Wish List & Roo Bus

Welcome to the What Podcast, a very special offseason edition of the What Podcast.

That's Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

I'm Brad Steiner from WDOD Radio in Chattanooga, a Top 40 station playing Beyoncé and fart jokes.

Why are we talking about Bonnarooo? Because it is our passion.

Had you not been with us for the last, I say, eight months, let us reintroduce ourselves again.

That's Barry. I'm Brad. We like Bonnarooo.

We're back.

So welcome back, Barry. How are you?

I'm good. I've been good. How are you?

You know, it took a few months off. I feel like I've been in like Bonnarooo rehab.

You know, you have to go away for a while, turn your brain off from it, and then as soon as you're back, you jump right back in.

Yeah, I used to take all this time to sort of forget the smell of porta potties and forget all that.

But honestly, I think we had such a good time this last year that I think about it a lot.

Do you?

I think, yeah, because we had a good group and I see a lot of those people for whatever reason a little bit more this year.

Not just you, but some of the other campmates.

We all say the same thing. It was a good, fun, fun year.

It was a great year and we, you know, it's become one of those things where Bonnarooo has, it's so stuck in our world and so stuck in our minds that it becomes a year long thing.

If we're not talking about Bonnarooo, we're talking about what happened last year or we're talking about what happened two years ago, we're talking what's going to happen this year.

We're pontificating on the lineup.

You know, we're trying to figure out what's going on in the changes in the farm Manchester, maybe Coffee County in general.

Maybe it's who's operating the festival.

And there seems to be all kinds of stuff to talk about when it comes to Bonnarooo, because I don't want to call it drama, but there's definitely some movement.

Something's happened.

Wow, it's a big deal.

And I think another part of it is, especially you do more so than I do, but there are other festivals.

We had one in Chattanooga for the first time this year with Moon River, which just so happens to be have been produced by AC Entertainment, which does Bonnarooo.

So there's that and it was just a little while ago.

Yeah.

So there's that comparison factor.

Well, yeah, it is remarkable.

We'll talk about some of the changes that are going on around the farm inside Bonnarooo, how the operation is working here in a minute.

We're going to talk to Daniel from Roo Bus.

If you follow at Roo Bus on Twitter, he's been breaking a lot of news about what's been going on and to watch it.

So this is what's interesting.

You get to watch somebody break news that you already know and they get to do all the heavy lifting and he's got it.

And he's got some sort of inside source and we're going to talk to him about some of that information.

But back to your point about the other festivals, it is almost impossible to see what Bonnarooo does, see what they do well,

and then go to another festival and not look around and be like, meh.

Yeah, I know. I know.

And what's strange and to give Daniel a lot of credit, I think part of the reason we're back here talking about this is because he's so active.

I mean, he's every day on Twitter.

Much like a lot of the other like constant Bonnarooo.

Bonnarooian, Bonnarooster, those guys.

And it's not just I mean, there are some amount of gosh, I wish Bonnarooo was tomorrow, but it's news.

They have actual news because they're obsessed with it like we are.

What's interesting about the comparisons is in my mind anyway, going to the other ones, visiting them, hearing about them reaffirms to me how important that whole camping experience is.

That's right.

The thing that we piss and moan about is really the thing that we like about it.

If you're not preparing your campsite now, you're probably going to be in trouble.

You might as well start doing it now.

When we go through what's going to happen today on the latest edition of the What Podcast, I would love to hear your thoughts on changes that should be or could be coming to Bonnarooo.

Maybe you want to pontificate on the year that was that had just passed.

Drop us a line at the What Podcast on Twitter or the whatpodcast.com.

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Also a little bit later on the show, we're going to give you our wish list.

Maybe bands that we want to see at Bonnarooo.

I see this on InfraRoo a lot.

I see it on the Reddit threads and the subreddits, but everybody's got their Bonnarooo wish list of bands that they want to see.

It always starts with like back in the day Prince.

You know, Daft Punk is always up there.

Foo Fighters are a constant because you look around and you wonder.

There are certain artists that you don't understand have never been there.

Coldplay, you know, God Almighty, Coldplay is terrible.

But why have they not been there is shocking.

Foo Fighters is bizarre why they've never been there.

They're always on the list.

Justin Timberlake is always on somebody's short list of acts they want to see.

We're going to go through Rebus's wish list.

He's got some rumors about who's going to be appearing at Bonnarooo this year.

And then we'll go through ours.

And so if you want to drop us a line about who you want to be a Bonnarooo this year, send it to us.

The What Podcast dot com.

I'm hoping that because we know that the Bonnarooo people listen, hopefully this this moves the needle.

Absolutely.

Yeah, maybe it puts somebody on their radar that they weren't thinking of or confirms somebody they were on the fence about.

Yeah, that'd be awesome.

You know, one way or another. Sure.

I'd also like to hear from people because we really didn't do it afterwards what they liked about the changes or what they thought about the changes, in particular the pods, all that.

We've talked about it quite a bit.

But for those people that actually lived it, I'd love to hear what that was like.

Sure.

Because we we kind of dropped in on it.

We didn't we weren't there 24 hours.

No, we dropped in a couple of times.

And not only what you liked about it, I'd love to hear some stories.

That's what I mean.

I'd love to hear some stories because we have a million of hours.

We'd love to hear yours.

Communicate with us.

Maybe we'll do another podcast in the meantime, just of, you know, your experiences and your stories.

I'd love to do that.

That'd be great fun.

Yep.

All right. Let's let's talk to Daniel from RooBus.

Now, tell me how you found RooBus.

I found him mainly because I follow all the guys on Twitter, the Rooster, Festival Owl, all those guys.

Those are the guys who keep the conversation going.

And RooBus has been one.

That's how I found him.

How did you find him?

I think I first became aware of the bus.

I remember seeing and we talk about it a little bit.

The when he bought it, I guess he and his the three three other people.

I do remember that.

I remember thinking, wow, there's a bus that's been around for a while.

