Bonnaroo 2024 Do's and Don'ts, Tips and Tricks (Part 2)

Every year right here on the What Podcast we gather as much information as we can based

on our experiences of attending the Bonnarooo Music and Arts Festival.

We do one of our more popular shows.

We call it Do's and Don'ts.

It's gotten so big, this is part two.

Right now.

We're always trying to do our best.

Don't worry about what happens next.

Because the end of the ransom has just begun.

We crash into the set it's on.

So gather round and tell everyone.

We're ready to be the end of the ransom.

Alright, hey everybody.

Welcome back to the What Podcast.

I'm Barry, that's Russ, that's Brian.

Guys, there's a lot going on.

We're recording this June 1, if you can believe it.

That means we're two weeks, less than two weeks away from being on the farm.

Yeah, and in Tennessee, it's a little too soon to look at the forecast.

But it's a high of 70 today in Tennessee today.

You never know what's going to happen around this state and its weather, this whole region.

So just when you're getting prepared to head out here in a matter of less than a week,

keep that in mind.

You never know what it's going to do around you.

You never know.

Plan for rain.

If you're coming from the north and you think you know what humidity is,

you don't have any idea what humidity is.

You're about to find out.

I promise you, middle of June in Tennessee and middle Tennessee is the worst.

We're going to get into some of that.

Like I said, this is part two.

We obviously recorded part one last week.

There have been some news.

I think the big news is that since then, I've gotten a haircut, obviously.

So I'm sure that's what everyone's thinking.

Well, it looks like you're in a bathroom right now, by the way.

Where are you?

That's the other news.

I'm not at the World Headquarters in Chattanooga.

I'm down in St. Simon's with my daughter and her beautiful family

and their lovely home.

Most of them are out by the pool.

My wife is with the three-month-old watching a movie.

Good place to be.

Life is pretty good right here.

Yeah, I know you'd rather be in here with us than sitting at the pool.

So I thought, what would make my vacation better?

Let me do another show with Brian and Russ.

There you go.

I love doing this.

So yeah, there has been some news.

They've dropped the food vendors and the Who stage lineup.

I was wondering what was taking so damn long on that Who schedule.

Not that it's the most important thing in the world,

but to the bands playing it, it is.

And as we've documented recently, a lot of major bands start there.

So it's cool to see that one finally get listed.

Interesting mix of bands.

Finally, for the first time in a long time, I know a couple of them.

So I'm looking forward to the Who stage.

And the food thing, don't sleep on the food.

That took me several years, I'll be honest with you.

I always packed my own and probably overbought in some years.

And then other years I thought, you know, I just have said it many, many times,

but the idea of being in a porta potty more times than I have to

is a great dietary aid.

You know, eat just enough.

Yeah, I always, I let that one unfold as the weekend goes.

You never know.

You know, it's temperature.

It's your overall feeling of how you're feeling that day, you know,

as to what you do.

I guess it's this episode.

I'm sorry we do all these things, kind of juggle them around.

We have somebody who gives us a tip on how much hot chicken not to eat or to eat.

Right.

We'll get to that in a little bit.

I would suggest none, but that's coming up here in a few.

Spicy pie, as many of us know, you know, most of us,

it's become culturally, Bon Rue cultural phenomenon.

You haven't done Bon Rue if you don't get a piece of spicy pie.

I think at the end of the day, it's just a piece of pizza

like you can get anywhere else.

But boy, we celebrate it.

And it has to do with the time and who's with you.

I mean, man, a slice of pizza can hit just right at two or three in the morning.

Anytime of day.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

But, you know, to my I don't know if this is your head, bro.

Sorry, I don't know if this is sacrilege.

I honestly prefer pizza.

Yeah, well, yeah, that's become actually a popular that's become a popular opinion.

And I'm not sure that it's wrong.

Yeah, because I've had it was at our local festival that we don't have any more

Moon River that has all the very similar vendors in the last couple of years.

That the pizza Nova. Right, Russ?

That's what it's called. Yeah.

It's pretty darn good stuff, too.

It's pretty good. And from what I remember, it was a dollar cheaper per slice over spicy pie.

Well, in this economy, in this economy.

Now, who knows? They might jack up the price again this year, but probably.

Well, but what the point I guess I'm trying to make is that the food there is good.

It's you know, you're going to pay for it.

They've got to make their money.

But it's I don't feel like it's outrageously high yet.

You know, we're not there yet.

But but so far in the past, it has not been.

And the food trucks, you can get, you know, everything from slice of pizza to, you know, chicken meals, Chinese food.

There's a lot of selection. Poutine.

You guys are losing it over. Poutine was my first.

Yeah, the poutine was the very first introduction for me.

You know, I've joked before. I thought I kept hearing people say poutine.

And I thought it was, you know, a euphemism for something disgusting or not disgusting, but, you know, dirty.

Yeah, yeah, man, I still never tried it. Oh, my God. I still never tried it.

It was great. And that was all the rage that was eye opening in that, you know, hey, from then on, I've at least once a day

probably tried to get something, you know, from one of the vendors as a as my main meal, really.

So I highly recommend that you can look and see what's on there on the list of vendors.

Yeah, the who stage. Glad to see that lineup. Glad to see it moved where they did.

Those artists now have a legit stage.

I guess the other thing and I was re listening to our show from last week and Brian,

I was really glad you brought it up because that whole idea of going hard because I felt like I think you hit it right.

I think I was overstating the don't go hard idea. And you're right.

You know, go hard, just plan for it. And I really think that put the finer point.

Yeah, you know, I just you know, middle age is hitting hard these days, Barry.

And so I think I think of things differently than I used to.

Most people aren't going to plan their their go hard day. They're just going to do it.

But I thought that was an important. Yeah, you can do it however you want.

And it's an environment that that makes that facilitates however it is you want to do it.

And that's what makes it one of those special parts about it along those lines.

One thing we haven't talked about and we won't really know until we get there.

We well, we kind of talked about it several weeks ago when it was announced that they were going to allow single day tickets.

I'm very curious to see how that operates and not in a bad way.

It's just everything that we talked about, all our dos and don'ts and, you know, involve things like packing and eating and all that.

I don't know how it changes the festival experience to get there.

Whatever, you know, midday. Yeah, that'll be just what that that's very much going to be.

We'll see it when we get there kind of deal. I don't think it's going to be much.

I don't think anybody who's going to who gets a one or two is only going to go for one or two.

I think they're going to be there the whole weekend. You think they're going to be part of it?

Well, and that's I mean, yeah, part of how do you police that? Right.

No, how would you? But part of me was trying to look at it as if I were doing that.

If it were my first time and I was going to see whatever band and just bought the one day ticket, the place is so big and there's so much to see.

You know how I don't know. I don't know the answer.

How do you manage that? You know, you get in.

I think you're going to have you're going to have FOMO as soon as you get there because you're going to realize I'm just here for one day.

I can't do all this in one day. Yeah, that's right. And I guess the idea is, well, next year I got to come the whole weekend.

And I think that's kind of where they're thinking is if somebody buys a one day ticket, they're going to come the whole weekend next year.

If you've never been to Bonnarooo and you're thinking it's like some other festivals you've been to, like a city festival,

like I keep thinking of the example of all the foreigners who come over to the United States and think they're going to do it all in one day.

You know, we were I was joking the other day about people who come to Tennessee and say, yeah, we're going to go to Dollywood and then Graceland that night.

Yeah. And I'm like, no, you're not. You're not.

You know, it's same thing. And we're going to see this band on the what stage at, you know, one o'clock.

And then we're going to go out into the plaza and check out where in the woods.

And then we're going to head back to the which no, it's too big. That that's kind of where I'm coming from.

Yeah. I mean, it's 700 acres. So if you just took the festival away, it would take you all day to walk the place.

Exactly. So and, you know, and we were just talking about weather and humidity and all that that could beat you up enough to where one day is all you'll ever need.

Absolutely. That's very true, too. So so it'll be interesting to see.

I don't think it'll be much of a change of any experience.

And I think people who are concerned with that, I just believe that that's a little that's probably misguided.

It's probably not going to be an issue, but, you know, we'll see. Yeah, I don't. It'll be an interesting thing.

I don't I'm not predicting bad. I just I'm interested to talk to people afterwards and saying how that went.

