It's Bonnaroo Week! Hype, Stories & Last-Minute Tips

And you at all worried you're gonna look up

and she's crowd surfing?

You know, if she does, I will be so happy for her

and I will take so many pictures.

Please, please, please.

Yeah, so if you see my mom, please pick her up

and throw her around the crowd.

Bonnarooo will change your life, let it.

What's the one thing if you haven't left,

we're gonna tell people.

All right, welcome back to the What Podcast.

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

that's Austin, better known as Squeegee Guy.

What's it like being known as something other than your name?

I'm just happy people know about me.

Like Fallout Boy says, I don't care what you think

as long as it's about me.

There you go.

Only thing worse than being talked about

is not being talked about.

I think that's an Oscar Wilde.

Cassie at the Wilde, sorry, I didn't ignore you.

I just wanted to hear that.

Well, you got a star right next to you.

I know.

God, what are we up to, six million?

Almost, I think you said 5.6.

Last I checked.

You're checking the weather app over and over again

and they're checking the current numbers on TikTok.

I'd be lying if I didn't take a look myself.

I'm not gonna.

And just so you guys know, I read every comment.

Cause it's all bull, I don't, but I check every day.

Three or four times a day.

So be nice.

I'll cry.

We guys, as Brian likes to refer to the masters,

it's a tradition unlike any other.

Not with us is asshole Brad.

He was here last year.

He's not here this year.

That's true.

But we do have Cassie back.

You were here last year.

Yes, I was.

We are going to talk Bonnarooo.

This is the Sunday before Bonnarooo.

So it's packing day, which we've been saying

for a couple of weeks, but let's be honest,

I didn't do anything until.

Not a thing.

I didn't do anything.

Everything is still in the storage unit.

There's a still a big pile on my table in the dining room.

Car's not touched.

I didn't even started the pile.

I mean, it does seem like that's a very specific

to this festival thing.

It kind of starts with the pile.

Yeah.

Like you just kind of dump everything out from last year

and see what still works and go from there.

I don't know if people go to Lollapalooza

and start with a pile of stuff that they dump out

in their kitchen floor.

So that is another unique thing here,

but I haven't even started the pile yet.

That'll be, it's vacation week for me.

So I've got lots of free time

and I haven't done a full week lead up

off of other occupational obligations in a while.

So I'm very happy to be able to,

I'm about to say not stressed, but let's not lie.

I'm already stressing this moment.

That's how it works.

If you're not stressed now, let me throw this on you.

We're gonna be live on stage Thursday.

Oh yeah.

7 PM.

I've been trying not to think about that.

On the Howl stage.

Yeah, we're very excited about that.

All right, so let's get to our guests here.

I don't know what we're gonna do today.

Typically we would go over our list of must see acts.

We haven't even done that this year.

Gavin, let me just get that out of the way quickly for me.

This is a Youngblood concert.

This is it, okay.

Yeah, you said that.

This Bonnaroo year is a Youngblood concert for me

and everything else that happens, great, bring it.

Blues Traveler, Wetleg, Mount Joy, Neighborhood,

Weird Al, it's a Weird Al concert too.

Forgot about that.

So it's Youngblood, Weird Al,

and whatever else happens, happens.

So that's, I'm jacked for Youngblood.

I cannot wait for that show.

All right, jacked for Youngblood.

Put that on the show.

Hashtag it.

I'm Weird Al, Wetleg, actually reverse that.

Wetleg is my number one, Weird Al,

and I'm really getting excited about this Skrillex thing.

Yes.

I think Thursday night,

partly because we get to do our thing

and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

We've heard from so many people who are coming.

By the way, we do have giveaways.

We've got the photo that David, I am Bonnaroo,

Bruce sent it and it's beautiful.

He sent a picture of it, it's great.

I'm very excited.

We're gonna give that away and then we've got a goodie bag.

Something from Lunchbox.

Lunchbox, yeah.

And so we're gonna do that,

but I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody.

And then we get to relax

and then just get stupid with Skrillex, right?

It's gonna be crazy, don't you think?

Absolutely, he just released a new album,

Soda Grizz, and so we're gonna be eating.

I'm curious about this whole,

the dual stages inside that field.

We've seen pictures, you guys have seen the pictures?

The field with the grass.

It's not the what field anymore.

It's the what and the what that field.

Yeah, and I wonder,

it's gonna take a lot to get me to be okay

with this decision, but we'll see.

I thought they might put it off in the corner,

but it's straight ahead.

It looks like that flyover everybody saw by now on social.

Boy, the place does look great.

Oh my God.

The grass is so green.

Yeah, it is very green.

It's almost like they dyed it.

It's so green.

But the place always looks great.

I think we're forgetting,

it's easy to forget because there's bad memories

of last year.

Place always looks beautiful.

They don't do a lot of flyovers every single year.

To nail that point home for everybody who's concerned

because oh my God,

Blue Pole on Facebook, Reddit,

I mean a drop of rain.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

Guys, it rains at Bonnarooo almost every year.

It's okay.

We'll be fine.

It's raining right now.

It's raining right now.

It wasn't supposed to.

Today was cut the grass day on my list of things to do.

Yesterday I'm like, oh, well now it's gonna rain.

And it feels great.

80 degrees is the high.

So we get, they're talking 88.

When you're hearing this,

you'll have a better idea of as you get closer.

But a couple of days ago it was 88, 89.

Get something like this, boom, all of a sudden you got 82.

So we'll see.

Remind everybody, we're in Chattanooga,

so we're an hour away.

That's why.

So proximity wise, this is what it's gonna feel like.

You guys, we were talking before we started,

you're both doing VIP.

