Festies

Ep. 42 2025 Festies Recap: Our Favorite Festival Moments of the Year

• Sunny Balopole, Vanessa Gutierrez, Clark Lawson • Episode 42

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We’re recapping our favorite Festies moments of 2025 — from Portola, SFJAZZ, Give Thanks, ACL, Stagecoach, Bonnaroo, and beyond. We talk about standout shows, unexpected moments, and the little things that made this year unforgettable.

As we head into the off-season, we’re slowing the release schedule while leveling up the storytelling. Got a topic or guest idea? DM us, share with your fest friends, and leave a quick rating or review to help others find the show.

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Vanessa:

Hey, Sunny.

Sunny:

Yeah, Vanessa?

Vanessa:

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

Sunny:

Hmm. I guess you'd call them festies.

Clark:

Okay. We are le recording, Le.

Vanessa:

Hold on, let me hit my inhaler.

Clark:

Oh yeah, that's that good good.

Vanessa:

Dude, I got this on December 17th and I'm already almost out of puffs.

Clark:

Dear lord.

Vanessa:

That's how bad my asthma's been.

Clark:

She's been going through it.

Sunny:

Are you sure it's asthma?

Vanessa:

I don't know. What else would it be?

Sunny:

I don't know. You're the nurse.

Vanessa:

As soon as I hit it, I can finally breathe. So

Sunny:

Oh, okay, it does help a little bit.

Vanessa:

It does help. I've been trying to only hit it every four hours, but lately I literally can't. I have to I hit it every two hours. Damn. Because I just can't breathe anymore. I can't breathe. But Ed thinks it's making it worse. And then he sent me a whole article on using it too much and also taking Delsum too much. Because I've had a nasty cough, and that's the only thing that stops it. Highly recommend Delsum, but only take it for a few days after.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

What is that?

Clark:

It's another cough syrup.

Vanessa:

It's like Dayquil. I'd never heard of it either until I was sent to the ER. I was coughing a bunch, and they were like, we recommend Delsum. I was like, what?

Clark:

It's very chemical tasting.

Sunny:

Okay. Anyways, happy New Year's, everybody.

Clark:

Happy 2026.

Clark:

Yay.

Vanessa:

Do you ever have to write the date in your daily life?

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

You do? Yeah. Okay. Why? Because I don't know, as an adult, there was a point in time where I was like, I never even have to write the date for anything. But at work I do now, so I'm still writing 25. I feel like I just got used to writing 25 after 24, and now I have to remember 26.

Clark:

Yeah. I wanted to start off this episode giving y'all some data from all of last year. I have some numbers for y'all.

Vanessa:

Give it to us.

Clark:

We made 30 episodes last year. that's double what we did before. We have 1700 downloads since we first started. that's over all the episodes and through all the different places people listen to it. Spotify and Apple and what have you. And then all those podcasts total up to over 21 hours of podcast listening.

Vanessa:

Cool.

Clark:

Someone could almost listen to just the podcast for a whole 24 hours. Almost. And we have 19,000 views on Instagram and around 3,600 likes on TikTok. I have more TikTok stats in just a second, too.

Sunny:

All of our reels together have 19,000 views?

Clark:

That's just the overall whole profile.

Sunny:

I see.

Clark:

The likes and the views and stuff. They just lump it all together. Over last year, we got to cover multiple festivals as media Mill Valley, Portola, Give Thanks, SF Jazz, and Leonard Cohen Festival. We went to over 12 different festivals in three different states. And we did hit Sunny's goal of 500 followers on Instagram.

Vanessa:

Yay, Sunny!

Clark:

Y eah. And then we have around 500-ish on TikTok.

Sunny:

Oh, we do?

Clark:

Mm-hmm. And then I will call our reels with Give Thanks a collaboration because Give Thanks accepted our reels and they were on their profile and stuff. that was pretty cool. And we conducted at least 84 interviews at festivals. Oh. Someone counted all of the times we were asking people different things. And when we got to um to meet um, oh my gosh.

Vanessa:

Bob Moses.

Clark:

Bob Moses, thank you. And here, let me give you y'all specific to TikTok. 58,000 post views, profile views. We have 814. We got 3,600 likes, we got 147 comments and 211 shares on TikTok.

