Bonnaroo's New Festival Director Told Us What's Really Changing in 2026

You know, I was definitely there last year. I try to forget it, but it's on the forefront of our mind almost all the time, really.

But it's I think it's just we've come out with a vengeance.

Like the whole team is just ready to see a great Bonnaroo out on the farm this year.

So then, you know, with with Bob passing this year, we both really wanted to do something special.

Bandanas will be at the toll booths.

Welcome back to the What Podcast.

Obviously, things look maybe a little different.

That's because, you know, it's Bonnarooo and it's T minus.

It's whatever. How are you guys? I'm Barry. That's Brian. That's Russ.

I am super excited. We have our friend, Corey Smith.

Everybody who's familiar with this show should know Corey.

He's the marketing director for Bonnarooo with C3.

But we also get Shelby, the elusive Shelby guys.

I don't think anybody's ever had Shelby on as a guest.

Yeah, to corner her took the place of Brad Parker, who never found a camera or a group of people he didn't want to get in front of.

Not everybody is that way.

And so we'll be very excited to hear from Shelby here in just a little while.

But a couple of things we can get to here for a few minutes as we get warmed up for that.

Guys, I've been so far removed from anything Bonnarooo.

I've had a couple of Mays in a row now that are the busiest time of my year.

It's fine. It's good. Most of it's fine.

But I haven't been able to keep up with a whole lot of things.

We'll touch on one or two things here, but extensive discussion of Outeroo here before this show is over.

So I went through it last night and just made a couple of commentaries on some of the of the schedule.

If you would like to kind of dive into that right now, we can do that.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

With the preface of I still wander around GA occasionally, but I don't really know what Outeroo is.

I've never taken part of of the different workshops and shows and and and how we would characterize them.

I'm not exactly sure. But start off, though, how about our guys and gals with Roobus?

I mean, they own Wednesday. Thank you.

I mean, that's a great way to put it. That's their guys are crushing it.

Yeah. I mean, it starts with the purple carpet, you know, the red carpet style,

whatever that's even going to look like. I'm sure they'll do it right.

It starts with that. It goes all day long until five o'clock.

And so good on them to, you know, corner the market.

Talk about us being excited about having a pretty unobstructed window for an hour.

A little bitty. Yeah. They got a whole day unobstructed on Wednesday.

So so good for them on that.

I think they and we're going to talk to Shelby.

That's one of the things I want to talk to Shelby and Corey about is

this idea of sort of turning things over to the fans, the patrons

and the Roobus embody that as much as anything I can think of.

Absolutely. Not just not just Daniel and Charlotte, but everybody involved.

Yeah, with Totem, Roobus, that I mean, that thing's got so many tentacles.

There's a lot of people involved and they all work tirelessly at that.

So, right. Yeah.

I think they'd be the first to tell you, you know, they pretty much hand out off

the group, the kickoff party to Andrew and Matt, I think,

who do the organization for all this.

So, you know, it's it's a group effort for sure.

It looks like it makes me complaining about throwing together a radio show.

It seemed like I should just kind of shut up a little bit.

Which before we get out of here on this open, I want to a quick mention of that.

But just quickly, Thursday, we do have a little competition out in Outeroo.

There is a little block of about four hours of programming that ends about five o'clock.

So hopefully that's not that much fun and people get too sucked into that.

But that's what I have on Thursday. Friday, a couple of workshops early in the morning.

Journaling, which I always think is is fun.

There's very different versions of journaling, dear diary, scrapbooking,

however you want to look at that.

But so but there's also a sock making puppet.

Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of puppet stuff on this.

Yeah, there's something with puppets.

I don't I don't know what's up with that.

And we won't or strip puppet strip puppet.

We won't bore you with this, but we got a local guy here who who's kind of a Jim Henson,

Tim Burton, influenced guy named Nick Lutzko, who does all these puppet things.

So I'm always and Wayne White from I was.

Yeah, from the 80s, who used to work for Pways Peewees Playhouse.

And so we actually know more about puppets than the average city.

So if on Friday sock puppet making doesn't do it for you or you feel not so challenged

on Saturday, you can go to the giant puppet making workshop.

Sock puppets one day, giant puppets.

And that's lots of puppets.

Next thing you know, maybe you'll have a gig with, you know, Tim Burton or something.

Yeah. Now, what I'm what I'm glad about is that we're talking about the art,

the art elements of it.

That's the part that we've been saying, I wish Bonnarooo would bring back.

Well, that's what makes Planet Roo so much fun is because it is a workshop of all sorts.

Like it's it's an advocacy, right?

It's not it's not all hands on interactive.

But much of it is.

And so I agree with you on that.

And then I wrote on Sunday, I don't even know what's going on in Centeroo on Sunday,

let alone do I know Outeroo.

So we'll let Cory and Shelby fill in the blanks on a lot of that.

Well, let's go back to Friday for a minute, because you skipped over the beer exchange,

which is 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock at the Group Plaza.

Yeah, I just made a single mention from each day.

But I mean, that's just a given for us in the last half.

And then Crumb Snatchers are back.

I saw that. I saw that.

They're great.

The Crumb Snatchers got us got a show out there.

So that'll be that'll be fun to unpack the rest of that with with Cory and Shelby here

in just a few. Bonnarooo radio.

Let's talk about this real quick.

So we're we're crunch time on this thing.

It's coming back in a different way that it used to be as a listener.

You might not know any difference, but quickly I want to mention and I hopefully

I'll have it ready and we can throw the if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify,

the link up to it.

But I was recently very I don't know if we talked about this.

Me and Taco did a little I got selected to do a guest

fan DJ spot on Sirius XM's Pearl Jam radio.

And that aired it was wild how it came together.

All of a sudden, it's like, hey, it's now going on tonight.

And I'm like, OK, wow.