Yeah.

Yes, we are.

Let's start with Cassie first.

Kind of bougie.

A little bougie.

Let's start with Cassie,

because you were going VIP last year for the first time.

And then one day a Rue got you.

So you got a taste of it.

I did, I got a taste of it.

So talk about that briefly,

and then you're venturing to doing it a second year.

So I had VIP last year.

And as we all know, we only got a quarter Rue, so Thursday.

And-

It's been a good Thursday.

Oh, it was amazing.

Yeah, so I had VIP for one day.

Feeling air conditioning inside center Rue was,

it blew my mind.

I'm so excited.

The VIP lounge couches galore.

They put me in the live stream up on the TVs.

Everyone's so friendly, made so many friends in there.

And we got free food.

Well, free, you know, you pay for it,

but we got free food.

Well, yeah, come with the packages.

Yes.

No, that counts as free.

Yes.

Hattie B's and a couple of other good spots.

I know.

That's what the air conditioned restrooms are for.

Yes, yes, period.

There you go, Austin.

Good, good pull.

And then we had our own Frick Frack Black Jack

set up in there.

So that was fun.

So your one day impression was, it sounds very, very high.

Epic, yes.

Because a lot of times, you know,

whether it's reality or not,

lots of people maybe just meet more than anybody,

but I've heard others feel like

that that's just not worth the money.

That there's long lines or, you know,

it's limited availability of what those accommodations are.

But you're not, you didn't experience that at all.

You experienced an abundance of everything they said

that you were gonna get.

Yes, abundance of everything.

And on the map, I only got to see one show on the mound,

which was unfortunate, Luke Combs,

but I walked in and there were chairs sitting everywhere.

And I was like, I asked the person, I was like,

are these chairs for us?

And they were like, yes.

I was like, oh my God, I'm so rich and famous.

You can have the free food, you can have the air conditioned.

For me, a chair.

Yeah, it was pretty nice. God, I love to sit.

Yeah, I know me too.

But the air conditioned bathrooms,

air conditioned bathrooms, I was like, I'm a celebrity.

I cannot believe this.

Oh my gosh, but totally worth it.

And I'm so excited to spend a whole weekend doing it.

And well, Austin took a different route to get his VIP.

Yeah.

Yeah, he cleaned the farm.

We can all do it.

He's an actual celebrity.

He cleaned the entire farm for a year.

Yeah, I've been there clocking in, clocking out,

putting in the sweat equity.

You earned it.

But I'm actually nervous a little bit to do VIP

because I'm the type of person that once I get a taste of it,

I'm never going back.

And I am not particularly, like I said,

in the last time we spoke in that tax bracket.

So I'm a little nervous that it's gonna be something

that I have to keep on funding.

And that monthly payment plan is just gonna creep up

a little bit more than what I'm used to.

But you know.

So you had not thought,

or outside of just a dream maybe to do VIP

until it fell in your lap.

Yeah, I know.

Absolutely.

Let's do this.

Let's take a quick break

because we have another special guest that just showed up.

So I wanna bring her in.

You'll know her.

She's been with us before.

Come on in.

Let's do that.

All right.

And we're back.

We're joined by Tara Veland.

How are you?

Woo!

So good to see everybody.

It's so funny.

Everybody already knows everybody somehow, some way, right?

But we haven't all met.

We've all got connections.

That's amazing.

Love it.

Well, I'm at Austin through the Squeegee episode.

And we, you know, I'm very-

So you're one of the 5.6 million?

Yeah, one of those.

God, I love my fans.

I know, I'm a total fan.

I didn't realize you were local.

And then we have some previous history connection

through friends.

And so I said, okay, I'll be your friend on Instagram,

which I, you know, you fit the vibe.

I'm pretty private on there.

She doesn't disallow anyone on there.

I'm honored.

I'm honored to be one of your followers,

one of your fans, actually.

Brian, you had an idea when we were talking

during the break to-

Yeah, let's brag on ourselves a little bit.

Not that I, you know, make a habit of that.

And talk about how many years we've all done this

crazy Bonnarooo thing.

And we'll start with Tara since you just got here.

And you're celebrating it.

It's a milestone.

It is.

It's my 20th Bonnarooo birthday.

Woo!

So 20 years.

20th.

And the thing about Bonnarooo math, it legit is hard.

It really is.

It's legit is hard.

All the years.

Yeah, for sure.

It was already a little hard for,

difficult to describe reasons before we all of a sudden had,

you know, cancellations every other year for a little bit.

Or quarters of festivals.

And now all of a sudden it's like, wait, is it 22?

Is it 23?

Is it 24?

My math the other day, counting fingers and toes,

we've had 21.25 Bonnarooo.

It's like counting as a toddler.

Yes.

You know how toddlers, I'm one and a half.

Two, three, four, five.

Yeah, get to 16, that 2016, that's 15 years.

And start from there.

That's when it gets complicated.

I don't know if that's right though.

2002 was the first Bonnarooo.

Correct.

I didn't start until 2004.

You're going to drill yourself into a hole.

2004 was my first year.

I was 18 years old on the farm.

And-

You got to leave the anecdotes out and you got to just count.

I missed one year because I had my son.

I was too big to get on the farm that year.

It just wasn't working.

Too big to get on.

I did hang out that year, but by June I just couldn't do it.

Is that me?

Is she talking about me?

No.

Two pranks.

She's talking about both of y'all.

Looked over here in this direction.

Skinny thoughts, everybody.

Skinny thoughts.

And then we had the cancellation.

So I've only missed one year.

So I did 2002 first day.

Then I missed three, four, five, six.

And I've been every year since seven.

Wow.