And someone rather than get rid of it, they more or less passed it on to somebody else.

And we'll hear him talk about it.

It blows me away that he's only been going since 2013.

That is pretty crazy.

He is passionate about it.

Yeah. You know, what's great is what Bonnarooo does.

It creates like regular everyday people to be characters in this show called Bonnarooo.

That's a great point.

It is fascinating to me.

You know, we have a guy that lives here in Chattanooga.

That's Bonnarooo Santa.

Yeah.

Like he was called he literally was was called from the Bonnarooo people as Bonnarooo Santa.

And he walks around the big, big white beard at Bonnarooo every single year.

His name's Packer Pete.

Dan Peterson.

I know him well.

You've got the Bonnarooo star.

You've got the Roo bus.

There are so many characters in this play called Bonnarooo that is so much fun.

And that's what's been so much so fun for me about doing this show is that we've gotten to meet some of them.

And we've gotten to experience them and I didn't even know that they were around for a while.

But you said something a second ago that that I hadn't really thought about.

And it's it's to the credit.

Credit should go to the people who put on Bonnarooo.

They're good about seeing somebody like Bonnarooo Santa and embracing it rather than, hey, it's our party.

You didn't ask permission kind of, you know what I mean?

They take it all in like with us.

I mean, they've been very helpful and receptive to us for this podcast and the bus.

Daniel says they go a little bit early and get a spot.

So it's a welcoming kind of festival and you feel that from top to bottom.

And I think that's really important.

And the earlier question, other than hearing about the bus, I found him on Twitter just like you did.

I kept thinking after Bonnarooo, I was like, wow, it's June and he's still talking about it.

It's July. He's still talking about it.

It's August. Welcome to Labor Day. Here's some Bonnarooo news.

Let's break some Bonnarooo news now with Roo Bus. Here we go.

What's happening, Daniel? I'm Brad. That's Barry. How are things?

Not too bad. Just had lunch over here in Huntsville. Where do you guys live?

Is that where you live? Is that where the Roo Bus is actually stationed is Huntsville?

Yeah, we're in just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.

We're about an hour and a half drive away from Manchester.

How did you first get into Bonnarooo? What was the what was the thing that hooked you?

Well, my wife and I started going back in 2013.

I had wanted to go for years and I had some friends at my university tried to get me to go with them.

But it was Paul McCartney being on the line up back then that really finally got us to go.

We've been hooked ever since. And then was that the first year you brought the bus?

When did the bus actually start? When did that actually get going?

So the bus has been going to the farm for close to 10 years now.

It was previously owned by a couple that used to live just a few miles away from the farm.

They bought it, I think, Coffee County. It used to be a prison bus and then they converted it.

Nice. No, I get you now. Yeah. Yeah.

And they converted it probably around, I want to say like 2009, 10. I don't know exactly.

And they recently moved down to the Gulf Coast near Pensacola.

And we had known them for a little while. We parked next to them when we used to have a small RV.

We had seen the bus then. And yeah, we ended up buying it from them and continuing the tradition.

That's pretty cool. I thought I remembered seeing something about it selling and changing hands.

There was like a big ceremony and stuff, wasn't there? That's ridiculous.

Well, I don't know about a ceremony, but we came to their place and picked it up before they moved.

I thought there was a big party or something. Sure. Always.

Well, if it's a party all the time. If it's a prison bus, I don't know what kind of party you're wanting to throw there, Barry.

So I've heard tell that there was once a party in there with like 100 people on board inside the bus.

That's why we've had maybe 20, but nothing like that. That's pretty cool.

So do you take the bus? Do you take the bus to other music festivals or are you try to just you just regular commuter with regular cars and such?

Yeah, we've been to a number of other ones. We're trying to cover a bit more in the southeast as far as like the media stuff that we're doing with the bus.

But no, it just goes to Bonnarooo and we take it to a lot of places kind of around here in Huntsville and North Alabama.

Just making sure because you have the Roo bus and maybe like the Hangout Camry.

You know, it's a hang out actually does have a bus. I haven't seen it, but I had some friends send me some pictures.

Oh, stop it. Stuff all over. Yeah.

Well, see, that's interesting that you do a lot of different festivals because we normally focus on nothing but Bonnarooo here on this podcast.

But festival life is sort of in our blood. And I've been having this conversation with Barry and others for the for the better part of eight months now.

And going going from festival to festival is a is quite almost musical culture shock in that you can find something so completely different even with the same lineup.

We had a music festival here in town called Moon River.

And yeah, I was there. You were I thought did you really came up? Yeah, I wish we'd reached out prior.

We hooked up. Yeah. So Chattanooga throws their own music festival.

Atlanta, of course, you music midtown and Shakenese.

But the difference between those two music festivals is so unbelievably big and so unbelievably large.

One has a culture and has created a culture and identity and a brand set of brand values.

And then music midtown is just some stages and some vendors and enjoy.

What do you see when you go from from festival to festival? What do you see is the main difference between them all?

Well, you're right. I've been to a number. We're talking about Hangout.

I went to that I guess it was three years ago or so.

And it's you would think it's Bonnarooo on the beach, but it's not. It's got more of like a frat party vibe to it.

It's put on by the same company that does Coachella out in California. So it's got a little bit of that vibe to it as well.

And the lineup is similar if you look at it.

They've got a little EDM heavy like everybody has in the past couple of years.

But once you get there and get around, it's like, yeah, it's fun, but it has a different vibe.

Like if you are really dead set on Bonnarooo, you're going to be always just a little bit disappointed when you go to another festival.

Another example, Sloss Fest in our home state here in Alabama. They had some trouble this year.

I hope they're going to return. But it's great. It's like a miniature Bonnarooo that kind of has the good indie band lineup that they have.

But also some stuff that's for the locals in Birmingham.

They usually like a little bit more folk or country over there a little bit.

If there's any festival inside this country that is more tied to the local community, it's probably Sloss Fest.