Not just. Yeah. Yeah. Because none of us are single. We're not day trippers.

No. And that's what I mean. I can't. I think it's made a difference as far as ticket sales.

Right. I mean, they've said that this is made up for some of their ticket sales made a huge difference.

But I just good. I just yeah, absolutely. Whatever keeps a festival going. I just it's worth noting.

And like I said before last week, I think I want to talk to Corey and Brad afterwards to see how Tuesday and Wednesday

and and Thursday or the what stage and late night, you know, all of those kinds of things.

Those are big, big changes. Yeah, we got a lot of questions for them.

So let's talk about it. All right. Main thing is, like I said, here we are.

First week of June. Before we know it, we will literally be on the farm looking forward to it.

Scared, as always, because of the weather, because of everything else.

So much. Bonnarooo anxieties are real thing. So much can happen.

But here's part two. We've got some phone calls. Thank you. What a great thing that's become, man.

Thanks to everybody that finds the time to call and leave us a message.

And it's been a lot of fun. I think we will figure out ways to utilize that even more as we go forward.

We've also gotten some some of your ideas on your favorite memorabilia.

We'll share that if not this week, then next week for sure. That's a lot of fun.

That's where we ask people to whatever it is.

You know, maybe it's a picture that you took or something somebody gave you or something you bought.

It's not really meant to be. Can be anything.

It can be a flyer you found on the ground. You know, it can be anything that came from the farm.

So, yeah, somebody you met, you know, whatever.

Just tell us because we all have them. Right.

I mean, we all have our favorite things. So. All right.

Well, here we go. Here's part two.

Thanks, everybody, again, for listening, for paying attention, for being a part of this show.

I am so looking forward to seeing so many people that we have come to know over the years because of this show and this festival.

That to me is really probably the incredible thing.

People that are part of our if not daily, then, well, you guys, you know, part of my life because of this festival.

All right. Here we go. Part two of the What Padcast Do's and Don'ts.

So we'll move on to Sean here.

Well, I was going to try to sit up, but there's no real reason to. It's short and it's and it's funny.

Here you go. Hey, guys, it's Sean from Kansas City. And I've got two quick tips.

The first one is to take a second and pause and look around and really enjoy yourself and appreciate what's going on.

It's so easy to get caught up in the moment and caught up going set to set to set beer bong to beer bong to shotgun that we kind of lose track of things and forget to soak it in for a minute.

Number two is to really limit yourself to two Hattie D's hot chicken sandwiches per day.

Otherwise, you may become really, really good friends with Porter Potties.

All right. Thanks for everything you do. See you at Bonnarooo.

OK, Sean. So the second at the end of the tip is only two Hattie B's hot chicken sandwiches a day.

I can't even eat one. I wouldn't say eat one within a month of when you go.

All right. So this is so I have like two or three really serious tips.

And I'm not kidding. Think about the Porter Pottie. We talk about food all the time.

Well, they go together and you know, one way or another, eventually.

Yeah, my whole. OK, so I have I have like three different ways to approach Bonnarooo.

The music I want to see showering bathroom, what bathrooms are part of it.

I don't eat a lot and I don't eat a lot because I do not want to be in a Porter Pottie any more than I have to.

Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know how to explain that. Right.

I mean, I'm not eating greens. I'm not eating turnip greens.

You got you got to put it as simply as it is. And that's as simple as you can do it.

And many of the comments you'll see anywhere or suggestions are don't forget to eat.

Don't forget to eat. A lot of that has to do with if you're drinking, don't forget to eat.

I don't eat much at all, especially last year. I didn't eat.

I mean, and I'm just grazing on high protein snacks, beef jerky's, granola's.

If you if you if Kelly's homemade cheese is on its way, bringing on with some triscuits or something.

I mean, that's what I'm eating all day. And that's but that's not good enough.

If I'm going to drink 15 beers or drinks, that's not good enough.

You need more for sure. So this is case by case basis.

But yeah, I still I thought that call was fucking great.

It's funny. It is funny because it's no more than this.

No more than two. You got to think about that, man.

I got to say, too, don't get too caught up in spicy pie too often.

Just I think about maybe one a lot of cheese one at the end.

So my first couple of years in my you mentioned Kelly, who makes the pimento cheese, which is frickin awesome.

I had a lot of animal crackers and peanut butter.

That was my go to. That was my go to for like three years.

Yeah. I'm not a big peanut butter fan, but I'd eat it up at that place.

And I'm not a big animal cracker.

You know, she was like, what? And I'm like, this is perfect because I can eat three.

I can eat a hundred. You know, if I'm hungry, I'll eat a hundred.

And it's not going to spoil.

It's not going to spoil. It's great.

It's great energy. Yeah. So, yeah.

You know. Yeah. Good one.

But I love I love how he starts that call with just make sure you step back and you take a look.

It's just so hard. It's so heartfelt. It is heartfelt.

And just see what's all around you. Enjoy the moment.

But then consider you're going to be in a shitter. Yeah.

No more than two hot chickens.

Thank you for that, Sean.

We'll transition if you guys are ready to our buddy Daniel.

Sorry, I have to kind of hunt and peck here.

Here we go. Daniel. Hey, guys.

It's your pal Daniel and Hunt's Phil.

So one of my top tips is staking down on your stuff really well.

So your tents and your canopies, they can go flying if a freak storm comes across.

So we have staked down all of our stuff outside the rew bus and it don't go nowhere.

Oh, also, by the way, Barry, you don't have to camp in the backyard.

You can sleep in the house if you want to come up for South Star.

Thanks, guys. See you soon.

Were you worried about having to camp in the backyard?

I think he's talking about South Star. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That's our friend, obviously, Daniel and Charlotte from the real rew bus.

Yeah. Just saw Daniel this weekend.

You camped with. Yeah.

And Brian, you mentioned this earlier and it's become a thing.

Tent stakes. Get good ones.

Yeah, I mentioned that earlier. Yeah.

I'm the guiltiest of all guilty of not staking down anything ever.

And I have never been.

It's like the guy who lives in Oklahoma and Tornado Alley and doesn't prepare

and then just somehow for 20 years doesn't get hit by a tornado.

I have somehow never been hit by one of these thunderstorms.

The closest would have been I have to go all the way back to 2004.

And that was more moisture wet.

That was more water than it was storm.

But they were close to say that's my most worst disastrous camp year ever.

And I've been pretty lucky ever since. But yeah, big time.

Two years ago, right, Russ?

When we came and I think I think we talked about it last week with Romy where we had to go back.

I said it was last year was two years ago.

It was two years back. Yeah, that storm came through and flying everywhere.

Yeah, yeah, they take off like airplanes.

But our specific section, we huddled things together and nothing really.

We didn't get hit hard right where we were.

I was on the outside stuck at night.

They wouldn't let me back in because of the tornado, not tornado, but thunderstorm warning.

I was stuck at the Golden Gala or whatever it is over there for like an hour.

Well, that year, the villains, Tara and they all went back and broke our stuff down.

Two years ago. That's what it was. Yeah, that's what I think it was.

I wasn't there. That's right. Yeah, I wasn't there.

Yeah, we were able to prepare just a little bit. But yeah, but my stuff wasn't still staked down.

Brian, were you there that Sunday morning when the lightning hit the transformer?

That's one of the funniest, scariest things I've ever been a part of.

Yes, and I think I was passed out, slept through it.

I don't even know who it was, Russ. I don't think you were there.

Oh my God. So we were there Sunday morning and we got the...

Bonnarooo put the word out, shelter in place.

Was this 2016 possibly when we had to shut down a couple of times in Centeroo, Pearl Jam, Primus?

You were there. I mean, you've been there every... I know you were there.

Yeah, and I was...

So we were all and we're bloody married and we're whatever.

And it's Sunday and a lightning bolt hit a transformer about 200 yards from our camp.

And I don't even remember who it was. Sean Stewart, I think, and his buddy. You remember Sean?

Yeah, and Kelly. Kelly was in with them.

We're sitting there and we're watching the rain collect on top of their tarp, right?

So as the water is collecting on top of their tarp and it's just about to explode,

the lightning bolt hits and it all busts at the exact same time.

And it's the loudest thing I've ever heard. And we all freak.

And this poor guy, I don't know why he wasn't Sean, it was his buddy, comes crawling out of this tent like a breach.

