CROWD-PLEASERS

Festivals gather superstars and
upstarts alike for your viewing pleasure.
We get an earful from seven who
will be worth the trip.

DEATH
CAB FOR
CUTIE
INDIE VETS MADE GOOD ARE
ENJOYING THE VIE W FROM THE
TOP. SPECIFICALLY, THE VIE W FROM
AHMET ERTEGUN’S OFFICE SUITE.

You guys are playing many of the major
festivals this year. Do you generally enjoy
that experience?
BEN GIBBARD (GUI TARS, VOCALS): We’ve definitely
anchored our tour for Narrow Stairs around
Coachella, Sasquatch!, and Bonnaroo. There’s
an element of festivals that can be a drag—you’re
pushed through so quickly. If you’re a little
higher up on the bill, you have more clout,
but when we started doing these, it was like,
“All right, you’ve got 20 minutes to set up, five
minutes for a line check, go.” It wasn’t the
most optimal situation.
NICK HARMER (BASS): It’s not about the music; it’s
about the cultural event, and that’s what’s most
exciting. Music is the reason people are going, but
fans will always prefer to see their band play their
own show at a venue that’s reasonably sized
and comfortable.

CHRIS WALLA (GUI TARS, KE YBOARDS): It’s pure
economy. It’s like, you can get food at the Indian
restaurant off the buffet for half the price, or you
can sit down and have the nice dinner.
GIBBARD: The plus side is, not everybody has the
ability to go see bands a couple times a week. If you
work or have kids or are in school, this is the perfect
opportunity to see a little bit of a bunch of bands.

Which is really how people tend to experience
music now any way.
GIBBARD: I guess I spoke hastily, talking about these
in the negative; there’s just so little you actually
have control over in that environment. But the
times when it works—when we’re playing well
and the monitors are right, nothing’s breaking,
the crew’s happy—it’s like flying. It’s a crapshoot.
You’re trading comfort for numbers and the
potential for a transcendent experience, and the
risk is that you could have one of your worst shows
in front of 70,000 people.
HARMER: I think the fans like that. There’s nothing
more exciting than watching your favorite band
on a huge stage in front of 70,000 people have
something break, and suddenly they’re human.
But I do think there will be a breaking point where
there’s too many options. What makes festivals
happenings is that they’re unique.

GIBBARD: The problem is going to be that promoters in secondary markets are drawing bands from the larger festivals, and they’re not gonna have the infrastructure to do it, they’re not gonna have the security, they’re not gonna have anything the bands need for their own comfort. And that could bring down a large part of the circuit, if people aren’t able to grow these things properly.

You’re playing the big-time sunset slot at
Coachella just before Narrow Stairs comes out.
Is there a different approach you take playing to
a big crowd that most likely won’t have heard the
new songs yet?
GIBBARD: I think we’ll have an hour; we’ll probably
play three new songs. I feel like we have a respon-
sibility to kind of make sure we’re playing material
that the wealth of the audience is excited about
hearing, and the more shows you play, the more
you realize which songs fall into that category and
which don’t.
HARMER: We’re going to do Dark Side of the Moon…
but with David Gilmour.

Awkward!

WALLA: “We got a new record coming out in a week and a half, but we’re gonna try something a little different this time….”