So I didn't have time to even barely tell you guys.

It was just a music style DJ show.

Pick your songs. Talk about them.

It was a lot of fun.

Thrilling, really. I'm downplaying.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know how you didn't hyperventilate.

Well, let me talk about let me talk to you about hyperventilating.

And this is what I'm going to bring you back to to Bonnarooo radio is

a quick behind the curtain snapshot.

There's almost no FM radio that's not prepackaged these days.

If you find something that's got a live person in there,

you found a very big, small outlier, I should say.

It's all prepackaged is how it goes.

And that's how Bonnarooo radio mostly is going to be,

except for on the front and the end, when they have people arriving and leaving,

there will be live information

that'll be delivered by by live human bodies.

Well, I put this I send the show in and I get so excited.

It's last Tuesday. I put it on at six o'clock and somehow dubbing it in.

Coming in and out of two breaks, two of the songs,

it all doubled on top of each other.

And it played all three, the break, the song and two songs all at once.

And I about died.

I was like, my moment.

And I and there's nothing you can do.

They plug this in and they walk away.

There's no person sitting at a console in a in a studio going like,

oh, I need to fix this.

They have no idea, no clue.

And so the show was awful.

It was terrible.

I was so upset.

And I hope that doesn't happen with Bonnarooo radio is my point there.

I have because these are professionals of all broadcast professionals.

It can happen. It's easy because it's sure to do when you program these things in.

So I hope that doesn't happen with Bonnarooo radio as we're going to do.

And I don't remember how much we've talked about it here on the show, but

I don't I don't like calling it a best stuff because that's kind of generic.

But a retrospective of the show over the years.

Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it.

And that will be ready to go in the next couple of weeks

as as they're loading this thing up at the end of May is my goodness.

We didn't even mention we're

20 days or whatever it is.

I mean, blink your eyes a few times, take a couple of naps and it's.

Yeah, it's maybe 24 at this point.

But, you know, counting down every day gets closer.

Yeah, I think what we talked about are some highlights, right?

We're going to pull from past shows.

And I know Russ, you you shared some of the Noah Kahan

stuff from already from the past, because obviously he's,

you know, Sunday's headliner.

Yeah, we touched on that last week.

He just hit Saturday Night Live and Tiny Desk.

And so, you know, it's going to be an awesome headliner, I think.

So, yeah, we revisited our interview with him back in 2023,

back before he was this big superstar.

Well, I do know the only secrets are like kind of preview.

I'll give you because it's still not close enough to time.

My bad. But it will be is help me Barry, because I can't remember his title.

Tuba, Tim Smith.

He is the director.

I don't know, but Russ is the one who...

Of Festival Operations or something for C3 and Bonnarooo.

He's like the big guy in the...

Like Shelby is the director of Bonnarooo.

Tuba is the director of all festivals.

Exactly. We'll have a good portion of our conversation with Tuba,

especially the the the squarch origins and how it came together.

And then our buddy, Ken Weinstein from that, you know, Barry,

you know, from Big Hassle that you've known longer than us.

And he was he's not one of the core four actual guys,

but he was like right here next to those.

Yeah, he's five, four adjacent.

Yeah, yeah. And five, six.

No, geez. Seven years ago at our camp, he sat down with us

and we talked the origins of Bonnarooo itself.

So those two in particular will definitely be there and probably somewhat lengthy

because they were such fun conversations.

And what is it Ken gave us?

Ken gave us what the greatest phrase ever.

Oh, never, never not great.

Never not great.

Speaking of origin stories, the origins of that never not great.

Anyway, I look forward to the radio show.

Truthfully, can't wait to see what you do with it.

But we have had some amazing interviews over the last

eight years. Yeah, crazy.

In a while. It's been a while.

It's a lot to choose from.

That's the biggest problem.

If you just gave me like four things, it'd be done last, you know, last month.

But so well, and with the goal,

hadn't kind of made an executive decision myself, but with a goal of we'll package

it all together into one show and put it out as a, you know, as a downloadable

audio only podcast at some point also.

It might run throughout Bonnarooo weekend in segments.

Not really sure.

That'll be up to the programming of Radio Bonnarooo this year.

A couple of other things before we get to Shelby and

and Corey, what about this Bonnie Roots?

No, no, sorry. Bonnie Roos.

Bonnie Roos.

Sports bar and like craft beer paradise kind of thing, right?

I mean, that's what this that's that's mostly what this this is.

Helping me in the corner, right, where that stage was.

Where that tent used to be, which is in the wet field.

But yeah, they're putting up this craft beer,

you know, bar and they're putting up a bunch of TVs.

They're going to have sports games going on all weekend.

There's, you know, I don't even know what's playing that week, but

well, World Cup will be getting started.

NBA and NHL is usually always wrapping up their finals in early June.

And and Bonnarooo has tried this before,

like 15 years ago, not quite this, this, but like a sports area

to watch TV and games.

And I guess it didn't work because they didn't do it more than the one year.

I looked through all my archives to find a picture because I know I took one

because I remember thinking sports bar as I was leaving the day was

the festival is over.

And this is when I was Monday.

I was dragging all my stuff back to my car when I had to cut through

back in the old days when I had to cut through center after it already closed.

And I thought there's been a sports bar here all weekend.

And I didn't even stop in and drink and watch sports.

This is crazy.

And then I never saw it again.

Exit 111.

I don't know if you saw this one either.

You were there had a back in 2019 had a sports bar thing.

That's college football time in October of that year.

And they had huge TVs.

It was all a huge hit.

And sports college football time of the year would certainly lend to that.

So they did it there.

And now something that looks to be like a combined version of that

with all the craft beers.

Love the idea.

Love, love, love the idea.

Well, they've always tried to show games somewhere,

but it's always in a different spot.

