Ashley Capps

When you think of iconic Bonnarooo sets, 2012, Radiohead on the what stage has got to be one of the great ones of all time.

The what podcast?

Sorry myself, Brad Steiner from WDOD Radio, Hits 96 in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Welcome again Barry Courter.

Week 3, episode 3 of this. Isn't that great? Yeah, what a great way to start. I'm glad we picked that.

It took me back to that 2012 show and that line when I'm king because I remember another media type trying to make a big deal that Tom York had looked up into the brand new at that time VIP section when he sang that line.

Like when I'm king, I'll get rid of you guys right away.

I didn't know that. I didn't catch that part.

Yeah, I just remember that. I didn't know if he was reading too much into it.

Probably. Let's be honest, he probably was.

Tom York doesn't do things that are not perfectly suited for each individual moment. So, very possible.

Or ill considered.

And speaking of the day I'm king, when I'm king, we got the kingmaker today.

We do. How exciting is that?

We reached out to the man himself, Ashley Capps, one of the co-founders, and he spent some time with us on the phone talking about the evolution of the festival, which again I think is a great reason to have started with Radiohead.

The best part of Ashley, you know, you can have an opinion about where the festival has been and where it is now and how it has moved and maybe left some people behind.

You can talk about the new ownership. You can talk about the changes.

But boy, the thing that's really refreshing to me is that Ashley Capps still is a true Blue Music fan.

And he's at all the shows. He is still dedicated to the product and he is ingrained in it just as much as we are.

I feel as though his sweat is our sweat. And that's the best part of the entire festival. The people that are putting it on really, really do care.

That's absolutely right. Yeah, when you see him, he's in his shorts and t-shirt and chakas like everybody else with his list. And he's walking from stage to stage.

He's not a big VIP four-wheeler or whatever mowing people over. He's walking from here to there just like you and me.

Today, not only are we going to go through Bonnarooo 2018 and Bonnarooo's of past with Ashley Capps, we're also going to fill you in on some of the changes that the festival has gone through this year.

It's unbelievable from my first year of being at Bonnarooo how just camping has changed. It was a free-for-all out there 15 years ago.

But now this year, I look at some of the amenities that are out there. It's worth every dollar I spend on the camping.

The camping price at this point is really, really well done out there. Yeah, I made a comment the first week jokingly that, you know, you're there.

There's not much else to do, so you might as well go see the music. And I thought about it later. And that's just wrong.

There's plenty to do there. I guess in my head when I said that, we've done it enough that, you know, we've seen some of the things at Santaroo.

But every year is something different. And to go back to talk about Ashley a little bit, I've had the opportunity to talk to him since the beginning each year.

That's awesome. And he has been consistent from day one that it was going to be an evolution.

You know, they took a lot of flat years, three and four and five, that it was no longer a jam festival.

It was never in his mind, and he said so, supposed to be that every year.

The reason they went with that particular lineup was that they needed people who would camp in what you just described, you know, the harshness of it.

They didn't have VIP then, and boy, they do now. Yeah.

So not only are we going to go through that with Ashley, also tell you how you can win Bonnarooo passes with those very camping passes added on to it a little bit later on in the podcast.

So let's get to it. Ashley Capps, the subject of today's The What Podcast.

First of all, thank you. But I want to take you back a couple of years to actually forecastle.

I don't know if you remember, but I introduced you to Brad in the bourbon tent. Oh, I'm sure this I'm sure this is going to go well.

And first of all, and you expect me to remember that. No, but I'm going to ask Brad.

What you just said, I'm going to ask Brad if he remembers what he said to you.

And then I'm going to say your reaction was to look at me like, do we need to call security, which is which is a perfectly legit.

I have no earthly clue. OK, well, it's important. It's relevant.

You you said to him, you know, hello. And then you thanked him. You thanked Ashley for saving music.

I actually believe in this. Yes. Yes. I actually I've had this argument with people before.

I think that that Bonnarooo and in the festival culture saved not only live music, but it transformed the entire industry.

Wow. Yeah. That's quite a thought. It's it's a little over the top. But but I don't do it for a living.

