Ep. 24 Festies Recap: Bonnaroo 2025

Vanessa's fiancé Ed makes his Festies debut to recap their wild ride at Bonnaroo 2025 - all one day of it! They talk travel mishaps, glamping, the EIGHT performances they saw on Thursday, and even meeting some of their podcast heroes. The weekend started out STRONG...until Friday's rain shut it all down. 

With Roo cancelled, they pivoted to a Nashville weekend with their Festie, Alex. They explore the behind-the-scenes challenges that led to cancellation, the community's mixed reactions, and how the "Bonnaroovian spirit" shined through despite the circumstances. The episode offers fascinating insights into festival operations, weather contingencies, and finding joy in unexpected situations.

Have you ever had a festival experience cut short? We'd love to hear your story in the reviews!

Note: This episode was recorded before Bonnaroo announced it will return next year, June 11-14, 2026! YAY!

Artists we saw:

The Droptines Kitchen Dwellers Wilderado The Lemon Twigs Marcus King Luke Combs Daniel Donato Insane Clown Posse

Sunny's Festival Corner:

Splash House

Guster's on the Ocean Weekend

SUNANDBASS

Transcript

Welcome and Introduction of Ed

Vanessa 0:00

Hey Sunny.

Sunny 0:01

Yeah, Vanessa.

Vanessa 0:02

What do you call two best friends that love music festivals?

Sunny 0:05

Hmm, I guess you'd call them Festies.

Clark 0:28

music festivals, friendship festies

Vanessa 0:40

we are very excited today because we have a very special person in the house. Sunny always gets to do this with her significant other, so now I get to share it with mine. Please welcome the love of my life, my fiancé and our number one fan, mr Ed Duea.

Ed 0:57

Thank you so much, you guys. I am super excited to be here. I am a fanboy. Yeah, Got a Festie sticker out of my water mug.

Vanessa 1:08

And on your phone.

Ed 1:10

On my phone too.

Vanessa 1:11

yeah, On the back of his phone.

Vanessa 1:12

he has our QR code

Ed 1:13

Just so I can make sure that people can find the QR code and get to it

Sunny 1:18

Pro tip Clark put it on the under part of his hat.

Ed 1:21

Oh yeah,

Vanessa 1:22

oh yeah, that was what he was showing me do people leave those on there, like those circle thingies?

Ed 1:27

yeah, if you're cool, you do

Sunny 1:28

that was like

Ed 1:29

I'm not cool.

Sunny 1:36

That was like the cool gift to get a guy in middle school, do you remember?

Vanessa 1:40

Yeah

Sunny 1:40

, like you had to sneak sneakily, is that a word? Get their Head size.

Vanessa 1:45

Oh my god, I totally remember that you go to Lids at the mall buy something that's so funny.

Vanessa 1:50

Unlocked a memory.

Vanessa 1:51

I forgot about.

Ed 1:53

Guessing hat sizes. I had to guess finger size for rings.

Vanessa 1:57

Oh, you did good, baby.

Sunny 2:00

Where is your ring?

Vanessa 2:04

I wore it the last three days. I swear to God.

Sunny 2:06

Oh, my goodness.

Vanessa 2:09

Sorry, baby, I love you,

Ed 2:10

that's okay.

Ed 2:11

I love you.

Vanessa 2:13

Sorry, we're so gross Okay anyways we have Ed here with us today because we're going to talk about Bonnaroo finally,

Ed 2:18

oh yeah

Vanessa 2:19

.

Ed 2:19

I love Bonnaroo.

Vanessa 2:21

Yeah, it's been a long time coming for us. Ended so quickly.

Ed 2:26

Yeah,

Vanessa 2:27

we're going to talk about all the good stuff first.

Ed 2:29

You guys have talked about Bonnaroo on here before a little bit, but

Vanessa 2:32

We've talked about it a lot because it's my favorite festival.

Vanessa 2:36

But yes, Bonnaroo is like the best of the best festivals, I would say.

Vanessa 2:43

Not that I've been to all of them,

Ed 2:45

no but I would agree with that

Sunny 2:48

Not that I'm an expert.

Ed 2:50

Not by any means.

Vanessa 2:51

But it's an awesome festival in Manchester, Tennessee, and unfortunately this year it was cut short after one day. We're all very sad about it, but we made the best of it and we're going to talk about our whole experience.

Ed 3:04

Absolutely

Sunny 3:06

yeah, I'm stoked we're still doing a recap episode because

Ed 3:08

the one day we had was amazing,

Sunny 3:10

yeah even one day bonnaroo is could be so many stories, so I'm very excited to hear

Vanessa 3:16

and for many people it's not just one day like.

Vanessa 3:17

People literally get their tuesday like the tuesday before and it's a thursday through sunday festival right,

Ed 3:23

they canceled.

Ed 3:24

on Friday due to weather.

Vanessa 3:26

Yeah.

Ed 3:26

It was really wet, rainy, flooded. I don't think there was really a ton they could do about it. Yeah, unfortunately.

Vanessa 3:33

But we did have one great day. Do we want to start with getting there or no?

Vanessa 3:38

Actually, that was kind of an adventure too.

Sunny 3:40

I want to hear the story, I want to hear the whole thing.

Vanessa 3:42

We haven't told you anything,

Vanessa 3:43

huh,

Sunny 3:44

no,

Vanessa 3:45

so.

Ed 3:47

Start from the top

Clark 3:47

we have an episode

Vanessa 3:49

Yeah, every time we try and talk about it, we're like shut up.

Sunny 3:53

Don't talk about it,

Ed 3:53

don't even think about it.

Vanessa 3:56

So we had a layover in Chicago which was only supposed to be an hour, but it ended up being nine hours.

Sunny 4:05

Oh, I didn't realize that

Vanessa 4:06

it was great. They kept delaying it by like 30 minutes and then they kept changing our gates. We must have been to like three or four different gates and like just getting delayed by 20-30 minute increments, like four times, and then all of a sudden they're like 4 pm tonight.

Ed 4:19

It really seemed like they were just going to keep delaying it indefinitely until we didn't get there, but we got there,

Vanessa 4:25

yeah but when we got on our flight from san francisco to chicago, we met a guy that we sat next to who was so funny and like, so outgoing. He became our friends. He followed us on festies like it was great um. We were telling him all about the festival. He was like super excited for us. He was like tag me in avril lavigne.

Vanessa 4:44

I want to see her.

Vanessa 4:47

We never got to see Avril Lavigne.

Ed 4:49

She did not play. Shout out, farhan.

Vanessa 4:52

Yep. And then, once we got to Chicago, we had our big wave blanket out and a girl came up to us and she was like, oh, I have that same Bonnaroo blanket. And we're like, oh, it's not a Bonnaroo blanket, but are you going to Bonnaroo? And so we started talking. I think her name was Ellie, right, the girl at the airport in Chicago.

Ed 5:16

Yeah, there was a lot of people that were trying to get to Bonnaroo and were delayed, like us. So everyone was talking about renting a car and all these other things.

Vanessa 5:21

We were like, should we just drive there?

Ed 5:27

It was a seven or eight hour drive, I think, from chicago.

Vanessa 5:29

So what we did was we bought day passes to the american airlines lounge

Ed 5:31

and the admirals club.

Vanessa 5:32

So we spent the day in the lounge and that was honestly so worth it.

Ed 5:36

I mean,

Sunny 5:37

what's it like in there?

Ed 5:37

All you can eat are you can eat snacking foods

Clark 5:40

for two seconds.

Ed 5:41

Yeah,

Clark 5:41

could you scoot your chair forward.

Clark 5:43

I can hear it smacking against the yeah, just scoot your One more, because I know you'll just be oh yeah, you'll be like a little more animated.

Clark 5:51

Just go and then you'll just have that

Vanessa 5:53

Gag, gag, gag, gag, gag,

Sunny 5:54

culo.

Clark 5:54

Other than that, you're all good,

Ed 5:56

cool, thank you.

Clark 5:57

Perfect

Ed 6:03

be careful.

Sunny 6:04

Who put that there?

Ed 6:08

little tight quarters here in the recording studio.

Ed 6:11

I love it

Vanessa 6:13

Ed you're a natural.

Vanessa 6:14

I love it

Sunny 6:16

so what was it like in there in the lounge?

Vanessa 6:19

Oh my gosh, it was.