They do a very good job of incorporating local artists, local art, local vendors.

Sloss Fest is very much Birmingham. It's very Birmingham.

It is. I really hope they return. They had some problems like a lot of other festivals did with weather and PR this year.

I'd really like to see them come back. They've been a great asset to the state and Birmingham.

Yeah. I haven't been, but the one in New Orleans, I can't even think of the name of it.

Which one?

The big one.

Jazz Fest?

Jazz Fest does what you're talking about. And there's one in Milwaukee that does a good job of that.

We went to the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans last year.

That was last October, right? Beck was headlining.

Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty good vibe. Once you get to the grounds, it was a lot like Bonnaroo.

Of course, everything is Halloween themed, so there's people with skeletons and different costumes and stuff.

But it was a pain in the butt because you have to go from your hotel on the other side of town down to the city park and traffic is a nightmare.

And it's just like, yeah, our crew has learned that city festivals aren't necessarily for us. Camping festivals are where it's at.

Right. So you definitely see that. You see that as a big driver as to which festivals you tend to enjoy more than others.

Yeah, exactly. I wish we had more options around here for that, but can't complain when Bonnaroo is just an hour and a half on the road.

So you said something that's pretty interesting. If your first salvo, if your opening salvo is Bonnaroo, it's sort of like never flying before and getting first class.

You really can't go back because there's not another experience like it. You can find things that are similar.

I think that Hangout to me is one B. I think Hangout is an amazing festival, especially if you like pop music.

It's exceptionally well done. There's really not a place that you can't find a good spot to see a show.

It's intimate enough. It's not the grounds are big. I think Four Castle is tremendously well done in Louisville.

And I think of the Atlanta Festival, Shaky Knees has it over Music Midtown, which I think Music Midtown is a complete and utter disaster.

And frankly, not to beat up on Sloss Fest a bit, Sloss Fest is tough for me.

I love a festival that has a strong brand integrity and values that they set forth. But first, Sloss Fest is incredibly hot.

I've never been to a hotter experience in my life. There is literally one stage that is nothing but an oven.

You stand inside microwaves, it feels like. Oh, inside the shed. In the shed. I know exactly what you're talking about.

And then the other problem with it a little bit is I tend to not like festivals where it feels like you bought the stage,

you got the lineup, and then you set up some vendors. Now let's go have a festival.

There's really no other sort of culture tying me together that I need. Music Midtown is the biggest problem for me with that.

You know, on that point, I think that's where Bonnaroo has been the strongest in the past two or three years.

I think they've slowly realized they have to really lean into the community engagement part of Bonnaroo,

which is why they've done a lot more in the campgrounds. They've really built up the infrastructure out there

with a couple of new barns, new activities that are sprinkled throughout the pods, or plazas as they're calling it now.

And I think, to me at least, that's half the value of going to Bonnaroo. Of course I'm there for the headliners and others.

But it's also the crazy, stupid stuff that I get into with new buddies out there.

That was us this year. I spent some time with one of our campmates who has run music venues here for 30 years,

knows the business, loves the music as much as anybody, but he said this was his favorite Bonnaroo.

I think this was my favorite Bonnaroo. And it was that community thing. The lineup was good. We found some great stuff to see.

The Warren Treaty has become one of my favorites, for example. Mavis, Nile Rogers, all of those were highlights,

but it was the community thing. And for me, it's the fact that you don't have to drive across town. It's the fact that you're already there.

You're in town. You're there. There's nothing to do but that festival. That's why you're there.

And I think that just makes such a huge difference. Yeah, and they did a superb job with the pods.

I thought the plazas were terrifically done. Which one are you in? Which one did you have the bus parked in?

Well, the bus is in the general admission RV area. It's kind of in the corner, right when you come in from the highway entrance,

when you're kind of close to the tower. Do they hold a spot for you?

Well, we were very gracious that the Bonnaroo folks let us come in a little earlier this past year because we had to set up for the Wednesday night party

that we held with Camp Reddaroo. Yeah, that's cool. That's real cool.

That is awesome. But usually they're very accommodating with folks like that.

Alright, now go ahead Barry. Yeah, I want to go back. It's still rolling around in my head that you've only been going since 13.

But the reason we wanted to talk to you partly is because I see so much activity on Twitter.

I mean, it's become a year-round kind of part of life for you, hasn't it?

I do not try to hide the fact at all that I am obsessed with Bonnaroo.

Yeah, I think that's cool. And I think that's why we decided, you know, we started that podcast thinking it would end, what, June 14th or 15th.

And that would be it for, you know, until next slide.

Well, honestly, we ran out of material the first of May.

Oh, God. I never run out of material with Bonnaroo.

Well, and that's I kept telling Brad, I'm like, there's a lot of activity going on on Twitter from Bonnaroovian, who we were fortunate enough to meet.

The Rooster. The Rooster and you. And I thought, I think we can do this more often.

Yeah, so it's almost like what the NFL does. The NFL has created 12 months a year. You're talking about the NFL.

Bonnaroo has sort of become that. And a lot of it has to do with the news that happens and sprinkles out throughout the year, which, crazily enough, you seem to stumble upon.

Yeah. How do you get how do you get these tips?

Well, I drive the bus and it's a big friendly blue bus. So people tend to tell me things.

Awesome.

Well, all right. So so fill us in. What do you know that we don't know that's been going on the last few months since the festival has been going on?

I have to be careful what I say, because a lot of that is up to the AC office in Nashville dictate how they want to get information out.

I don't want to step on their toes, but I can tell you that I think this is fairly widely known now for the past two or three years after Live Nation bought out AC Entertainment and obviously Bonnaroo is part of that.

They had been doing solely the book through one of their agencies.

This year will change because AC will be coming back and kind of supporting their booking.

So essentially what a lot of people are believing that to mean will be that we're going to see a lineup next year that will kind of return to Bonnaroo's roots.

As for who that will be, as far as the booking goes, we don't know that for sure yet, but we do know that it's probably likely that we can expect another jam band or two than we've seen the past couple of years.