And it's not very it's not there's not a lot of emphasis put on it

because why would why would you honor your Bonnarooo Music and Arts Festival.

But when the when the Predators went to the Stanley Cup,

they put it on the witch stage in 2017 on Thursday night.

I'm guzzling gin and tonics and watching the Stanley Cup.

So yeah, it's a great idea that's just never been kind of focused into one area.

And I love the idea of them giving that a try.

So that's that beer tent is featuring some relatively local craft beers, right?

So yeah, including common John, which doesn't get more local than common John.

Absolutely.

You'll be probably sleeping in their parking lot, I assume.

We were just talking about that.

Yeah, we were talking about that.

I'm coming up Tuesday, Tuesday morning and probably headed straight to common John.

He can't not do it.

It's got to be there Tuesday.

Love it.

Yeah, you guys are missing out.

Also, I think we can take credit for this.

Bonnarooo announced they're taking suggestions for their arch playlist.

Do you remember back when we had on the church boners and Sean mentioned that they had

same damn songs over and over?

Seven songs on that playlist that just played over and over and over.

And of course, they're camped right there in front of the arch.

So that's all they heard all weekend was the same music over and over and over.

If I hear this Portugal the Man song again, I'll kill somebody.

Exactly.

Sean did have a heart on for that issue.

Yeah, he was a little passionate about it.

But we said we'd see what we could do and it sounds like they listened to us.

So they're putting out this request for songs for the arch playlist.

So hopefully it goes a little better for them this year.

Yeah, well, yeah, what did we say?

First world, first world festival problems.

Exactly.

Yeah.

You're camping right next to the arch, Sean.

You're steps away.

You're good.

They have the best spot in the whole place.

No, he's not wrong.

He's not wrong.

It's like that when my friends and their kids...

I don't care what the song is.

Over and over and over.

I know you'll know all about this.

All my friends with kids over all these years and talk about having to listen to that one song

or whatever like that their kid has to hear 50 times a day.

Yep.

Oh, God.

Yep.

And you're a radio guy, you know.

Well, yes.

You came from a radio station that has been playing the same 10 songs for 40 years.

Oh, my God.

You're right.

I didn't think about it that way.

I lived that crap for 15 years.

There it is.

But I think that about covers...

Oh, and one more thing that I didn't at first know what to even think about or say about it,

but I've been...

We've all, at least me and Taco have kind of been a little disappointed in Bonnarooo's

social media team at times.

Just don't love everything they do.

Well, I did love this.

Did you guys see it's been a couple weeks now, the squeegee guy?

Yeah.

The squeegee guy?

I did see that.

That was good, yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yes.

I know what you're talking about.

The random dude with the pool noodle like that just somebody captured when everybody was just

heartbroken and just like, whoa.

And then it kind of went viral slightly and then they brought him back to do that with the

Chad Kroger and Josie Scott from Spider-Man.

Hero can save us.

And he's back there recreating it.

That's pretty funny.

Good work.

Good work.

That's pretty good.

Yeah, I like that.

Yeah, I don't know that.

Boy, I wish I'd like to have that guy on.

How'd you...

One day you're playing in the mud and the next eight months later you're featured on

your social media.

You're a hero.

Yeah.

Love it.

A hero that can save us.

But yeah.

Love it.

Speaking of weather, we're starting to get our first 80 plus degree days here this week

in Tennessee.

I'm wearing long sleeves and I can already feel the house turning into an oven.

Is it?

We got lucky with a beautiful, beautiful spring, but dry.

Everybody operative warm.

Dry.

Dry.

I wasn't sure if I was going to bring it up, but if we had had the weather for the last two weeks

In a month?

Oh my God.

Oh man.

You'd be free.

People would be needing medical attention because of how cold they were.

Yeah.

But it's coming.

In the mornings.

And now it begins.

Now it begins.

Well, it also just feels like Bonnarooo and I'm not going to say I like the heat, but

I like it better in the winter.

So yeah, it's definitely warming up and by next week or as you're hearing this into this

week, it's officially turning into summer in the south, but we all knew that was coming.

Yeah.

But I think that's about all I got for now.

I'm looking forward to hearing from Cory and Shelby myself.

Yeah, we're going to get into Outeroo, actually everything.

I don't know where we're going to go with because I think we're getting Shelby.

This is her first interview.

Cory, obviously we know and I'm not going to go into that.

I'm very excited to see where this conversation goes.

If you don't mind, Shelby, give us a little bit of your, we always ask,

especially long time Bonnarooians, kind of their origin story because it's always interesting.

Cory, I couldn't remember, was it you or Brad that jumped the fence in your early?

It wasn't me.

It was Brad.

I was always a paying customer.

Okay, it was Brad then.

Nice Cory.

Shelby, please tell us a little bit about your background.

Yeah, sure.

So my first Bonnaroo was actually as an intern.

So I started early on.

I love working festivals.

I love just like the inner workings and everything that has to happen in order to have this mass

gathering of music and fun.

So my first foot on the ground was for an internship and AC Entertainment and Superfly

welcomed me with open arms and it's just been off to the races ever since.

But I went to school at UT Knoxville and it was basically just like a happy accident that

AC Entertainment was there downtown with their offices and I actually went to school for

engineering and fell into festival engineering as I like to call it and AC just was conveniently

right beside me.

So I just I hopped into their office and it's been off to the races ever since.

What year was the first?

2017.

Okay, I think you would have missed just missed my daughter then because she did this.

She took a similar path, grace at AC.

Oh yeah, the name sounds familiar.

We roll strong with our AC interns.

Yeah, yeah, it was a great experience for her.

Unlike you, she decided that life wasn't for her anymore.

Grace is awesome.

It's a weed out class.

I like to call it.

You either love to plan festivals or you love to go to festivals.

It's usually one or the other.