Ed 6:21

I've never seen the inside of something like that

Travel Adventures to Bonnaroo

Vanessa 6:23

it looks like it's going to be a tiny room and then it just keeps going.

Ed 6:26

A bunch of couches, a bar, a nice comfortable place to sit, all you can eat, charcuterie, a little salad bar. It was nice. You could drink beer Any domestic beers for free, included with your price.

Vanessa 6:38

It was so worth it.

Ed 6:39

I mean, we didn't drink, but

Vanessa 6:42

we could have Okay, so we finally got on our flight. We get to Nashville 5 pm-ish, I think it was 7, actually.

Ed 6:50

Early evening,

Vanessa 6:50

yeah 7.30.

Vanessa 6:52

We went and got our rental car and then we went straight to Mellow Mushroom.

Ed 6:56

Mellow Mushroom,

Vanessa 6:59

the best pizza place in the Midwest.

Ed 7:02

Yeah, they're not really around here in California. Huh,

Vanessa 7:03

no, I wish.

Vanessa 7:04

It literally okay. I haven't tried every other kind of pizza that they have there, but the what is I don't know what it's called the mushroom one is like the best, the best mushroom pizza.

Ed 7:12

It is. There's like four different kinds of mushrooms on it.

Vanessa 7:16

So good

Ed 7:16

it tastes very good.

Vanessa 7:17

And then Alex met us there, we had a couple beers and then we went back to his house. So, thank god for him, we had spent the night there and then we left early morning. Uh, the next day

Ed 7:27

yep, shout out, alex.

Ed 7:28

How you doing, alex?

Sunny 7:31

who went to bonnaroo with us in 2023,

Ed 7:34

he was a great time then too.

Ed 7:35

We tried to convince him to come with us

Clark 7:38

he was probably towing the line,

Ed 7:40

yeah I think he kind of wanted to, but it was his last weekend he was trying to get packed up and stuff.

Vanessa 7:45

Yeah, it was his last weekend in Nashville,

Ed 7:47

right,

Vanessa 7:47

their place was awesome. Yeah, it was spacious and they had a nice backyard.

Ed 7:53

Can't beat it yeah.

Vanessa 7:55

Good area too.

Ed 7:56

Something I miss about the Midwest and out there is just so much room and space and everybody can be comfortable and sprawl out.

Sunny 8:03

You can spin around with your arms out.

Vanessa 8:07

I remember you saying you miss just nice nights.

Ed 8:11

Yeah.

Vanessa 8:12

We don't get those here in California or in the Bay Area.

Ed 8:15

Where it'll just be 75 degrees or 80 at night and just comfortable.

Vanessa 8:20

Yeah, you're not cold.

Ed 8:21

You know,

Vanessa 8:22

yeah, and

Vanessa 8:23

I do. When you said that, I was like, oh yeah, that was really nice. We could just like go outside, and I mean sometimes it'd be too hot at night, but, like it's, you don't need a jacket when you know when you go out and stuff

Sunny 8:35

yeah

Vanessa 8:36

so we went to bed. Next morning we got up. Our plan was to like, try and get up at seven or be on the road at seven.

Vanessa 8:42

I think we woke up at 7 30 and just kind of strolled out, but honestly, easiest drive there

Ed 8:48

no issues,

Vanessa 8:48

literally we were the only car waiting to get in, because, well, we're in area 931, so it's like not anywhere near where all the other cars are going

Ed 8:57

not the regular ga camping area, where there's usually a lot

Vanessa 9:02

we were glamping, I was like, oh my God, this is so nice we got in. They opened up our trunk.

Ed 9:10

Then they asked us if we had any glass and we said no and they were like okay, have fun.

Vanessa 9:14

They're like do you have any?

Vanessa 9:15

firearms, any weapons. No, all right, you're good. So then we get in there, we pick our tent.

Vanessa 9:31

We try to pick the one where that's going to get the most shade because there's no covering

Ed 9:32

it was canvas and it had a like a big support pole in the middle.

Ed 9:34

I mean it was big enough for

Vanessa 9:34

two beds in there.

Ed 9:35

Yeah, there could have been like two elevated beds. I mean we had an what we have a queen mattress which was amazing elevated off the ground and even if it would have flooded over there, we wouldn't have had to worry about it, and it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be.

Vanessa 9:51

Yeah, it was nice and we had the ac unit in there and like a power strip

Ed 9:56

yeah, so our setup took 30 minutes maybe.

Ed 9:58

Yeah, and we were ready to go.

Vanessa 10:00

Yeah, it was nice.

Vanessa 10:01

Maybe even less than that, but

Ed 10:03

that was beautiful

Vanessa 10:03

and the parking lot, like where we parked our car, is like literally in that same area. So then we walked around area 931, because area 931 is so huge, like that part that we were in was just for like the glamping. And then you have regular camping in like behind us which is like woodsy, like it's so cool.

Vanessa 10:22

If it wasn't so hard to get to outer roo, I would camp there every time because you're in the shade, like there's trees everywhere you're covered, so you're not like burning in the heat

Ed 10:31

that was a really nice wooded camping area where all the expensive rvs were yeah, the prevost buses, the, the million dollar camping setups. I mean, it was amazing.

Vanessa 10:43

Yeah, but the downside is you cannot get to Outeroo. I thought there would be a jam track that would go from Outeroo to Area 931. There's literally no way to get there except for through Centeroo.

Sunny 10:59

You were so excited to do all the stuff in Outeroo.

Vanessa 11:02

Couldn't even get there.

Sunny 11:03

Rough,

Vanessa 11:04

I know

Ed 11:05

we could get there.

Ed 11:06

We just had to walk all the way from behind the witch stage to the arch, basically, which is all the way through to get to like the where in the woods or any of that other stuff

Setting Up the Glamping Experience

Vanessa 11:20

so that was something I think they need to upgrade, but I think a lot of it is like the people that are camped back there want to be out there. I feel, like they don't want to be where all the crazy stuff is happening.

Sunny 11:32

Right, that's like the point.

Vanessa 11:33

Right which I didn't put that all together.

Sunny 11:36

Did it feel less of a communal vibe over there?

Vanessa 11:39

Yeah,

Sunny 11:40

it did?

Ed 11:40

it kind of did yeah

Ed 11:41

That was the one thing about it, that wasn't ideal

Sunny 11:45

you weren't like partying with your neighbors and stuff.

Vanessa 11:47

I mean, we said hi to them when they were setting up. The tent next to us got there while we were setting up. We introduced ourselves, but they were like an older couple

Ed 11:55

Everybody was pretty friendly but kind of wanted to keep to themselves.

Ed 11:58

it seemed like

Sunny 11:59

Got it yeah.

Vanessa 12:01

I mean they weren't like being negative or anything.

Ed 12:03

No, not at all.

Vanessa 12:04

Yeah, they just weren't like super inviting.

Sunny 12:07

Not like come over and play beer pong with us.

Vanessa 12:09

I feel like if we had gone up, not the people next to us, but the people after that.

Vanessa 12:12

I feel like if we had invited them over, went over, they would have been chill.

Ed 12:15

If I was to do that again, I think I would either take an RV or make friends with someone, someone that has one,

Vanessa 12:22

yeah but we were right across from rvs.

Vanessa 12:25

Yeah, but they seem like a family right, it was like they're older people and then younger people seemed like they were like a family that was their kids, yeah

Ed 12:35

everybody was having a good time

Vanessa 12:36

yeah, oh, we ran into this lady that was putting up a iowa hawkeye easy up and she was like in her 60s, she was by herself,

Sunny 12:44

oh what

Ed 12:45

super cool lady.

Ed 12:46

I saw her putting it up by herself.

Ed 12:48

I said, well, we gotta help her

Sunny 12:50

oh yeah,

Vanessa 12:51

we went over there and we helped her put up her canopy and

Ed 12:53

I said, we're always willing to help a hawkeye fan, you know

Vanessa 12:57

and she had iowa state people

Ed 12:59

right next to her.

Vanessa 13:00

Right next to her,

Ed 13:00

she didn't know, which was kind of crazy really

Vanessa 13:02

yeah, she said she was telling them I'm to offend you with my canopy, but it'll be okay. Then, anyways, we went back and we were looking for somebody to ask about the jam track, because at that point we didn't know that we couldn't get over there. We were like, how do we get over there,

Ed 13:16

the jam

Ed 13:16

track is essentially just an ATV with carts behind it, almost like a train that you can ride on to get to different places in Outeroo and stuff like that. They changed it this year because it used to run all over the camp but now it only goes to two places.