I don't disagree with him because I remember and this is where I wanted to start with you, Ashley, is I remember thinking after about the second one

that this is why I got into writing about music in the first place.

It was a it re-energized me. And I think that was Brad's point.

Do you hear that ever from anywhere else, Ashley? And what are your thoughts on that?

I think I hear that in, you know, expressed in different ways.

And I've never thought of it in quite those terms. But I think in some ways it's true for me as well, because in those days, I think we were, you know,

as a promoter, as a concert promoter and as a music fan, I think it was a moment where we were kind of looking for a way forward, you know,

and and trying to break the mold of the standard concert presentation that was going on and looking for new ways to engage people socially

and also to excite people, I think, by presenting the music in a really exciting way and in a context that connected it to a greater whole.

And so I think all of those things were we would never have stated it that way at the time.

You know, this is kind of something you think about in retrospect.

You know, I think it's an interesting thought because it did transform people's experience of music in certain ways, at least here in the United States.

Obviously, that culture had been alive and well in Europe for decades, which is one of the things that encouraged us and inspired us to jump into the festival business here in the United States,

even though here in this country, the you know, the history of especially rock festivals was checkered, to say the least.

There were none really that had sustained themselves year after year after year in a single location and actually established themselves as, you know, an annual must see experience.

I would say absolutely that. And also, you know, just remember 2002 to 2001 music that was popular was very produced, heavily produced studio things.

So live music festivals were not to be seen, not to be found. And even live music was sort of in a in a weird place.

So it really was transformative. So well, I guess the reason I said that is because I don't think that the industry knew what to do and how to make money.

The CD was basically the only way that you could make a lot of money really quickly.

And other than big tours, what was really making money those days? I mean, small club shows.

How good were the small club shows here in Chattanooga or up the road Knoxville?

And were they making a lot of money for the artists and were they getting exposed to a really, really tough business then?

And were they getting exposed to enough people?

I think part of the transformation is that and I don't know if you can directly trace this to festivals, but I think I could at least make the argument that festivals have introduced people to a tremendous amount of new music and an artist who, you know, some play clubs, some play theaters, some play auditoriums, some play coliseums, some play arenas.

And I think it's in many ways invited people into different levels of music experience as well.

So these days you certainly see attendance at clubs and other smaller venues, you know, probably at a peak.

Think about it from the artist's perspective.

You imagine a world where if Bonnarooo doesn't exist or a festival doesn't exist, does a Portugal the Man exist?

You know, Portugal the Man started a tiny stage of Bonnarooo.

This is 10 years ago when they were barely getting booked and, you know, they moved their way up and up and up and all of a sudden they have a number one single on Top 40 Radio this year.

How does that happen if they don't get a shot in front of a very diverse crowd, a very engaged crowd at a festival like Bonnarooo?

Well, those kinds of success stories are, for me, one of the great pleasures of, you know, what we've seen emerge from festivals.

I mean, there are a number of bands that we've had the opportunity to grow with and that have had the opportunity to grow with us.

And it's, you know, I don't think you can simply attribute it to the festival environment, but it can often give a band, especially a great live band that has that ability to connect with an audience instantaneously,

regardless of that audience's familiarity previously with the music.

You know, if you've got an artist who can do that, then festivals offer an unprecedented opportunity to launch your career and build it.

Actually, last week on the show, we talked about just that very thing.

And for us, we're looking at 13 a piece, I think we've been to.

When the line up came out two years ago, to be honest, it wasn't or even last year, it was sort of, you know, there weren't all the ones on our list, maybe our must see list.

But then we realized we're going to go and we're going to discover a whole bunch of new music.

And that's a fun thing. And I can tell you many years coming home with a whole handful of brand new favorite acts, you know, big and small.

So that's kind of what you were just talking about.

I mean, I didn't know who my morning jacket was until Bonnarooo several years ago on and on, Bahamas, Portugal the man.

So that is a big part of that.

What you're describing to me is one of the great characteristics of any terrific festival, you know, any really well programmed and curated festival experience.

Because, you know, who's kidding who we all tend to gravitate towards the familiar, at least initially.

So, you know, you look at, you know, what do I know there?