I mean, it looked like a birth. He looked like he was being birthed.

You know, I know this story, but I don't remember it.

He sticks his head out and he's like, am I alive?

I mean, he literally has this face like, I think I'm dead. I'm pretty sure I'm dead.

It was so funny.

But yeah, keep things staked down, especially in a lot of those areas with no, you know, that are wide open.

But I have been very lucky to not have to have much problem with that.

But yeah, because we can go from pure luck.

We can go from no wind to thunderstorm in, you know, 10 minutes.

Any day, no matter what the forecast says. Absolutely.

Yeah. All right. What we got next?

We got Cecilia. Here we go.

Hey, friends, it's Cecilia again.

Here are some of my tips and tricks and do's and don'ts of Farrou.

Number one trick and slash tip is freeze like a 24 case of water bottles for your cooler.

It should last the entire weekend.

In the past, you've only had to get maybe one or two, you know, bags of ice on those really hot, moner summer.

That's what I got for you today. Happy Roos. See you guys soon.

It's the best. It's one of the best suggestions you can give.

In fact, if you're not doing this, there's a big problem and someone needs to sit you down.

And figure out what you're not understanding about this, because I remember this was a life hack like 15 years ago that was like mind blowing.

Since the beginning. Yep. Freeze the water bottles. Why didn't I think about that?

Yeah. Here's the one little hack. I'll give it now, though, that I've run into a time or two and I just forget about it because I'm moving fast.

This is something easily to forget about.

If you just have a regular refrigerator with a decent sized freezer with some room in it that you can throw a case of water in,

it could take a week for a case of water set in a freezer like that to actually freeze because they're so compacted in together.

And for the, I can't do the science conversation of it, but to get the ice built all the way through, one bottle in there will be frozen by tomorrow.

But 24 of them, it could take days and days and days and days. Yep. Start now. Start freezing now.

Keep that in mind. I wouldn't suggest busting them all up in your freezer and having to try to carry them around.

So I get them in there a week in advance. And if those things are rock solid, you will not need much ice and you will never run out of ice cold water.

It is the hack of all hacks. This is the way to go. Go ahead.

Yeah. A lot of people are starting to say, oh, get dry ice, get dry ice. I don't get dry ice. It's dangerous. It's expensive.

If you don't know what you're doing, yes, you can make a mess. You can.

If you know exactly what you're doing, you got to set up fine. But if you don't, if you've done it before, maybe freeze your bottles of water.

Now, freeze the bottles is a much better, easier, cheaper suggestion.

I remember one hack that I got 20 years ago because your food doesn't get soggy. Right?

Yeah. Or at least not until Sunday when it starts to turn into water.

And then you have water to drink at the end. I always have water.

And they just turn into water that you can drink.

That's right. It's just perfect. It's so simple. The only issue is it takes up a lot of space.

So you kind of have to figure that out. But you're going to water anyway. So, yeah. Yep.

A lot of plastic waste, which a lot of understand. But that's a good. But you got to deal with it.

I mean, if this is what this is how this goes, you know, no good way to do it.

If you do two coolers, you can have one cooler full of the frozen water bottles and then your other cooler has your food and beer and whatever.

You can transfer water bottles into that one as you clear up room. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, you know, if you coolers and then you've also got to keep in mind and you can use some of those ice to help if you want to have a clean ice cooler for those that like to make drinks

or even just like to have anything on the rocks, you know, you can do that. There's there's so many ways that those frozen ice bottles come in.

Just such handy. Yeah. So excellent one there, Celia. Thank you for that call. We'll move on if you already get to Ian.

Hey, how's it going, team? This is Ian calling out of Cleveland.

And my main tip would be to put a balloon on your canopy or your car and make sure that the balloon is fairly unique.

So that way it's easier to find your campsite. Have a good one. Now, I really like this one because it's simplistic.

We talk so we saw we talk so many ways of trying to remember where you are, landmarks, finding your friends or so many different suggestions, do's and don'ts that we can all come up with.

That is super simple for just right in the area. Then you're in. How many times have you walked out of there?

It's late or or even early mid morning and you're walking around and you're one block away.

But you're oh, shit. Is it that block or is it this block? I'm almost there. It all looks the same.

It all looks the same. But I know I'm almost there because I didn't walk very far.

And it's almost like getting in the woods and getting lost while I just go down here and then I'll go that way and then I'll go that way.

And now you're a half a mile away. And so to have small little things, not something that you know, not a totem, not a flag.

I mean, you have those two, but just a balloon on your rear view mirror on your side mirror or something that oh, there we go.

Right there. Super simple. Something. And especially late at night.

If you're on substances, if you're drinking, it's going to make it harder for you to pay attention to figure out where you're going direction wise. So, yeah.

Well, I mean, you just said it. Things look a little different at noon than they do at midnight.

Number one. Number two, everybody's driving a gray sedan or a gray SUV. Right.

A lot of SUVs out there. And they're all. Not everyone has a green bus like me.

No one has a green. And so it looks completely different.

And you think, oh, I'm going to I'm going to be next to the gray SUV with the grateful dead flag.

Guess what, folks? Good luck. There's going to be a lot of grateful.

Well, thanks for narrowing that down for me.

But am I wrong? No, even when you wake up in the morning and you stumble off to, you know,

find a port of John or something or just to get a walk for a second, you're groggy and you're walking around and then you're still like, wait.

All right. So how many. All right. Brian, you've been there 22 years.

How many times does somebody try to crawl in a tent with you? Oh, that like a stranger. Yeah, I got one. Never. I got one.

Never. I got one. Do you get in? You know, I always have the smallest tent that's available.

That's a good point. And nobody tried to crawl in. That's a good point.

I'm glad you brought that up. I want to I do have a story. This is not Bonnarooo.

This was a a Volkswagen camping festival and it's kind of infamous now.

His name is Leroy. I didn't know him at the time, but I had already gone to bed.

I was sleeping up top and I wake up to somebody trying to open the door and get in the bus.

And then a couple of my buddies saw him try to get in. He was like, no, no, you got it.

This is not your bus. You got to you know.

And I think I woke up just enough to say he's fine. Let him stay.

And they're like, all right, so I'll send you the picture and I'll put it up.

But Leroy passed out. My new friend passed out in the floor of the bus.

He woke up the next morning, didn't know me, didn't know where he was, couldn't find his shoes.

Did he hang out for a little while for snacks?

Indeed, actually, I became friends.

And every year it's like, hey, Leroy, you're back in the.

Hey, you need a place to crash. I got room for you.

So, yeah, that's the one time that's you know, I had actually somebody

try to get in and, you know, disoriented and probably on something.

But it could happen at Bonnarooo for sure, especially when there's 20,000 of the same.

It happens all the time. That's why I ask. I'm surprised.

Same with tents. You know, everybody buys the same tent. They all look alike.

Yeah, this guy kept tapping on the door and I'm like, it's wrong.

Yeah, wrong. Yeah, when I woke up, his shoes are right outside my door.

I was trying to think of a classic so embarrassed the next day.

I'm like, you know, we've all had a Leroy. Whatever. I get it.

I was trying to think of a classic movie line that went with that, but I can't. I know.

All right. What's next? Who you got next?

This one is super short and just had to be it had to be included.

This is Brooks. Hey, what's up? What podcast family?

This is Brooks checking in with some excellent advice to help you win the Bonnarooo this year.

My advice is this. No excuses. Play like a champ today.

Good luck, everybody. Play like a champ today. Play like a champ.

No excuses. No excuses. Get out there and do it.

Well, there are no excuses if you don't plan well, you can't play like a champ every day.

True Brooks. Your energy was felt.

Yes. This kind of goes back to your point about, you know, we always say don't go hard, but sometimes do go hard.

Well, there's a difference. You still you still got to you got to approach it aggressively.

All right. Like you have to know what you're doing.

If you just kind of and meandering is fine, you can still have a nice enough time just kind of wandering around.

But if you really want to get stuff done, whatever that stuff is that you want done,

whether it is just to see a show or see an exhibit or see Shakedown or see your friends or to see the the beer exchange or whatever it is,

you got to have an aggressive approach to your to your plan.

That also includes anybody else that you're hoping is on the same page as you,

which will come along with how you keep up with everybody and where there's one call will address that a little bit.

