Sunday, June 14, 2009






This is Josh Combs again, Dan's intern. I first came to Bonnaroo in 2005 and was thoroughly impressed with just how much amazing music there was in one place. This year has been no exception, the only down side is that is just so hard to make up your mind on where you want to be. For the most part, I've been trying to catch a few songs at almost every show. Wilco wowed the crowd with what some are calling the best performance they had ever seen. Nine Inch Nails was an unbeleivable sensory overload. Ben Harper and Relentless 7 was a show I was looking forward to the most, and it was no disappointment. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played an enduring set that lasted almost 4 hours! MGMT was no surprise one of the best shows of the night for me. Finally, Moe. wrapped things up playing into the sunrise, and this is all just what happened last night! I wish I could see every band that's here this weekend, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Here are a couple more pictures from the weekend so far.

From http://danbuckley.blogspot.com/

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Saturday backstage at Bonnaroo

Saturday has been a fun day backstage. Andrew Bird is in the recording studio and we are almost done for today. Lots of great late night music tonight, so hopefully I will catch a second wind for some of that. Bruce Springsteen is playing and in a couple hours and it will be my first time seeing him in concert. He has quite the reputation for putting on a killer live show. So I am looking forward to that. Caught the Beasties last night and it was off the hook! It was also really crowded where I was. I ended up scoring a stage pass for Phish and caught some of their set as well.



This morning we started the day off at 10am with the Heartless Bastards. They discussed their third album The Mountain, working with a producer for the first time, and told a great Sharon Jones story. By the way, did you know that her band the Dap Kings played on the Amy Winehouse record? They are amazing!


http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/HeartlessBastards.mp3




Next up at 11am it was Zee Avi. She told us about getting discovered through a clip on youtube she had posted for a friend and intended on deleting. She also perfomed in front of a crowd outside the studios, which was spectacular!

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/ZeeAvi.mp3



At noon Raphael Saadiq came in for an interview. He was actually feeling ill and did not end up performing in our recording studio. Not that you would have known it if you caught his amazing set today at Bonnaroo. At least, so they tell me. I have been locked in the trailer all day! I can hear Andrew Bird though right now, bleeding through into my studio, and it is stellar! Raphael did do an interview with us, head pounding and chest burning. The former member of Toni Toni Toni talked about his new record and getting to work with Stevie Wonder.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/RaphaelSaadiq.mp3

The Decemberists popped in for an interview while Wilco performed backstage. Colin was not able to make it, but the rest of the gang talked to us about their new concept album, playing the record in its entirety during their live performances, and the Diamond Ladies who are part of the show for this tour.


http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/Decemberists.mp3




At 1pm we got a great interview out of Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. He discussed the title of The Album, Recording in New Zealand with Neil Finn, a charity project he was a part of their called seven worlds collide, working with Feist, and gave us his take on the record industry and what works for Wilco.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/WilcoJeffTweedy.mp3



Alejandro Escovedo stopped by before getting insulted by Triumph outside the trailer. It was very obvious to me that Alejandro knows how to tell a great story. He talked about his longtime friendship with Chuck Prophet, Co-writing the new record Real Animal with Chuck, Getting to meet Jimmy Carter at the DNC, how the tradition of him closing out SXSW started many moons ago, and how only bands from Texas cover his songs.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/AlejandroEscovedo.mp3



Ben Harper dropped by with his band Relentless 7 for an interview. They were a last minute addition to our schedule and did not perform. Ben told the story of discovering the musicians who would eventually become Relentless 7 by agreeing to listen to his bus drivers demo tape, How he only brings someone in to the studio if he thinks they can bring something he can't, how he feels the horde festival and Blues Traveler deserve credit for the current festival scene, and how his favorite kind of optimism is realism.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/BenHarperRelentless7.mp3



moe. came by for an acoustic backstage performance and stopped by for an interview afterward. They discussed playing their fifth Bonnaroo and how the festival has changed greatly in many ways of the years.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/sat/moe.mp3



From http://danbuckley.blogspot.com/

Friday, June 12, 2009

Friday Backstage at Bonnaroo

So far things have been going smoothly. Ani Difranco just stopped by our backstage studios. We are about one third done with the bands today. The first band Delta Spirit canceled on us. I posted about that on Twitter and had a funny response from someone who said, "Doesn't everything on Delta get delayed or canceled?"