Maybe another classic headliner that we haven't seen for about two years now and maybe some other stuff that kind of goes back to the lineups of like, let's say prior to 2014.

Well, I can corroborate what you're saying.

Me too.

Because we have heard exactly the same things.

Almost more precisely in that C3 won't be a part of it in the way that they have been part of it in the past.

And that AC, the AC will.

All right, so now see, this is, this is, we could probably do an entire show just on this topic.

I don't necessarily know, and I'm going to reserve judgment, but I don't necessarily know if that's a good thing.

I don't know if it's...

I personally think it is.

Okay.

I think that the lineups the past two years, while they have been good, they've been very similar to many of the other lineups that you would see at something like Firefly.

That's right.

And like, if you want that lineup, you can go to those places.

Bonnarooo to me is a place where there's an insane diversity of music.

I want that.

I want to be introduced to something that I've never heard of.

I don't want to see a lineup that I'm going to see at every other place.

So I think if Mr. Capps is getting back into that and having a hand in getting acts that he wants to see, I think that's great for everybody.

I think so, but tag on to what Brad was asking, because he and I talked about this the other day.

By the way, I'm not making a statement about it.

I'm just asking, is it a good thing?

I think part B of the question is, is what segment of the market was not appealed to the last couple of years?

I know, you know, they went heavy with EDM, which I think worked.

They brought in, they didn't have the, you know, a McCartney type classic rocker to bring in maybe that segment.

Bernie, you mentioned that, by the way.

Yeah, yeah, I know you've hinted at, and I would love it.

That was such a huge moment for so many people, and I'd love to see him again.

And he's obviously actively out there promoting his new record, which is so terrible.

But OK, it's not.

It's not very bad.

But the promotion that he's been doing has been pretty great.

Oh, sure. He's everywhere.

But so to the question, what I mean, what what is missing?

The jam band, obviously, and you mentioned that that for sure.

But what's the segment of that audience?

You know, it went from 80,000 and plus to high 40s, low 50s the last couple of years.

So that's 30,000 people that weren't there.

Yeah, I was there in 2016 when it took a, you know, a nose dive, which coincidentally, that was my favorite year.

Me too. I loved it.

There was such a good community aspect that year because there was less of a crowd to buy it, you know.

Absolutely.

Personally, what I think has caused that change is something that was going to happen anyways.

The market has become so saturated.

I agree.

We've seen so many festivals this year get canceled and, you know, you know, in some cases called off for good because there's so many options.

You know, it's no longer the case where Coachella is where you go if you're on the West Coast or Bonnaroo is where you go on the East Coast.

There's one basically in every region that always has a good lineup.

Right.

And I think that's why Bonnaroo has been smart to really focus more on community as opposed to solely the lineup.

I think their numbers the past two years show that they're doing a very good market reach to kind of like the college age crowd.

Well, then again, it lends the question as to why the change is needed anyway, because I think that we start asking the wrong question.

If you start with the idea that you first off ask the question, what is the goal?

What's the ideal number? What are you trying to go after?

That was my question.

And and if you no longer are needing 80,000 people and you would rather super serve forty five to sixty, then the whole game changes.

The whole the whole platform and the whole foundation of the operation is totally different.

And you can do things that are a lot crazier and a lot more bizarre, a lot more Ashley Caps was here for Moon River.

And he said something I love how you refer to as Ruebus, Ruebus, Ruebus.

That's the what podcast across from well, there's actually four of us.

Just to back up a step. There's myself, my wife, Sharla, our friends, Chelsea and Brooklyn.

So it's collectively all of us.

Most of the time when you see stuff on social, it's me or Sharla.

I got you. All right.

He said to me, we were talking about Moon River selling out so fast.

And he said, the good news there is once we sold those tickets, we could focus on doing the small things really well.

Ah, yeah, it's really good. Yeah.

That's a really great point.

And that sort of gets to your point.

If the number is forty five or fifty or fifty five, that's your target and you're getting there.

Then they can focus on the pods and the extras and all that.

But I think they have.

But will the conversation ever change until they come out and say, look, we're not shooting for 80,000 people anymore.

We're not trying to be 90,000 McCartney year anymore.

We put that on me because I didn't ask that question.

OK.

I know Mr. Caps doesn't probably want to talk about this yet, but I think if that is something they're looking at about having being OK with the smaller crowd at Bonnarooo,

part of the reason for that may be is because there's the potentiality of additional events happening on the farm in the next couple of years.

That's right.

Like what?

Well, they've been talking forever.

That's the whole reason.

Yeah, the whole reason they've done all this infrastructure work is so they can have multiple events throughout the year.

They just haven't.

The rumor that we've heard is that, you know, they've been cooperating a lot with the CMA Fest in order to, you know, the Bonnarooo weekend will be moved back a week next year

because they don't want to compete with that in a year.

We've also heard that they're continuing to have talks with the Grand Ole Opry after having that on the farm last year.

So what we've heard, not from anybody official, but from some other folks in the know, is that the next event that will happen on the farm is some type of country Americana Fest in the fall.

Yeah, yeah. That's always been the plan.

And it won't be a camping type of thing or if it probably not because what they've told me is that...

Country fans don't camp.

Country fans don't camp.

Pure and simple.

Yeah.

But that makes sense.

Yeah.

They opened an office in Nashville, you know, they're headquartered in Knoxville, they opened an office in Nashville, they've opened up the day events, they've got the buses, the shuttle buses.

So the relationship with Nashville definitely has grown in the last three or four years.

So that makes sense.

What are some other news that you've heard throughout the ensuing months from Bonnarooo?

Their bus? Mr. Bus?

Mr. Bus.

Good morning, guys.

How's it going?

I like re-bus.

Re-bus, whatever.

Well, we've heard a little bit about who may be playing.

Of course, we know who we want to see playing, but we kind of went up a bit a moment ago about McCartney.