And I think we all probably tend to to some degree or another approach of festival experience with a list.

You know, I got it. First, I'm going here, then I'm going over there and I can't miss this over here.

But, you know, the beautiful thing that happens is you meet people and you get distracted.

Friends, your new friends, maybe your old friends encourage you that, you know, instead of going to see that band that you saw last year, why don't you go over here and see these guys are going to blow your mind.

And so you end up going veering off of your path, so to speak. And then, you know, through that, I think often people come away with the highlight of the weekend being something that they had never heard of before that weekend.

That's an incredible opportunity to be able to discover something new and to tap into your own passion in that way.

You said that you say you have a point of pride when you see artists that grow along with the festival.

Do you have one in particular that that sort of stands out or a couple in particular?

Well, you know, my morning jacket is the classic example. Watching that band grow year after year after year, there was so ingrained in the whole ethos of the festival, almost from the beginning.

You know, I would say they're the ultimate example, but there are other smaller examples, too.

Sometimes bands almost grew too fast. You know, like, you know, I remember, you know, I've got a couple of, you know, semi embarrassing stories.

You know, if anybody knew what Mumford and Sons was supposed to do the first year they came to the festival, we ended up changing the plan a little bit as they were taking off.

But, you know, and also Phoenix the first year, you know, I think Phoenix the first year was supposed to be like one of the cafe acts.

Wow.

And, you know, and so, you know, sometimes the you know you you have the opportunity to see this growth, you know, before your very eyes and you also realize that it's not just about your festival, but it's about the whole environment that's out there that enables music fans to tap in and weigh in and help to grow somebody's career because it's all about the fans when it all comes down to it.

I love hearing you, you talk about making your list because one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you a couple reasons obviously you're in what your actual job. You also are a fan. I see you there every day and you're you know your chakras and your, your list your program whatever and you're heading out to see a show.

Well, apparently not if there's a bourbon tent.

That was forecast.

He was on his way but what I wanted to ask you about.

I thought the bourbon tenant forecast so was one of the headliner.

Yeah, it is.

It's awesome. What there's a couple of things that the. I saw you last year at Angelique key Joe, probably, I don't know a couple hundred people one of those on my list.

But the McCartney thing you and I spoke the next day for quite a while and that was such a moment for so many people, but I remember hearing from you that that was as a fan, just like for me that was a huge moment that those types of things that can happen at Bonnarooo the big and the small.

Absolutely, you know, to me, scale is not necessarily a factor it's that ability of an artist to connect with you as a member of the audience, you know, Angela key jazz, an amazing performer, and that was a, you know, I had been hoping to present her at Bonnarooo for years so it was wonderful to be able to finally do it and that was such a great show.

At the same time, even though he was in front of a huge audience, Paul McCartney had this just extraordinary gift to make you feel like he was just playing for you and your friends.

I mean there was such a, you know, in spite of the scale of the whole experience, it was, it was very intimate, you know, in a way that it kind of sounds crazy, but, you know, he just I mean obviously he's Paul McCartney, you know, but his gift for being able to communicate so directly or make it feel so direct to everybody in that audience was extraordinary.

His ability to command 80,000 people or 80 to 100,000 people in silence is probably the hardest thing in the world to do and that show in and of itself is maybe the greatest musical highlight of my life and I am this is coming from a guy that was never really a Beatles fan but to stand behind two people who were dating right before

the show, he drops to one knee and asked her to marry her and then literally the next song is Live and Let Die Fireworks. It's like he called Ashley Caps himself and planned this show, but from the headliners to the smaller cafe acts, the common theme has always been for Bonnarooo, music first, the art matters, and that art takes a lot of twists and turns.

It takes a lot of left right turns and then finds itself into a probably a genre that you've never expected to find yourself in probably 15 years ago in EDM and creating an entire wing of the festival just for EDM, huh?

You know the most exciting thing to me about the music business in general is how it continually reinvents itself. You know while people as individuals often tend to stick with music that they grew up with in a certain period in their life where they have certain life changing experiences whether it's when they you know meet their first lover or their wife or you know first leave home.