And you replaced another friend of the show, Brad Parker.

At the end of last year, you knew going into Bonnarooo that this transition was going to happen, right?

Yeah, Brad is also a friend of mine, friend of the show, friend of mine.

And we've been working alongside each other at Bonnarooo for a while now.

So happy to happy to take the reins over and he left Bonnarooo in a great spot.

So hopefully we have basically,

Shelby was doing all the work and Brad was just taking credit for it.

That sounds like Brad.

Yeah, yeah.

We were a great team.

What has, and we're going to get into the details of the upcoming one,

but what has this last year been like for you in this new role?

You know, not crazy different.

You know, we've got Leah, who's been coming up and replacing my role that I had alongside Brad.

So she's been a great addition and just, yeah, creativity is flowing.

Like, we're really focusing on how to foster the current energy of our fans

and just continue to let that grow.

So, I don't know, it just feels like this year has been especially creative

in a lot of facets.

So that's been a lot of fun.

Along those lines, what was the, we all know how last year ended.

We all know the last several years have been, they've had their challenges.

So what has that transition been like for you?

Because you've been there, so you've seen it.

It's not like you stepped into something cold.

So what has that been like?

You know, I was definitely there last year.

I try to forget it, but it's on the forefront of our mind almost all the time, really.

But I think it's just, we've come out with a vengeance.

Like, the whole team of Bonnarooo just is craving a successful show

and to see the fans get the full weekend.

And you can see that in our planning and the way that we're conversating and meeting.

The whole team is just ready to see a great Bonnarooo out on the farm this year.

So I can't believe it's already mid-May.

We're going to be there very soon.

And we're ready to see a show more than ever.

You talked about, you like the engineering part of it.

I call it the sort of sausage making, whatever.

That's why we started this podcast, because Brad Steiner and I both recognized that,

holy cow, this is a 700 acre farm that in just a few days, really,

hosts 80,000, 90,000 people in some years.

And the bathrooms, the cabling, the electric, you know, all those things are what always fascinates us.

And Corey, I'll ask you the same question, because I know when one year ends,

you guys already meet and sort of debrief what went right, what went well,

what do we need to change.

If you don't mind, go back, you know, 10 months or whatever.

What were the conversations in those sort of meetings?

Do you go in and blow it all up and start over?

How was it this past year?

Yeah, I think, I don't know, this year was weird because we were basically, you know,

in a situation where we were completely sold out last year, had a full farm.

And, you know, looking at this year, it was like, okay, we want people to be extremely confident

with coming back after, you know, not being able to play out the whole show last year.

So the first thing is we're going to have to cut some of the campsites while we do work

to, you know, reinforce for weather.

So that gives you a number of people that you could accommodate that is much smaller

than what we had out there last year.

So then you have to kind of work back.

So a lot of the conversations are, okay, do we need this?

Can we have a great year without this?

But I think kind of the cool thing about this year is we're, we were able to,

you know, not just make strategic cuts, but also add experiences like, you know, Bonnie Ruse,

Bruise and Sports, which I know we'll probably talk about, you know, and kind of expand some

of the stuff that we're doing in the plazas with House of Yes, and Plaza Five.

So it's been something where, like Shelby was saying, like, we kind of had to really get

creative.

Like, we were in a world in 2023, 24 and 25 where we were making small tweaks because

our formula was pretty much there.

And people were telling us, you know, when they got home that that was the best

botter we've had and you guys nailed it.

And then this year it was like, okay, we have to make some big changes.

So we're going to have to get really creative and work as a team to figure out what that

looks like.

So people come out of this year saying that was the best Rue that there's ever been.

So it's been a weird one, but it's been fun.

It's been a lot of work and it's been challenging.

But I think we're all feeling really, really great about it.

I was just going to say, I think summary of that is just like, how do we most efficiently

deliver value?

So it's like the questions that we've been asking ourselves is what do we know for sure

will bring value to the fans?

And how do we center in on that and make it run more efficiently and effectively so that

we know that it's going to go well in a lot of different circumstances?

So moving where into center Rue, moving to that tent to a more ideal place for load in

and load out and then for flow maybe.

Like it's again, it's like we're trying some stuff out and we definitely don't think that

we're the smartest people in the room.

So we're ready to learn from what we're doing.

But the name of the game is value and efficiency this year.

You guys have had to adjust before and I've always sort of said,

most people who come don't always know the changes.

They might notice something is in a different spot or whatever.

But as far as like, it still feels like it's full.

You know what I mean?

You had to do that in what 16 kind of rearrange center Rue a little bit,

move some fencing, that sort of thing.

And like I said, for the fan, most people, especially if you've never been,

would have no idea that anything is different.

Moving that tent though is a big, that's a big change.

And I know a lot of people have questions about that.

The idea, is it going to be one stage ends, the what stage ends and that starts?

Is it that kind of an idea or is it, I know you and Tuba I think told us before,

it was about the load in, that corner was getting really crowded.

It was getting more and more difficult to get bands in and out.

And even for the fan, if it got really full, you were way out.

So tell us a little bit about that decision to move it and how it's going to work.

Yeah. So it was for kind of more so operational reasons,

but I think it's going to have a lot of like positive downward effects.

So we're able to now be connected to our production road rather than having to like

access it from the campgrounds, which is really important.

But you know, also I think it'll improve the way that fans get to participate with the stage,

because you're right, it did get pretty crowded over there in that corner.

So it opens that up and it is going to be with the main.

So it's definitely not going to be playing at the same time.

So it's going to bring people over to main venue a little bit more.

And then it freed that corner up for something really impactful,

which we kind of revived for this year as a brewers concept in the old corner there.

But again, we're not sure that this is a permanent move.

We'll just see how it goes.