Got it.

Got it.

Take out the COVIDs and the floods and the hurricanes.

Your math is pretty difficult too.

I know exactly.

So I know what you're talking about.

Yeah.

Mine's 21.25.

You're the only one that's been every year.

I'm counting last year because we went through it.

Yes.

To be fair, I was only there for a few hours in the first year.

I jumped the fence on a Saturday night.

Me too.

Hung out, watched Widespread Panic from a distance.

Was lost in what I was seeing as a 22-year-old and thought, I live here now.

Right.

It raised us.

The farm raised us.

And then I was there all weekend as a GA attendee in 03.

Waiting in 12-hour lines on Bushey Branch Road, not knowing when that road ever ended.

Ending.

Thinking, oh, we're on the main road.

We'll be here any time now.

And 12 hours later, a three-mile stretch is still...

It was fun for the first eight hours.

I was 23.

Of course, sitting in a line didn't bother me.

We're about to have a lifetime kind of weekend.

It is funny.

But boy, it got old after a while.

It is funny to hear people from back in the day talk about the line being a lot of fun.

Now, there ain't nobody talking about how much fun it is to stay in line.

I had a blast until the sun started to come up.

And then I was like, okay, Neil Young was at night, one of the biggest reasons I was there.

And I was like, I got to see Neil in like 10 hours, man.

I've been sitting in this line drinking.

Yeah, that's about the life I used to live.

2018.

I went, 2018 was my first year.

So 2018, 2019.

I still count 2020 and 2021 because we did Mini Room.

That's right.

That is true.

I still feel like I had a more modern experience.

Yeah, that's true.

So 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

What am I up to?

I don't know.

I lost.

Yes.

That's right.

What about you?

Well, if we're going by Brian math...

It's the real math.

Yeah, the real math.

Yeah.

Tried in 2020, didn't work.

So that was your first attempt?

That was our first attempt.

That's a bad one to start.

Yeah.

And we were living in New Mexico at the time.

What?

We can get into that later.

But we were...

I don't know.

It sounds like a long story.

It's a long story.

My husband and I met working at Disney World.

He was going to school at UNM out in Albuquerque.

After we ended the program, moved out to New Mexico.

But we were living out there.

And so we had gotten tickets.

We were ready to go.

We were flying out.

We were doing the whole fly all your gear,

meet up with your friends, that whole mumbo jumbo.

Yeah, you gotta get it right up there.

Whoops, sorry.

And we were fully prepared.

We were sitting there.

We were going to go get on the plane later on that day.

And then we got the text that it had been canceled.

Yeah.

She didn't get on the plane yet.

But did you grow up here in Chattanooga?

Yeah.

Okay. So that was just a life altered adventure of your life.

Yeah.

Okay.

Or I'm sorry.

That one was 2021 that I was just talking about actually,

because of the floods.

Yeah.

But yeah, so we tried.

Those two years didn't work out.

But then we started officially going 2023.

So this will be our 3.25.

There you go.

Look at that, Cassie.

I love it.

I'm teaching math around here.

Well done.

And then Cassie.

This will be my 11th Bonnarooo.

I started going in 2014.

Right when I was my graduation president from college.

And Elton John, a big deal for you that?

Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

I still remember the Buzz Lightyear balloon that they let up during.

I've heard the mythology.

Yeah.

That was pretty crazy.

Yeah. 11 years.

Elton got to a point where he would play a county fair towards the end there.

Yeah.

But man, he knows it's always a joy.

Yeah.

What's really special about this year is Skrillex was my first EDM show I ever saw on the farm.

Honestly, what made me fall in love with Bonnarooo.

And then this year he's coming back.

Where did he play in 14?

The Witch.

Oh, he was on The Witch in 14.

Mm-hmm.

How special?

I know.

I know.

It's going to be just nostalgic in a way.

So we were talking, Tara, before you got here about the VIP experience.

Cassie did it for a day last year.

Austin and his husband are going to do it this year.

And he was saying he's kind of nervous because he's afraid he's going to like it.

And never not be able to do it again.

And I can never go back.

You've done all kinds of different ways.

You and your husband Joe, son Stratton went last year for the first time.

He's now what, 14?

13, yeah.

13.

Almost 14.

He's going back?

Coming back?

Yeah, he'll be back.

It was hard to tell whether he enjoyed himself or not, but I think that's a teenage boy thing.

It is. He's very nonchalant.

Couldn't tell if he's having the worst time of his life or loving it.

I think loving it was closer.

You know, I would say it's a teenage thing, but he is so chill and he's always been that way.

Stratt face is a situation.

Pull a picture that he can throw in on that of Stratt face.

I know the one.

He's got a picture of him.

Every year of his life, it's the same look on his face.

I strive to be like this boy.

And it's really hard as a mom who's very outgoing, energetic, wants to feel the energy of

whatever.

But I've learned to just let him process and be, and he is soaking it all up,

and he's really having a good time.

The opposite of that is Kai, who is like your mini-me.

Yeah.

Coolest kid.

She's been every year.

Tell the story of Kai's involvement over the years.

Yeah, absolutely.

So Kai had her first Sunday with Lorde.

And I don't remember what year that was.

2017.

Something like that.

This will be her eighth year.

I remember that very well.

So since she's 12, since she was 12, she's been going with us every year.

She had her first flight away from the Boninest last year.

She's 18.

She's going with her friends out into the G.A.

Did G.A. but came back and took showers.

Oh yeah, she totally took advantage of the family over there.

She was, I can remember her saying, it's not like this at all.

Oh my gosh.

She texted me because this is the first time she's ever had to be in the line.

And she was like out in O somewhere crazy.

