Is Hulaween Everything Bonnaroo Used to Be?

Is Hulaween everything Bonnaroo used to be? We put the question to John, our EDM and jam-scene correspondent, and his answer says a lot about how both festivals have changed.John makes the case for Hulaween, String Cheese Incident's own festival at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, where the daily lineups just dropped. We get into what makes it different from Bonnaroo: the jam-forward lineup with an electronic edge, the six-hour String Cheese / My Morning Jacket / STS9 runs, and the secret sets where anyone might sit in: Goose turning up to play with Cheese, that kind of unplanned magic. It leads to a real conversation about whether Bonnaroo's special moments have started to feel scheduled instead of spontaneous, and John doesn't hold back, including some honest thoughts on this year's very EDM-heavy Thursday.Plus: John recaps his own Bonnaroo 2026 (great, but different, and quieter than years past), we looks ahead to ShoalsFest October 3-4 in Alabama, CaveFest at The Caverns October 10–11, and take a look at the surprisingly free EDM lineup at our own River Games in Chattanooga.Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube. As always, subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get podcasts for weekly updates on Bonnaroo and festival news!______00:00:00) Intro(00:01:24) Festival updates: CaveFest, 420 Fest, ShoalsFest, River Games(00:09:22) EDM Correspondent John Joins the Show(00:16:50) Hulaween Drops its Daily Linueps(00:26:43) Comparing Hulaween to Bonnaroo(00:35:44) John's Bonnaroo 2026: Great, But Different(01:02:12) What's Next for The What Podcast(01:09:01) OutroLINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEHow Has Bonnaroo Changed? A Festival Photographer's ViewKyle Hollingsworth Interview: String Cheese Incident, New Music & Craft BeerOkay...We Were Wrong About Geese______ 🎧 LISTEN LINKS Website: https://thewhatpodcast.com Spotify: https://thewhat.co/spotify Apple Podcasts: https://thewhat.co/applepodcasts YouTube Music: https://thewhat.co/youtubemusic Amazon Music: https://thewhat.co/amazonmusic 📱 SOCIAL LINKS Discord: https://discord.gg/zShHTeCYGn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewhatpodcast X: https://x.com/thewhat_podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewhatpodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewhatpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thewhatpodcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thewhat.co Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thewhatpodcast The What Podcast theme: "Aquarius" by *repeat repeat, used with permission. Other music provided by Midist and used with permission. We love to hear from you! Send us an email at comments@thewhatpodcast.com or call (423) 667-7877 and leave us a voicemail. We might just feature it on the show.