year I was like, it's

going to be fine. I'm so excited. But that was different. That was different. And I am not concerned

about weather whatsoever. And I would tell you and all your friends, and spread it to all your

friends if you're getting ready and worrying about things, be prepared to get wet. But don't be

prepared to have-- don't be concerned about last year repeating itself. Just two things

Bonnaroo-related that I wrote down. If you're buying tickets this late, I doubt you are. But if you

are, the shipping date has passed. So you'll need to do-- it's pretty simple. You just go to the

website. It'll tell you the address. I believe it's the same place. It's the high school that we go

to to pick up our stuff. It's the same place we go. It's the high school. It's easy to find. If

you're getting a ticket late, something happens. Someone surprises you with some money to buy a

ticket, you're going to have to pick it up when you're there. It's not a big deal, but you do need

to know what you're doing. Yeah, it's really simple. Have that in mind on that. And speaking of

golf, I believe this is the same lady that was supposed to be there last year, maybe even in years

past. The disc golf lady is back. Paige Pierce, yeah. Paige Pierce, a world-renowned disc golf

player. And they'll be out in the woods Friday at 2:30. I just saw Bonnaroo drop that through their

social. So I don't play disc golf myself. I don't play regular golf, except for yesterday. But a lot

of-- the woods out there, boy, that's a perfect place to do it. They'll wear in the woods, swath out

there of land. All right, so if you're listening to this, again, we're a week away. You should

either be packing or have packed. And what if you forget something? What if you forget your

toothbrush? What if you forget shampoo? What if you forget toilet paper? Or a tent? Or mud glossers,

shoes, things, whatever they're called. I never considered-- I mean, how shitty would that be to

forget a tent? But people do, apparently. And we got an answer. We got you taken care of, that's for

sure. We got the guy. So let's listen to Brendan with Mr. B's general store. Is that right? Yeah,

yeah. First, I got to run and shave and change clothes. And then we'll interview Brendan next. So

like we have said, if you are just now packing, you're maybe on the road, you're 10 minutes, you're

20 minutes, you're 20,000 miles from Bonnaroo, Manchester, and you just remembered, oh my god, I

forgot. I forgot. I forgot the most important thing. We've got somebody who might be able to help.

Brendan, how are you, man? I'm doing well. Thanks so much for inviting me. I'm doing well today. How

are you guys doing? We've all had-- even the three of us, and we live an hour away, we've all gotten

down-- we've come down that mountain. And we're like, Brian, what was it? You forgot your meds. Oh,

yeah. Well, my guess is you don't have a pharmacy on you. Not yet. Although this year, I wish we

were selling gas. There is. Oh my god, good. We could all do that. But we've all had that moment

where we're like, oh, man, I forgot that the one thing-- I know it's right there where I left it.

Brendan, you are Mr. B. You are president of-- I'll let you tell it. What is it you do? And why is

this important for people who are listening as they're traveling or about to travel to Bonnaroo and

Manchester, whether it's their first time or their 20th time? We all forget something. Yes, yeah,

myself included. And that's what built the business around. So again, I'm Brendan from Mr. B's

Festival Needs General store. And we got our start back in spring of 2008. So coming on 20 years, 20

years next year, we'll be doing that. But yeah, we carry everything people forgot or didn't know

they would need at a festival. Most of the time, you get there, and like you said, you realize, oh,

crap, I forgot an extra roll of toilet paper or some earplugs to sleep at night or any of those

kinds of things. And so we started as a small 10 by 10 booth. And over the years, just kept a

suggestion list from people. I thought, all right, what have I forgotten before? And what do I think

other people will forget? And so we were able to grow from that initial year all the way to now. At

Bonnaroo, we've got two 40 by 60 booths, as well as one inside the venue and that. So I mean, we're

completely filled to the gills with all kinds of festival essentials and anything people forgot.

Well, I can't wait. I know we're going to go through the list. I mean, we all have the same-- Oh, my

god. --what's number one? Yeah, right. Nightmares in this space of discussion and storytelling. What

year did you get hooked up with Bonnaroo and become this official vendor? So Bonnaroo was always

kind of that-- not the one that got away, but it was always-- all of our vendor friends throughout

my entire career have always, oh, we do Bonnaroo. Do you guys do Bonnaroo? And it was always tough

to get in, because they always ran things in-house at the festival. But Brad brought us in a couple

of years ago. In 2024, I guess, was our first Bonnaroo. And it certainly lived up to the

expectations. It was just massive-- you hear massive farm and tons of people there and that. So

yeah, it was a great experience. So you started in '08. Is it like any kind of small business story?