Vanessa 13:33

The tolls

Ed 13:34

yeah it goes from the arch to the two furthest corners in the opposite direction from where we were.

Ed 13:41

Which wasn't too handy for us.

Vanessa 13:43

No,

Sunny 13:43

Not at all.

Vanessa 13:45

We were trying to go to the info booth or where they had ice, so, because we were looking to ask somebody these questions, and a golf cart comes up to us. He's like, hey, you have any questions? And it ended up being this guy named ricky who's the manager of area 931, and he was so awesome. We were like explaining to him how do we get to outer roo and he was like, oh yeah, that's my favorite part of Bonnaroo is like all that stuff out there. It's like, yeah, so how do we get there? What did he say?

Vanessa 14:14

he was like I've been trying to

Ed 14:15

he said he's been trying to tell them that there needs to be a better way for 931 to be connected to outer or people to have the option to get there and stuff. I just told him yeah, people don't listen to me at work either, you know.

Vanessa 14:31

So we were asking him like how are we supposed to get over there on Saturday when we're supposed to run the Roo Run, because we had signed up to do the 5K at Bonnaroo.

Ed 14:40

There was a silver lining. It got cancelled, darn it, we didn't have to do that. 5k.

Sunny 14:46

Darn.

Ed 14:50

I was ready to go too.

Vanessa 14:52

You actually did run with me twice before we practiced.

Ed 14:55

Exactly, I said I was ready.

Vanessa 14:59

So annoying. He just like

Sunny 15:00

did he run fine.

Vanessa 15:01

Yes, just like jogs, like it ain't no thing. So we were explaining our dilemma to him and he was like he gave us his number and he was like I will do everything in my power to get you guys to the Roo Run. Maybe it'll be a few more people. We'll see. Text me tomorrow.

Sunny 15:15

Ooh, golf cart.

Ed 15:16

Super nice, helpful guy. Yeah, he was like I'll run you guys over there and when it's done I'll make sure that you don't have to walk all the way back because you just ran a 5K.

Sunny 15:24

Oh yeah,

Ed 15:24

it's like wow, that's pretty nice of you.

Vanessa 15:27

It's the Bonnaroovian spirit right there.

Ed 15:30

I couldn't imagine going to ask them, like we demand a golf cart or something you know.

Sunny 15:34

They probably get people like that.

Ed 15:36

Oh, I'm sure they do in that area.

Vanessa 15:39

Yeah. Yeah, that is true, I didn't think about that.

Ed 15:41

Yeah,

Vanessa 15:42

I thought we were going to raise hell or something.

Ed 15:43

Yeah.

Sunny 15:44

Complain,

Vanessa 15:45

yeah.

Sunny 15:45

Write a strongly worded letter.

Vanessa 15:48

Sir, I'm the most opposite of that,

Sunny 15:53

would never complain.

Vanessa 15:54

I'll drive you around, sir. Okay, so we went back to camp right after that and we were like, let's go splash in the fountain.

Ed 16:03

Right in the fountain.

Vanessa 16:05

So we did that this year.

Vanessa 16:06

Finally see,

Vanessa 16:07

we did so many things our first day

Ed 16:09

we went for it thursday and it's a good thing we did, because that was the only day we got

Sunny 16:15

yeah,

Vanessa 16:15

yeah.

Vanessa 16:15

I would have been so mad at myself if we were like let's take it easy today and just chill.

Sunny 16:20

Yeah,

Vanessa 16:21

no,

Sunny 16:21

that'd be me.

Vanessa 16:22

That would have been so mad. I'm glad we didn't do it.

Ed 16:24

I would have never let you hear the end of it

Sunny 16:28

how was the fountain?

Vanessa 16:30

it was so

Ed 16:31

it was wet

Sunny 16:37

wow as advertised

Vanessa 16:39

it was so hot, and so it felt so it was,

Ed 16:41

it was perfect, yeah.

Vanessa 16:42

Yeah, and then we just started walking around. There was a mystery beer tent,

Sunny 16:47

ooh.

Ed 16:48

Five bucks,

Vanessa 16:48

five dollars, yeah, and it was like a tall can of, just like a random beer.

Ed 16:53

It was like old beers that looked like they'd been rolling around in the back of a semi or something, all scratched up, and they couldn't sell them or something, and they were good, I don't know. I got some german doppelbach beer and you got I don't know what you got.

Vanessa 17:07

It tasted like a twisted tea. I was like it was perfect for us, like that's what I drink.

Vanessa 17:11

That's what

Ed 17:11

every beer they had, though, was something I've never seen before or heard of. It was interesting, but, and then we never went back there, even though that was the best place to go get a beer.

Vanessa 17:20

Yeah yeah, he was like we're gonna come here again

Vanessa 17:24

I was like okay.

Vanessa 17:25

We never went back. We forgot all about it

Sunny 17:28

Genius marketing Mystery what's in here?

Vanessa 17:33

We walked by the oasis. We were going to go on the slip and slide, but we didn't get to do that.

Sunny 17:37

What's the oasis?

Vanessa 17:38

In the corner over there between this stage and the other stage in the back along that wall there's like an oasis, so it's like a sand yeah, there's like a beach kind of

Ed 17:52

people playing beach volleyball. There's a water slide of some kind yeah,

Vanessa 17:57

so I really wanted to go on the water slide, but we didn't get to do that

Sunny 17:59

yeah,

Vanessa 17:59

but we walked over there and we saw people like waiting in line to get on.

Vanessa 18:03

It looked really fun, but my socks were wet, so the really nice thing about our campsite, though, was that we were literally like 30 seconds from the entrance that's maybe one minute.

Ed 18:13

It was, yeah, a whole different experience than the last two times that I've been, because, yeah, if you wanted to go back to camp after being in center roo, you'd have to walk a mile at least

Sunny 18:25

yeah,

Ed 18:25

you know round trip, who knows? It was a whole, a whole thing. But we went back and forth to our campsite four or five times like it was nothing

Sunny 18:33

Nice.

Ed 18:34

We could just go in there, chug a beer and come back, if we wanted.

Ed 18:39

Not miss anything.

Vanessa 18:40

Yeah,

Ed 18:40

it was very convenient.

Vanessa 18:42

We did do that a couple times. So we went back out, I changed my socks and my shoes, we went back inside and we saw the first people. Drop tines, drop tines

Ed 18:51

they were very good too.

Vanessa 18:52

We saw them at the.

Ed 18:54

That Tent,

Vanessa 18:55

that Tent

Ed 18:56

by the VIP area.

Sunny 18:57

What kind of music?

Vanessa 18:58

Oh, like country rock maybe.

Vanessa 19:00

Country,

Ed 19:01

more so country Drop Tine is like the part of a deer antler.

Sunny 19:05

Oh,

Ed 19:05

that's what that is.

Sunny 19:07

I did not know that

Ed 19:09

she kept wanting to say Drop Teens.

Vanessa 19:14

I always call them.

Vanessa 19:15

Drop teens. They're spelled D-R-O-P-T-I-N-E-S.

Sunny 19:16

There's an E at the end. The vowel says it's name.

Ed 19:19

That's how you know they're country. They're named after a part of a deer antler.

Sunny 19:23

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, freeze You've never heard that.

Vanessa 19:26

Say it again.

Sunny 19:27

We went to all the same schools, so you've never heard this. When there's an E at the end of the word, the vowel in the word says its name. I.

Vanessa 19:36

Maybe I was in ESL classes when you guys learned that,

Sunny 19:39

oh my God, that's the rule, right.

Sunny 19:42

Usually

Vanessa 19:43

that makes sense.

Ed 19:44

I thought it was.

Ed 19:45

I before E, except after C.

Vanessa 19:48

That one I use all the time. I love the drop tines. I don't really know what else to say about it. Oh, they did not look like how I thought they looked.

Ed 19:54

They were young.

Vanessa 19:55

They sound like scruffy and like rough a little bit, but they were like young. They looked like young hipsters, to be honest.

Ed 20:03

Early 20s. They're from Texas. I think,

Vanessa 20:05

yeah, they're from Texas.

Vanessa 20:14

After them we went to Planet Roo, which was like this big tent in the middle that had the house stage inside of it. We went and saw the what Podcast guys do like a live panel with Brad Parker.