You know all of the different things that these rites of passage that we all experience as humans, I think music itself is continually changing. In order to say to stay fresh and relevant with our finger on the pulse, we have to be open to that change as programmers and that to me is you know it's what keeps me excited about coming to work every morning.

You know if you were doing the same thing over and over and over and over again it would get to be a little old. Introducing new musical trends into the mix is not only smart from a business perspective but it's also what music is all about.

What was the discussion leading up to that because you guys didn't just say hey this EDM thing seems to be picking up some steam we ought to throw you know a few acts on the stage.

You guys totally reconfigured an entire portion of the campus there, the center room.

Well we did but we didn't really do it overnight. We've always had electronic as an element of the festival for you know almost since the very beginning if not since the very beginning you know.

And so it's always been woven in and I think you know a couple of years ago we just made the decision let's you know let's go there. You know this is obviously something that you know the younger audiences are really embracing in a huge way.

Let's embrace it also and because like many great musical experiences the environment is a really important part of that the experience of that music.

That evolution will be on display this year at Bonnarooo. This is the What Podcast with myself Brad Steiner and Barry Courter. Bonnarooo Vets. This is a podcast by Bonnarooians for Bonnarooians the whatpodcast.com.

It's also a place that you can get Bonnarooo tickets. We'll tell you how to get Bonnarooo tickets here in a second but first let's go through some of the changes at the festival this year.

When I started getting the emails this week Barry I said looking back and reading some of the changes I mean it's astounding. It really is bizarre going from what I saw when I was camping from the first year to now.

It's a different world. I mean I'll never forget the first year that I camped and I don't like telling the story very often except I like telling the story all the time. It was very early. It was like year two and I was camping in maybe the last pod that existed in the history of Bonnarooo.

It was so far away. At the time if you took the wrong turn you're gone. I mean you could walk and walk and walk and not know where in the hell you were going and we took the wrong turn one day.

And at the time they were letting like everybody camp just at a free for all. So I remember there was something on fire. Then there was a guy peeing off the top of his van and then a girl who was butt naked ran straight up to me grabbed me by the throat and slithered down my body.

That was the free for all that was camping 15 years ago. It's a tad different now. And that was before breakfast right? Yeah it's like 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.

Now you can do karaoke with tea pain. You know I'm a little upset that 15 years ago I didn't get karaoke with tea pain. My son had a similar, I asked him the year he went, I said what's the weirdest thing you saw and he watched a girl strip naked and climb a man as if he were a tree.

And he would move his elbow and knock her off and she'd go to the ground and then climb him again. Hey that was my mom. Yeah right right.

Those two were married and when we think about it the field, and that's all it was, it was a 700 acre farm that you pitched a tent or a plastic tarp or a bungee cord or whatever.

No trees, no shade, nothing. Whatever you brought. And I don't know about you but I was not nearly the experienced camper. Oh no. Oh no.

My first year I showed up and had an umbrella in the truck accidentally. I did think to bring two sawhorses and a small piece of plywood that ended up being a table.

And I strapped the umbrella to that table with two bungee cords and as the sun rotated we moved the umbrella because that was the only shade we had here in the afternoon. It was just survival.

It was Lord of the Flies at the point. Year after that I remember being in my tent as the storm came through thinking I hope this rubber air mattress keeps me from being electrocuted because if not I'm dead.

There was nowhere to go. So yeah now, I mean I remember writing stories the year they planted grass in a couple of trees as if this was the greatest thing, invention of mankind. They planted grass.

The year, the dust year was the worst experience ever. I remember being in the, there used to be a set of bleachers there next to the witch stage. I was in that bleacher thing and standing on the top level of the bleachers and I just looked back at just brown soot covering everything.

And then the next year they over seeded and planted grass and you walked through on Thursday, I could have rolled around naked. It was phenomenal. And it's still the grass is still there depending on Sunday, which is why it's so important which is why I brought it up.

The dust bowl year was a Saturday evening. We had gone back myself and Ashley White who was our photographer, we'd gone back like most people did to sort of eat and get cleaned up for the parade and we went walking into center roof for the parade and I thought wow this is big time they've released smoke bombs for this parade.

This is high tech and I thought no that's not smoke. It was tough. Then I was convinced I had Legionnaires disease.