You're at the county fair. You're at the down-the-road, smaller thing in your hometown. It builds

from there. You try to pick up portfolios. Is that how that's worked for this-- for the Dr. B's

Festival needs as a company? So what was kind of awesome was when we first got started, the general

store concept at a festival really wasn't-- because of course, in 2008, we didn't even have cell

phones at the events and things like that. So you're not really meeting up with-- it was the sort of

thing where if you had forgotten anything, you either had to do without it for the weekend, or you'd

have to drive 45 minutes off to the closest Walmart or something. Or ask a hundred strangers until

somebody miracled you. Exactly. Who's got sunscreen? We were lucky in the sense that we kind of came

up with the idea. I had originally wanted to get into food vending, but all kinds of logistical

challenges with not owning a restaurant and that. And so we actually were able to get our start

because the concept was kind of novel to a lot of these festivals. Our first festival was Mountain

Jam 2008. And then the next-- because we basically only do these at festivals. We don't have a brick

and mortar store. We just kind of pack everything up and bring it to the next event. So our first

show was Mountain Jam 2008. And then we did Gathering of the Vibes in 2008. There were a few others.

We did about five that first year. And then the concept kind of grew because, again, with showers

weren't available at festivals, there were tons of amenities that people just rely on or think are

kind of second nature nowadays. But these kinds of things weren't part of the festival, as you guys

know. So yeah, general storage just kind of made sense. I'm so glad you said that, Brian. I mean,

you remember Shakedown Street. I mean, and to your point, Bonnaroo kind of was proprietary about

that sort of thing. I can remember hearing in '07 and '08 and '09 where people out in GA were trying

to-- like, selling these things, almost like a bootleg type of thing. And Bonnaroo was-- Like, out

of the trunk of your car, quote unquote, right? And Bonnaroo was cracking down on it, yeah. But it

was like, I forgot toilet paper. I forgot sunscreen. And I'm going to ask you, you know, your list.

You have a better idea of what people forget. Toothbrushes. Yes. My god. If you didn't bring a

toothbrush, I mean, right? Toothbrush and pillow, those are the ones that most people forget. I have

gone to Bonnaroo before and forgotten a pillow. I have done that. And I go every year, how can I

forget a pillow? I do want to go backwards in time real quick, just storytelling time quickly,

Brendan, is Bonnaroo had-- and I don't know if they had them all the way up until you got there,

because I have just not spent time in GA like I used to. But going back 2000-- we'll say more like

3, 4, 5, once I kind of understood what this was-- they had what was like general store, right?

Like, this little sign that just said-- it's not even creative. It just says general store on it.

But it was primitive. It had water, ice, a few things. Probably had a toothbrush. Yeah, a

toothbrush. I know it did. Probably had a few of those things. But I remember one year or in those

early years, not being prepared whatsoever for all the walking, I had the classic just the chafing,

I'll just say. And boy, that'll ruin your weekend right there. I mean, if it hurts to walk, you've

got a problem. And-- Monkey butt. Yeah, and this is a massive problem. So I went to the general

store hoping to find lotion or something. They didn't have it. They didn't have a wide selection of

everything that was needed, because it wasn't Walmart. They can't-- it's just they weren't ready for

that yet. And so the woman was very helpful. And I think I ended up getting some sunscreen or

something. I don't know. We kind of pieced something together. Makeshift. But it was a learning

lesson in my early to mid 20s. But nowadays, it sounds like you guys are as damn near as good as a

Walmart. Maybe not in overall supply. Like, you've got limited supply. There's only so much room on

this farm. But it does sound like you got just about everything. Brandon, I want to ask, because

that leads to-- I'm guessing now it's a science. I'm guessing now with computers, phones, you've

done it enough time. So to Brian's question, I want to know the science of it. You have to know what

people want, what they forget. You know what I mean? That you've got to have a 1 through 20, 1

through 50 type of thing. Well, and the benefit that I had kind of was I've been a festival goer for

coming on over two decades now. So really kind of-- and traveling from show to show, because of

course, now there's the consolidation of the marketplace. It used to be prior to the same event kind

of being in multiple locations and multiple regions around the country, it was more of like a

festival circuit where you'd go from show to show. So kind of whatever we learned the week before,

we would kind of be able to implement the following week. So it was that kind of a science with it.