Ed 20:20

Brad Parker, the general manager. What did they say?

Vanessa 20:24

He's the director of C3.

Ed 20:25

Director of Human Activity.

Vanessa 20:26

I said that

Vanessa 20:27

what are

Vanessa 20:30

you God.

Vanessa 20:32

Anyways, the director who basically puts on bonnaroo was there up there with them. And then who were the two ladies?

Vanessa 20:38

I didn't you wrote stuff down about that

Ed 20:40

I can't remember her name, but there was a couple different ladies up there. One of them had a story that I thought was cool. She's been to every bonnaroo. She was probably mid-six, mid-60s maybe, I don't know. Yeah, she had been to every bonnaroo and and her parents which I mean I'm assuming they're fairly old she said that they would get in the car during Bonnaroo time and just kind of drive around and look for anyone that was walking to pick them up and give them a ride to Bonnaroo, because they knew that's where they would be going.

Ed 21:07

And I just thought that was really cute.

Vanessa 21:09

That's so awesome,

Sunny 21:13

that is cute.

Vanessa 21:15

And the guy brad parker, he seemed really cool. I mean that's got to be such a hard job and he like puts himself out there face forward like to everyone. Like you know, this is who I am,

Ed 21:23

yeah,

Vanessa 21:24

and so I mean he seems awesome. But I'm sure he got so much hate directed at him probably, or anger and frustration, but, um, I mean obviously it's not his own doing

Ed 21:35

no, not at all

Vanessa 21:36

you can't predict the weather

Ed 21:37

no

Vanessa 21:38

because he's so like open and everything.

Vanessa 21:40

I just feel bad for him because he probably got

Ed 21:42

yeah, he's.

Ed 21:43

He says I'm, I'm the target I'll be out there.

Sunny 21:45

Yeah,

Ed 21:46

he's what he said. I can take it so

Vanessa 21:48

and he also.

Vanessa 21:49

He started out as like just I think in 2009,. He said, right, he attended.

Ed 21:54

He went, lied to his parents about going, said he was going to sleep over somewhere, and then went to Bonnaroo for the first time and I think he started working volunteering that year and he worked every single one since then, and now he's running the whole thing.

Sunny 22:10

Wow,

Ed 22:10

I thought that was pretty cool.

Sunny 22:11

Yeah,

Ed 22:11

he seemed like a really interesting guy.

Vanessa 22:14

Yeah,

Sunny 22:15

did they mention anything about the other founder who had passed away?

Ed 22:18

They did,

Vanessa 22:18

they did yeah.

Vanessa 22:20

They did mention him and I want to pull up his name. His name was Jonathan Mayers. He was one of the co-founders. He died like a few days before Bonnaroo.

Sunny 22:28

Did they ever say how?

Vanessa 22:28

No, no,

Sunny 22:30

I think that's really special that you guys went to go sit down at the podcast.

Vanessa 22:33

Yeah, I mean

Ed 22:34

it was really cool.

Ed 22:35

We ran into our friend Caleb that does the Bonnaroo yearbook.

Sunny 22:39

Yeah,

Vanessa 22:40

yeah, he remembered us Well, I think also because we had just posted the photo of us. I posted it online and saw it. And I showed him the picture that him and Ed took together, because when we met him a couple years ago they were wearing like the same kind of outfit

Sunny 22:53

oh, yeah, yeah

Vanessa 22:53

and so I showed him that picture and he was like oh, this made it into the 2023 yearbook, so I bought the 2023 one.

Ed 23:00

Yeah so I'm famous.

Ed 23:02

I didn't even know it he had one from last year with him, right?

Vanessa 23:07

yeah,

Ed 23:08

it was really cool

Vanessa 23:09

I was able to buy the one from 2023, and then I also bought this year's. I put a Festie sticker in it.

Sunny 23:15

Yay.

Ed 23:17

So, Caleb, if you're listening, where is that yearbook?

Vanessa 23:21

It takes time. It hasn't even been a month,

Ed 23:23

no, I'm just kidding.

Ed 23:25

Thanks, caleb, you're the man.

Vanessa 23:27

Actually, caleb wants to come on the podcast, so he gave me his phone number. I have to like reach out to him and see what when works for him, but we would love to have him on and tell us all about this journey. He's on with Bonnaroo yearbook. It's really cool,

Sunny 23:39

great idea

Vanessa 23:40

yeah after that we left a little early because we wanted to see the kitchen dwellers at this tent, that tent

Ed 23:49

this tent

Vanessa 23:50

this, that, yeah, because this, that and the other goes.

Vanessa 23:53

That's how it goes, right in that order this, that and the other. That's how I remember it. Okay, so this tent we saw kitchen dwellers for a little bit. They were awesome, they were jamming

Ed 24:01

they were very good

Vanessa 24:02

but we didn't stay too long um, we went back to camp um to like, I think, chug a beer.

Vanessa 24:10

We went back inside and the what guys podcast was just finishing and we didn't get a chance to talk to them. So I was like let's go see if we can talk to them. They're still they're. They should be finishing right now

Sunny 24:21

the what guys

Sunny 24:21

they do a podcast. That's all about Bonnaroo.

Vanessa 24:24

Yeah, sorry,

Ed 24:24

a year-round podcast of Bonnaroo, with an episode every week

Vanessa 24:29

if that doesn't tell you how much these men, these grown-ass men, love bonnaroo

Ed 24:35

they were really cool guys

Vanessa 24:36

they are really cool and

Ed 24:37

they said they wanted to meet as many people as possible

Ed 24:40

that listen or whatever

Vanessa 24:42

yeah, they were so nice.

Vanessa 24:44

I feel very awkward, I feel very weird about our interaction, because I don't know what it was, but they were so nice. But we, like I went up to barry and I was like hi, like I'm so sorry to bother you, and he was like you're not bothering me at all, whatever, but they were having a conversation with somebody else

Ed 25:03

the guy they were having a conversation was with the guy who runs soberoo, remember

Vanessa 25:08

, oh,

Sunny 25:08

someone important

Ed 25:11

and

Ed 25:11

they and they were like, yeah, we'll take a picture with you, and we just felt bad because we interrupted them, but they're really nice, so

Vanessa 25:16

I and you know how I am, it like took everything in me just to even go up to them and then I was like fuck, this was like the wrong time. We totally interrupted something, but they were so cool about it obviously

Sunny 25:28

it was fine yeah

Vanessa 25:29

, I'm sure it was fine, but I just felt so awkward, it felt weird it.

Ed 25:31

it felt weird.

Vanessa 25:32

It did feel weird and so, but they were super nice. We got a picture with them. You know we told them we love their podcast. I gave them each a Festies bracelet.

Sunny 25:40

So you told them about the podcast.

Vanessa 25:42

Kind of but this is what I mean Like I felt so awkward.

Ed 25:44

We just didn't have a lot of time talking to them

Vanessa 25:47

maybe waited until it seemed like they were maybe done, but it also kind of seemed like they were just hanging out there you know, I don't know.

Vanessa 25:54

So

Sunny 25:55

I do a podcast too!

Vanessa 25:56

Yeah, I was like there's so many things I could have said, like I just

Sunny 26:00

you're an inspiration

Vanessa 26:01

right. Like none, like it just all felt so weird Cause I just felt so bad interrupting them. So I I just wish I had gone different. But yeah, we have every other year like they're, they're gonna be there so I can redeem myself.

Sunny 26:17

Well, I'm proud of you for doing that in the first place, because I know that must have been very hard for you to go up and interrupt

Vanessa 26:24

I know fuck why am I like this?

Vanessa 26:29

so then, after that, we went and saw rubble to Rubble no.

Ed 26:33

Rubble to Rubble Wilderado yes.

Vanessa 26:35

Okay, we went and saw Wilderado At the main stage. They were incredible.

Ed 26:40

That is the what stage yeah?

Vanessa 26:42

Yes.

Ed 26:43

The what stage, which is permanently built.

Sunny 26:45

Which is.

Ed 26:48

It's like a giant stage that stays there all the time. It's like a big structure. It's really nice.

Sunny 26:52

Oh, it's always there.

Ed 26:52

Yeah, it's like a giant stage that stays there all the time.

Ed 26:54

It's really nice. Oh, it's always there. Yeah, it's the only one. All the other ones get built for the week.