Boy the things you can convince yourself at Potter.

Whatever I've snorted was not healthy.

But now, I mean, so they put a lot of effort, as you know, in the last couple years into the VIP areas adding the yurts right tents that you could rent right they're ready to go for you when you show up.

This year they put a lot of effort apparently into those campgrounds the general camping is the Grove looks beautiful the Grove, and they're, they're having artists go out there to perform throughout the days at different times there's always been art projects in there that you.

It's hard to explain but like just a giant field of yarn that everyone could change as it goes you know it might look one way when you're way into center and it looks completely different later that night right, depending on what sort of recreation you've been doing it can look

completely different and that's the whole idea. But now they've added. They've got more vendors out there, the food alone is phenomenal I can't I can't remember you travel around the country.

I don't know if I get better food offices and I get a barter. That's a fact, poutine. I've never heard of it. I missed that poutine truck where has it gone. I don't know where you guys kept talking about this poutine poutine I thought it was a euphemism for something rude I was too embarrassed to ask but but man if you've never had poutine as soon as I took a bite.

I said that's the greatest hangover we had four in the history we had four things of it in two days. It's really good. The, the chili dogs right the corn dogs we call them Cray Musty's Cray Musty's yeah because you got to get a crazy amount of mustard on and get them Cray Musty's and of course the spicy pie.

Yeah, is there anything better than the world the spicy pie it's really good. What else is in the campgrounds this year what else am I seeing back they've added Wi Fi which they always say that but there's so many people and everybody's on their phone trying to send a video to their friends so that's a joke right so here's

they do have it. Permanent showers as somebody as somebody who has to work this event every year. I like that the Wi Fi doesn't work because I can just tell everybody at work I just couldn't get a signal. That's true. I was going to keep that part of secret.

They've increased the trading post, the bathrooms, I mean that's always been an issue showers, water stations, you know for filling up your water jugs. They've added increase the garage.

They call it with that big giant car that drives around. Yeah, that garage is actually really really cool. Yeah, again, shade becomes such a premium. You remember the first year that had that one pole in the middle of the field, and it cast a shadow about 45 feet long and about six inches wide

and people sat in the shadow and moved like a clock dial. Yeah. And now they've added all kinds of the, not just trees but those canvas, those colored canvas type of things that they have a name. Let's do this let's give away some Bonnarooo tickets.

I'll buy you for Bonnarooo tickets. All you gotta do is go to the whatpodcast.com and down at the bottom where it says contact slash win. Click on that tell us a fun camping story from you. Maybe years past that you've seen a Bonnarooo maybe something that happened in the Grove maybe something happened in the garage.

Give us what you've seen a Bonnarooo and we'll put you in for a Bonnarooo tickets the whatpodcast.com but back to Ashley Capps the subject of this week's the what podcast you've got to be really proud.

That's gotta be one of the big points of pride Ashley that you can see everything around you and where it started the evolution of the campgrounds the evolution of the festival grounds that's got to be a major major sense of pride for you.

Well it is and you know it's watching the evolution of the entire thing is it's been an amazing experience. You know I often tell people like if if we had started thinking we had to be at a certain point you would never start because it would be impossible.

But you know you know if you evolve if you're constantly if you just engage in the process and you're constantly asking yourself really one question is how can we make this more amazing next year than it was this year.

You know how you know what else can we do whether that's from a musical perspective or from an experiential perspective and experiential can mean you know the types of vendors the types of food the visual design the lighting the decor and but also the amenities you know and and you know showers and bathrooms running water.

It's huge for a lot of us and and so all of that also it builds you know it's like a foundation and you're continually building on the foundation that happened the year before so that you know you can never rest on your laurels.

And so that is you know how can we keep this fresh and exciting and new and you know and you know do everything that we possibly can to make it unforgettable experience for everybody that comes.

That's that's been the major motivating principle that we've had from the very beginning and I think it's one of the things that's helped to set the festival apart over the years.

You're telling me probably year two or three that you wanted this to become like the European festivals where it became a rite of passage in an annual thing and to be honest I don't think I quite understood at the time but it's amazing to me now to go and talk to people who you know this is their 15th year or 10th year they started their senior year of high school or they met their now wife or they're bringing their kids back.