And then just testing new products and seeing what sold well. Because again, we kind of built from a

suggestion list. So when customers were coming in, if enough of them were saying, hey, we need

anti-chafe cream, now it's something we just start carrying sort of a thing. And the nice thing for

us is because our products have a bit of a longer shelf life, we're able to bring everything that

doesn't sell to the next event. That's why this is better than the food business, Brendan. As I know

you-- Absolutely. You already know that. Good point. You already know that. Just simply logistically

speaking, where are your locations on the farm this year? So we are in Plaza 3 right next to the

House of Yes. And then we've got another location next to-- in Plaza 4 right next to the Disco Tower

entrance. And then we also have a smaller location inside the VIP lounge as well. So you said you

have what, a 20 by 60? It's a 40 by 60. Oh my god. 40 by 60. Wow. So for the first timers, because I

know there are, especially if I'm 20 years old, 19 years old, Brian, you remember, and Russ, even

though you're an experienced camper, you probably had the same experience. My first couple of Bonne

Rues, I was panicked thinking I was going to the moon. And I needed to pack everything. And I'm sure

there are people right now who are getting their shit together, basically thinking I got to pack

everything. You offer something that we didn't have 22 years ago, a toothbrush, the things that we

forgot type of thing. So that's not to say to those people, don't plan, don't pack everything.

Please go through your stuff, because it's a whole lot better if you have it. But it's not the end

of the world if you forgot something. Exactly. And that's our slogan since the beginning has always

been, if you forgot it, we brought it. So it's kind of what we more or less like to deliver is that

peace of mind of, OK, if I did forget something, I don't have to go across the street or drive 45

minutes or anything. I can just come right into the store. And with Bonne Rue making it cost

prohibitive to leave and go to Walmart, that's what we all would do. You mess up, you forgot

something, well, who's the guy that's going to go buy all the ice and go to Walmart? Often that's me

or somebody in the group. And that's now not-- it's allowed, but it's frowned upon, and it's going

to cost you money. It's going to cost you $40 to leave. Let's say someone thinks-- I'm making

something up here, Brandon-- but someone thinks, oh, well, that's going to be too expensive. It's

going to be too expensive to go to Dr. B's-- or Mr. B's-- Mr. B's. I can just run over to Walmart.

Well, now that's not the case. And also, I got a couple of different directions I want to go. I'm

sorry I'm getting tangled up. I was going through-- I looked at your website, and then I was looking

at just some random things, even using a little chat GPT to understand the festival circuit and

others that do different kind of ending. The amount of positive reviews that your company gets

online is remarkable. This isn't news to you, right? Nobody gets positive remarks to the level that

I feel like I have read from yours. I don't hear anything about gouging of prices. I don't hear

anything about bad lines or difficult people to deal with or anything where you're usually going to

find someone who's going to be just that guy or gal. It's just, oh, Reddit, place sucks. I don't see

much of that. Is that a testament to the work you do only? Or speak to that, if you would. You got

to be proud of that, if nothing else. Absolutely. That's great to hear. Growing up, my mom was

always like, be always on your best behavior, because you never know who's going to be watching. Get

on underwear. That's good stuff. That's good advice. Exactly. But yeah, I think it's honestly a

testament to just we are part of the culture. We're festival goers ourselves. I always say we're by

festival goers for festival goers. And we've been in those situations. We've gone to events. I still

go to at least one or two festivals a year just for fun, just to kind of-- market research kind of a

thing. But just to kind of put myself in the elements and see what people are struggling with, see

what people are dealing with. But again, it's that-- I always tell my employees in that, when

somebody is coming into our store, because they've either forgotten something or it's like, oh,

crap. So it's-- And they're probably anxious. Yeah, anxious. And there's all kinds of-- so when they

come into our store-- They're about to have a bad day, I would assume. They're about to have a bad

day. Yeah, so we have the ability to kind of solve that for them. And so we like to keep a robust

product offering. We carry, gosh, over thousands of SKUs of different products. But then what's cool

is if somebody-- if they come in and they're able to stump us with something that we don't have, we

also take special order requests. And so we can be the ones to go out to the shop to get those

things. So you don't have to pay the $40. It's like, if you need something very specific, a size 9

insole for your shoes, we'll go out and get it kind of a thing. And so I think that energy and us

being festival goers and my crew is mostly festival goers as well. So we all have been in those.

It's kind of bringing empathy to the retail experience sort of thing. Is it pretty much regional or

universal? I mean, are the needs, the things you carry, are they the same in Manchester as they are

in Spokane, Washington? Or are they completely different? Subtle nuances. It's definitely--

regionally, you'll get things like nobody's heard of goodies powder for headaches and stuff like

that up north. Or things like that. Put it under the tongue. Or they're missing out. Instant relief.