Sunny 26:59

Oh, interesting.

Live Music Highlights: Day One

Ed 27:00

But that one they put some money into. Yeah, it's like a big, thing, but anyway, I was going to say Wilderado oh yeah, I can't remember the lead singer's name, but he said he was just amazed that he was playing on that stage at that time of day and he was really excited about it. And it was like maybe 5 or 6 pm and they put on such a good show.

Vanessa 27:27

He gave a little shout out to his wife and kids at home. We were on the live stream. It was really cute. So after Wildorado we went and saw the Lemon Twigs. What did you say about the Lemon Twigs.

Ed 27:35

I know they were really young and like wearing bell bottoms. They looked like they walked out of London in 1964 or something.

Ed 27:43

It was crazy.

Vanessa 27:44

That's what they sound like too.

Ed 27:45

They do.

Vanessa 27:46

They're the ones I told you that sound like the Beatles.

Ed 27:47

You've heard them clark.

Clark 27:55

We've seen them at outside lands.

Ed 27:55

Oh okay oh, cool,

Clark 27:56

I've, I've seen them twice.

Ed 27:57

Yeah, I like their sound, they're good.

Clark 27:58

Yeah, they're, they're brothers,

Ed 27:59

okay, yeah how many years ago was that and when you saw them?

Clark 28:02

they've been making music a long time,

Ed 28:03

that's crazy because they look so young.

Clark 28:06

They're just. They're just like these spindly young guys yeah

Sunny 28:10

yeah wild and crazy guys.

Ed 28:11

Yeah, lemon twigs yeah,

Vanessa 28:13

yeah, literally.

Clark 28:14

They both play like all the instruments, they both play like everything.

Vanessa 28:18

Well, that's interesting, because they seem to have more time than music.

Ed 28:24

Yeah, they ended up with 10 extra minutes that they didn't plan for in their set and they were like well, we got 10 minutes. He was like 10 minutes. He said we're going to play a couple Beach Boys songs for you. They played Good Vibrations, they were really good.

Vanessa 28:42

He said they could be a really good Beach Boys cover band.

Sunny 28:45

Oh wow.

Clark 28:46

I wonder if they were doing that on purpose, though.

Vanessa 28:48

I was going to bring that up because you said that he had just died.

Sunny 28:52

They were doing that on purpose.

Sunny 29:00

Brian Wilson, that's definitely why for sure,

Clark 29:03

because they're also very sarcastic

Ed 29:09

Okay.

Ed 29:12

Yeah, to mess with people type of thing.

Ed 29:14

Yeah, that's awesome. I love that.

Clark 29:16

I wonder if that's what's happening?

Ed 29:18

It could be yeah.

Clark 29:19

It seems like it.

Ed 29:22

I'd be really curious to know what that was about, but either way, their Beach Boys covers were top notch.

Vanessa 29:28

Okay, After them went and saw Marcus King, which holy crap

Ed 29:33

Marcus king was amazing,

Vanessa 29:35

so talented blew us away, yeah what did you say, ed?

Ed 29:39

you were like he must have sold his soul to the devil to play the guitar.

Ed 29:42

That good

Vanessa 29:44

so good and he looks like he's 12. He's got such a baby face but he's like probably in his late 30s or something. I I don't know. I have to look it up.

Ed 29:52

Super high energy. I mean, that's what I like to say about Luke Combs too. He just comes out like he's shot out of a cannon, Like wow.

Sunny 30:01

Yeah, did he play with a band?

Vanessa 30:03

Yeah, Marcus King Band, I think is what it said on the back.

Sunny 30:06

He's 29.

Vanessa 30:09

29. Yeah.

Vanessa 30:10

Well, he looks 12.

Ed 30:11

I believe it.

Vanessa 30:12

I'd believe it if you said he was 21. Like he looks so young.

Ed 30:15

But his wife looks older.

Vanessa 30:17

Yeah, and she's hot,

Ed 30:18

but she came out and sang a song with him, and she was pretty good too.

Vanessa 30:21

Yeah, she had a great voice. Okay, moving on.

Sunny 30:25

This is all one day, are you sure?

Vanessa 30:26

Yeah,

Vanessa 30:27

I know

Ed 30:28

I told you it was an amazing day.

Vanessa 30:29

I told you we fucking went balls to the wall. I'm so glad we did so. Actually, here we wanted to go back because it was getting cold and I wanted to put pants on. So we went back to camp, but when we were leaving, the infinity stage was popping off.

Sunny 30:45

Calling your name.

Vanessa 30:46

No, it was so crowded.

Vanessa 30:48

We couldn't even get to our exit.

Ed 30:49

It's right by the entrance to 931 camping area, so we had to get through there and all the EDM fans were there for whoever was on that stage, and we couldn't even fight our way through there hardly.

Sunny 31:02

They're usually pretty good at letting you through the crowd.

Vanessa 31:05

No, I mean they were. It wasn't like hard, but it was like we had to. It was like trying to get out of a crowded area just to get to our exit to 931.

Ed 31:13

That was the only time that was an issue.

Sunny 31:16

I saw a video that said it was probably a good thing that Bonnaroo got canceled. Because of the logistics of that stage it was probably dangerous.

Vanessa 31:23

It was in way too small of a space it needed to be like the other stage size,

Ed 31:29

I think when we actually went to it when it was after ICP, there wasn't that many people there and we could get inside it and there's speakers overhead and all around. It was like I mean, it was really cool.

Vanessa 31:44

It was definitely a cool concept. Ed's the only one that I've heard say it was really cool which is crazy because he doesn't even like EDM, but people, everyone online is saying that the Infinity Stage was a dud Like. The idea is definitely cool.

Ed 31:56

I think the only problem is too many people being at it at one time. If there was no EDM there, I'd be happy about it.

Vanessa 32:04

And it was the stage closest to our campsite.

Ed 32:08

And yeah, people saying it wasn't loud Like it was loud, we could hear it, but it stopped pretty loud, like it was loud.

Ed 32:13

But it stopped pretty early.

Vanessa 32:15

Well, that day

Ed 32:17

yeah. But

Vanessa 32:19

at the end of the night it was like 2 am. We were recapping our day and Ed was like the DJ ended, it was 2 am and it was all done, but he thought it went at 5 am. I was like no, it was 2 am, he goes. Best day ever.

Sunny 32:38

They have to switch out a USB stick.

Ed 32:41

I had quite the sigh of relief on that one.

Vanessa 32:43

He did. I actually have it recorded because we recorded a recap of our whole day.

Sunny 32:47

Oh, thank goodness, that's so funny.

Vanessa 32:54

Oh, so funny.

Sunny 32:54

So you have to fight your way through the infinity stage to go get some pants.

Vanessa 32:56

Let's go get dressed and get more comfy. My shoes are bothering me too. So then we did all that went back in for lucas, for luke combs I love, ed he did this on stagecoach too, he'll be, like that lucas,

Sunny 33:10

lucas go to your room.

Ed 33:13

He's good he's a good one

Vanessa 33:15

okay, luke combs came out with a banger. I love that song.

Vanessa 33:20

He came out and did one too many and he always shotguns a beer on stage

Ed 33:23

fun part at bonnaroo because a lot of people don't know luke combs that we're standing next to in the crowd like that stagecoach. Everybody is a huge luke combs fan, but at bonnaroo people are like well, who's this guy?

Ed 33:34

you know,

Sunny 33:35

oh interesting.

Ed 33:35

But then he comes out and does that and people were like what, I'm loving it.

Vanessa 33:39

Yeah, it was crazy. And he went up there too and he was like I'm so thankful that you guys are here, like there was a part of me would be here, because he's the first country headliner at Bonnaroo.

Ed 33:52

That doesn't sound right to me,

Vanessa 33:53

that's what he said

Ed 33:55

I think he might be right.

Sunny 33:58

Bonnaroo used to be the Grand Ole Opry.

Vanessa 34:01

That Thursday, but I don't think anybody played on the main stage.

Vanessa 34:05

I think they had a bunch of other people.

Vanessa 34:06

They never had a headliner.

Sunny 34:08

Oh, I see Grand Ole, opry, that's all country Isn't it?