And she's like, where are we going?

And I was like, there you go, kids.

Have a good time.

Welcome to the real life.

Welcome to Savage.

She lost her mind when you guys moved about eight miles away.

From our house, yeah.

Closer to where I live down here.

You're on the other side of town.

Yeah.

And she stopped complaining about having to drive eight extra miles home.

So I can imagine the Boninest shock of G.A.

But they had a blast.

They ended up pushing cars out and directing traffic for six hours.

She didn't get home till like seven in the morning.

Last year after the storm.

She was a mud runner all night helping people get out.

So a proud, proud mom moment.

I want you to tell one of my favorite stories.

And I thought about it yesterday for some reason.

Somebody was talking about crowd control and how to get through a crowd.

You move with it to the left.

You don't try to fight against it.

But you know the story I'm talking about.

Are you talking about when we got stuck?

And you had to get her out and she started crying.

I don't know if I know this story.

Oh my gosh.

We were at Midtown.

We were at Midtown actually.

Atlanta Music Festival.

Atlanta Music Festival Midtown.

She was probably 12 years old.

I misjudged the timing.

God, one of the big rappers.

The one that had the whole earth shook at one of his concerts.

Anyways, big rapper.

Anyhow, we start going through the crowd.

Everybody's coming up and we cannot get through it.

And I've got a light wand and I'm dragging her through this crowd.

And I'm going,

Piyom, piyom, piyom.

I'm just like, sorry, I know that was probably really loud.

But I'm just like, we got to get through.

The smoke is all in her face.

We got to get to this place.

And we get to the end.

We get through the wall.

We get through the crowd.

You're in full mom mode.

Full mom mode.

I'm dragging her, man.

I'm stepping over blankets.

Like, you know, we are getting out of this.

And I get to the end and she is crying.

And I was like, I'm so sorry, honey.

Like, I know that was really scary.

You know, we were learning.

And she goes, no, mom, you're just so embarrassing.

She's like, I have not heard this story.

So embarrassing.

And I was like, I was trying to save your life.

Like, what do you mean?

So yeah, we definitely have our rules on, on, you know, how to get out of the crowd.

And she's learned a lot.

Speaking of moms, Austin, your mom is going for the first time.

Oh, that's right.

I was actually, I was actually about to ask you how special is that experience,

being able to share that with your kids?

It's really special for us because, you know, I was 18 my first year

and it's been a part of my life for so long.

I did security my first three years.

I was on site for up to three weeks working.

And it's super awesome.

I don't even know that I have words to describe it.

I want to come back to it, but I also, because Tara has been on the show several times.

So I have so many memories of your stories, but you were 18.

You went with what?

Like $5?

Yeah.

So I had moved to Norfolk, Virginia after high school.

I was working at a bar and at that bar, one of our regulars, his brother ran security for Bonnarooo.

And I got some jobs up at the amphitheater, Metallica, like just this tiny blonde thing

that I was at 18, you know, watching the gear of Metallica show.

All these stations are walking around.

What am I going to do?

Anyways, so yeah, I had $7 to my name, got on a bus, came back to Manchester

and was on site for three weeks.

That's when there was no bathrooms, no power, no, you know, anything.

And I had the blast.

Walking on a production road is what made my entire career.

Yeah, awesome.

It opened my eyes.

Back to you.

Mom's coming.

What is she excited?

I mean, there's so many questions.

She cannot wait.

Her and my aunt both have still just been preparing more than I could ever even try to myself.

They're taking two separate cars.

Both cars are already, today is Sunday before Bonnarooo, already filled to the gills.

They have no more room.

So they're doing it better than us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She finished up making all of her trinkets and things several days ago.

She's got everything organized and packaged and she's going to be able to just pull up,

set up her whole campsite and start hugging people.

That's her dream.

That is the best dream ever.

And it's so funny because I literally packed the tapestry and fun box for Kai,

got everything set up for her.

I even have little gift bags for her two new friends that are coming.

I've never been to Bonnarooo.

Oh, sweet.

It's almost like Easter.

Like I made them little baskets with all their little, you know,

give one take ones and everything they need.

So little party packs.

It is fun.

What about you, Cassie?

Do you have any extended or close family that envies this?

Or they look at you like you're the weirdo of the family?

Oh, weirdo for sure.

Okay.

For sure.

Yeah.

I don't know the fam is the people I met along the way at Bonnarooo.

Yeah.

But I've drug a few of my friends that don't typically go to music festivals with me before

and they didn't really come back.

It's not for everybody.

Special time.

Has your mom been to anything like this?

The biggest music festival she's been to is Riverbend, Rest In Peace.

Oh.

Yeah, that's not the same.

No, so yeah, no, she's never been to a camping festival.

But that's why we're giving them access to those powered car camping spaces

because I want them to be comfortable so that way, you know, they can also

catch the bug and maybe since I'm so generous this year, maybe next year mom will get us VIP.

I think so.

I think she should.

Yeah.

We'll play.

We'll send it to her on the other side.

That's what she's thinking ahead.

That's a really good question because like at what point as a parent do you stop paying for the tickets?

When do you cut them off?

You know, like now it's your time to get your own stuff.

I don't know.

I guess that's a no.

That's a question.

That's a no.

It's a question you need to figure out.

Yeah.

So and we've said this on this show many times.

It's a commitment.

This is not a part-time thing.

Right.

You brought somebody, one of Kai's friends a couple of years ago.

Oh yeah.

That was a day.

Yeah, her parents came and got her.

Mom, come pick me up.

I'm scared.

Yeah.

You raise kids who are raised in the festival land are tough.

You know, and you got to be able to rock it.