You will notice that that neon is still there,

because I could not in my right mind tear it down without knowing for sure

that it wasn't going to be going back that year or the next year.

So pardon our that neon still being there.

I would use that as a sign of, you know, we're always listening,

like to the point that we are not making this move permanent

until people have the chance to interact with it and, you know,

experience a year with the new location and make sure that it works.

So when you see that sign, remember that we're listening.

That's a good sign.

And then in that space where the tent was moved is that the new

Bonnarooo's Brewers tent, right?

Yeah, we talked about that a little bit.

That's a pretty exciting addition, I think, especially with all the TVs

and all the playoffs and everything going on.

Being able to have a space for that is I think it's going to be a welcome return.

Yeah, I remember last time the World Cup fell during Bonnarooo.

We had a screen, I think it was over near like where the food trucks are.

And I remember just massive crowds over there, like all weekend.

And it was just a screen out in the open, you know, people sitting in the sun watching.

So I think our first thing was like, okay, we need to serve that.

And I think sometimes we get a little carried away in a good way.

And that definitely happened here.

It's like, oh, let's just make a whole sports bar,

a German style pub on site.

That'll be cool.

Yeah, why not?

It reminds me a little bit of the Exit 111 set up back in, I guess that was 2019?

They had kind of a similar thing.

Yeah.

I remember watching Celtics Lakers playoff games, which was kind of weird

because you'd have a band play and then you'd hear this cheering.

And it didn't, it made no sense for the band.

But it was because somebody just scored.

If you've been at ACL, like there's always a big, you know, Texas game at some point

during one of the two weekends.

And, you know, people will crowd into the big sort of beer and sports hall that they have there.

And it's very similar to that.

One of the things, and you guys can speak to it because you do this professionally,

you go to more of these than I do.

But one of the things that strikes me about Monaru is the fan, the community involvement,

not just the showing up, but the things planned out in Outeroo, you know,

starting with the beer exchange type of thing.

That sort of, I would argue, led the way and kind of showed us, you know,

we can create an event within an event, within an event type of thing.

Am I wrong that you guys have really fostered that?

That's a big part of what makes Monaru special.

And you guys, you know, seem to go above and beyond to work with people

to make that kind of stuff happen.

Yeah.

I think it all kind of started a few years back.

They threw a party at the Roo Bus.

And they had flip turn play.

And we didn't really do much for that.

We had a stage out there that year.

And I think part of that party ended up migrating to that.

And so the next year I was kind of like, we should do more of this.

Because people are wanting to see their vision, you know, come to light out there

in the plazas.

And Monaru has been known historically for renegade pop-up sets, whether it's a band or a DJ.

And we were like, we could totally like help make that happen without being hands-on

and influencing what it is, you know, what the programming is.

Basically just use the production side of our brains

and let the fans use the creative side of their brains.

So we kind of went all in on that this year in Plaza 5 in particular.

We also had, we made some friends with Rock Night, which is an event in Nashville

and New York or LA or which one is it Shelby?

Both.

Or both?

Both, yeah.

So it's basically just an event that they do to highlight, you know, up and coming rock music.

And they were really excited about coming out to the farm and doing something.

So you'll see on the Plaza 5 schedule that they've got a couple events.

But they actually stepped up and helped us power some of that out there.

So we've got a real stage with real sound, lights, etc.

But we didn't overdo it.

Like it's still going to have a DIY vibe.

And like if you look at that schedule, it's absolutely packed.

We put as much fan stuff out there as humanly possible.

So I think that that's going to be a really cool place for people to hang out all weekend.

Yeah, and I'll say too, like I think we all know like the big part of Bonn

or a big part of Bonn or it was just the fan culture in general.

So we've really had on top of mind, how do we continue to foster that?

How do we empower that?

How do we reward that?

And Plaza 5 is definitely a big spot that we do that.

But it's also just like how we talk to our fans, how we communicate to our fans.

Like it starts, it does start with us just to make sure that we're being mindful of

as we get these new fans in, especially like Noah Kahan's bringing in a huge amount of new fans.

So we're just thinking like how do we make sure that they understand

what we believe in at Bonnarooo and how we treat people.

So yeah, we're trying to reward good behavior here.

So if people are hosting well in their campsite or if they're just like

showing the Bonnarooo spirit, like anticipate you getting handed like a token to go get some

spicy pie or something.

So we're rewarding good behavior just to make sure that it continues on.

Trevor Burrus Cor, you mentioned closing or I don't know if closing is the right word,

which is basically shrinking the footprint.

Can you give us an idea how much smaller?

Yeah.

And do you think people will notice people like me because we've been every year,

but I mean, will most people, other people notice?

Josh Birk I mean, if you're camping kind of across

Bushy Branch, you'll notice that the campgrounds aren't going like back to the bottoms where we've

camped out to in the past.

But once you get kind of on this side of Bushy Branch, it's more of like linear cuts.

So like as the land kind of like slopes in, you'll see like a little straight path

that doesn't have camping in that little like low lying spot.

So a lot of the cuts we tried to make like super targeted around those areas.

So I think people will notice it a little bit, but it's still going to, you know,

look and feel pretty much how people are used to.

Danielle Pletka Yeah, we're still using all of the land

that you would normally see us use.

It's just pieces of the land that are more flood prone won't be planned to use.

Josh Birk Do you feel like that's that again, going

back to the permanent, not permanent, is that a let's try it and see how it works type of

thing? Or is it possible it could expand back out there?

Danielle Pletka Yeah, we'll see how it works.

I mean, we definitely want to adjust and make sure that the land that we're using is

the best that it can be. So we'll see how all these improvements start kind of like

reacting upon each other because you know, maybe the new grass is doing what it's supposed to be

doing. Maybe the new grading and drainage solutions are doing what it's supposed to be doing.

So yeah, it's just going to be one year at a time.