But yeah, play like a champion.

You guys have made me rethink this whole thing. I feel bad.

I feel like the old nerd now, the whole don't go hard.

Go hard. My only point was don't go hard on Thursday.

Yeah, do it. But I get it.

I get what you're saying. I yeah, I feel like I'll be careful.

You know, no, shoot, man.

Bonnarooo is where you're supposed to get stupid. Yeah, yeah.

It's the best place on Earth to get dumb.

Go hard. If you need more motivation, find Brooks.

He will cheer you on. Maybe you have the sign you can touch on the way.

He'll help you out. Yeah. Go hard.

Isn't that a Notre Dame thing? Play like a champion.

Yeah, win like a win like a champion. Play like a champion.

And they got the sign. They all touch it. They go through the tunnel.

Yeah, yeah. I thought that was the case.

I will move along to our buddy Parker from RooHamm.

Harry, Brian, taco. It's going on. It's Parker with RooHamm.

I feel like I'm the most prepared this year that maybe I ever have been.

Maybe explore like an easy up with the bug net around it.

Something that I've done every year since, oh gosh, I think 2019.

Just like allows for the airflow in the morning.

Oh, and throw your blankets or anything else that you want to keep dry in the car during the day.

Happy RooHamm. And real fast, guys, I meant to preface that he was talking about as opposed to the traditional tents and a lot of other.

He was talking for a long period of time about that. Yeah.

And then he was transitioned to here's a different suggestion.

And that to me, Barry, kind of sounds like our our Bloody Mary tent.

It kind of sounds like the tent that he's talking about, like a canopy with a bug screen.

Hundred percent. And this is game changing for me.

And I'm so I can't believe I haven't thought of it before.

I kind of did it two years ago accidentally.

Russ, if you remember, I gave you my easy up and you set it up.

And I came up there and dropped tarps around the sides and then put a chair.

Excuse me. Caught in it and slept in it.

That's what I want to do. I don't need a tent.

I want to easy up and I want screens around the sides and maybe whatever plastic or, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. The only problem with that is that you've got to just be really diligent and careful that you have your water,

your protection, because there's some nights are going to be dry as a bone. Right.

And there's some nights that are going to be, and especially in the morning with some heavy, heavy dew potentially.

There's no question about that. And so if you don't plan for that, then you're really great.

Yes. That wind flow, the airflow, it's five thirty in the morning is going to be amazing unless everything's do, soak and wet.

And it will be. And the other thing you can work around that.

The other thing was terrible at our friend, Nate Gale, because I snore like I have a snore.

I woke up and he was like, damn, dude, you snore.

Only Nathan couldn't sleep at Bonnarooo because somebody was snoring.

So whatever. Yeah, I know.

But where the woods is going on all night with the snoring.

So Parker's point, I really want to do that. That's my, you know, it's the same thing with a tent.

Just the idea of putting it easy up and having the bug screen and or, you know, plastic or whatever tarps around it.

That's that's my plan this year. And then his other one.

And I think this makes perfect sense.

Take all your clothes and your bedding and put it in the car just in case it rains.

There's nothing worse than coming back to camp and your your bedding is soaked.

This is why and it's come up on the show the last couple of years fodder on the ridiculousness of my tiny little tent,

which is just a little hikers tent for lack of a better way of explaining it,

that you can put in a bag this big, throw over your shoulder and go hiking up a mountain and pop it up, sleep in it, pull it down and go.

Yeah, because you do that all the time.

I'm just giving you the reason why it was produced and designed for me.

It is I can get there, pop it up in two minutes, take it down in two minutes.

If I need to move it, I can just throw it over here and it's completely 100 percent waterproof.

And once I do get to sleep, which I have a better I do that better these days, I'm out.

Yeah, I'm done for the night. And when I wake up, then I just get up and get the hell out.

But I leave everything in there, zip it up and I don't have to worry about.

Yes, it's going to get warm in there. I've just got that's just something I know is going to happen.

And I deal with it. But let's talk about this because I'm seriously thinking about the next week or so.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to R.E.I. or Academy or whatever.

I want to buy an easy up and that has the wraparound.

See, and I don't know if I've seen exactly what this is. This might be a new innovation that's so good.

It's not really. It's not really so because I'm thinking of our Margarita or Margarita.

So that's an easy. So we have an easy up. Right. So think about the Margarita and it had netting around it.

Right. So that's it. So I could also buy tarps and drop down.

And that would give me privacy. So the basically the same tent and a lot of room, a lot of room,

a lot of room and it goes up in two minutes, comes down in two minutes.

It's basically a tent. So, you know, why do I need a tent?

That's that's what I'm hearing. Right. Russ, you're you.

Yeah, I've seen this more and more. I think even when we had Cassie on, you know, a while back,

she talked about doing this instead of a traditional tent.

It's the same. It's eight by eight space. Right. Yeah.

And if you don't have the one that is made to fit on there, you can use binder clips, anything that, you know,

just to hook up those tapestries. That's the word I was trying to find.

Tarps. Yeah. Yep. Tapestries, tarps, whatever.

So yeah, you can make this really nice. I mean, it doesn't have to be just, you know, janky.

The problem last year was I gave you I gave you not problem.

I gave you that and you set it up and we used it. And then it became like our living room.

Yeah, it became our kind of primary spot. I couldn't sleep in it.

So I slept in my truck, which was awful. I'm never doing that again.

Have you done that for years? No, twice. And it hurt.

I thought that's what you were doing for a little while.

I'm not doing it. Well, I've still got your easy up. Yep. I know.

All right. So what you got next? All right. We got four left.

We'll go with Vivian on the what podcast.

Hey there, my name is Vivian. Leave it cleaner than you found it.

Don't just leave trash where you stand. Take it to the trash can.

Make a nice pile near the trash can.

It's so much easier for someone else to clean up that way.

Some way to find your group. I use Live 360 every year to find my friends.

I've never had a problem with it. Don't take candy from strangers.

Also, just bring your positive vibes and happy real. I can't wait to see you guys.

Yeah. Clean up after yourself. Damn it. What are you a child?

This is one we've preached year after year. What are you a child?

Clean up after yourself. Exactly. Leave it better than you found it.

Even if the cans are overflowing, which at times they might be,

even though clean vibes, I hope they're still involved.

I know there was a little issue there, but somebody will be involved in sanitation.

Even if it's overflowing, just get it there and that'll make it easier.

I've never understood in any gathering, any event, so often, maybe here in the South is more of a thing,

but there's garbage everywhere. Oh, well, the garbage cans were full.

Somebody will pick it up. So your answer to the garbage can is full is throw it directly on the ground.

I've never understood that. Clean up after yourself.

I know most people aren't smoking. Don't throw your damn cigarette butts on the ground. Please.

Anywhere ever. It's not cool, man. That's a great point. It's not cool.

It's not going to go away. It's not. Yeah.

And they can't pick that shit up easily. And I've been off and on smoking my whole life.

And I've always since I was doing it before everybody else.

I say that all the time, joking half the time. But put your dusty ass pockets, get some cargo shorts.

I don't care how uncool people think they are. You got a little pocket for your damn cigarette butts.

That's just a kind of a side thing. But yeah, just clean up after yourself, man. That ain't hard.

No, it's even either. Leave it better than you found it.

And then have you been out there? Why is that hard?

You guys have been out there early on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the last five, ten, however many years it is.

It's gorgeous out there. They clean. They do an amazing job of making that place look borderline pristine the next day.

You know how much easier to be if you just take a damn garbage and to get it at least closer to the garbage can?

Walk five feet. Yeah. Come on.

Be part of the solution here on that one.

Leave it better than you found it.

So oh, and then the I've never used the I know Snapchat's got a map that follows people on, but only so many people are on that.

I've never used a an app like she says Live 360 that her friends use.

If you're getting cell service, which we'll get into that a little bit more here in a second to never use one of those apps.

But I bet that can be pretty handy. So I don't know. Yeah.

It's just dependent on cell service. And like we've talked.

Yeah, I've seen there's a couple of products out now that are kind of like that.

They're like location finding standalone devices that don't rely on a cellular signal.

They seem a little expensive. We might look into that at some point.

But yeah, I think it's gotten better. I mean, you can get cell service at times.

My silver service has been pretty good. I'm also around.