Vanessa:

the one that really carried us was the video of the killers. That one got so many views and comments.

Clark:

I went back and I looked at that. I was like, whoa. Yeah.

Sunny:

I was like, why is this so hostile? People arguing over which weekend was better.

Vanessa:

Oh, always. It was rage bait.

Clark:

Yeah,

Sunny:

Love the passion though.

Clark:

Yeah. But yeah, I wanted to just give y'all some numbers.

Sunny:

Yay, 2025.

Clark:

Yeah. We did some stuff.

Sunny:

We also thought for our first episode of 2026, we would go over our favorite moments from 2025. Who goes first?

Vanessa:

Uh you, you're ready.

Sunny:

I'm ready.

Clark:

You're you're already talking.

Sunny:

Okay. My first moment that I have comes from the Mill Valley Music Festival, which was back in May. Feels like a lifetime ago. We were interviewing kids and asking what their favorite part of the festival was, because the Mill Valley Music Festival has a lot of activities for kids to do. And this one kid, totally serious, we asked him what his favorite part of the day was, and he said, Monophonics is the best music.

Vanessa:

He was so cute.

Clark:

So sweet.

Sunny:

So heartfelt, and I loved his parents' vibe and how they were passing down the festival experience to their kids. My next one was actually from Austin City Limits. And I don't even think we talked about it on our Austin City Limits recap, but right before was it Sabrina Carpenter? I think Vanessa and I Vanessa and I dipped to go do silent disco for maybe 15 minutes of that. And that was also one of my favorite moments.

Vanessa:

It was a last minute decision. Yeah. I was like, bet.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

She knew what I was doing.

Clark:

But it was like, I'm already there.

Sunny:

I'll race you over there. It was a pretty far walk.

Vanessa:

It was so far.

Sunny:

Worth it.

Vanessa:

And we talked to so many girls. Not so many girls, but there was these two girls in there. Well, we talked to those girls in line to get into the into it, remember?

Sunny:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Vanessa:

And then in there we talked to a couple other girls and we were dancing with them, having a good time. Yeah. Girl power.

Clark:

Who ran the world?

Vanessa:

Girls.

Sunny:

Festies. okay. And then, of course, I have to put the interview with Bob Moses.

Clark:

Yeah. Awesome.

Sunny:

That one stood out because it was such a milestone for us that I don't think we were expecting to hit. They were cool.

Clark:

Yeah, seriously.

Sunny:

But yeah, it was just proof that Festies is something real and tangible, not just us running around festivals having a good time and documenting it at the same time.

Clark:

Yeah, yeah. It can it can be both. No, that's true. It can be both at the same time.

Sunny:

Those are my moments from 2025.

Clark:

Sweet.

Vanessa:

Love those.

Sunny:

It was hard to pick, but I narrowed it down. You have some, Vanessa?

Vanessa:

I do. Let's hear it. Okay, my first one. Well, the first one I thought of was Bonnaroo getting to do the glamping. Oh. Oh. I feel like that was such a once I shouldn't say once in a lifetime, maybe. Maybe, actually. Because I don't think I'll ever camp in Area 931 again. It was just so awesome and convenient how we got there. Took us 30 minutes to set up, and then we were just ready to go.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

And we were like 30 seconds to a minute from the entrance. We could go back and forth. That's such a luxury.

Sunny:

Totally.

Vanessa:

Like when you are at Bonnaroo. and then the best part, we got to do that all for free because we got a refund afterwards.

Sunny:

Oh, that's a good way to look at it. I was gonna say, I'm sorry I got cut short.

Vanessa:

Yeah, but it was full free. Yeah, that's full free. S full free.

Clark:

You got to test it out.

Vanessa:

So we got to experience VIP camping status for free. And seeing that area was crazy. the guy that was riding around in his golf cart, tending to anyone's needs.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

I was like, oh, okay. We're on the rich people's side.

Sunny:

Yeah. This is what life is like.

Vanessa:

This is how the other half lives.

Clark:

You have a campsite attendant. Yeah.

Vanessa:

that was cool. My second one was seeing Backstreet Boys at stagecoach. I feel like that for sure was once in a Experience. The whole time. They were so awesome. And then the whole night after that, our Uber driver that picked us up was the same guy that had picked us up before. I talked about this. He was blasting Backstreet Boys and goddess drinks, was super funny, was laughing. he was like one of our friends.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

The whole night was perfect. And I remember walking out, and I was like, we're just having so much fun. Yeah. Remember, I was on FaceTime with you. Yes. I was like, we're having too much fun. this is too fun.