Josh Birk Yeah, we heard Dale Green and Justin both

talk about a bunch of the improvements y'all have done out there. So it'll be nice to see all that

get used especially as it grows.

Justin

Bonnaroo is the only event at the music festival where we talk about grass and it's, you know,

not that kind.

Josh Birk I think one of the big things too is just like

access for services out there. Like one of the biggest things that people will see is the addition

of the road system. It's built out in a much larger way than it has been in the past.

You know, some of the issues last year were people that were directly affected by water in their

campsite. But a lot of the reason, you know, that everything worked out the way it did is

because some of those access points, you know, weren't on the hard pack gravel surfaces. And

it could get very difficult to, you know, service restrooms and get trucks in to provide, you know,

goods for the food vendors, etc. And so, you know, one of the goals is like, let's make sure that

everywhere is fortified so that if there is rain, that stuff's fine, you know. And then we're just

looking at areas that we can or cannot camp based on what the weather is.

Justin

Talk about a little bit the wear stage, moving it back over into the, removing it over into the

corner, but also about the sort of shifting with wear in the woods, because those are

two of the other big things that I think a lot of people have been talking about, commenting about.

Courtney Yeah. So again, it's value and efficiency. We knew that wear was a beloved late night stage,

but we just kind of needed to more efficiently channel our resources into Centauru rather than

splitting us up across all multiple places. But then also, I just make sure that we're fostering

late night in Centauru like it has been in years past. So the idea was born from seeing what has

worked in the past. And I think it's just like what Corey said, you know, taking a second,

kind of gauging and seeing where we're at, and then being like, well, why did we actually do that?

Let's kind of backstep here and go back to what worked like at the roots of our festival. So I'm

really looking forward to it being part of Centauru again, that late night kind of like,

kind of DIY, it's nothing like the other. It's going to be pared down and more like,

it's kind of what you make of it sort of stage. So we're looking forward to kind of generating

that culture again within Centauru. Aaron I think the other thing was we kept getting opportunities

to book acts out there in the woods that made a lot of sense for what people wanted, but we didn't

have the space. So I mean, obviously the vibe, the vibes in the woods were sick, right? But if you

look at the acts that we have playing out there now, like you've got Mary Dropins and Easy Baked

and you know, Prop Cause, like lots of like really cool names in that space that are perfect for

late night. And I would say 75% of those artists would have drawn too big of a crowd in the woods

for us to feel like it was safe. And now the only limiting factor to sort of crowd size out there is

how loud the PA is because it's just in the middle of a field basically. So it's a big improvement on

you know, the size of the talent that we can put on that stage now, which is exciting.

Trenton Larkin Shelby, the decision to not let people in until Wednesday

and to make Thursday more of a welcoming party, Thursday evening kind of start,

what was the decision there? Was it because honestly, just from my own point of view, it felt

like it was just getting so big. Not just a number of events, but the size and the day,

you know, adding Tuesday. We joke obviously Russ would leave today and be there tonight if he could.

Trenton Larkin I'm ready to go. Yeah.

Trenton Larkin But that makes for a long week and it's got to be tough on the staff and everything.

Trenton Larkin Was that part of the thinking?

Courtney

Yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. Like, again, efficiency is the name of the game this year. And

we didn't need to open on Tuesday. So it just helps us with our planning and resources. And

it's just a more efficient way of doing things. And people will still have the same amount of fun,

just maybe not as long, which I think is welcome sometimes to others too, especially when Sunday

rolls around five days rather than six days or whatever. It makes a difference.

Trenton Larkin Talk about kind of spreading things out.

And I'm guessing you guys, because with the RFD and the wristbands, you kind of know where people

are throughout the day, right? Does moving that and where allow it in your minds? And are you

hopeful that it spreads people out so they're not all in one place at one time? I know Thursday night

they're going to be, right? I mean, that's going to be pretty crazy. Should be a lot of fun.

Otherwise, is it a logistics thing that's, you know, spread it out?

Yeah, I mean, it's a logistics thing, to an extent. It's really just making sure our resources can be

best used where they're supposed to be used. But I think we will see a better crowd flow,

more of a reason to go into main venue, because we have two stages now there.

And then, yeah, people were moving out of Centroo maybe more than they necessarily needed to,

to get over to where. And now they don't have to leave Centroo anymore and go through all the

searches. So that in itself creates some efficiencies on our front for staffing the gates. So

the reason that I love festivals is one decision affects a lot of things, whether that be good or

bad, but it's just, we're hoping that it has a lot of great downward positive effects, those moves.

What are you each most excited about people seeing, either change wise or something new, or

what do you, what do you, what gets you excited?

Yeah, I'm excited to see how late everyone stays up this year. This is the, this is the most

intense late night slate that we've had in years, with two sunrises on the other and, you know, the,

the wear going until 6.30 or 7 in the morning every night. So I'm curious to see how people

engage with that. I'm excited about the House of Yes parties. I think are like,

directly after the headliner slots are really strong this year, like TurnStyle, OCEs, Freddie

Gibbs, et cetera. I think that's going to be really cool. Bonnie Roux, obviously we already

touched on, but I think the biggest thing is just getting a whole Bonnarooo. Like, we need it.

We need it. Everyone needs a bad. So I'm just excited, you know, for Sunday to roll around and

like, I don't know, the 2024, we came out of it. And I remember like talking to Brad and Shelby

and just being like, dude, those vibes are insane this year. And I know that that was going to

happen last year. So it was just like, everybody kind of got robbed of that, like, afterglow.

So I'm really excited to, you know, be able to come home after the festival this year

and kind of take that with me. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do. I think Brad sent me a text that Sunday or Monday morning after 24 is like,

I don't remember. He didn't say we're back, but it was basically, you know,

We were.

Probably didn't say we're back.