And that's why it's so important for like Stratton to come because I need him to learn.

Yeah, it's like indoor and outdoor cats.

Yeah.

Little things like how to find your way, how to get through crowds, and it helps in bigger cities and through life.

You know, she's traveling all over the world and I trust her.

And has a great immune system.

Yeah.

And a great immune system.

She knows how to deal with a porta potty.

I don't mean to call that kid out because I mean it could be anybody.

It's that's the point, right?

It's just not her thing, right?

The friend.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's hot.

Just the environment didn't work.

And it's all day.

And these parents that she went with had her out till three in the morning watching the late night sets.

So she was sleeping.

How dare you?

I know.

I mean, and I've been talking to people about this for two plus decades as we all have.

And oftentimes it'll be somebody who says, you know, a parent friend of mine, they'll say,

hey, is it my 17 year old wants to go.

My 16, 17, 18 year old wants to go.

And is it safe?

Is it okay?

And the first thing like slow down.

This is safe.

You got to know what you're doing.

Yeah.

And you got to you have to a little bit of understanding of what's going on here.

And it is absolutely not for everybody.

And that's all ages, all ages.

Other people go like never like the Paul McCartney here.

I'd love to know how many people went for the Paul McCartney here for Paul and never ever

never went again.

Cause I know a few that said, boy, I'm glad I saw Paul.

But they'd hell with that place.

If they'd had one day tickets that year.

Oh, God.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

My answer to that always, cause people have asked me, my answer was always tell them, don't bring drugs

cause they'll find all they want on site.

And that always gets, they look at me and I'm like, basically if your kid's the type that finds trouble,

He'll find it.

He or she will find it.

If they're a smart level headed kid, they'll be just fine.

I mean, right.

I've never seen a crossword on the farm in whatever 20 and a half third.

21.25.

Tara, talk about going as a family.

And then advise Austin cause he's going with his mom and aunt,

which is completely different than going with a couple of basically teenagers.

She's 20 now.

19.

Yeah.

She's still okay.

She'll be 20 this year, whatever.

But you guys go and you do the slide, you do the volleyball.

Husband Joe comes along.

Joe comes.

Take care of us.

It's a total family thing now that strattens.

Well, I'm interested cause it's changing.

Our landscape is changing, right?

Cause she's left the Bonnet Nest.

She's out in GA, you know, with her friends.

And she still likes you.

She does still like me.

That's what I'm trying to get out here.

I'm printing out a huge banner of my face to have it camp.

Are you really?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

I already got a design and everything that says, remember your roots, Festy girl.

It's got y'all on it too.

And the camp nut butter sign and like everything.

So she'll have it there and have to stare at me every day

when she's thinking about the decisions that she's making.

Big mother is watching.

What would mom do?

What would she not do?

Yeah.

Back then, nothing.

What has she done that I shouldn't do?

Yeah, exactly.

So we'll meet up, you know, for some certain shows.

We've got that listed out.

So it'll be, it's a little different.

It's just like you're aging kids.

You go through different transformations.

When she was 12, she had to be right next to me the whole time.

Now we're going to go meet up and have dinner or meet up and head to Turnstile.

So do you let Stratton wander by himself?

Yeah.

No, no, no.

It's probably too early.

It's too early.

Yeah.

He's, he's not familiar with the farm.

Like, well, that was, as I asked, I thought that's a dumb question because he doesn't know the landscape.

She knows the landscape because of getting such an early start.

So that, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

No, he's still in training.

So who's watching who in your group?

Are you worried about your mom or is she worried about you?

I think we have an agreement that we know that we're going to do our own thing because we both

want different things out of this experience.

But there are going to be a lot of points where we come back together for certain shows.

For example, I'm taking her to her first Grizz show and she's listened to me talk about Grant

for years and everything.

So she's really excited for that, especially because she, I just got her to listen to his

new album that dropped last Friday and she likes more of his Glitch Hop funkier type stuff.

So I'm really excited for that.

Are you at all worried you're going to look up and she's crowd surfing?

You know, if she does, I will be so happy for her and I will take so many pictures.

Yeah.

Please, please, please.

Yeah.

So if you see my mom, please pick her up and throw her around the crowd.

So how old is your mother or what?

She was born in 75.

My God, she's older than me.

So she could be crowd surfing.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

She said they can get her up there.

All I know is that during her electric cowboy days, she was the life of the party.

This guy is a Chattanooga.

Yeah, he's so cool.

We don't have time to explain electric cowboy.

We do not need to.

Think Gillies.

It's not a good story anyway.

Think Gillies.

Put on a smaller.

Look, y'all, I don't know how old your mother is, but we got to stop telling our adult children

about our stories back in the day.

Now that they're adults, you got to just say she was wild and laugh and walk away.

Nobody wants to think about that.

I've told her my stories and she usually smacks me after.

So, and I know that whatever I do, she's done something worse.

Exactly.

So love you, mom.

Yes.

The only crazy thing that I've really seen on the farm is last year, I watched

someone get their phone pickpocketed and she pointed him out.

And within about three seconds, security had that guy on the ground, handing the phone back to her.

So big props to security.

There's some bad people running around there.

Phones have been an issue lately.

Yeah, I mean, 20 years ago, I mean, with, it was a traveling jam band lot

that just happened to go to Bonnarooo and go to a dead lot or a fish lot or a panic lot

and not watch yourself and your stuff.

There's, it's a traveling band of gypsies and you're going to get some of that

and vagabonds and everything and every other buzzword from that ethos.

You're going to get some of that at these places.

But if you're smart and you pay attention to what you're doing and just use basic common sense,

you're going to be good.