I guess I'm around Wi-Fi a lot. Sorry. No humble brag there, I guess.

Right. Sorry to be that guy. But generally, I don't have a lot of cell phone service out there.

But our boy, somebody does have that problem along those lines.

I'm going to disagree. It's not been good for me. Has it not?

My tip for everybody is to just bank on it not being there.

Oh, I would say that I agree with that. And maybe I am thinking about Wi-Fi.

If you're thinking, you know, hey, I'll text you meet up here in a minute.

That ain't gonna happen. That never worked for me.

I mean, whenever I relied on cell service or needed it, it never worked.

Your story is more common. My tip would be plan on it not working.

Yeah. Remember a couple of weeks ago when we had Tara and Kai on, they had a great tip about

when you send the text, timestamp it in the, you know, type out.

I thought that was a brilliant idea. Absolutely. So simple. So simple.

Just instead of sending the text, say it's 1 30 p.m. now, especially in that relationship.

I mean, we're talking about a mother daughter. I'd be out of my mind if I couldn't find my daughter.

Yeah. Even more important for them. But you can do that. Just you and your buddies.

She's lucky she's got a daughter that she can trust.

Yeah. But absolutely. Like you said, Russ, that's a great tip.

Plan on it not working is my point. Yes. Just count on it.

Yeah. All right. I am going to we got three left. I'm gonna go with our boy Pondo.

Hey, guys, it's Pondo again. Let me give you a couple of tips that everybody should know.

One, water. I know it sounds cliche and I know you've heard it a million and five times.

Let's make it a million and six. Drink lots of water.

And finally, the last one that most people forget about cell service.

Your cell service while you're on the farm is going to suck.

But usually when you're back at camp, cell service works a little bit better.

So I will give you the heads up on that. As always, enjoy yourself.

And I look forward to seeing everybody on the farm.

Yeah, I knew it came up in the calls. I couldn't remember who is Pondo also.

Yeah. To make sure we all understand that. So I'm glad you did that.

Yeah. Speaking of Pondo, he is going to be at Bonnarooo this year.

He posted a few, a couple of months ago that he's had some medical expenses and some other stuff come up.

He didn't think he was going to afford a ticket.

And somebody made him a GoFundMe account and it was funded within 24 hours.

He has enough money to buy the ticket, plus get some food and some other expenses.

But he was truly humbled by everybody reaching out and donating.

Because it's just not Bonnarooo without Pondo. I mean, we had him on the show, what, a couple of years ago?

He's the guy, he wears the Viking helmet with the big horns and he's got the clock around his neck.

Ah, that's Pondo, that's right. He's got the clock.

You can't miss him, that's Pondo. Yeah.

He texted me the other day and said he's looking forward to seeing us on the farm. And I said, same to you.

Super fast story, super fast story. In 2000, I think it was 9, right during the financial crisis and housing crisis and everything crisis in America and globally.

I had just lost my second job and I was not doing well financially.

And I had lost any credential connections for that single year.

And I was broke as a joke. And I don't remember how many people or how I got around or if I tipped it off somehow.

But my mom and maybe dad together or somebody chipped in and bought me a ticket.

And I just went GA'd for the, for two and a half days.

It was before Camp Nut Butter was a thing, about two years before that.

And I was just crushed because of the job. And then I was crushed because I couldn't do my thing.

And so they bought, I think tickets were like $250 then. I was like, I don't have $250.

At that time, relatively speaking, was a good chunk and they paid for it.

And it was like, man, that is a great feeling when somebody steps up and helps you out with something that they know.

They're not buying you just something you need for the house.

Like I said, and I'm in it sincerely when I did my picks last week.

The beer exchange and seeing people like Pondo. That's my list.

I don't care who the band I see next in two weeks. I hope to see people like that.

Oh, I'm excited about the beer exchange. Yeah, I'm excited about the beer exchange too.

Speaking of that, I know we had, we had, forgive me for forgetting names, somebody from Red Roo on with the beer.

Kevin.

Kevin with the new beer. And I saw on, and I know we talked about him and talked with him and we're going over it then,

but I didn't see the full design until I saw it on Twitter the other week.

Nice. What a beautiful can of beer. Nice. It's cool.

I would have stressed him then. Hey, you better save me one.

But I wasn't thinking at the moment. And hey, please save me a can of that beer.

I need that for the for the shelf in the office here.

It is a gorgeous can of beer with some American wheat beer. I don't know, ale, whatever, but it's beautiful.

But to your point, Russ, and I'm glad this, I mean, thank you, Pondo for calling and thank you for listening.

Good God. I mean, thank you. But isn't that amazing?

I mean, this guy, you know, people just said, dude, you got to be there.

I mean, what do I have to do to make sure people don't do that for people they don't want?

People don't do that for people that, you know, that they're indifferent to whether they come around.

So that's clearly somebody who care, people who care enough to get you there. That's cool. Awesome.

So, yeah. Yeah. All y'all keep that in mind when I fall.

After I spent all that money in Vegas and New York later next year, I might need some help, man.

I love it. All right. Play another one. All right. We got two more short ones here.

This is Abby real quick. I will set this up. She is young and new first year and she had some issues with her tickets being shipped

and she had some damage and theft and she's having to go through that, you know, those hoops to jump through that has nothing to do with Bonnaroo.

This is this is this is shipping stuff. And so her anxiety is up and now she's worried about everything.

I hate I feel you. What do you want? Can't imagine. Yeah, I feel you.

And so and this was it gets to a where she's she's concerned about, well, you know, am I safe when I'm there?

You know, do I have to worry about people, you know, messing with our stuff?

How and that's her main point here on that. Sorry, there were kind of longer. I wanted to keep them succinct.

So I want to give you a little backstory on that. Abby is up next. And here we go.

And while overall, the vibe of Bruce seems very pleasant and open and peaceful,

we all know that a few bad apples can truly get in there and ruin it.

So do you have somebody you could talk to from the festival who is in charge of public safety or has tips and tricks for us people that have never been?

I just want to make sure that I do my part, keep my person and my items safe while I'm enjoying the festival and getting the full experience.

So if you guys can maybe answer that question, I know I would be indebted to you.

And I can't wait for you and hope to see you guys and say hi and snag a what podcast sticker. Thanks, guys.

Thank you, Abby. Thank you. Great question. My first thought is to that is is is that I think she's anxiety filled because of the trouble she's already having and worrying too much.

But telling somebody telling somebody who's worrying and having anxiety to stop worrying and having anxiety, it doesn't work that way.

It doesn't work. Hey, just relax. That's why I hesitate.

I'm like, where do you start? Yeah, no problem. Wow.

I love this idea. We've never we've talked to people that that put on Bonnarooo and and run it, but we've never had anyone specifically.

Yeah, I thought about that. We can do that in the off season for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

And so I guess just a real quick, Barry, and I'll throw it back to you. Throw it to you. I I just think generally you're you're in a safe place.

You are. And she mentioned in there said, I try to take care of my person and my belong.

If you're already thinking that way, if you're already spending a lot of your time concerned about that and preparing for that, I think you're doing exactly what you need to do.

And you're probably taking care of the problem for yourself. That's half the battle right there. Yeah.

Yeah. So I totally agree. I was trying to think who and where would you go? I don't know.

I mean, there's not a there's not a there's there's not a patrol of the campsite. It's just it's just a good vibe.

You hopefully the person the mounted. Yeah. Yeah. The person that's for emergency. But that that's emergency stuff, right.

Which which if you got ripped off would be emergency. Yeah. Mounties the the mounted horse people aren't coming this year.

I don't know if you saw that. Oh, that's right. What would I say to somebody who's already I mean?

Wow. That's a great question. We well we will have what podcast stickers I know that doesn't.

I just hope you feel the vibe when you walk in. You know, that's mine. That's my other number one tip.

This is the do's and don'ts is don't be a dick. Be that person who's nice.

Be that kind person. Be that person who sees somebody who's maybe having a little bit of a just say hi, you know.

Yeah, I'll go a step further. When you get to camp and set up, take note of who your neighbors are.

Introduce yourself to get a rapport with them. Say hi. We're in a culture of no one knows their neighbors in their own damn neighborhood.

But this is a place where this is a place where you need to exist.

If you have trinkets or something to trade, a lot of people will do that and you'll form a bond with your neighbors and they'll kind of look out for you.