Vanessa 34:15

okay. But he had a packed crowd and he was like I'm so happy, you guys so thankful, you guys are here. He's just such a great guy and I've always had that feeling about him. But then I have a friend who works like with celebrities and she was telling me she was like dude luke combs is like one of the nicest guys

Sunny 34:28

oh yeah

Vanessa 34:30

like

Ed 34:30

it's always nice to hear,

Vanessa 34:31

yeah, yeah he brought out miranda lambert.

Vanessa 34:34

They did a song together. She did a song on her own. Yeah, who else did he bring? Oh, he brought out. I'm gonna get his name wrong, but john

Ed 34:44

he does vocals on an illenium track

Vanessa 34:47

I literally yes, I didn't know who he was. They did they have a song together. They did their song and then they started doing Good Things Fall Apart by Illenium. That's the song that he's on.

Ed 34:59

Craziest part was the whole time at Bonnaroo I didn't see a single person wearing an Illenium jersey. Can you believe that?

Vanessa 35:07

So

Vanessa 35:08

after Luke Combs. Oh, and he did Fast Cars. I just have to say he's the most amazing storyteller. I love his stories he tells before every song, and maybe it's just the fact that I wasn't sober. Like I appreciate all of it so much. He told the story of Fast Car, one of his biggest hits in his career, and he was just like they just had extra time on the album and he was like let's just record a cover of Fast.

Vanessa 35:28

Car.

Ed 35:34

Actually, speaking of that, the most amazing thing I thought about that was he knew that song as a young kid and then, when he tried to learn it to play it on guitar, he said it took him three months to learn how to play that and to be able to sing at the same time.

Clark 35:42

Almost any time someone's finger-picking a melody like that on guitar and they're singing on top of it. That is very hard to do.

Vanessa 35:49

Yeah,

Clark 35:50

like 90% of the time, but if they're doing, any, you're doing multiple stuff like that and it's like really moving and has a lot of movement.

Clark 35:58

That's hard.

Vanessa 35:58

Yeah, he was just telling us the story. While he was doing that, the whole time I was like you're amazing.

Clark 36:04

It's got to be subconscious

Vanessa 36:05

I can't wait for you guys to see it at Austin City Limits

Ed 36:08

All right, the secret's out. It's gonna be awesome yeah

Vanessa 36:14

okay, after that we went and got the best chicken tenders that brought us back to life

Sunny 36:20

those look so good

Vanessa 36:21

they were like literally straight off of a whole chicken.

Vanessa 36:24

Ed found a bone in his and he was like fuck, yes, that means it's fresh and it's so good

Ed 36:30

it was like it looked like they actually had a bird back there in the tent and they were just cutting it up and throwing it in the fryer and it was good.

Sunny 36:37

Yum

Vanessa 36:38

yeah.

Ed 36:39

We basically had to wait for Daniel Donato to finish, and then Insane Clown Posse was coming on after him. Oop, which, wow,

Vanessa 36:48

dude.

Vanessa 36:48

Okay, I'm going to be honest, I never knew any Insane clown posse song until I found out they were going to be at bonnaroo and I started listening to the playlist and yeah, and I let me pull out my adjectives a little bit I pull out my adjectives

Ed 37:05

I've always kind of liked icp, so I thought it was really cool

Clark 37:09

how do they? Work.

Vanessa 37:11

Their music is so like aggressive, hardcore, provocative, hateful.

Ed 37:17

I mean maybe not so much hateful, but that's close.

Clark 37:22

Violent,

Vanessa 37:23

violent.

Clark 37:24

Maybe we say

Ed 37:25

their one song is like chop, chop, chop my axe, yeah, yeah.

Vanessa 37:30

I mean sick,

Ed 37:31

but their whole production is just insane.

Vanessa 37:40

spot and we're watching them set up the whole stage.

Ed 37:44

We were waiting for 45 minutes and it was completely just packed. Everyone was there waiting, so I'm glad we got in there when we did.

Vanessa 37:53

We're watching them pull out carts and carts of fago two liter bottles of cola, basically. And then what did they do after

Vanessa 38:02

that?

Ed 38:02

Oh, they started wrapping all the cameras, any equipment. They started wrapping it all in plastic duct tape they were putting plastic everywhere. I mean, I I was like this is not going to be good.

Ed 38:16

People in the front row are about to be Faygoed.

Vanessa 38:19

I have never been to a show, never heard of what their show was like. Ed apparently knew what was coming, but I he was like they're about to just spray the whole crowd with Faygo.

Sunny 38:28

And you didn't bring your ponchos.

Vanessa 38:30

We weren't in the splash zone.

Ed 38:31

We were luckily like 10, 15 feet back from where we would have got hit.

Sunny 38:35

It's the splash zone.

Insane Clown Posse and Faygo Madness

Ed 38:37

They are like shaking up these bottles and then twisting the caps off and just letting them fly and they were hitting the roof and the tent. I mean projectiles.

Vanessa 38:46

And do you remember how high those ceilings were? Yeah, yeah, they were hitting the tent,

Ed 38:51

I mean 100 miles high

Vanessa 38:52

those ceilings were.

Ed 38:52

They were hitting the tent like the ceiling.

Vanessa 38:55

They would have these fago breaks throughout their whole set, where 10 clowns would come out and just start shaking bottles and spraying the crowd and then during those breaks they would bring it out in buckets and just toss it at the crowd

Ed 39:10

giant buckets full of.

Vanessa 39:13

I thought that was their opening. They did that the entire fucking time.

Ed 39:17

Just every song or two. They'd be like Faygo, who wants? Some Faygo, faygo, and then they'd come out and just start spraying everybody again.

Vanessa 39:27

The whole time. As soon as the two liter bottles would get empty on the stage, somebody was out there with crates, like filling it back up.

Vanessa 39:35

I was like

Ed 39:36

they had pallets. They must have had a whole semi full of this stuff to bring there

Vanessa 39:41

and I remember thinking like they're littering so much.

Vanessa 39:44

But at one point I was like, once everyone leaves, I'm gonna go up there and get a bottle right. And then I see this girl leaving the crowd with one, like she's like crutching onto one, and I'm like, oh, everyone wants one of these.

Vanessa 39:59

Like there is not going to be any bottle on the floor.

Vanessa 40:03

And I was like, yeah, you're also someone that wants the bottle. Like what are you talking about? I was like I don't know, I just pictured a graveyard of fango bottles on the ground, for some reason.

Ed 40:13

It must have shot off a thousand of them into the crowd, and there we only found one.

Vanessa 40:18

We did find one.

Vanessa 40:21

I was like OK, I was like that was dumb of me. Obviously there's not going to be any, but let's still walk over there and see, like we weren't that far. And I just happened to be walking behind a girl that had one in her hand and she looked around and put it down. I grabbed it and I was like you don't want this, she goes, I have one.

Vanessa 40:37

I was like, oh sick,

Sunny 40:39

oh, right in front of you. What are the odds?

Vanessa 40:42

That was awesome. I got one because I'm also a fucking idiot.

Ed 40:46

Yeah, what did you do?

Sunny 40:47

Uh-oh,

Vanessa 40:59

there was some at the bottom and I wanted to try it, so I fucking dipped it back and it was all dirt,

Ed 41:02

just some liquid dirt.

Ed 41:04

I said what'd you learn?

Sunny 41:05

you couldn't stop her in time.

Vanessa 41:08

He was like he was, like. You're never gonna forget that now

Ed 41:15

caught me off guard.

Ed 41:15

I didn't think you were actually going to drink that

Sunny 41:20

it all happened so fast

Vanessa 41:23

okay, listen the amount of fago that was thrown out. I was inhaling and coughing from the carbonation like I could smell it,

Ed 41:30

I could feel it in the air.

Vanessa 41:32

Our bodies felt so sticky because it was like just in the air it was so crazy.

Clark 41:37

There were probably fans on stage that were just like

Vanessa 41:40

there's fans on the ceiling.

Vanessa 41:41

Yeah, yeah,

Sunny 41:43

how long was their set?

Vanessa 41:45

like an hour probably close to an hour

Sunny 41:47

was that the last live music you guys saw?

Vanessa 41:50

but when we were walking back, the infinity stage was still going.

Ed 41:55

So, yeah, that was the last live music that we saw. Well, what a good, because at the Infinity Stage.

Ed 41:59

It was a.

Ed 42:00

DJ.

Sunny 42:00

It's not live music,

Vanessa 42:02

just loves to hate on EDM.

Sunny 42:04

It's so easy.