It kind of makes a lot of sense that he might be coming back next year.

His tour skips Atlanta and Nashville, and he coincidentally has a break in his tour dates right around that weekend in June.

Really? You've actually...

You can hear my morning...

Hang on a second. I don't mean to interrupt, but you've actually heard McCartney as a name again?

Yeah. I'm seeing his name going around a lot.

I know that they want to bring in another classic headliner next year, and he sold a hell of a lot of tickets in 2013, so it only makes sense.

Yeah, he did.

All right. So, I haven't gone onto the infaroos and the message boards in a while.

I've sort of taken some time off, but give me some other rumored names that they're talking about.

A lot of people are talking about My Morning Jacket.

They're probably going to have a new album out early next year.

They sell a lot of tickets to veterans. They've had a long history at Bonnarooo.

And the management in Bonnarooo are almost one and the same.

Oh, yeah. They're clearly always welcome there. Just give them the witch stave and give them until sunrise. Seriously.

That's a great point. They could play for four hours, and that would be so heart and soul Bonnarooo, wouldn't it?

I wish. I would love to see that.

Yeah, that'd be great.

We've also heard there's a possibility of Fish next year. I personally kind of doubt that, but I'd be happy with it. It'd be cool.

Oh, Dezza, I would be willing to put a bet on being our EDM headliner next year. Let's see. What else?

Red Event Fleet. They're very popular. Those kids are getting to be a big deal.

Bonnarooo tends to always look the hot at a year late, so I wouldn't be surprised to see that.

Yeah, and then put them on the smallest stage, Frank Ocean. Thank you so much.

All right, so here's the thing. And I don't mean to, I feel like such a sourpuss today, but if-

It's who you are.

That McCartney show meant so much to me in 2013. I'm going to say something crazy. I'm not going to go see it again.

I may not go see it again. That show, it had everything. And it was such a moment, it was such a seminal moment in so many people's lives, I don't know if I want to jump back in that pool.

I hear you. I hear you. It's an interesting thought. You did. I don't know if you know this, Daniel.

Brad literally watched a guy propose to a woman, what, during the Little Let Die.

No, so he does Maybe I'm Amazed, right? And he drops down to one knee right in front of us and proposes during Maybe I'm Amazed.

And I'm crying, I'm hugging these strangers, I'm high-fiving the dude. It was just the most amazing, like, chilling moment.

And then literally the next song, Live and Let Die, fireworks everywhere. It's like the guy knew the set list before he got it.

It's hard to top. It's hard to top, yes. I felt like I got married.

But it was just such an amazing moment. I don't know if I can repeat that. I wanted to keep that special.

I'll put it this way. One of my favorite mid-card bands, in fact one of my favorite bands, period, is Portugal the Man.

Me too. I've seen them four times now. Each show, I'm just as hyped about.

Just gets better and better that show.

The most loved musician in the world. I have no problem seeing him again.

Yeah, you gotta get him while you can get him too, because it ain't gonna last forever.

But I understand what you're saying, Brad. That's an interesting thing about that, because when you were talking about some of those bands,

Fish, they've been there. When you say it that way, not you, I don't mean to put it on you.

It feels familiar?

It feels a little like trying to re-catch lightning in the bottle a little bit.

See, I take it as it feels like home. People would love those kind of acts because it makes them feel familiar again.

It gets mom's spaghetti sort of feeling, right?

I think maybe you and I...

Well, it's not out of the question for Bonnaroo to book headliners to a few times.

No, absolutely not.

Radiohead has been there multiple times. Pearl Jam has been there multiple times. Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I tell you what we should do.

Warren Haynes was pretty much a regular. And I forget sometimes in the music world that they all come around about every three or four years,

and there's a whole new crowd of people hitting. It's gonna be their first time.

So when I went at the Nashville AC office told me a very interesting stat about a year ago.

Around 70%, I want to say, of the attendees at any given Bonnaroo are attending their first Bonnaroo.

So there's gonna be a huge crowd that hadn't seen Paul in 2013.

Wow. That's a big number. I would have not guessed that. That's interesting.

Yeah, that's something to put on the list to go back and ask them.

In fact, you said something else too that's interesting and we're flying by the seat of our pants on this certain episode.

But what if we made our wanted wish list? What if we made our wanted Bonnaroo list?

Me and Barry can make ours, but Daniel, who would be your wants? Not people that you think are gonna be there.

What are your top five wants?

Okay, so as far as acts that we've never seen on Bonnaroo, it is way past time to get Dolly Parton down to man.

I have been saying this for a decade, Daniel. A decade.

Dolly Parton would be the most amazing Friday night headliner that you can find.

Don't put her in the heat because she might melt.

But at night, could you imagine how fun that would be? You know Kenny's gonna come.

Kenny's already been on the farm once. Kenny will swing by in a moment's notice for Dolly. Lionel Richie will show up.

Anybody she invites would come.

I would adore that.

That Lionel Richie show back in 2014 was one of my favorites. He played before Jack White that night.

And he was loving every minute of it. You could tell that he was having the time of his life playing to a younger crowd.

He was like joking around with the crowd and trolling us and everything. That was such a great slot.

I know it might be too hot for Miss Dolly to play at that time, but I could really see her being an opener for somebody like that.

That is my number one swing and miss.

You're right about that.

I thought that was a disaster and it was huge.

I got to put in a plug for my wife's big one. She was dying to see Peter Frampton on the farm.

So I think he would be a good fit too maybe in that kind of free headliner slot.

He needs to bring along that thing that makes his guitar go wah wah and talk all that.

Would he have to do Frampton comes alive? Would it be that or just whatever he wanted?

Oh hell yeah. Play that thing in full.

That's interesting that your wife goes Frampton over Paul Simon. I feel like they fit the same glove, don't you?

I think Simon fits the Lionel Richie glove.

Really? You think so? Who else you got there Daniel? Who else is on your want list?

I'm personally hoping some of the AC people are listening to this. For the love of God please bring Taiman Pala back.