Yeah. And then-- Good hangover fix right there. Exactly. And you can always tell where you are in

the country based on what people are calling soda. If it's pop or if they just refer to it as a Coke

kind of a thing. But what I find is mostly the differences are kind of within the genres. Like the

EDM festivals are going to be different than the country festivals, which are going to be different

than the jam band crowds. And in terms of what the customers need and the different products that

we'll carry. I mean, we typically keep the store the same. But it's just like this weekend might

sell more of this. And then next weekend might sell more of that. And then, of course, rain comes.

And then poncho sales are-- By never ending supply of those, you'll never run out of need of those

things. Ponchos versus sunscreen, depending on the weather. That makes sense. We'd rather have the

sunscreen. We'd rather sell the sunscreen. So what are the top-- can you-- top five, top 10? I know

you have a list. What do you sell the most of? Of items? Yeah, the most in demand that maybe-- even

if just off the top of your head. Yeah, sure. So things that-- like we said, toothbrushes, pillows.

Oddly enough, if you had told me I could sell a tent to someone at a camping music festival, I would

have called you crazy. But we'll have people come in and they purchase-- I forgot my tent. Yeah.

Well, you know, or they open it up-- That would be me. That would be me. I think they'd buy pillows.

Actually, I meant to ask you, Brian, did you get a new tent yet for this year? Look at this guy

paying attention. Look at this guy paying attention. I know. No, I haven't. There's time. There's a

couple of weeks. But yeah, so people will open their tent up and realize, oh, crap, I don't have my

tent poles. Or I put it away wet last year and it's covered in mold. Something moldy, broken.

Stakes. Stakes. I would think. Yes. Stakes are a big one we sell. Let's see. Gold bond powder, as

you had mentioned. And then the creature comforts-- air mattresses, sleeping pads, extra sleeping

bags if it's cold, if it's warm, maybe a tent fan. I mean, again, it's kind of-- the weather a lot

dictates-- How about batteries? Batteries. Yeah. Yeah, I bet a lot of batteries. And actually, the

funny thing to see the shift of that from-- it used to be a lot more batteries. Now everyone's like,

oh, do you have a power bank? Because everything's USB rechargeable now. USB-C, yeah. I bet you get

rid of a lot of USB cords. Yeah, charging cords of all kind. Oh, yeah. Got to imagine that. That's

why it's like you think, OK, give us the top five. But it's like there's so many things that you

could end up needing. And we're essentially shopping for everyone at the festival. So it's like, you

know, put it-- I could do this a lot longer than I thought I could. I don't want to get too far into

your business model. But I am a little bit interested. How many people do you have staff to take on

a festival like Bonnaroo with two monster locations and then a third more exclusive? What kind of staff

are you looking at? We'll have-- because the other thing, too, is we'll stay open 24 hours,

especially in the campgrounds and that. So we keep-- basically, we open on Wednesday and don't close

until Monday. So we'll have 25, upwards of 30 people. And not everyone working behind the register.

But there's all kinds of behind the scenes things that go into it as well in terms of restocking the

shelves, going out and replenishing stock that may have sold out. Because we try to keep the shelves

neatly stocked and that throughout the entire weekend. We don't ever really want to have holes or

gaps in the shelving and that. Well, I was wondering more with that question. I maybe should have

framed it differently. Do you have-- do you work in a version like Bonnaroo does, where you have some

people that are compensated by going to the festival, work for you part of the time at the festival

the other part of the time? Or do you have just-- it's your company, you've got your dedicated

staff? Or is it both? It's mostly our crew, which is like the ability to pull together 25 people

that I know personally is a challenge in and of itself. And pay them well enough to want to do it.

Yeah, good on you. And work on the heat and weather. Yeah. Yeah, and the elements. I mean, so

typically we'll have-- like our core crew is six to eight regulars in that. And then we've got a

management team that'll come in and kind of help train some of the new folks. We do have-- at Bonnaroo

being as large as it is, we will have some people that we'll bring in just for Bonnaroo. Whereas we do

have a core crew that will bring around the country with us to all the different events and that. So

some of them have been working for us for decades, actually, which is-- So a long term staff, very

dedicated to what you guys are doing, understands the needs of everybody. And one of the reasons is

because when I was dealing with people 20 years ago, everything was new. Like every single thing

we're looking at is all new. And so there was a lot like, I wish I could help, but I don't really

know. I got some 100 SPF. Will that help your chafing? We'll find out. I doubt it. But we'll see. So

that's good to know there's a lot of experience in helping people who are on the verge of possible

panic over-- I spent all my year getting ready for this amazing event, life changing. And I'm so--