I know it's weird, but I promise, you know, if you're away and they're at camp, they'll keep an eye on your camp and vice versa.

And if you need something, you know, they might be able to get it from them or loan them something.

You know, it goes both ways. You can look out for people and be looked out for just by making friends and kind of forming that bond.

I mean, you will laugh about the stickers. One of my favorite, like the second year, third year, second year, I was in my truck.

And again, I'm like the caller. I mean, I'm still nervous. I'm still thinking everybody's trying to rip me off.

You know, I'm just whatever. It's a lot going on, man. A lot going on.

I got back to my truck and this guy is picking through his truck and he's like, man, if I just had a long stick with a hook on it.

And I was like, you mean like this? Because I had a bamboo pole that I had duct taped a hook onto.

And he's like, are you kidding? That's exactly what I need.

And then the next year, like Sunday morning, the guy I was the guy was next to long story, but he's like, man, I walked by the ice cream tent five times and now I want ice cream.

And I said, I have some. And I gave him a little cup ice cream. And, you know, it was like, oh, my God, you know, this is incredible.

So bring stuff, share, absolutely. Yeah.

I will say just to be devil's advocate, if we were on a Facebook thread in the loophole of Bonnaroo reality or Bonnaroo, whatever forum here,

when it when people discuss the one day and two day stuff, that is a small crack in the door, a potential potential people who might just be kind of going rogue.

That is that opens that up a little bit because going rogers don't pay five hundred dollars for a weekend quite as easily as they might go.

I'm just I'm not even saying I'm considered necessarily worried about this. I'm just giving a talking point. I know is that I know is out there.

Less than buying all in. Yeah. You can know all your neighbors all day long.

And regardless of how the person who's just roguing around trying to be a scavenger, there's not a lot you can do about that.

So back to the point I just made, Abby, if you are if if you're taking care of your person and yourself and your in your people around you,

I think you're going to be just fine. Like I feel that confidently saying that because most people are looking for an easy, cheap thrill, a cheap, a cheap steal, a cheap mess with.

Yeah, we're not dealing with naive person. That's not we're not dealing with like looking over their shoulders.

It's sophisticated criminals here. We're dealing with lot lizards, you know, that are just looking for what I don't even know what these these low lives are doing.

But I think if you're watching out, if you're aware, if you're taking care of yourself, I feel confident you'll be just fine.

Yeah, I agree. And that is a topic I think we'll probably deal with that one after. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm curious. I'm glad you brought it up because it does change the dynamic or could it could change the dynamic.

We'll see. And just for future reference, Abby, you she had mentioned that she was going to have to pick up her tickets at the will call wherever exactly that is right now for a G.A.

I'm not sure. So I understand that you're she's coming from eight hours away. I understand your anxiety is eating you alive. Trust us.

We are driving eight hours and you don't even have your wristband. Yeah. And all your friends do.

Yeah, trust me. I would I would want to jump out of the car while I was driving down the high interstate.

Let us know how it goes. Let us know how your camp experience goes and let us know if what you were worried about was just that things that probably didn't happen in the future.

Just down the road. The will call is at the high school.

It's an easy in and that is true for that is true for that. Yeah.

As well as for G.A. Yeah. You go in, you give them your name, you show I.D., they look you up, they hand you your wristband.

It's pretty simple. So you know, you know, you know, what is it we always say, man, it always works out better than it always works out.

It always works. Always works out. It always works.

I've only had one tiniest hang up in two decades and it was a hang up that was fixed.

Yeah, me too. Me too. It was fixed easy. And that was a long, long time ago.

So you haven't had any issue that we got one more here if we want to roll it from our boy, Joey.

Less. It's not a tip. It's first of all, he loves free stuff.

So I do too, Joey. I get it. So he's entering in the contest as all y'all are in the contest for a Barry's Basement Bonnarooo Junk and then whatever I can find to throw in it.

And then just a simple question for all three of us. Hey, guys, my name's Charlie.

I'm from Virginia. This will be my third monitor. And I love free stuff.

That's what I was calling about. Maybe I'll be able to win something.

I was just wondering if you guys think that you plan on attending until the things hadn't done until they have to close the gates on the farm.

And if you all think that will ever happen or if there's a possibility that this thing can go on forever, I love it.

And I hope it does. And I'm sorry if I took up too much time.

You all have a good night.

Joey, just for everybody, I cut that down. It was a two minute call and take all the time you need, Joey.

Barry, you want to start with that? Would you go until they tell us we can't go anymore?

Is that the question? Do we think that was the go on forever?

The question was two part ish.

Do we see ourselves continuing this indefinitely?

And is there a chance that this festival has longevity of quote unquote forever? Well, the quick answer is no, not forever.

But yeah, I would say the same. I would say I mean, I'll keep doing this as long as people care.

Right. I mean, I don't know.

As long as they'll have me and as long as they'll, you know, yeah, continue what they've done for two decades now.

There's no reason not to. It is. I will say this and I mean this sincerely.

It is the most interesting thing that I do.

And is that pitiful? I mean, no, is that bad? No, no, no.

Somebody's going to think so. I mean, you know, somebody's going to think so.

You think, you know, maybe living would be more important.

Grant grandkids, grandkids.

Nobody listening to this show is going to think that's pitiful.

No, it's the most fascinating, fun thing that I do.

And I love it. And I love talking to you guys.

And we, you know, I love waking up every week thinking, what's the dumbest thing that I want to do?

I mean, and it'd be like, I want to talk to Jim James.

And then I reach out and we get to talk to Jim James.

You know, we haven't done anything stupid like that in a while. But my God.

As far as the festival itself, I mean, you know, I go back to what I said at the beginning.

You know, it's up to them. I don't. That's not on us.

We don't have anything to do with whether the festival. Yeah.

But the idea that it's going to go forever, I think is foolish.

Agree. Because because nothing goes for forever.

And I'm shocked that they've that they were able to weather the storm of the last four years.

I'm not so sure. I would have thought, of course, it's going to go on forever.

Why wouldn't it? But yeah, lately here, what we've gone through.

And then you see all these other festivals kind of shutting their doors, so to speak.

Yeah. I mean, it makes you question how long can keep going.

Think about that one. We had Trevon on. I mean, Russ, you were in Atlanta. He was in Charlotte.

Brian, you've been to Atlanta.

We talked about the difference between the city fest and the camping fest.

Bonnarooo is a slog, dude. I mean, it's not an easy thing.

And so for people to do that, it's hard.

Well, I would say we all get giddy when we see that the DOJ is suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

And we all hate. We all hate Live Nation. That's where I'm going.

And there is a little bit of there could be some be careful what you ask for.

Actually read the legal response from Live Nation and some have made a lot of sense that for another day.

But the reason this festival is healthy financially is probably because Live Nation is subsidizing the ever living, you know, what out of it.

So no, no question. That's that's great.

For now, how long are they going to do that? Our sixty thousand ticket sales? I'm just, you know, numbers we throw around.

Is that going to hold it? Is that going to keep it going? Are these? Yeah.

Remember, you and I went to exit 111 and that was a one and done thing.

But it's like, why don't they do other festivals at that property year round to kind of recoup some of that investment they put into that property?

You know, why are you doing a country fest? It's expensive. It's hard.

Yeah, it's just hard to make your money back. Exit 111 was a fabulous time.

I would guess it was a financial failure. Yeah, obviously they made no money at it.

All right. Let's do this real quick because we've done it a hundred million times.

Let's go real quick. What are our tips? It's a few money. I mean, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

It sounds, you know, guys start drinking water, start walking.

Yeah. Wear comfortable shoes, bring shoes. You don't care if they come back home with you or not.

Yeah, I did the don't wear. You mentioned it kind of flippantly earlier about the flip flop.

Don't wear flip flops. Don't do it unless it's at your camp because you're just trying to be comfortable.

Don't wear them. It's not going to work out well for you.

Comfortable shoes are the king of the world out here. The fish.

What is a fish song? Whatever you do, take care of your shoes.

I mean, so true. Come on now. I'm I'll throw one out.

I would go ahead. Invest in some earplugs and a mask for sleeping.

Your sleep is so important. And if you need a little extra, you know, just to keep the darkness,

you know, and keep the sound out just so you can get a few more hours of sleep. That's that's huge.