That was the best show I've ever seen.

That show was interesting for me because I was such a massive LCD sound system fan. I have been for over a decade.

I love him so much. That LCD sound system show was like the show I missed my entire...I missed for a decade.

I missed that show every time. I finally got to see it at Bonnarooo and then directly after that was Taiman Pala.

I didn't go into the Taiman Pala show with the right mindset if you want to know what I mean.

I know what you mean. I was there at both of those shows.

It was good. It was really good. I need to see it again. I need to see it again.

They supposedly have a new album coming out at some point next year so I'm hoping it's early in the year so they'll be on tour.

I want to see them back so bad. Their vibe just perfectly fits Bonnarooo. They're such a soulful, lifeful band.

I think Kevin Parker is just an absolute genius. I want them back so bad.

And they can pull, if they really wanted to, they can pull a ton of people. A ton of friends. A ton of friends that can join them.

Almost Boney Varis style.

Oh absolutely. He produces everybody's names. I could keep going all day.

I know that I should probably give the other two ladies at the bus a shout out. They would really love to see Lana Del Rey there next year.

It is so baffling. Has she been there before? Have we had Lana yet?

I don't think so.

No, because I'm thinking of Lorde. It is baffling to me that Lana Del Rey has not been on that festival stage.

I think she could fit the Lorde slot that she had a couple years ago very well.

Yes she could.

And one more shout out I want to give. There's a really cool band here in Huntsville called the Wolves of Chernobyl. I think they fit the vibe very well.

Say that again. Say that again.

They're called the Wolves of Chernobyl. They're kind of like a progressive folk band if you mixed in tool with it.

No kidding.

Give them a Google search. I think they'd be a great Thursday band.

Interesting.

We really do appreciate you talking to us. We love talking shop with any Bonnarooo vet.

Let's do it again. Let's do it again before festival time. Let's talk plenty.

Well we're going to have some fun stuff coming up over the next month with the kind of fun secret project we're working on.

And then we will definitely be doing our Wednesday night party with the boys and girls from Camp Reddaroo on the Wednesday night of Bonnarooo.

And then there's Ichikoo that's coming up right before Bonnarooo next year.

Oh that's right. Before we let you go to explain Ichikoo. Now Ichikoo is sort of like trying to bring back what the original Bonnarooo festival was.

And they're trying to do the night before party right?

Yeah so quick history. Ichikoo was the first event that was ever held on the farm grounds in 1999.

This was what two three years before the actual Bonnarooo started. It was a great idea but it was a bit of a mess.

It kind of turned into a footnote and a joke but still like a cherished one.

They are bringing it back to an extent. So again I have to be careful what I say. I don't want to step on anybody's toes.

But it will happen the day before Bonnarooo starts on Tuesday at a location that is virtually walkable.

And again I'll let them announce that. They have to let all the details out.

Just what I need. Another day.

Knowing us will be there Monday. We'll be there Monday to Monday.

We were there this year I guess like you were Dan. Wednesday morning.

From Wednesday morning until Monday morning. That's right.

It is mainly an event that's put on by some of the good folks that host us every year from the city of Manchester.

And they have some cool things in store. I've been speaking with them a bit and helping out a bit.

Definitely worth looking forward to.

Well Daniel if you ever need anything from us you give us a call. No questions asked. We'll be there for you.

Absolutely guys. I appreciate it. I really enjoy it.

Do you have the Tennessee Homesick Blues there Barry Courter?

I like how she says fish.

Yeah. Fish and hole. That's Barry Courter and Brad Steiner.

This is the podcast for Bonnarooians by Bonnarooians. Really one of the top level, top line Bonnarooians.

RooBus. Thanks for joining us. Daniel from the RooBus at RooBus. You can follow along. All the breaking news.

And I loved his poll for artists that he wants to see at Bonnarooo. It's been my top line, my top want and desire for a decade is Dolly Parton.

I think it does. Nothing makes more sense than Dolly Parton.

Like you. He said that to us and I've thought about it over and over and over and that's just perfect. How come I didn't think of that?

So when I go to, I think that there is, if you don't live in Tennessee I can understand why you would roll your eyes at Dolly Parton.

But she is a god in this state. She is a god and nobody, nobody is revered more in this state than Dolly Parton. Period.

You can't find one other person that's got a higher level of love.

Absolutely deservedly so. If you don't know, just for example, when the fire raged through Gatlinburg and burned things up, she paid people's mortgages.

And then did a fundraiser, but she had, I think, her own pocket paid mortgages. Absolutely, you're right.

Her philanthropy is absolutely through the roof. And that's why she's just beloved in the state.

And there's nobody that, to me, wears Tennessee pride on her sleeve more than she does.

And that's why she would just be absolutely perfect. And she's also very, very good.

She's an unbelievable songwriter. And let's be honest, and I hate to bring this part up, but I don't know how many more shows we got out of her.

Well, there's a couple on my list that are that way, especially with, you know, Losing Prince and Losing Bowie and Aretha Franklin.

And Tom Petty and Aretha. It's been a bad year. Yeah. And, you know, those guys were not, those were surprises.

All right. Let's go through your list of your wish list. Now, if you were to put together a list of bands that you want to see, now they could be bands that's been there before.

But this is a common thread you see on Reddit and on the Twitter and on the the InfoRu.

We want to hear yours, thewhatpodcast.com or at the what podcast on Twitter. Let's hear your wish list there. Barry Courter, let's go through it.

My list is sort of all over the place because Daniel got me thinking about a lot of different things. Dolly is at the top.

Sure. But after our conversation, it made me think, do I want to see people that I haven't seen? Do I want strictly bucket list items?

Do I want bands that I think actually fit at Bonnarooo?

Interesting. You actually took a took us. You're trying to find a theory and trying to.

Yeah, I don't have a cohesive. I'll give you an example on my bucket list.

But he's somebody that I'm not sure works at Bonnarooo would be Van Morrison.