And I forgot my toothbrush. Or I forgot something as simple as-- Or all of a sudden I got there and

I got a chigger. That's one of those that always stuck with me from the early years, Brian. I don't

know if you remember. They used to have like a tent where you could go get chiggers removed because

people from Iowa, what the hell is a chigger? Yeah, what are you hicks-- What are you hicks doing

out here? Why am I scratching my ass? What is this thing? Let's talk about this real quick, Brendan,

that Bonnaroo dropped on their socials just in the last week, maybe upwards of two weeks, that you

have a service now that people can pre-order. Yeah. Right? They can pre-order anything upwards to

everything. Nice. I don't know that I would want to go this route, but it's certainly intriguing.

Talk about that. That's a pretty cool, different, innovative idea to this space. Thank you so much.

Yeah, we call it Mr. B's Click and Collect. And we started it up last year, started it offering at

the various festivals. And basically, yeah, like you said, it's just a way for people to pre-order

their festival gear and have it ready for them when they arrive on site. They just come and pick it

up from our stores. And yeah, so it's most-- not everything that we carry in store, because there

are a few things that just don't necessarily make sense for a pre-order kind of thing. But yeah,

tent packages or if-- like a community chill zone, we'll have the pop-up canopy with some canopy

lights and some chairs and a camp table that's included. And it's great service for those that are

traveling. We have a la carte items on there if you didn't want to do any of the pre-selected bundle

packs that we do. And that's-- So like cases of water? Could someone get a case of water from you?

Yeah, so we'll do cases of soda and water, Red Bull, some of the grocery type items. If you wanted

to pre-order your moon mats or one of those air lounger chairs or just anything that if you're

traveling with a bunch of people in your car and don't-- You're running out of room. --space is

limited. Yeah, exactly. It's just much easier. And what's cool is-- That's a terrific idea. --people

will-- it's like, oh, well, what do I do with it after the festival? What's cool is if-- obviously,

it's yours to take home and that. But like what we did at a festival earlier this year, a lot of the

folks that were traveling in, they were like, oh, well, I don't know what to do with this tent

afterwards. We actually will collect the products back and work with local nonprofits to make sure

the products don't go to waste because that's always the big concern is how much waste gets created

at some of these events. Yeah, we know those folks. Yeah, it's just a great opportunity to partner

with the local-- it's local do-gooder-y kind of thing. That's great. That's a great-- that's what

I'm doing tomorrow is not the chair's that big. But I mean, I'm going to the dollar aisle at the

Walmart to get all my-- the shampoos and the aspirins and the bag of goodies that I get every year,

those kind of things. That's a great idea. This is a little dwelling into the business model. But

how do you set your prices? Like how does that mindset go? Because I mean, you were clearly in a

position that you are the king here. And you can do whatever you want. I'm sure there's arrangement

with the festival, which I won't ask you what that is. But what's the philosophy to pricing? Yeah,

yeah, so I try to keep things as close to-- as close to they are in the quote, unquote, "outside

worlds" as we can. Because again, we're festival goers ourselves. We don't want to be raking anyone

over the coals. We realize we have a captive audience. And there are people, and if that's their

business model, for us, I'd rather the repeat customer rather than raking somebody over the coals

once. And I think that's to kind of-- it kind of helps what you had mentioned earlier, where we've

got a bunch of people that really love our business. I think that's kind of part of it, is we're

not-- Yeah, if you were price gouging, I would know about it by now. Through socials, I would know

that already. Well, and to your point, Brian, when you need that monkey butt-- It doesn't matter

what it costs. You'll pay it. Name it. Yeah. And you know, but that's kind of-- obviously, the

festival takes a piece of the sales and that. But that's kind of the thing, is we have the ability

to charge whatever. But I do want to try to keep everything as low as we can, with still being able

to pay our employees well, and travel from show to show, and that. So we've kind of find that-- you

have to kind of find that happy medium. Sometimes things will be a little too high. And it's like,

OK, we can adjust things on the fly, which is the nice thing of having our finger on the pulse

throughout the entire weekend. This will come out maybe week of-- is it too late for people to

pre-order? I'm glad you remembered to ask that, because I was going to ask that same question.