And if you have somebody to give you a little bit of advice like this show.

Good to know your neighbors.

The street smarts is important and safety and definitely talking to them about that.

I mean, this is the place has their Narcan, you know, like we have Narcan in the bags.

We have testing strips like that.

Not that they would do that at all.

I don't know.

But anyways, it's not just always for you.

It's for the people around you.

And I mean, we have, you know, seen that happen.

I've pulled out my Narcan.

You know, I think the harm reduction aspect of it is so important.

You get excited at your first year.

You're like, oh, yeah, let's do all this stuff.

And it's getting very mainstream.

These preventative and helpful remedies like Narcan.

I can't speak to this very well because I don't know a lot about it.

But Tara, you've been you're way out in front of this.

You've been talking about this before.

I even had any idea what it was at our local festivals here.

So I'm just not really asking anything.

I'm just giving you a little credit here that, you know, it feels like you can go back 10 years on this.

You've been pushing this.

And there's the types that say that this kind of stuff promotes drug use, right?

Like you get that kind of pushback, especially in some of the Bible Belt area.

But I think it's just foolish not to have these kinds of things in mind.

You know, for not just you, as you said, for your community, for the people around you.

Absolutely.

And obviously, this is the Sunday before Bonnaroo.

So I don't want to get too deep into it.

But, you know, I think things are different than they used to be.

The fentanyl, the different things that are in the drugs.

You have to work really hard, you know, to get to work really hard.

It makes a lot of stuff to to to end up in the hospital.

And now you can do one thing and you've messed up your entire life and everyone around you.

So so yes, so harm reduction is important.

And those this is the place Booth has Narcan that you can go and get and learn about.

And so I'm a huge advocate for that because, yeah, things are going to happen.

Kids are going to, you know, explore and you just need to be safe and smart about it.

You were going to say something.

Yeah, I was just thinking like people also need to have, you know, bystander awareness

and noticing what's happening around you and knowing how to notify security properly.

So, you know, throwing up your phone, flashlights, throwing X's in the air,

hollering for security.

Last year, for example, we were that Thursday at the Infinity Stage.

We all know how crowded it was over there.

We don't have to talk about that.

But within a span of like 20 minutes, three people dropped around us.

And it was so crowded that people didn't realize what was going on.

You know, I was throwing up my X's.

I ended up having to scream clear a path because the paramedics were trying to get through

and the crowd was not parting.

So if you are going to Bonnarooo, please be sure that you are aware of your surroundings

and you know how to notify medical because with the heat, with like you were saying,

people don't exactly know what they're taking a lot of the times.

They're not preparing themselves.

They're not hydrating properly.

It's a recipe for disaster.

So if your pee is not clear by this point, shout out to Camp Clear Piss.

You better start peeing clear with a quickness.

There's a lot of videos on how, you know, all of those procedures I do definitely if

it's your first time or if you're young and or just any age because it can just be it

could be me, you know, not sober and just passing out from heat exhaustion.

So yes, the security safety team is there to help.

These people are here to help you.

While we're talking about substance use, let's give ourselves some credit here and a little

round of applause for Tara, who started this before me of getting alcohol out of her life.

And Cassie, did you beat all of us to this to this trend?

I'm about to have five years in a few weeks.

Five years.

Yeah, congratulations.

I just celebrated six.

So she got there first, you were right behind and I'm at three.

So yay us.

You know what?

It's really cool is not standing in the bar line and the bathroom line and then

the bar line and then the bathroom line.

You know what else is cool?

Remembering the show that you actually saw.

Not being hung over in the mornings.

It's a flex.

Yeah, but it's cool though.

Yeah, do your thing.

He turns his head backwards.

Maybe one day I'll be there.

I'll be there right next to you.

Yep.

No, I was going to say excuse me, Bonnarooo is one of those places where I think people

take responsibility for other people.

If you see someone struggling, if you see someone on the ground, if you see someone

who doesn't look like they're okay, help.

Yeah, just tap them on the shoulder and say, hey, bud, are you okay?

Do you need anything?

And the worst thing that they'll say is like, no, go away if they're in a bad headspace

or whatever, but you still have that.

You know that you at least checked on them to make sure that they're okay.

So just treat everyone like a neighbor.

I remember when the young man tried to run across the freeway and got killed,

ran into the semi.

One of the guys in our camp said that's our fault because we didn't take care of him.

He met our in general and I was just struck by, well, that's a little, you know.

That might be a little extreme, but the point.

But I got the point.

The point resonates.

Yeah, sure.

So do that.

Where else are we going with this?

Well, Tara, we talked music before you got here.

What are you looking forward to this year?

What's on your must see list?

Or is it like most of ours and you'll do whatever?

Who's playing?

We're just going, right?

I don't know.

No, turns.

Yeah, thank you.

No.

Which are the turns?

Are you looking forward to seeing?

I'm really excited for turnstile.

I think they are so fun and cool and I think that's going to be a really fun show.

So definitely getting there.

Skrillex is going to be fun, obviously.

Grizz, like I'm ready for all the EDM fun.

I want to see flip turn because they're so sweet and they're so cool and they didn't

get to play their set on the main stage last year.

Yeah, now they have to play that tense staring at the stage you're supposed to be playing.

But that's okay.

Oh, no.

Advocate.

We're happy for them.

Advocate.

Biggest advocate right here.

I'm not even that big fan of flip turn, but I really feel bad for this band.

Yeah.

Their venue both flipped and turned.

Yeah.

Look at this guy.

Little John is an obvious.

Theater king over here.

What?

What?

What?

What?

Yeah, that's the elder millennial, like gotta go see Little John.

I should have known that.