Van Morrison also on my list. Barry Courter. Very good. Yes. I would absolutely love to see Van Morrison.

OK. Van Morrison at Bonnarooo brings up a conversation that I've had a lot with friends of mine. He's a lot like Morrissey in that as much as I would love to see him at Bonnarooo, you don't know what kind of show you're getting at.

Absolutely. Stevie Wonder can be that way. If Stevie decides to go deep, deep, deep and you're wanting nothing but hits.

Stevie Wonder is very similar to Van Morrison in that way. If he decides to go nothing but deep hits, I mean, deep tracks and you wanted hits, you know, you're you're maybe not. You're stuck.

Van Morrison Prince could have been that way. James Brown used to be that way.

You know, he did a show here at Riverbend that people didn't like because they thought they were going to get number one hits and he didn't want to do number one hit.

So Van Morrison depends on where you put him. You know, I mean, Van Morrison at three in the afternoon on the what stage? I'm not sure that works for me.

And it probably wouldn't work for him either. Probably not going to work for him. He's going to be pretty cranky if that's the case.

So but he is definitely high on my list. He's high on my list too.

I went home and listened to Jimmy Rogers in my lunch break.

I went straight back to work.

We went for lemonade and power sponge at the shop and broke the team. Van Morrison on the which stage? Four o'clock, five o'clock.

I would be into that. I just never thought that he got the credit as a songwriter as he deserved.

I guess it depends on which circles he's got in my house and his husband. That's awesome.

Bob Dylan, of course, great songwriter. But I always thought that Van Morrison had something a little bit more interesting for me than Bob Dylan.

Yeah. Well, a beautiful singing voice.

There's one. All right. Who else you putting on your list there, Barry Carter?

And then so on my want to see list, I would love to see Adele.

Adele's been to the farm. I didn't see it.

This was this was almost 10 years ago. It's right before she hit with Rolling in the Deep.

And she was on, if I'm not mistaken, that tent.

And I walked by it because I knew of her because I was in this industry and they were working her the song to us at the time.

The record label was. I remember walking by and being like, oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah.

Who would have thought that was going to be the superstar of the decade?

Well, you know, we did the we did the do overs before on the podcast. That would be one for sure.

But I'd love to see Adele. I would love to see McCartney.

That's the reason this comes up, because of Daniel saying that when he said it, it still rolls in my head.

I'm like, I've seen it done it, but it is McCartney.

And I probably would want to see him every single chance.

Right. When I said to him, I don't know if I want to see that again. That's not negative.

I just don't I don't know. I've had the moment. Right.

But let's be honest, I'm probably going to the show.

You don't want to miss it. If that ends up being, you know, a thing that happens at Bonnarooo 2019, I'm probably going to go.

Let's be honest. Dolly Van Morrison, Adele McCartney for sure.

And then sort of the in the line of these are acts that I would love to see.

I'm not even sure they're touring type of thing. I would love to see Joe Jackson.

Wow. Elvis. That's fascinating. I love Joe Jackson.

If he were to that would be really, really interesting. Yeah.

If he were to come and do the I'm the man era stuff, beat crazy that whole.

Wait, hang on a second. I know this boy talk about a generational divide.

I know you and a couple of guys at our camp would be into that.

But do you think anybody would be at a Joe Jackson show? That's what I'm saying.

I didn't I didn't make my list for anybody. I know.

But that's but that's what's so fascinating about it.

It would work. It would absolutely work.

But I don't know if anybody would be there. I don't I don't know.

And along those lines and he was there before, but he was there with Alan Toussaint was Elvis Costello.

I would love to see Elvis doing a lot of Elvis hits or really anything.

I want to know what's going to get to sentimental like those other stick of Valentine's.

Because I don't know if you are loving somebody.

I only know it is a man.

I know this world is killing you.

Oh, so Elvis Costello makes a lot of sense and it would be an amazing get and it would be a lot of fun.

It's going to be one of those shows that I think we look back on and be like, that didn't work.

It depends. He's like Van Morrison. Yeah.

It depends on what he does. Yeah. I mean, he's he's did.

He did the Nashville album. He did the stuff with Burt Bacharach.

I love that Burt Bacharach album. I can't believe I'm saying that, but I love that. It's great.

It's all standards. He's not going to a standards again.

This is not what he does. And then I'd love to see Timberlake. Yeah, it'd be a great show.

And you're going to laugh. And I'm not sure it's one I would stay the entire time for.

But I just hear it's such an entertaining show.

I'm not sure I wouldn't want to see Taylor Swift.

Oh, man. Taylor Swift is not OK.

So she does nothing but stadiums now, right, because she wants to maximize her stage performance.

There's just no possible way that's happened. No possible ways happening.

Like I said, I know why I know why you would say that.

I know why you would want that. But she has such a controlled environment in which she wants to perform.

And she wants every bit of stagecraft up to her and by her hands.

If you thought that Kanye's first show was stagecraft to a point where it was belligerent and annoying, watch out for Taylor Swift.

It's not it's just it's just not something that could ever, ever happen. It's a wish list. I understand.

I understand. But you probably should just go.

And the other thing, too, that about these wish lists that that are unfortunate is like you put I'm getting a lot of text messages from friends of mine about Drake or Daft Punk.

Drake would work. But again, you're going to have to drop a million dollars. It's a million plus.

Daft Punk's never going to happen. I believe and I may be eating crow one day.

Daft Punk is never going to happen because they're going to drop a million plus.

They're going to go after the Rolling Stones. They're not going to drop a million.

But they're on the list, too. There would be on my list.

But don't you think I mean, isn't that part of the question we asked earlier?

What does it take to get those other 30,000 people if in fact that's what they want?

If they want to get it back up to the 80,000 number, what's it going to take?

It's going to take a Rolling Stones or a Daft Punk or a million dollar.

I know. I know we all love Daft Punk, but I have a feeling that deep down they don't move the needle.

I wonder if they move the needle and people actually buy tickets. Maybe. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't. I don't know.