Bring the foam earplugs. I sleep like a baby, man.

I put those things in and it's like the ocean. White noise, loud noise, off the distance noise actually helps me sleep.

And bring those. But it sounds like that if you put those in.

So you don't hear whoever pretty lights at six thirty in the morning unless you want to, you know, bring wear those.

Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah, I'm just looking at important.

I'm just looking if you got anything else you want to go with taco. I'm just looking at my list here.

Real quick. Take a shower when you can. Yeah.

Shower at two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, depending on your is the best.

Go off peak. Don't go at 12 noon. Don't go at 11, 10 a.m. Don't do that.

Wait till later. You'll be there all day.

I would also say if you're like me and you're blind as shit and you wear contacts, glasses, bring an extra pair of contacts.

Bring an extra pair of glasses. You know, last year I lost a contact and, you know, I had to wear the glasses.

But if you need a backup pair in case your glasses get broken, lost, you know, whatever, just you don't want to be caught out there.

I don't know if you wear contacts. I do. Yeah.

So, yeah, make sure you've got your your eyes taken care of because you don't want to be stuck out there for two or three days.

That's an interesting point. As a campmate, did I need to know that? Do I need to know what your issues are?

I mean, it's not a bad idea. Yeah. If you ever you're camping with, I mean, if you'd gotten lost, I wouldn't know.

Yeah. You probably should have told me or somebody maybe maybe maybe a note to my chest and a note to my chest.

If found, please return to Camp Nut Butter.

Yeah, I mean, I was fine. I lost the contact. I just switched to my glasses.

So, you know, I made it through. But, you know, if you didn't have an extra pair, you know, it could go bad.

You know, that's a good that's a good one. I didn't never thought of that one.

I got a few don'ts. And I think this is relevant to where we are in the confusion of legalized cannabis in this country right now.

Don't assume your cannabis produced products professionally produced products, regardless of what state they came from.

Don't assume you're going to drive through the security checkpoint with them.

Just I don't think anybody knows that that is that is such a regulatory nightmare right now, because Delta nine products are legal in this state right now.

But I don't know about, you know, the transportation of one state's goods to the other.

This is like Coors back in the 70s. You couldn't bring it over a certain line.

Fat tire back in the 90s. You couldn't bring it a certain it was illegal to bring it to place.

This is not quite that, but it's similar. So don't assume that.

When you're in the I haven't to deal with this a long time. If you're in a long line to get in traffic wise, which still happens, it's not legendary like it was,

you know, front page quite like it was 20 years ago, Barry, when you were having to cover that for a half a decade minimum.

But it can be. And you could be there at a time where you're just it's an unfortunate time.

You could not have planned around and you might get stuck in traffic for hours a mile away, not a mile on the interstate, like a mile within the radius of the festival.

Don't start drinking in the car before you get on the property.

Or potentially other things. But I would say drinking because it's the most obvious that's happening.

It gets you in trouble, probably not if you're on Bushy Branch Road and you're almost there.

That was my thing 15, 17 years ago. I'm on Bushy Branch Road and I know this is like three quarters of a mile.

Like I'm almost there. Five hours later, I haven't even reached the gate.

And while you're not doing anything inherently dangerous, you're breaking the law.

And you can certainly nothing good can come out of it. So I would say until you are on that property, try to refrain from doing that is an interesting dynamic.

We I have not had to do it. And it brings up two points.

I've always said this and it's so simple.

Bring a jug like for overnight when you're in your tent, bring a jug to pee in.

It sounds so simple. I'm still not there on the jug thing.

Well, you know, I've always I've jokingly said, you know, you guys, it doesn't matter, but get one with a big mouth.

You'll understand why. Probably.

Thanks.

Ha ha. It makes a big difference to me because you don't want to get up and have to walk.

Make that hike. It sounds like one of those lip simple things. But again, to your point, Brian, when you hit burning bush, you think you're there.

You're not necessarily there. You're not even in.

You might be eight hours. You're not. You're not. You might be five to eight hours.

So you never know for you guys coming from way out of town.

Just, you know, prepare and then on your way in, this goes.

That's a it's a jumping off from what I did a little while back earlier today or wherever this gets split up as far as how you see and hear it.

Is that it's same as with the security points going into center.

When you're pulling in and people are directing you, don't be difficult because everything that.

Yeah, that is such a hard job for the and that that is.

I know a ton of people have done volunteer work who I see still to this day who now are like artists VIP volunteer work that it's it's I mean, they they basically have it's a really cushy gig and it makes what I have pretty primitive.

They started out there flagging people around. That's where you start.

And once you build into this ecosystem, they move you up to better gigs.

Absolutely. Yeah. So that's beginners. Those are new people and they're and they're potentially very inexperienced and they are trying hard.

They want to be a Bonnarooo too. That's why they're doing it. They're going to the festival.

They're paying. They're being paid for in festival tickets. So they get it.

They understand these aren't security guards that don't care whether you go or not.

They're not making 40 bucks an hour, but the frustration level you can watch it build and you see them and they're just like, I'm going to kill every person.

You know, be patient with those people, please. Absolutely.

And I'll tack on to that. Keep a couple of bottles of water on top in your cooler and just offer them, you know, because they've been standing out there in the heat.

Amen. It's like Russ in the Christmas Parade. Yeah. Water is for everybody. Water is for everybody. Yeah. And, you know, offer them a water and, you know, that can that can also smooth relations, you know.

Yeah, 100 percent. It can make a difference. And somebody who's been working eight hours in the heat, you know, they would love a bottle of water.

Yeah. As we've learned, these guys are doing 12 on 12 off. So it's not like, you know, they're not getting overpaid. They've been there maybe two hours, maybe 10 hours. Yeah.

And as frustrated as you are, so are they. So yeah, be cool. Just appreciate them. Be cool. And it goes a long way. Yep. I have two super short ones and my list is done.

If you want me to go and roll through those right now. Yep. Make list. Pen to paper. Put your phone down. Don't make a list on your phone. Pen to paper.

You got a clipboard. Put it on a clipboard. Go through it. Mark it off. Do that every day of your life, every week of your life if you can.

But certainly do it for Bonnarooo. That'll go a long, long way in easing your mind that you haven't forgotten anything.

And this kind of goes back to the shoes thing. Don't obsess over your fit and your fit check. All right. Dress comfortably.

Don't dress to impress the creeper in the corner trying to snap a picture and put it on his, you know, burner Instagram account.

If you want to look cute and have fun and dress up, that's fine. Obsess on your comfortability and your shoes and your hydration.

Obsess on that. Yep. And you are going to enjoy yourself. Don't obsess on the bleeping fit check. That's it.

I've always wondered walking by seeing people with like glue and glitter all over them. I'm like, ooh, that's not going to be comfortable later.

Not in the morning. Not by. But you look pretty as hell right now. Rock and roll.

I know. You see that early in the week. You see that Wednesday, Thursday. They're all dressed up. Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

How's that feeling in that crotch right about now? Yeah. And that's fine. Do your thing. Do you. Shoot your jump shot.

Obsess less on the fit and more on the comfort of what you're doing and the Jason Isbell song.

Don't call what you're wearing an outfit. That's all I'm going to say. What you got, Russ?

Let's see. I think my last one that I've got, I would just say, take more pictures.

I know we all say, you know, stay off your phone, be in the minute, be in the moment.

But I always come back wishing I had more pictures than I have, you know? Really? I never, I've never, ever, ever thought that.

That's interesting. I'm not saying you're wrong. I just know I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah. Interesting.

Interesting. I'm glad you brought that up because now it just creates one more real quick is that I was going through the old shows and I heard Brad and I wanted to grab it, that audio and play it too.

But I just ran out of time and I forgot until you mentioned that. And he puts on one of y'all show the last two years.

Don't be married to your phone. Don't use your phone. Don't some phone, something about the don't use a phone. It's like, where'd you read? Where'd you read that?

Brad, this guy, Brad Steiner is so obsessed and addicted to his phone as much as anybody.

First of all, he's the millennial. He's he's he is 42 going on 32. He's so he's younger than me and me and Russ.

And obviously you're the elder statesman here, Barry. But he is a millennial if there ever was one. And that guy, I mean, it never ends.

You tell me to stay off my phone, Brad. I know. Yeah. Just give me a break.