Ed 42:07

No, that was fun, though, when we went to the Infinity Stage, because there was no one there at that time.

Sunny 42:11

Yeah.

Ed 42:12

And we could get inside it and hear the spatial audio and it was really cool.

Sunny 42:17

That's dope,

Vanessa 42:19

yeah, but like you kind of had to be inside of it to really experience it. And I think that's why a lot of people were bitching because it was so packed and crowded that if you were out there not near it. You couldn't really get a sense for it.

Ed 42:30

You wouldn't get that full experience, but it was still loud.

Sunny 42:33

Well then, people would probably still try, would squish and try to.

Vanessa 42:37

Yeah, try too hard to get under it, right yeah, ed thought that maybe he he wants to get like an aerial view of it, because we heard some girls saying like oh cool, is this like in the shape of the bonnaroo symbol

Ed 42:48

because it has three.

Vanessa 42:49

It was like three circles

Ed 42:50

three circle areas.

Ed 42:51

So

Sunny 42:52

I think it was

Ed 42:52

it kind of seems like it is, but I could not find an aerial photo of it, for some reason oh, there was actually, but there was just at night and it was just all lights right and you couldn't see the layout of the thing really well.

Sunny 43:05

I'm glad you got to enjoy it for a little bit.

Sunny 43:06

The infinity stage

Ed 43:08

yeah, I hope they bring it back. I hope they bring Bonnaroo back.

Sunny 43:11

I was going to say Bonnaroo

Vanessa 43:14

So then the next day Was the day they cancelled it, but we actually did make it into Centeroo Friday morning for breakfast

Ed 43:24

To go get something to eat and walk around.

Vanessa 43:27

We didn't realize that actually Centeroo is open 24 hours Once it opens on Thursday. We didn't realize that.

Ed 43:35

Yeah, I thought they would close it at some point, and then you know, but they just leave it open so we could have went from our area through Centeroo to Outeroo at any time if we wanted to, but I mean they canceled it before we really had the chance.

Vanessa 43:48

Yeah, like basically when we realized we could do that, it was canceled. So we went in to grab food and then came back out and that's when it started raining, so we brought all our shit inside. We got like three different texts and then it wasn't till like five,

Sunny 44:04

so all day it was just like delay, delay

Vanessa 44:05

11: 19

Ed 44:07

we were just, you know.

Ed 44:08

Okay, we'll sit in our tent sleep, you know chill yeah, with the air conditioner.

Vanessa 44:14

Yeah, 11: 19.

Festival Cancellation and Aftermath

Vanessa 44:15

They're like due to lightning, there's a delay, like we expect this to be temporary. Stay away from structures. 11: 30. They were like severe warning center is closed. Go sit in a car seek shelter 12: 16.

Vanessa 44:28

We expect weather to impact the farm for the next couple hours. Center roo and the tolls are closed. Until the weather has passed, stay in your vehicle, blah, blah, blah. Then we didn't hear from anybody until 5.45 and they said we are beyond gutted. But we must make the safest decision and cancel the remainder of Bonnaroo, which I was totally not expecting, because where we were.

Ed 44:50

That came out of nowhere

Vanessa 44:51

for us it came out of nowhere because where we were there was no flooding happening. Like there was some water on our tarp, but nothing we couldn't just like throw off onto the grass.

Vanessa 45:02

But, we were like what?

Vanessa 45:05

It was a shock.

Ed 45:06

The ground was just so saturated already from the wettest May they've ever had, or whatever.

Vanessa 45:11

Yeah.

Ed 45:15

And so that rain that we got just flooded some people out in. You know the low-lying areas. There's 80,000 people there that they got to think about

Vanessa 45:21

In parts of Centeroo.

Vanessa 45:22

Yeah, I think they were saying it was like the wettest May they've had in like 100 years, so there was like nowhere else for the water to go. You know, it couldn't soak up anything, so and that wasn't going to be the only time it rained, and according to the radar, it was supposed to be moving fast.

Vanessa 45:41

It's supposed to just like pass us and go yeah but it just sat there for eight hours or so and then it was going to be more of that saturday and sunday. So I mean they obviously made the best decision, but the amount of bitching and complaining on reddit and on like the loophole bonnaroo page was excessive, which I get it. Everyone's sad about it, but what else were they gonna do?

Ed 46:07

I don't really get it. I don't those people that are complaining about stuff they don't really understand. In my opinion, you know

Vanessa 46:13

they're like how is bonnaroo not prepared for this?

Vanessa 46:16

it's like okay, because they're like, it's been canceled three times out of the last five years. Okay, one was a fucking global pandemic, the other was hurricane season because they moved it to september,

Ed 46:26

right,

Vanessa 46:27

and then this is technically the first time that this has happened, in june

Ed 46:31

you know which is why they people talk about moving it to september permanently.

Ed 46:35

But that's why they shouldn't. It's because that's when hurricanes can affect yeah which happens a lot. Yeah, and I mean I think, yeah, doing it in july would just be ungodly, way too hot.

Ed 46:47

Yeah, I think so

Vanessa 46:49

I would love it if they moved it one weekend after, just so I wouldn't have to miss Father's Day every year. But now usually Bonnaroo releases next year's dates by now and they said they're not going to do that for the time being. So basically it's like canceled until further notice.

Ed 47:05

Right,

Vanessa 47:05

and so everyone's worried.

Ed 47:07

This is the longest they've ever gone without announcing the next year's date.

Vanessa 47:11

So everyone's like freaking out that it's not going to happen next year, and one thing that a lot of people were saying is that they felt abandoned by bonnaroo because once it was canceled, there was like no staff members to be found and I believe that

Ed 47:25

that in certain cases probably that was true, but they're probably busy doing other things

Vanessa 47:29

right, and I totally believe that, because a lot of those is volunteers and like the way they get paid is through the festival right.

Ed 47:37

Their ticket is their ticket for volunteering.

Vanessa 47:39

So if it's canceled.

Vanessa 47:41

obviously you're going to have some people that are like, well, fuck this, if I'm not going to get a wristband like I'm done.

Ed 47:45

I just think that was more rare than people would make it sound because, like you said, the bonnaroo spirit and people are going to be helpful, I would think.

Ed 47:54

But yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Vanessa 47:55

They also originally offered a 75 refund immediately when they announced that it was canceled.

Sunny 48:00

Yeah,

Vanessa 48:00

but then, like a week later, they said, actually because of all the bitching and complaining, probably because they were like we hear you, like we know, we know we're listening we're gonna give you guys a hundred percent refund, which I originally thought 75 was more than fair.

Vanessa 48:17

But I also think I don't know, I have mixed feelings about the 100 refund, like, obviously it's great that they're doing that, it's great for everyone's pockets,

Ed 48:25

yeah

Vanessa 48:25

but, I also feel something feels icky about it, like I feel like they're like take your fucking money and shut the fuck up and we'll see if we have another one

Sunny 48:33

yeah

Vanessa 48:33

you know, that's how I kind of took it a little bit but also was happy to get all my money back.

Sunny 48:38

Yeah,

Vanessa 48:39

it also does seem like it's either that or it's a pr move. You know, it makes them look good and it makes it look like they're still. They still care about bonnaroovians or whatever.

Ed 48:48

But if they would have started with 100. That would have made them look a lot better. Yeah, you start at 75 and go. Well, I guess they weren't quite happy enough. We'll give them the 100 now. I don't know. That just doesn't look as good. People online like to simplify it to whatever's going on with their situation, and it's just yeah it's so much more complicated than that yeah, then you you know your personal story about you couldn't find a volunteer or whatever.

Vanessa 49:13

Yeah, I mean I feel like their feelings are obviously valid too, because that does suck and for a lot of people this was their big thing, that they do for the year and, like all of us, we've been looking forward to it forever. But some people they don't know how to look past their own situation and look at the big picture of things. People don't understand too. It's like they're like this could have been ran so much better. They could have still had like. I walked through Center Roo. It was fine, we could still have shows, OK. But it's not just about whether or not you can live in your campsites. It's like there's literal, literal rivers running through here, Like ambulances wouldn't be able to get in here. If something happened. They wouldn't be able to get trucks in here to clean the bathrooms. How are the food stands going to feed you if they can't get any of their supplies in here? You know what I mean. So if they did let it happen, then they would be bitching that there's no bathrooms, no food, no showers.