Gotta go.

Does Weird Al do anything for you?

I've seen him a few times.

He's fun.

That's going to be fun.

But if there's something else, I'll probably go there.

Can I sit?

That's just me.

So yeah, I mean, we're just the whole thing is going to be great.

Tosh Sultana is one that I really want to see.

And then DJ Trixie.

Trixie Mattel.

Trixie Mattel.

Happy Pride, everybody.

Happy Pride.

I'm so excited.

She's going to be sweating so much.

And she's going to hate every minute of it.

But we're going to love every minute of it.

I love their podcast, so I'm excited to see.

Cassie, what's on your list?

What's your must?

Well, my must is Skrillex.

My must is Rufus Dusoul into Chasen status into Gorgon City Sunrise.

It's going to be the best.

You're EDM.

That's your top.

For the most part, yes.

I thought that was a cage.

What do you think about the where?

Are you going to go back and forth or you strictly the other?

For the most part, what I want to see is on the other.

But I'll definitely go check out where.

Because I think that's a pretty cool concept.

Bringing the stage in from Where in the Woods into Centauru so that we don't have to walk so far.

You didn't think, I mean, there was a lot of different opinions on moving

Where in the Woods.

I'm assuming you enjoyed what they did out there because most people did.

Except for it got a little too much.

Yeah, I loved it.

But I will say it got so packed and there was like only one entrance in.

So it's like we're all stuck in there.

But I loved the stage and everything they did in there.

But I'm glad it's still going to be open to hang out.

I'm not sure if it's all night, but you can hang out in the woods still.

But like I said, having that stage in Centauru,

it's going to feel maybe like Calliope if we remember Calliope stage.

Yeah, that was.

I have an idea.

It might feel like that.

One of my favorite was Gucci at 430 in the morning dancing.

That was cool.

Do you do any extracurriculars on the farm?

Like from yoga to planet root kind of programming?

I know you do.

I don't know how to explain what you do as a hobby and as a performer.

Right, right.

I don't know how to explain that.

If you want to, you can.

Sure.

I do improv comedy.

I do stand up comedy and I do circus art.

So like aerial pole, aerial hammock.

I mean, to dumb it down, it looks like a stripper pole.

Right.

But it's far more sophisticated than that.

Yes.

Well, we have to.

A stripper pole with clasp.

I'm just trying to explain.

Like put a picture out there.

We have to give shout out to our origin pole came from stripping women trying to make a living.

I see your socials.

I watch your stories.

It's very impressive.

Thank you.

But I do it for sport and for an art form.

But yeah.

Is there anything?

I mean, so there's I don't guess there's anything like that going on on the farm.

Well, I think there's like a puppet strip club and Snake and Jake's.

Yeah.

But as far as like yoga and stuff, no, not really.

I'm thinking about trying some of those.

Yeah, I did the Roo Run one year.

I do not recommend.

I'm Roo Running it this year.

You are.

Okay.

Well, that's a lot too.

I do that a lot now.

Actually, I've been conditioned now to enjoy those things.

So it's not it's I'm anticipating enjoying it a lot.

The only thing that would change that is a morning downpour.

Right.

Right.

Right.

I'm making more fun.

Yeah.

So you did do the Roo Run.

I sure did.

Do not recommend it.

Well, I had just stayed up all night watching base nectar.

Were you still drinking back then?

I was.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, Jesus Christ, of course you had to do it.

You shouldn't be doing that.

Yeah, I was in pain.

It was awful.

Me and my friend Hannah, we actually it took us like over an hour to do it, which is so long.

And they had already like taken down all of the stuff.

We didn't get a medal.

So like, yeah, they just take you the ribbon without the medal on it.

Here, take it.

Damn.

It's a 5K, which is a 3.1 mile.

And it's not everybody running it like marathon runners.

Put that back up.

An hour is a long time.

Oh, so long.

And yeah.

So do you remember the base nectar?

That's one of my favorite stories because I was so embarrassed.

This was pre getting a new hip.

We all went to see base nectar at two in the morning.

And I about to say I wasn't here for that one.

I was in tears.

Didn't I find you a chair?

Yes.

You went and stole a chair out of a fender and brought it to me.

From VIP and I brought it to you so you can sit in the field.

Yeah, you can imagine it's two in the morning and everybody's listening to base nectar.

And there's grandpa in a chair.

But I was so freaking glad to have that chair.

I know.

Buy a wheelchair.

A fellow sitter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

That's yeah, back to the chair.

That was the best.

But I was embarrassed, but I didn't care at that point.

No, I'm embarrassed.

Now I need a chair.

How many years later are we?

Now it's my turn.

What's the one thing if you haven't left, we're going to tell people.

Go back through.

We already did with Mr. B's.

Don't forget your pillow.

Don't forget your toothbrush.

What an impressive store they've got.

Oh my God.

So grateful for him and everything that he does.

What a great thing.

So it's it's Bonnarooo week.

What's your Bonnarooo week tip for anybody?

Give me a minute.

You want me to go first?

OK.

Pulls out the list.

For me, don't worry.

This is my Sunday list for everybody in the house.

This is the shopping list of things that we have to get to make sure of.

Copy, print, send.

What everybody needs to do.

So I've got my list.

But I think it's for me, I know this sounds really silly,

but my house is an absolute wreck right now because Bonnarooo stuff is everywhere.

Your Rupile.

Yeah.

My Rupile.

Your stuff is the Rupiles.

Rupile is extensive because Joe found more stuff in the shed.

Anyways, so getting that organized.

But man, cleaning the house.

I know that sounds dumb.

Come home to a clean house.

It does not sound dumb.