The first band through is called Everest. They are on Neil Youngs label Vapor Records. He caught them at the Sundance Festival and became a big fan of the band. In their interview they discussed Neil Young, playing bigger arena size venues, touring with Neil, Wilco, and Death Cab For Cutie, and how the ended up with Eliot Smiths old studio. That part of the interview was really interesting to me.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/EverestInterview.mp3

At noon a band called Low Anthem stopped by our studios to perform and do an interview. They talked about their new album, their obsession with evolution, and how they managed to set fire to a WW1 pump organ while making some Mac & Cheese...


http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/LowAnthemInterview.mp3


Evan Watson stopped by the backstage studios to perform and do an interview around 1pm today. He told us that not only was it his first time playing Bonnaroo, it was his first time playing a show outside of New York City! The former football player also explained his love for electronics, how building things makes him feel empowered, and about rebuilding his 79 strat.


http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/EvanWatsonInterview.mp3


Ani Difranco came by to perform and chat with us backstage around 2pm. She discussed moving to New Orleans, Getting interviewed by CNN about Burma and their struggle for democracy, and being a part of Pete Segers 90th birthday celebration.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/AniDifrancoInterview.mp3


Amadou et Mariam came by around 3pm and were the first band to need a translator for their interview. They are based out of Mali on the west coast of Africa.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/AmadouetMariamInterview.mp3


Tift Merrit came through at 4pm and chatted with us after a quick performance. She discussed her love for indie record stores, writing music in Paris, and getting to interview EmmyLou Harris on her radio program The Spark.


http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Friday/TiftMerritInterview.mp3


Gov't Mule is performing right now. There should be a few more this evening as well...

Intern Josh's Photos






This is Josh Combs, Lt. Dan's intern here at Bonnaroo. The experience has been amazing so far. We have a full lineup of interviews all day today to keep us busy. Here are some photos I've taken so far this weekend.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Thursday at Bonnaroo!

Thursday is just about over. We are done for the day in the backstage recording and interview studio. We had six bands today and have twelve on tomorrows schedule. I will be back in the trailer by 10am. The internet has been a real bugger back here. Not sure how much I will post tomorrow. Did throw up the rest of the interviews on our ftp server and will put them on here for you to enjoy and share with your friends. I wish I could post the performances but am not allowed to. You can tune in tomorrow and all weekend for our Bonnaroo coverage. We are planning on doing updates once an hour. We have a lot of the Lightning 100 crew working here for the festival this weekend and it is a lot of fun as usual. Need to run so will throw some stuff up for your enjoyment. Please leave a comment if you like this...

Gomez http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/GomezInterview.mp3

Zac Brown Band http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/ZacBrownBandInterview.mp3

The Features http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/TheFeaturesInterview.mp3

Toubab Krewe http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/ToubabKreweInterview.mp3

Chairlift interview at Bonnaroo

Just had our second band stop by the backstage studios. They are called Chairlift and are based out of Brooklyn, NY. They talked about their friendship with fellow Brooklyn bands MGMT and Grizzly Bear, why they are ok with having their song Bruises used in an ipod commercial, and the secret ipod handshake.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/Chairliftinterview.mp3



Alberta Cross

Here is the first backstage interview of the day with a band called Alberta Cross. They are based in brooklyn but came from London.

http://ftp.wrlt.com/production/BonnarooINT/AlbertaCrossInterview.mp3

Bonnaroo 2009!

I've been on site for a little over 24 hours now and we are about to get the first band in the 2009 Backstage @ Bonnaroo Studios! I am pretty pumped! Working with a great crew again this year. We will also have some stellar bands coming through the backstage studios. Some of them you have heard of like Gomez and Ani Difranco. Others you haven't heard of yet, but as we have all come to know well, Bonnaroo is about seeing you favorite bands and finding some new ones!

I'll try and throw up photos and cool stuff here and on facebook this weekend...

Bonnaroo!

Here are some photos I took a little bit ago