Yeah, we were.

That's what he said, I bet.

Yeah. Shelby, what about you? What are you excited for people,

for you to see and for people to see?

Yeah, I'm really excited for what we're doing Thursday evening with all of our programming

being on what I feel like we haven't, to my knowledge, has ever really happened at

Bonereo where there's just kind of one thing going on. So having everyone in the same place

is exciting. And I think just like the theme of us being really thoughtful in a lot of different

areas, I'm just ready for people to kind of start. Maybe they don't see that we did it,

but I think it is going to generate a lot of great positive culture out in the campground.

So the way that we're approaching the Thursday night, everyone being in the same place,

we're adding an art installation into Centerew, which we haven't done in a while.

I'm not going to spoil what it is. It'll be a surprise, but I think they'll be really impactful.

So I'm excited for everyone to see that. And then, yeah, I'm excited about Bonereo.

I think it's going to be just exactly what people were craving over there in that corner.

Speaking of, Cory, I think you had hinted, if not directly when we spoke months ago, that

Skrillex could pretty much, you guys were there to do whatever he wants to do, facilitate it, right?

I would say, I mean, obviously, if someone like Skrillex wants to make something happen,

we're going to make it happen.

Oh, and I got to ask, at what point in the booking, and maybe it's a better question for Brian and

Stephen, but at what point did you guys realize that you booked basically every band with

turn in their name at some point in time? Was that a before thought, or did somebody go,

look at what we've done?

I feel like something weird like that happened a couple years ago, too.

It seems like there's always a little coincidence. And also, speaking of that,

you took away Wednesday as an entry day, but you added Wednesday, the band, on the lineup.

So it kind of feels like, okay, you've taken away Wednesday, but you also have Wednesday.

There's always little coincidences like that. I think one year there was like two artists with

the same name.

I think Bodoruvians are just really adept at leaning into those kind of things.

Yeah.

It's a good bit.

All right. Who were you guys looking forward to seeing?

Which turns?

Well, I'll say Skrillex, because he's going to kick it off in a great way. And seeing the whole

crowd participate, I'm just like, I feel like I'm going to want a seat where I'm actually

watching the crowd rather than the show, because I'm just craving it.

And then I'll say Noah, just because he really is pulling in a lot of new fans,

and we really appreciate that. We want to welcome them home.

I'm just looking forward to seeing Sunday and a lot of new kind of like glistening eyes,

what is this magical place that I had no idea about?

And then that'll also mean that we made it through the entire weekend.

So I can't wait to have that moment of being in the field at Noah, just being like, check.

Completion.

Well, the timing is good with his new album and the Saturday Night Live gig.

So yeah, that should be pretty great.

And from tent to main stage, that's always a nice story and nice to see.

Yeah, we love to see artists make that ascension from playing smaller venues all the way up to the

What Stage. I wanted to ask too, one thing that is missing is the Who Stage, speaking of smaller

stages. Is there any chance that could come back in another year, or is it done?

I mean, we'll never say never. But again, that was from efficiency and value. And we've sprinkled in

that value in a lot of different places. We don't need a dedicated stage in order to foster new

artists. So it was just an efficiency and value thing. And we'll see how it goes. And there's

always opportunities in other years. We'll just take it one year at a time.

Corey, who's on your list beside yourself?

Yeah, I think on the Who thing, I think kind of seeing that that was probably not going to be

able to happen this year resulted in a lot of the efforts that we put towards Plaza Five,

and just stacking that out. So I think any day there's an abundance of up and coming incredible

bands that people can go check out over there. So I think it's not a one to one by any means, but

we're definitely excited to make sure that that, you know, sort of like ground level

band discovery was still a thing. And then I think like, on my must see list this year,

I think Tsunami is going to be a crazy show. So early in the day, I think people definitely need

to make sure they make it to that. Mountain grass unit is going to be fun. Midnight Generation is

going to be pretty sick. And then late night, Turnstile, O.C.'s, Freddie Gibbs, I'm really excited.

I know there's a conflict there with, I think, O.C.'s and Freddie Gibbs. That's going to be

challenging, but going to definitely catch part of both of those. Kesha Super Jam is going to be

very unique. I honestly don't really even know what to expect. I thought I had a handle on it,

and then I started seeing the confirmed special guest and I was like, this is going to be wild.

So very excited to see that. And then I'm super psyched for Four Tet. It's going to be a great

show, I think. And yeah, and then I'll also say you kind of mentioned it, but Steve, one of the

Bookers and I are going to go out on, what day is that? Saturday. It's going to be on Saturday.

There it is. Listen, I don't want anyone to think that we're going to be doing any cool DJing up

there. We don't know how. We don't know how. We're going to probably unplug the CDJs and plug in our

laptop. But we're just going to hang out up there for an hour and a half and we're basically just

going to play some of our favorite Grateful Dead live cuts. We're both super big Dead fans.

And with Bob passing this year, we both really wanted to do something special. So that's going

to be a time to come out there and just sit in the field and listen to some Dead, man. And that's

going to be awesome. So definitely invite everyone to come there, but don't expect high

production or anything. We're literally just playing our favorite Dead songs. So.

Let's talk about Thursday a little bit more. And I know you guys have to go and I appreciate so

much your time, but the Thursday thing with it all being centered in basically one area. I know we

get to do our thing at four that afternoon. Planet Roo, come by and see us. Hug and howdy.

Looking forward to it a lot. But the idea of, I mean, with people coming in on Wednesday,

and I know there's a lot of events planned out in the plazas, the Roo guys, Roo Boss guys, and

the RooHamm guys, and so many people have different things. So people will be there, the vibes will

be high. But this idea of it all sort of where all of us coming together in one spot, kind of unusual.