Speak on it, sister.

That's a great one.

That's a good one.

It's not what every mother has taught us all.

Clean it.

Brian knows that.

Because we're going on vacation.

Why are we cleaning the house?

Yeah.

You don't want to come back to a mess.

No, it's awesome.

So it's really just like the last minute things.

Getting your sheets, getting your pillows, getting your stuff,

getting everything sorted.

We're splitting into different cars.

So you have to split the tapestries, all that, and the disco balls.

But it's just get the house clean so when you come home,

because it's going to be a wreck again, have somebody come to the house while you're gone.

That's a really, really good tip right there.

But that's mine.

That's a good one.

That's the main reason I took this week off this time.

I was like, I'm going to clean this house.

And Beth's coming up for a week after that.

So David Bruce is coming back with me on Monday and Tuesday.

So I'm having to clean his bed.

He's coming in, he and his wife.

So yeah, but that's a great tip.

Coming home tired, hot, sleepy to a wreck is just-

Because you got to come home, you got to unload, you got to clean,

you got to hang so it dries and do all that.

But then to have it house clean, that's a really good tip.

On top of having the Bonneau Blues,

because sometimes you might come home and trying to get back into reality.

It just, it sucks.

That's a good one.

That is very true.

Cassie, what you got?

My tip week for Bonneau, let's see.

I think just have fun.

Lean into the experience, surrender to the farm.

This year I made a bunch of cards,

the playing cards that were given out in 2015.

And I wrote messages on them.

And on it, my favorite thing I wrote was,

Bonneau will change your life.

Let it.

Yeah.

Hey, that's good.

So just lean in, have fun, make friends, say hi to people.

Happy Roo, high five.

Let's go get high fiveing again.

For some reason, that's kind of went away the last few years.

And just talk to your neighbors.

Reset the line at the arch, right?

That's true.

That kind of takes away from the...

I don't know.

I don't wait in line at the arch, sorry.

But I hear about these things.

I'm not a big high fiving guy.

I mean, I'll do a little bit.

But I think that might be why some of that fell off.

I think so.

Bring it back.

I'm not a hater.

Yeah.

But have fun.

I think the one thing that we've learned and we've talked about is we all do this.

We spend 360 days planning, talking about it, making lists, which is fun, like year long.

But then once you get there, like you said, just let it happen.

Because it's going to.

Don't try to overthink.

Yeah.

I like to pretend that I'm type A to the point where I make full campsite layouts and send

it out to our camp members.

So we have a rough idea of what it's going to look like when we get there.

But then we get there and we start setting up.

And I turn into a monster for the first 30 minutes of setup.

What are you doing?

No, literally.

And I have already went ahead and apologized to my group.

I texted them last night and I said, hey, y'all, I'm so sorry for the person I'm about

to become, but I promise you we'll be better off for it.

There's that meme that goes around every year.

It's like, sorry for what I said when I was setting up the tent.

Uh-huh.

Literally.

That's good.

Yeah.

I had a buddy that was like, I'm going to go to the tent.

That I was in college with who would go to parties and he would issue a blanket apology

before the night started for whatever he was about to say or do.

Yeah. Whatever I'm about to say.

I understand.

Yeah, that's my tip.

Just, you know, if you forget something, relax.

Mr. B has it for you.

You're your neighbor.

Yeah.

And they're not price gouging.

No. And I was going to say, I know we did, y'all did the episode on like what people

forget, but forgetting is part of the fun.

Forgetting is part of the fun because it gives you an excuse to go to your neighbor and say,

Man, I wish I had a popsicle.

Hey, you got a screwdriver.

Hey, I have this tiny light thing and I forgot my little screwdriver.

Yeah.

Forgetting stuff is fun.

It does bring a little version of small town, old school, old world America.

Yeah.

Like go ask your neighbors for the, you know, a cup of flour.

Yeah, a cup of sugar.

One of my favorite early years is my neighbor had a truck that was one of those big old trucks

and he was trying to reach in and get something.

He said, I wish I had a stick with a hook on it.

And I had a bamboo stick that I'd put like a pegboard hook on the, I said, you mean like this?

Oh my God.

Yeah, it was awesome.

Yeah.

And then he had popsicles.

I know.

And I think because of the age that we're in, there's so many TikToks, there's so many lists,

there's so many things.

You'd overwhelm me probably.

It's overwhelming.

And I think last year it was, I said, I just want to be 19 again.

I want my backpack and I want two bathing suits and I just want to show up.

And I'm tired of the bags and the boxes and the stuff.

So there's an element of fun to just-

I still do part of that.

I mean, I don't show up a whole lot.

Yeah, Ryan does it still.

Yeah.

I don't bring a whole lot.

Yeah, there's a line.

I mean, I might be looked at as the guy who's just kind of a drag on everything too, I guess.

No, there's a-

All right.

What else guys?

I think that's probably got most of it.

I mean, it's time.

Yes.

I gotta work for the next three days.

So that's going to be-

Mm-hmm.

Camp Nut Butter.

Thank y'all for coming out.

Yeah.

Thank you for having us.

Yeah, thank you.

Absolutely.

This is becoming an annual thing.

Yeah.

We'll meet right here next year.

Sounds good.

We'll see you at four o'clock.

Four o'clock.

Thursday.

Oh yeah.

Yep.

Now stay.

Planet Roo.

Planet Roo.

Come huggin' for Skrillex.

Come huggin' Howdy.

That was the opening band for Skrillex.

We've been sitting here for an hour.

Walk off shot.

Walk off shot.

You're not wrong.

Prove me wrong.

Love y'all.

See you on the farm.

Happy Roo.

Happy Roo.