Bonnaroo Plaza First Impressions and First Aid Kit

Welcome into the What Podcast, Barry Courter, Lord Taco Brad Steiner.

How are you guys?

Good to see you.

The Mad Taco is here.

What in the world is the Mad Taco?

This is a gift from David Bruce.

Uh huh.

He sent it to me over the weekend.

So what is...

But you're the happiest, jolliest man in the world.

Why in the world would you be described as the Mad Taco?

Do I not seem angry to you?

Yes.

You're a rageful, rageful man.

Yeah, I don't know.

But shout out to David Bruce.

Thanks for the hat.

Appreciate it.

How is David?

Doing well.

Taco, when was the last time you actually got angry and rageful?

Uh, what year is it?

Is this going to be one of those Jerry Seinfeld throwing up scenarios?

June 20th, 1989.

Yeah.

David said he's considering trying to come to Moon River and take some photos if he can

get a pass.

Okay.

Okay.

He got some big news.

Can we share that already or is that... do we know?

Who has some big news?

Who has some big news?

Oh, we have big news?

David has big news.

What was the big news?

I haven't heard.

I'm going to freak out for him and they want to use his photographs.

As they should.

They're phenomenal.

100% degree.

That's why I want to brag on him.

Yeah, he's great.

Yeah.

And he's a classic Bonnaroo story.

The guy who came one time, because I think his daughter was coming, and he said, I'll

go with, and been ever since, and started taking pictures, and now they're going to

use them as they should, like you just said.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great.

How many times have they used the Barry Courter shots?

How many Barry Courter shots have they used it for?

None times.

None times.

None times.

I have mine.

I like them.

Yeah, you've got some good ones too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In the paper.

Yeah.

And the phone shots, or I mean, my screensavers are all from Bonnaroo.

So nothing like what David takes.

That's where, I mean, Michelangelo said the same thing.

I've put all my good work on my phone.

Never made a dime.

Did you do this upside down too?

Did you put your screensaver on upside down just like he did?

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So big high five episode today.

Explain how we're going to go back in time and talk to first aid kits.

Yeah.

I didn't realize this was our first year, 2018.

If you remember when I was listening back, it was kind of a surprise.

We'd been trying to get them on the show and it was the week before we were to leave, I

guess.

And I guess management said, hey, let's do it.

And they were so great and jumped on.

And we talked about, they had just done the show with Patti Smith, which was amazing.

The song is so good.

But we talked to them about how it is a couple of sisters in Sweden have such a Nashville

country sound.

And that's what this clip is about.

And it's pretty funny.

They were great.

They were really, really cool.

I love the first aid kit.

I really like it.

Right about the time we interviewed them is about where I found them or when I found them.

And that album just knocked me off my feet.

How good that was back.

It was 2018, huh?

It feels like it was yesterday.

Season one, we were all just babies back then.

I actually hesitated to go.

I don't know.

That's up to you, Taco.

Was it a baby?

Yeah.

Yeah.

2018.

Yeah.

We were young.

That's a baby.

Okay.

I had hesitated to go back because I thought it was too recent.

You know?

And then, lo and behold, it was first year.

So it's really good.

The other thing, too, that came through this week and look, I know we kind of say this

every year, but the plazas look fantastic.

Really well thought out.

I was overly impressed with bringing the heat.

As the RooHamms would say, it seems lit.

Exactly.

The vibes are high.

The vibes are high.

It's lit.

Yeah.

I can't keep up with all that.

I know.

I can't either.

I make fun of Parker all the time.

He'll send nonsensical collections of letters to me.

I'm like, what does any of this millennial speak mean?

I have to look it up.

Midbrah.

It's Midbrah.

What is he talking about?

I promise you, every time I listen to one of their shows, I have to go to Google and

I'm like, I don't even know what that means.

Yeah.

There's some sort of, they had their own urban dictionary at some point because I have no

idea half the things you're saying.

All right.

So tell me about the plazas.

Run through what we've seen so far and your first impressions.

First impressions are when we had Corey and Brad Parker on from C3 a while ago.

They remember they emphasized that they wanted to re-emphasize the plazas, which I mean,

I never felt like it got away from, but they just thought there was a way to do it better.

And they had come up with sort of the space theme and you see that all the way through

this.

So they always had cool stuff, but now they seem a little more lanes as we always talk

about.

I will say the one thing that I noticed was that we lost Snake and Jake's and it feels

as though the Superfly slash New Orleans connection in Bonnaroo is damn near gone.

And it makes me feel bad because I'm so tied to New Orleans, but that festival, if not

for Superfly in New Orleans, I'll never forget one of my favorite moments in all of my Bonnaroo

was leaving the Alabama Shake Show and following a second line through Centeroo with Pres Hall.

It wasn't Pres Hall, but it was like a New Orleans Rebirth Brass Band.

Going through a second line, that was so New Orleans.

And the fact that we lost Snake and Jake's and then my buddy Shaggy who does Crawfish

from Crawfish King, he does the Crawfish Boil backstage every year, every night for media

guests and he's not coming back.

They didn't invite him back.

I just feel like the soul that was there that was born out of New Orleans is just all gone.

That bums me out.

Well, one of my favorite moments I'll never be able to recreate was seeing Elvis Costello

with Alan Toussaint, which New Orleans legend.

I mean, Elvis Costello loves, by the way, did I tell you my Elvis Costello story?

I don't know.

I don't think so.

Right before Mardi Gras, the day before I left for Mardi Gras, I met and hugged Elvis

Costello.

Oh man, good for you.

I cried like a baby.

So he was doing this run at a very, very small theater for only like 500 people.

He was doing a run of 100 songs in 10 nights.

So he would do 10 different songs from his catalog each night.

And then the rest of it was just sort of things that he felt like fit the moment on the fly.