And the more I think about it, the more exciting it sounds like it could be. So talk about that a

little bit as to sort of what the thinking was and how do you guys see it going? I mean, to be honest,

we're just kind of trying it out. We were like, this could be cool. And yeah, I mean, that's pretty

much all I've got in my mind on that. We'll just see how it goes. And I think it's going to be

great. It's going to be different. It is like that's not your normal like festival scape for the

first day. But I think it could work out really well. So we'll just see how it goes. Yeah, it kind

of came about because we got like Skrillex. And you were kind of in like, do we just do something

crazy? Or do we try to do kind of a mix of what we've done the last couple of years?

And we just felt like with, you know, coming out of last year, it would just be super cool to get

everyone together in one place and have one experience for everyone to share at the same time.

So like Shelby said, who knows if something like this would ever happen again. I don't know that

this would be the direction that we would take in the future. But it definitely feels like the right

way to kick it off this year. So I encourage everyone to come out. And, you know, there's some

time between each act. We talked about trying to have something going constantly. And we're like,

man, it's such a good time to just like hang out in the field and enjoy being with each other. And

you know, talk to your friends, like have a beer, meet some new people. And so it's like equal parts

like show and like hang, you know, big like get together. Yeah. So that's kind of how we've been

looking at it. It's a good way to put it. Yeah, it's gonna be cool, man. All right, guys, anything

that I did not, we did not ask you about that you wanted to make sure we mentioned. Bandanas will

be at the toll booths. Yes, that's a really good call, actually. Yeah. Yeah, talk about that. Yeah,

I, you know, we gave out bandanas at the toll booth before, and we noticed that it was just like

a great mood setter right out of the gate, literally. And that's what we're all about here

at Bonnarooo is just making sure vibes are high as soon as you come through the door. So I think

that's a positive. And then it was we were able to charge people less money for shipping costs.

So I don't know if you noticed that to all the fans out there, but that was for your own. I mean,

I don't know if anyone else has went to FedEx and tried to ship something very light lately, but

it's expensive. So yeah, expensive. Yeah. And the courier, are you helping put together the

the playlist for the arch for the entrance? I didn't I didn't pick a single song on it,

but I did send it off the other day based on what everybody requested. So yeah, that was cool. We

were we were talking about like the last couple of years, me and Grace, who leads the guest

services on the show, we were kind of tag teaming the arch playlist. And, you know, we

tried to do like daily themes one year and we did the Luke Combs day we put like all basically

like 90s country and the playlist never got turned off. So all night it was just blasting

90s country and some of the people kept near the arch weren't very happy about that.

Yeah, that would be such boners. On behalf of the church boners, they will thank you. Yeah.

We'll set a timer for the playlist at night. Yeah, we'll turn it off. Please, God, not again.

But I was like, man, I'm not putting myself out there like that again. We're gonna we're gonna

let the fans pick the playlist this year. So then there could just be infighting amongst themselves

if anybody's unhappy with the playlist. I'm not gonna be on the hook for that. How often the

frequency? Yeah, hilarious. So yeah. All right. Well, that's all we got guys. Thank you so much

for your time. I know you'll be when you usually what first week of June you guys all head over to

the farm. Shelby, when are you moving out there right now? I'm moving in first, first of June.

It's right around the corner. Nice. Tell us how are the how are the how are the grounds looking

out there right now? Have you all been out to inspectors? How are things coming along? I am

out there often and Dale shows me around and shows me something new every single time and

they're they're doing a Lord's work over there watering grass and mowing grass and sprucing

everything up. So it's looking great. That's awesome. I hope we get to meet Dale as well.

Dale is around. We're thinking about getting some hired security for him to walk around with moving

forward because he might need it. He probably needs it. Yeah.

All right. So what do you think Russ? That was awesome. I feel pretty excited after talking to

them and just seeing how excited they are to have all of us back makes me ready to be back there.

I'm ready to go right now. Yeah. Yeah, I'm getting there really and truly and what a what a treat

getting Cory and and Shelby looking forward to meeting her and just being there. Can't wait.

Yeah, just being there. And like you said, just right before we hit record, the house stage Planet

Roo schedule just came out and we are on there. So four o'clock p.m. you want to come to the house

stage inside Planet Roo and check out Bonnarooo Amplified where music meets mission that's

featuring the what podcast. That's us and we're going to have some guests. And so I don't know if

you want to talk about what we have planned, but it's pretty exciting. Yeah, Friday at four,

we will be introducing some of the folks that do all the great work inside Planet Roo,

the nonprofits looking forward to getting a sharing with everybody kind of what what goes on there.

They always have they always find people that are Bonnarooo correct, I guess, if you will.

You know, it's not like they're selling gutter guards.

Yeah, they're very much aligned. Yeah. And yeah, so that's going to be Thursday. And then also,

don't forget Friday. I said Friday, didn't I? Thursday, excuse me. Our panel is Thursday,

but Friday is the Roo bus. And then Saturday is RooHamm. So, you know, you get three,

three opportunities to see panels. And I'm really going to ask you,

during the interview, if what stood out with you, I really am curious about several things,

but that Thursday day, Thursday night, with it being all in basically the what stage field,

I'm very curious, that feels like it could be a really cool vibe, kind of a what did he say,

or she said a family reunion. Yeah, like a family reunion. Welcome back. Yeah. And I'm looking

forward to it. Of course, we have no idea that like they said, they've never done this before.

And we'll just see how it goes. But yeah, certainly be cool to finish our panel and then walk over and

then start to see some music. And I was curious what she said about there's going to be a new art

installation inside center room. That's interesting. She wouldn't talk too much about it, but

I'm sure it'll be great. Yep. All right. Brian, we'll be back next week. And then we're, man,

counting the days. We're getting close. I mean, we got some more shows planned and we'll be here

every week. But won't be long. We're gonna be on the farm.