And even the bands I've run into bands that you know saw it in high school and dreamt of one day so it's it's amazing to me that you guys had that vision and and have made it happen.

And I don't I don't know that people understand that I think for some reason there's that vision in a lot of people's head that it's still that first year.

The ones that have not been.

It either needs to be the first year or my exact playlist right now.

Yeah, exactly.

I don't really know where to begin but you know you know I now know so many stories and you know I see bands who played the festival 15 years ago, come back to play the festival with their kids and their family and you know every you know sometimes you know if they can and it's rare

but it happens, an artist will camp out with his family for the whole weekend and and just make a weekend of it instead of just a stop on a tour.

I know of bands who have played the festival, who the members of the band, met at Bonnarooo before they had ever formed a band.

Who was that?

They were inspired by Bonnarooo to form their own band and they did and it hit and they've played the festival.

Who was that? Who's that Ashley?

MGMT was one.

No kidding.

Yeah, those guys met at Bonnarooo and that's where they decided to form a band and they did.

I didn't know that story.

And then you know you certainly have parents who sometimes couples who meet at the festival get married, have kids and now they're coming to the festival with the kids and it's getting to the point where the kids get ready to come to the festival on their own.

And that's something that you know it's inspiring to watch and it's something that you see.

I mean in my head the the iconic festival in this regard is Glastonbury and I think that you know that's certainly where you see multi generations from you know very very young kids to you know grandparents.

You know and you know everybody you know completely enthralled by the entire experience and I think that's that's a really beautiful thing.

I Get really obsessed with thinking about the technicalities of this festival you know I I get really really in the weeds sometimes at Camp if you ever stop by Camp Nut Butter me and Barry we'll be talking about the infrastructure we'll be talking about running water, we'll be talking about

I get really into that sort of stuff.

But then I also start thinking about,

especially on the off times when I'm not at the festival,

and this is even goes before Live Nation took over.

When you guys are building a list of artists

that you wanna to fill the blanks in,

who's in that room?

Who are the people that are compiling the experience

that 80 to 100,000 people are going to see?

You have an EDM stage now.

Do you have an EDM guy that you turn to?

Like, that guy knows his EDM.

Like, do you have like an indie alt guy

that you like that guy knows exactly?

He's the one that showed me Japanese breakfast.

Do you have those kinds of guys?

How big is that experience inside the room?

Well, as far as the actual band booking experience,

there's at least half a dozen or more

that contribute to that process.

And we all have our passions and our interests

and our specialties, if you will.

So, it's a very lively conversation,

and it's been that way from the beginning.

We sometimes fight, we sometimes agree to disagree,

but we also learn from one another.

It can be one of the most maddening parts

of planning the festival, to be perfectly honest,

but it's also one of the most rewarding.

And I seldom leave one of those conversations,

and they're intense.

They can be once or twice a week for six months,

leading up to the festival.

And I seldom leave those meetings without a playlist

of new artists that I wanna check out,

because everybody in that room loves music

and they love what they do.

And they also love discovery.

They love introducing new acts that they've discovered

into the conversation, and ultimately into the program.

Sometimes that takes a year or two or three or four years,

because there's so many factors that come to play

in what the lineup ultimately looks like.

We don't get to sit there and just choose.

It depends on whether an artist is touring,

whether they're in the United States,

or maybe touring elsewhere in the world.

There are just so many different factors

that come together that ultimately determine

what the final lineup actually is.

So there's, on every level,

a tremendous amount of give and take, continually.

And you take it seriously too,

because it's a room full of tastemakers, that's for sure.

I can hear listeners to this podcast screaming,

even though I can't really hear them.

Who do you want to go see this year?

Who is that on your list of maybe the new people

that you definitely are gonna go check out?

Wow, I haven't made my list yet.

Okay.

To tell you the truth,

we've got three festivals before Bonnarooo.

And so I still haven't dug into

what I'm gonna do with those yet.

So the other thing that I've learned about Bonnarooo,

to be honest, is I don't make a list

quite the way that I used to before,

because for me, Bonnarooo is definitely a social experience.