Vanessa 50:08

There's just no winning, and they're not looking at everything

Clark 50:11

that's the same thing with 2021 too, right.

Clark 50:14

Yeah, people were saying the same stuff, yeah, and there was a hurricane, yeah, right.

Sunny 50:18

We had to keep being like people lost their homes.

Vanessa 50:21

Right.

Sunny 50:22

You know, we're like boohoo Bonnaroo, I think there's a difference between complaining and complaining at Bonnaroo.

Vanessa 50:28

Right.

Sunny 50:28

It's okay to complain for a little bit commiserate with each other, because, yeah, it sucks.

Ed 50:32

I don't think there's anyone to really blame other than mother nature.

Ed 50:37

She's a cruel mistress

Sunny 50:41

dang guys

Vanessa 50:42

so many people just went to Nashville like we did when it was cancelled in 2021 we were lucky to have Alex, obviously, so we didn't have to look for an Airbnb

Clark 50:51

and scramble

Vanessa 50:51

Alex was like I did my little rain dance.

Vanessa 50:52

I'm so glad it got cancelled.

Ed 50:58

He wanted us to come hang out with him, yeah.

Ed 51:01

We had a great time.

Ed 51:02

We had a great time though.

Vanessa 51:03

Yeah, we had a great time with him. Thank God, I mean, we got lucky that we had that option. But he was like this is like the perfect ending to my Nashville experience. I was like oh, I'm happy that it got canceled then too, for you

Sunny 51:16

love that for you,

Vanessa 51:17

yeah but yeah, I don't know.

Vanessa 51:19

I feel like they might skip next year

Ed 51:23

if they do, it's only gonna be because they're putting in drainage or right, they're tiling something.

Vanessa 51:29

I hope that's what they do if they skip a year, was that?

Vanessa 51:32

all your notes baby

Ed 51:33

that pretty much covers it for me.

Sunny 51:36

Would you go to Bonnaroo again?

Ed 51:37

I would love to.

Vanessa 51:37

Oh, hell yeah.

Vanessa 51:40

Seems like it was an off year for them also in terms of organization or something.

Sunny 51:44

Huh.

Vanessa 51:46

So hopefully they get that cleaned up.

Ed 51:48

Let's get it dialed back in Bonnaroo.

Vanessa 51:49

Yeah,

Sunny 51:50

maybe they need a year off.

Vanessa 51:51

Right, get your shit together.

Vanessa 51:55

Get your poop in a group, as Ed likes to say

Ed 51:59

I would never say that

Sunny 52:00

Potty mouth.

Sunny 52:01

No, I was just going to say thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Vanessa 52:04

I loved it and I'm not going to feel bad about saying that

Final Thoughts and Sunny's Festival Corner

Ed 52:07

Me neither, yeah.

Ed 52:08

I'm not complaining over here. Thanks so much for having me on you guys.

Ed 52:12

I love it,

Vanessa 52:13

baby, you're such a natural.

Ed 52:16

This is such an honor.

Sunny 52:17

Please come on more often.

Ed 52:18

I would love to.

Sunny 52:20

So every guest we have on Festies we like to we're working on our Festies festival lineup.

Sunny 52:30

Just your dream lineup.

Vanessa 52:30

One is for artists that have passed on and one for artists that are still alive.

Vanessa 52:35

You have to tell us who your two dream artists are for these Festies lineups

Ed 52:42

well, I'll start with the ones that are still here, and that'd be the dirty heads.

Ed 52:47

That's who I need to have on my festival lineup.

Vanessa 52:50

Okay,

Ed 52:51

and for who's passed on?

Ed 52:53

I, I've always wanted to see Jimi Hendrix.

Vanessa 52:56

Oh really.

Ed 52:56

Jimi Hendrix would be amazing.

Vanessa 52:58

I thought you would say Amy Winehouse.

Ed 53:00

That's you know, right up there too.

Vanessa 53:09

Sunny's Festival

Vanessa 53:10

Corner

Sunny 53:13

Harmonies's man.

Sunny 53:14

Perfect, I've decided that I'm going to do for Sunny's Festival Corner. I'm going to do one in California, one in the United States and then one international.

Ed 53:24

International alright

Sunny 53:25

yes.

Sunny 53:26

August 8th to the 10th and 15th to the 17th, we have Splash House in Palm Springs, california. So this festival, it takes place across three hotel resorts and their pools. So there's shuttles that shuttle you around from each of these hotels. And not only is it the pool parties but there's also after-hours events, which is a separate ticket, super different way of throwing a festival, and it's 21 and up. Let's see Weekend 1, headliners are Disco Lines, eli Brown and Troy Boy. Other artists are Hills and A-Trip, and then the after hours are a back-to-back set with Diplo and Blondish. Weekend two is Boys Noise Get ready, Claude Von Stroke, Sofi Tucker With other acts, are Angry Baby who's from the Bay Area, and Dark Heart. After Hours, a Disclosure DJ set

Vanessa 54:21

oh my god

Sunny 54:22

so.

Sunny 54:23

Weekend 2, I guess for our taste is just like stacked.

Vanessa 54:26

Let's go Weekend 2,

Sunny 54:28

okay. August 8th to the 10th we have Gusters on the Ocean Weekend. It's in portland, maine. Have you guys heard of the band guster? I know clark has. They're an american alternative rock band from the 90s. They have this waterfront festival with two stages and guster has a lot of cult fans because they have this whole festival. You can explore portland with fellow Guster fans through their On the Ocean adventures.

Ed 54:52

Get some lobster.

Sunny 54:53

Yeah, they have harbor cruises, bike tours, kayak excursions, live podcast taping, Dave and Guster's arcade, a volunteer service project brewery and a kid's zone at the museum, and so the point is just like all these guster fans get together and do shit

Clark 55:12

it sounds like a summer camp.

Sunny 55:15

Yeah, it's a summer camp headliners are ready, drum roll guster hansen and the mountain goats, it's like pretty dope yeah.

Ed 55:31

Hanson Mbop, hanson

Sunny 55:33

the Hanson

Ed 55:34

Wow,

Sunny 55:35

other acts are Maggie Rose and Sam Champion.

Vanessa 55:38

Oh,

Sunny 55:40

next festival is Sun and Bass Festival. It's exactly what it says it is. It's September 6th to the 13th in the town of. Actually, I'm going to have Clark read it, because he'll read it better than I can.

Clark 55:53

San Deodoro, yeah,

Sunny 55:57

on the island of

Clark 55:58

sardinia. Oh, it's sardinia in italy.

Sunny 55:59

Yeah, okay I made clark do all that because he studied abroad in italy, but it didn't go as well as I wanted sorry.

Clark 56:04

Well, it's very broken up here,

Sunny 56:07

okay.

Sunny 56:07

Okay, I'll give it to you um, so yes, it's on on an island in Italy and it's been going on since 2004. It's the go-to for drum and bass. It's eight day,

Vanessa 56:18

your favorite.

Sunny 56:20

My favorite, let's go. It's an eight day drum and bass paradise.

Ed 56:24

Eight day festival. Yeah, oh, my God.

Sunny 56:26

Yeah.

Ed 56:27

A week wasn't long enough, let's go another day.

Sunny 56:30

Eight days a week, man.

Vanessa 56:33

Of the worst music that you could think of.

Ed 56:35

After eight days of it, I would probably be loving it.

Vanessa 56:38

You'd probably kill yourself.

Ed 56:42

No,

Sunny 56:42

I would. It's 18 and up.

Sunny 56:45

They don't release the lineup until the festival sells out

Vanessa 56:49

what,

Sunny 56:50

what

Ed 56:51

That'd be so funny if they were like yeah, barney's here I love you.

Sunny 56:59

We used to drive around blasting out of cars

Vanessa 57:02

actually I remember that with the windows down.

Ed 57:06

I love you. Remix

Vanessa 57:08

on down isabel with the windows down blasting Barney.

Sunny 57:15

That's all the festivals I have

Vanessa 57:17

Sweet

Sunny 57:18

the end.

Vanessa 57:20

Baby Ed thanks again for joining us.

Ed 57:23

Thank you for having me. I loved having you on here today.

Vanessa 57:26

Thank you for being here today.

Ed 57:28

Mi pleasure

Vanessa 57:30

Okay, festies, we love you. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok and youtube at festies podcast and leave us a rating and review. Wherever you, listen to us and we'll talk to you next week. Bye