Sunny:

I remember you were so elated. Yeah.

Vanessa:

Yeah. And then the third one, I feel like I have to say the killers.

Sunny:

You don't have to.

Vanessa:

But it was awesome. Probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. really stands out. And also just seeing Ed, Ed's mind visibly explode. It's just how awesome he thought it was.

Clark:

The power of them. Because it was the last day of the festival. So we were like, okay.

Vanessa:

We were like, let's get this over with.

Clark:

You're stumbling over the finish line. Yeah. and they come out and they open with Mr. Brightside

Vanessa:

I know. That's crazy.

Clark:

And we're back. We're back totally at the beginning of the festival again. Here we go.

Vanessa:

It's so crazy. it caught us off guard immediately. It's crazy. And then it never stopped being awesome. And then that guy that was part of the bachelor party or whatever, where they were just raising him up. He's just

Vanessa:

flat.

Clark:

Yeah, why'd they pick him up like why'd they pick him up like pall bears? weird. Oh, it was awesome. But also dope.

Sunny:

I was like, he's gonna be sore tomorrow.

Vanessa:

I'll never forget that. I put him in our 2025 reel. That's the recap.

Clark:

That was crazy. So much joy in that crap. We're just having a great time.

Vanessa:

Yeah, that was awesome. Those are my three moments.

Clark:

Nice.

Sunny:

Yay, snaps. Do you have one, Clark?

Clark:

Yeah, yeah. I just

Vanessa:

three?

Clark:

No, I just got one.

Sunny:

He's given himself one.

Clark:

I'll keep it concise. No, it's not nearly as exciting as all those ones. Especially after the work we put in with Give Thanks of jumping right on making reels and stuff. It was really a huge moment that Give Thanks put our stuff on their feed.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Clark:

from a production standpoint, I was like, holy crap, that's dope. that's a pretty huge push and huge get for us. I was pretty stoked when they accepted all three of the reels that we made.

Vanessa:

They accepted all three?

Clark:

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's right. They're all on their on, collaborators.

Vanessa:

Cool.

Clark:

thanks, give thanks.

Sunny:

thankful for you.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Yeah, that means the videos that you made were high enough quality that they felt good about putting it on their feed.

Clark:

Yeah, yeah. It felt good to have that.

Sunny:

If you look at the one-word answer videos from the end of 2025 as compared to 2024, just miles better.\

Clark:

Even from the SF jazz one to Give Thanks one, huge difference. Obviously, we're using a different mic and stuff,

Sunny:

but no, but that's part of it.

Clark:

Getting more comfortable approaching people and and setting that stuff up too.

Sunny:

Can we ask you a question?

Vanessa:

Can we ask you something? Yeah.

Clark:

What's your favorite instrument?

Sunny:

Well, we had a good year, guys.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Yay, yay.

Clark:

We did some stuff.

Sunny:

And we just have huge gratitude this year for everyone who's been a part of it, all the festival teams who welcomed us in, the festies we met and crowds and lines at festivals, and everyone we've connected with over social media too. And thank you to our friends and family who have been super supportive.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Especially.

Clark:

Definitely.

Sunny:

As we head into the festival off season, things are going to look a little different around here. We'll be releasing new podcast episodes every other Friday with more industry conversations, behind the scenes perspectives, and just stories from people shaping festival culture. We're also going to put more energy into visual content and our social media. even though it's off season for festivals, we're very much here. Just shifting gears slightly. If there are topics that you'd like for us to cover, please DM us at Festies Podcast. Or if you think you'd be a good fit for an interview or know somebody who'd be a good fit for an interview, don't be shy. Let us know.

Vanessa:

If you've enjoyed this episode, we love it if you shared Festies with your festival friends. Make sure you follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Festies Podcast. And if you have a quick second, please leave us a rating or review. It really helps a show and helps us reach more people. And we really appreciate you guys being there with us for 2025. And we'll see what 2026 has in store. Thank you. Bye.

Clark:

Thanks.

Sunny:

Bye.