It's almost like a family reunion.

There's so many people that come together

from literally all over the world for that weekend.

Sometimes that might be the only weekend

that I really see them,

but they still feel like really great friends.

And so there's that aspect of the experience

that's come to, in some ways,

dominate what the weekend is all about for me.

Because of that, I'm the one that gets led

to all sorts of things that I may not be that familiar with,

because as I described the booking process,

it's not always my taste, it's not always my selection.

And sometimes, especially now,

there are some new artists in there

that I discover that weekend myself.

The best Bonnarooo plan is to not have a Bonnarooo plan.

That's essentially the best.

And let the experience come to you.

The best plan is to make a plan

and then not worry about it when the wind blows it away.

Or if the rain comes, like in 2000.

Final thing, we'll wrap up.

Do you have any news to break this year?

Do you have anything that we don't know of just yet?

You know, I mean, we're still,

the Super Jam announcement's still to come.

I think we've got some special guests.

There's the Grand Ole Opry this year,

which I'm really excited about.

And there's gonna be some special guests

with the Grand Ole Opry,

so we can't wait to tell people about those.

Some of that is still being discussed.

Bon Iver's got his special show.

Yeah, and I'm digging and digging and digging

to every industry contact that I have

to try and figure out what in the hell

those two sets are gonna be.

I'll be honest with you, actually,

I'm very confused.

I think one of them's gonna be a Bon Iver concert.

And the other one is, as best I can tell,

still in Justin's mind.

Yeah, I think, boy.

He's still thinking about what it's going to be.

And I think we, none of us know.

And, but we do know that we can trust Justin.

Yeah, and-

Because it's gonna be amazing.

And you won't know until probably that Saturday.

You probably won't know.

I'm sure we will not know all of it until then.

Really an honor to talk to you,

and thank you so much for taking so much time with us.

A thrill of a lifetime, honestly, each and every year,

you've created something really, really special.

The entire team has.

And it's nice that you guys seem to have

such a firm grasp on it,

and still have the thing as your baby,

even through all the transition.

Congratulations.

Thanks for having me.

I love to talk about it.

We do too.

It's been such an amazing experience.

It's hard to believe that it's been,

this'll be year 17.

So we've been working on this thing for 18 years.

And it's really an amazing experience

to be able to do something like Bonnarooo

that has, that touches so many people over so many years.

It's a special opportunity, and I'm very grateful for it.

Well, we're grateful for you.

I mean, a third of my life has been tied to Bonnarooo.

A third of my life.

Isn't that crazy?

And I'm just sitting here thinking,

I get in a tent and sleep on an air mattress

and use a porta potty once a year.

Yeah.

And I can't wait.

Thanks a lot, pal.

Thanks a lot.

Okay, well thank you guys.

I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

And we appreciate you, Ashley Caps,

and we appreciate you for listening

to the What Podcast this week.

Next week, very excited, we talk to the revivalists.

If there was one artist that we got more comments about

in the first three weeks of this podcast,

other than the revivalists,

I don't think that there was one.

It's all been revivalists, revivalists, revivalists.

For sure.

And there were a couple of surprises.

There were a couple of surprises in that interview.

We talked to them about their first time there

and what to expect is coming up.

Yeah, and I was shocked to find out

that they have actually been to Bonnarooo before.

The revivalists, the star of next week's podcast.

We will be on the air with the revivalists.

We'll be focusing on some of their music

and tying it back to New Orleans culture,

where it all started for Bonnarooo.

Probably listen to a little bit of music

from another New Orleans artist

that's gonna be there, right?

Little trombone shorty.

Indeed, the whatpodcast.com for Bonnarooo Tickets.

Anything else this week?

No, I'm just excited at all the reaction

and the comments that we've been getting.

I think we've hit on something that people enjoy

and we're under 95 days now.

Wow.

We're coming up on 90.

Wow.

Depending on when you listen to this.

So it'll be here.

Yeah, we're getting closer and closer by the day.

We'll see you next week.

The whatpodcast.com, Bonnarooo Tickets,

and the revivalists next week.

Talk to you then.