What's the cutoff? So we have orders going through June 7, I believe. OK. It's the Sunday before the

event. So yeah. And where are the three tents? Where can people find you? Sure. So in Plaza 3, next

to House of Yes, that's one of the campground booths. The other in the campground is by the disco

tower booth entrance in Plaza 4. And then the other one's in the VIP lounge. OK. And it's Mr. B's--

say it again? Mr. B's Festival Needs General Store. Perfect. If you forgot it, we got it. If you

forgot it, we brought it. Exactly. I got one more for you here real quick. Sure. The acceptance,

maybe is the right word, of having in festivals the-- I don't know how to word this right, because

it's not my life. I'll just go to the name brand product, Narcan. So the reversal of anybody who's

had some kind of drug reaction, overdose, whatever, that has become more and more acceptable,

thankfully, in the last 10 years to be available, and oftentimes for free, depending on what

nonprofit is involved with that. But if you need that in a pinch, Planet Roo, where we're going to

spend a lot of time, I bet they have those people there. Yeah, you might not be anywhere near Planet

Roo. Is that something that you carry, or anything like those kinds of products? Yeah. So to your

point, where the festival themselves are taking on the responsibility of bringing in various

sponsors or nonprofits and that, and we work with the Bonnaroo team, as well as at every festival,

we try to work with their sponsorship team and their nonprofits to see if there are any

opportunities for us to either offer up a point of sale for those types of products that they're in

the shop, or if they are giving away Narcan, give us a case or two. So that way, we can make sure to

just give those out for free. Harm reduction, the more we can get harm reduction out there into the

festival space, the better. So that's not something we would want to try to make a profit on, sort

of a thing or anything. I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you want-- I mean, that's just something I

think that people who are going to be using any kind of substances recreationally in your life,

especially in a setting like that, I think it's on you. You should have some of that. Like, that's

just my personal opinion to someone else's life of what I think would be best for them. But to have

that possibility available is nice to know. So and I know a lot of people who are huge advocates

that, I mean, they year round push for this. And at first, I was like, why do you-- I mean, OK, what

is this? Oh, now I get it. Save a life. Save a life. Well, and there's-- some people don't recognize

interactions with various substances and things like that. So oftentimes, somebody-- it's kind of an

accidental situation in that. And so what's great is I know the medical team's not there to judge

anyone. And they're just kind of trying to help people get back on their feet and back out to the

music and that. And so that's one of the things that I really love about doing festivals for 20

years is just feeling this community effort. We're all in this together. And we're all trying to

create a great experience for everyone, including those that may have taken too much or didn't take

proper care of themselves during the sunny, hot, 180-degree day. And now it's nighttime and that.

And they're trying to have a little fun. Oh, I forgot to drink water all day. And now that affects

them. So it's great, just the whole community aspect of festivals in general, but even specifically

Bonnaroo. One last follow-up on that. And I thought about it when you said it, that the medical

team-- let's emphasize, if you have an issue, go to the medical team. That's where you should start.

I'm not trying to put the onus on you. I didn't mean it sound that way. I just wondered if there was

maybe some kind of restriction as to what you could or couldn't sell. So that was a reason for the

question. If you have major problems in your life at Bonnaroo, find the medical staff. And there are

a lot of them. But sometimes you might be standing right next to this guy. Well, and what's

interesting, too, is the medical teams, oftentimes, they're not able to give even over-the-counter

medicines like an aspirin or anything like that. Well, for legality issues and stuff. Yeah, exactly.

So that's one of those things where we have the over-the-counter meds. Somebody can come in and grab

a Benadryl. It's like we get the hyperbolic, oh, you saved my life, because you had a toothbrush or

something. Or Benadryl. Yeah, well, there's times where people come in, and it's like, you didn't

have Benadryl? You actually saved my life. Yeah, which is certainly a humbling experience or thing

to hear from folks. But yeah, it's wild out there. Well, it sounds like you take a lot of pride in

your work, Brandon. And thank you so much for the patience in our correspondents trying to put this

together and what you do. I love it. Sounds great. Beats the hell out of that general store back in

'03, I can tell you that. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. I appreciate it. Can you tell us, anyone

listening, if they want to pre-order now, how do they do it? And how do they get in touch with you?

So it's just our website, mrbsfestivalneeds.com/shop-bonnaroo. Perfect. Awesome. That's simple,

man. Well, hey, man. All right, thank you. Good work out there. And yeah, appreciate it a lot, man.

Appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Things with this festival and with us always seem to

work for a reason and a time. So I think this is timely, as like I said at the beginning. People

that are in the car just realized, I forgot my damn toothbrush.