I tell you what, it's such a fluid market anymore.

I mean, it's you know, you used to get a two or three year cycle out of some stuff and two or three months and then move on.

And Daft Punk doesn't really do a lot of shows.

But I sure as hell hope that if they did do a show of Bonnaroo, everybody would come.

Pharrell, all the buddies. The whole team shows up.

Yeah. Nile Rodgers.

That's a pretty good list. I'm going to start my list with, of course, Dolly and Van Morrison.

So you've already got two of my five.

There is another old legacy female that I might be wrong about this has never been to the farm.

And if she has, it was like year two.

So you're going to have to apologize because I wasn't there that year.

But when I think of like mid afternoon, which stage, Angel Olsen's nice.

I love Angel Olsen. Julian Baker would be phenomenal.

But imagine if Bonnie Raitt was in the Tennessee sunshine in the middle of Saturday afternoon.

I would lose my mind. I love her so much.

Another artist that just doesn't tour much, doesn't do a lot of shows.

But boy, she would just sound right.

It would just sound right as a legacy act sometime in mid afternoon.

Now, I know we're going a little old here.

We've gone basically to places where we're going back to legacy.

But there's so many artists that have never even been on the farm that have so much cultural impact.

You can ask why Drake has never been. I mean, I got to imagine because of money.

You can ask why Coldplay has never been.

Coldplay just doesn't fit probably the strategy in which they're going.

Outkast is a strange one. Outkast, I don't get it.

When they were supposedly on the lineup a few years ago and didn't happen to shock everybody.

But that same year was it that year or the year after.

There was another band on that had just reunited that had just put out maybe the best album of the year.

Why they didn't get on the farm makes no sense to me.

And it makes no sense why they haven't been there ever.

Now that they're back together, or at least kind of back together.

Why can't we get a Tribe Called Quest?

I love Tribe Called Quest so much.

And maybe they're not doing anything anymore.

Maybe that run at Coachella and then the Saturday Night Live and then the album.

Maybe that was it for them because they wanted to honor a dude's memory.

But I don't know. It just seems like it would make so much sense.

And then the other one, it's a long shot. It's a pull for me.

And you may not know him, but in my world I live and die by 60 soul.

It's practically all I listen to at the house.

And the guy for me that I feel never got the credit that he deserves.

And by the way, he'll tell you he never got the credit that he deserves.

It's a Chicago soul artist named Syl Johnson.

So if you look back and you see what Bonnarooo's done in years past.

They had, when they had the King of Soul, Philadelphia Soul and Solomon Burke on stage.

Nobody was there. And then two years later he dies.

They put all of these soul artists on right before, right before they're about to go.

And Syl Johnson, he's written so many hits and you don't know any of them.

Because they've been sampled time after time after time.

Kanye's sampled a bunch of Syl Johnson stuff.

Jay-Z's sampled a bunch of Syl Johnson stuff.

So if you give me Syl Johnson on a lineup.

And all of a sudden maybe they find Jay-Z and Beyonce as a headliner.

You are going to get complete madness.

You don't know it, but this might be one of the most sampled songs of all time.

Kanye, Wu-Tang, Jay-Z, Public Enemy.

They have just used this song time and time again.

It's that opening, and the man's made millions just by sitting around and watching everybody sample his work.

That's a good one. It's got a little of that funky drummer beat to it.

Yeah.

And then of course you go down the other list of stuff like Radiohead.

I really want to come back. The National.

I slept on the National for so long and then I saw them in Atlanta at a festival of Shaky Knees.

I was blown away with how good that live show was.

Especially at night in the dark.

I want Jungle to come back because that show last year was good, but it's better at night.

I think Daniel is exactly right.

Tame Impala needs another spot.

And I really love the idea, although they're not my favorite.

We've talked about this before.

My morning jacket doing a late night all night show is almost too good to be true.

I was standing in the field watching them five years ago, six years ago, and a young 20 year old,

the daughter of some friends, she looked up and she said they are the perfect Bonnarooo act.

They're damn near close.

Yeah, I totally agree. Everything about it, we've talked about it in past shows,

how you can just hear a certain song, a certain part of a song, and imagine standing in one of those tents

whatever time of day, and it just defines that whole festival feeling.

So I agree.

There you go.

You know, I'm a huge fan of theirs, so I would see them in any occasion.

They are the opposite of what I was saying earlier about the McCartney thing.

I will see them anytime, every time.

No kidding.

Yeah, I just love them. I don't know what it is, I love them.

The McCartney, like you, maybe it's that, you know, this past year, and it's funny, our camp mate Mike Dewar,

revisited that whole Friday where we went from Davie to Mavis, no, to Warren Treedy to Mavis to Nile Rogers,

and so the evening ended about 9.30, and I don't even remember who was getting ready to Bonnivay,

it wasn't that, because that was later, but the headliner was coming, he said,

I don't want to see it because my day is already perfect, and no disrespect to whoever it was,

it can't get any better, so I'm going to go back to camp and decompress.

I love a man who's just satisfied. He's satisfied with his day.

He was right. And so that's kind of like you with the McCartney, I mean, you had a,

we all had amazing times, but what you had was trans-adental, trans-adental.

So back to the McCartney thing, that same guy, Mike Dewar, I'll never forget it, after the McCartney,

he got there on Friday afternoon, Mikey D., he walks around the farm, he sees everything for a little while,

then he goes to see Paul McCartney, and the moment he steps back into camp,

he packs his bag up, gets in the car and said, I've seen all I need to see,

it's never getting any better than this, see you guys next year.

It was, he mic dropped out of the campsite, it was unreal.

But that's what I'm saying, those are the kind of wish list things that actually come true,

that make Bonnarooo so magical. Let's hear yours at the What Podcast on Twitter, or the WhatPodcast.com.

Maybe we'll swing back in and do another show here in a couple weeks.

Let's do it. And hopefully we'll talk to you on the What Podcast, we'll talk to you then.