But I think there's a a really good middle ground on the phone usage. I feel like I feel like I do it well.

But put on airplane. Don't live through it. Don't live through it. But do like document what you're doing.

Yeah. You want to come home and have a few pictures, maybe in an easily consumable way.

You know, the jackasses that hold their phones up that has the flash on for, you know, for two thirds of a song.

OK, get, get buddy. No, but that's not what I'm talking about.

But but Brad's audacity of Brad to say, stay off your phone of all people really conflicted here because I'm going back to the show we did about celebrities.

Y'all I have no pictures of me with anybody I've ever met. I just that's just not me.

Yeah. And I mean, that is much which I will do that.

I have nothing just just capturing the moments in an almost I am Bonnarooo style. Right. Like just I mean, I'm not going around taking pictures of other people.

Yeah, not even going that far. But the but the but the environment, right. The environment in which you're in.

I because you're going to go back years later, you're going to remember.

I remember this time I was at this particular spot and I wish I had had a picture.

I can see it in my mind and I was you know, I always go back and look at past pictures and I just didn't get enough pictures.

Yeah, I agree. I think I think that could be I don't disagree. I just I'm different. I have nothing.

In fact, if anything, I'm throwing it all away. So

All right. There you go. There's part two.

Forgot to mention since we recorded last week and it's really sort of been building I think right since the lineup came out.

One of the things that's getting a lot of attention is going to be this Chappell Rhone show.

The conversation would appear that it might rival Noah Kahan and some of these other sets that they put on a tent and it could maybe be bigger, maybe too big for the tent.

That seems where it seems to be where it's going. Right. Yeah.

This isn't my original thought. I saw other people talking about it first and then thought, huh, they're probably right.

This tent show, which is I don't have in front of me. I'm sorry. I think it's three o'clock on Sunday.

I know it's right after the beaches. That's why I remember it well, because that's my favorite.

My favorite day is that early part of Sunday and it's going to overly artificially inflate four o'clock.

It's going to overly inflate the the beaches show because people are going to be there early for for Chappell Rhone.

And I'm those tent stages. I'm just so tired. I'm so tired of them. I know they have to be a part of it.

You got to have the smaller stages, but there's I just like the main stages better.

It's going to be a monster. Yeah, it's going to be a monster. She is so huge.

It's so fun to let to watch this play out since we started Discovery Show.

What? Four months ago, right? Never even heard of this person. Right.

And there's so many other Renee Rapps, another one, beaches at that time I had heard of.

But there's a handful of them. And it's just like they're mega stars. They're huge.

You see Chappell Rhone on these main stages. Go ahead, Russ.

Did you see the yeah, did you see the photos and video from she just did Boston Calling?

That's what it was. Boston Calling. Yeah, that was massive.

There's like ten thousand people there. These tent stages are like for like a thousand.

It's going to be nuts. Nuts. Yeah.

Well, of course, everybody's calling. Oh, you got to move her to the witch.

You got to move her. They can't move her.

I mean, you know, these things are locked in, you know, months and months in advance.

So now I don't want to, you know, bleep all over the the witch stage act,

which forgive me for not having it in front of me right now.

I don't know who they are. So a little switcheroo wouldn't bother me.

None. But it's a little too late. Well, that's to do that.

That's the other problem. If you put her on the witch, you got to bump somebody.

And who's going to who's going to say yes to that?

Nobody who's already. Oh, yeah, sure. I'll go to the small. No, no, no, no.

Doesn't work that way. It's interesting.

I was listening back to some of our high five clips and earlier shows.

And one of them was with Brian and Stephen with AC Entertainment and Ted Hining,

where remember, Russ, we went up to Knoxville and actually sat there in the offices.

And they explained to us how they build these lineups and how complicated it is

and how it takes a year, maybe two years and how how important it is to try to look ahead

and figure out the cycle, you know, where where an act is.

Are they up or they down? They got to predict the future.

They they get it right more often than not, as far as who's going to be popular,

you know, in June and why.

And sometimes they get it.

I don't want to say wrong, but maybe underestimated, you know, like with Noah last year.

Yeah. You know, we've seen it. These things come out of nowhere.

Yeah. I mean, projecting is always a difficult thing to do.

Sometimes it's an irresponsible thing to do, depending on what you're talking about.

So I'm not faulting anybody.

When this was booked at the end of last year, this this this was mostly booked at the end of last year.

So it's like, how do you know where this is going to go?

And like you said, you try to guess and you can only guess so much.

I wouldn't have in a million years thought that Chapel Rome would be one of the bigger artists going right now.

But that's why I only talk about festivals and don't book them for a living.

It's a great problem to have. It's a great problem to have.

And I and I apologize because I meant to go through and try to figure out some of these.

This has happened over and over and over again over the years.

It's happened every I mean, it just it's just a natural flow of things.

Noah Kahan's the best example of recent memory that was wasn't that just last year?

Yes, it was last year. Oh, my God.

Well, I tried to go Brad Steiner of the show. I he regularly is somebody I go to for like, hey, you know me.

Tell me what I need to go to. What do I need to be looking at today?

Noah Kahan. I was OK. Well, I'll go. And I got there. I was like, this is the worst thing I've ever done.

It was it was it was it was crazy.

And there was no screens, which I don't even think that's going to fix this issue.

But that's another case here. Another one that pops into my head that's like this was Mumford in 2010.

There was some moving around of how they they exploded from the time they were booked.

And it turned into one of the bigger shows that that Bonnaroo has ever seen as far as volume of people.

But yeah, the other side of that is Adele. Yeah.

Who saw Adele? Nobody that I know. You know, T-Pain 2018 was an attempt.

That was huge. Obviously, that's going to be better this year because since he's on The Witch,

but you couldn't get close to T-Pain, that was for sure.

Yeah. Another thing is, is that Sunday, the crowd thins no matter what the crowd thins.

But boy, I don't think it's going to thin enough. Not not to me. That's going to be a big, big, big, huge day.

I'm looking forward to it. I wish Sunday I'm usually beat up and ready to go. But I can't.

Maybe one of those things we end up talking about.

Maybe people are coming, you know, not just for Fred again, but to see Chapel Rome.

So I don't know. That's that's one of the things we want to watch.

That's going to be that's going to be a big day. So I'm looking going to have to pace.

I don't know. It's going to change my arrival time a little bit because there it is again.

That's what I mean. Tuesday to Monday. It's a long time. Yeah, it's a long time.

So all right. Well, there you go.

Obviously, we didn't get all of the dos and don'ts because we've done this every year.

You can go back and listen to last year show in the year before and the year before and the year before.

And some of these are, you know, tips that we've done that we've learned through experience.

And some we've some of these are things we've stolen from other people.

It's interesting how they've changed somewhat.

I don't know if my habits have changed all that much. I don't know.

You know, Brian, you've been every year. Yeah. I mean, a lot.

You know, you just like anything else, you evolve, you live, you grow, you learn.

But the basics are always a basics, especially in the, you know, the middle of the summer in Tennessee.

But hydrate shade, comfortable mattress or sleeping in warm, warm and, you know, cold clothes or whatever you want.

It does get cold at night. That's changed. It can. It didn't. Yes. And so. All right.

And I'm going to take my own advice. I'm I just noticed I've got to change the oil on the bus.

It's time. So I'm going to do that as soon as we get off here. But yeah, take care of your car.

And we'll have you speaking of in your car and on your way in, we'll have some kind of juggled around show for you on your way in next week.

It's crunch time, guys and gals. Yes. Crunch time. And so what it'll sound like and look like, we don't know yet, but we'll throw something together.

But we'll put something. Clock's ticking. Clock's ticking. That's right.

And I also want to mention we only have a couple of things planned for on site, which we always like to do.

So no idea what when the next show will be after that. We always take a week or two off after just because our minds are worn out.

I don't want to say we take that connotes an entirely different thing to some people.

There there have been some Bonnarooo weeks for post weeks that I have slept for almost 24 hours.

Like that's not an exaggeration. Like almost a full day I have stayed in bed and slept for almost all of it.

I don't know. We'll see how it goes this time. But yeah, some time some time to think about it.

But a recap show I'm already looking forward to. So I don't want to I don't want to be there yet.

It's a it's not a I can't wait for situation. I can wait. Yeah. All right. And and.