He went 25 songs deep.

He was there for two and a half hours playing by himself, by himself.

In the last like 20 minutes or so, he had like an orchestral backing for him.

But they only played maybe five songs with them.

The rest of it was just Elvis.

And so afterwards I walked backstage and I'm just literally like staring.

And he just walks up to me like, it's great to see you.

And then gives me a big barrel.

Oh, God, I was so sweaty and wonderful.

I loved everything about it.

I love it.

It was a bit.

Oh, God, I loved it so much, Barry.

And the voice just is still so good.

And it was so crazy how, you know, 10 songs in the first few songs like, man, Elvis, I

don't know if he's got it anymore.

But boy, it just gets stronger and stronger as the show went on.

When Bert Bacharach died, you know, what, last month?

That's what we listened to all day was Bert.

And obviously that leads to Bert and Elvis together.

Yeah, that's right.

Look, I totally agree.

And when he brought the Bert Bacharach thing up and played a song for us, I cried.

I mean, you couldn't see, you look around and it was just gross.

By the way, every person in an Elvis Costello show all look exactly the same.

They all look like the liberal arts professor at insert college here.

You know, they've got the, you know, round glasses and the flowing gray hair.

It's hysterical.

They're all wearing what Barry's wearing right now in a vest.

It's just the most interesting group of people.

But they're not a single person wasn't crying during the Bert Bacharach tribute.

God, I loved it.

But you're right.

I mean, the reason I bring that up is because on the back of his guitar, one of his guitars,

it said New Orleans or nowhere playoff of New York or nowhere.

But he loves New Orleans.

I forgot how much he's tied into that city.

Yeah.

Well, like I said, that was one of those that I was very pointed.

I wanted to see Elvis.

I didn't know a lot about out in Tucson, but when I, you know, when we went over and saw

it, I was like, wow, this is one of those historical moments that only at Bonnaroo and

will never happen again.

And yeah, that's one of those when people ask what your favorite shows and, you know,

what you've seen.

I mean, that's one of those moments you can't really describe to somebody unless you get

it like, you know, you get it and get the whole history of it.

But yeah, you're right.

Your point is well taken.

It's where the festival is losing some of its its Cajun flavor.

Well, I mean, I guess I guess it's to be expected.

I mean, I don't know how long you can keep that tied together when there was no there's

nobody left that's still tied to that community.

It just bums me out because I love that community so much.

And then at the end of the day, that is where Snake and Jake's in New Orleans, the dive

bar that's in New Orleans.

That's where we found out that Laura Taco really doesn't like PBR.

What are you talking about?

That was the bar we learned that his favorite beer is actually a Miller High Life.

That's what we call a callback in the business.

Well done.

Yeah.

So legendary Snake and Jake's no longer part of it.

And I hope that they figure out a way to bring Shaggy back because, you know, I love crawfish

in June.

I love crawfish every day.

What am I talking about?

I want that crawfish boil back.

All right.

You want to get into this week's high five?

Yeah.

Let me go through real quick because there's a couple of things you ask about the plazas

where in the woods, of course.

Oh, sure.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We went off the tangent there a little bit.

Galactic Giddy Up is going to be there with late night performances, all that.

And for people who are new and they're listening, the plazas are basically where you're going

to camp, but they have become a life unto themselves.

Right.

I mean, Centauru and the music is the main thing, but they have really put a heavy emphasis

on life outside of Centauru.

Like what are you going to do the rest of the time?

And really, really cool.

One of the things, and this sounds like a kind of simple thing, but I think it gets

to the point that we were talking about with Corey and Brad, where these guys do a pretty

good job of kind of paying attention and listening, not just within their own room, but what other

people are talking about.

I think this space cadet camp and having Cracker Barrel be part of it with Timmy and...

Oh my God.

I didn't see that.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

Oh, I totally missed that.

Yeah.

Cracker Barrel is going to be offering homestyle brunch bites.

Oh my God.

I know, right?

I mean...

If only they could bring in that Waffle House.

I mean, I've been to that Waffle House so many times.

If only they could figure out a way to get the Waffle House truck in there.

On one end of camp, you've got Cracker Barrel, on the other end, you've got Waffle House.

That would be perfect.

I know.

Oh my God, that would be perfect.

They do have a food truck, Waffle House does, so it could happen.

They do?

Oh, that's...

Yeah, I know.

They have a...

Okay, I thought you meant they have it at Bonnaroo.

I've never seen it.

I want to bring the food truck.

Bring the food truck, Waffle House people.

Isn't that fun, though?

I mean, it's just...

That's clever.

Yeah.

That's clever.

People coming out of town and get a sausage and biscuit or a biscuit and gravy or whatever,

a little piece of the South.

Anyway, we can get into...

When is the last time you went to a Cracker Barrel?

It's got to be 15 years for me.

Probably same.

Yeah.

Probably same, because me, I'm not out at 2 a.m. in the morning.

That's the only time you ever...

You're not out at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

You don't leave that house.

I'm not going to a Cracker Barrel at 2 p.m.

That's a 2 a.m. stop right there.

I bet of all of us, you're the last one to go to a Cracker Barrel, aren't you?

You've been to a Cracker Barrel recently.

Yeah, I love Cracker Barrel.

I'm two miles from a Cracker Barrel here.

Actually, I'll take it back.

I have been within the last five years.

This Sunday...

You know what?

I can tell you exactly when it was.

It was a trip to Memphis for high school girls' soccer.

We used to always stop in the Cracker Barrel in Jackson, Tennessee.

We did it for four straight years.

I think I can mark the last time I went to a Cracker Barrel, the last time I went to

church because it just went hand in hand after church.

Forgive me for I have sinned.

All right.

Anything else you want to get to at the plazas?

No.

I think that's the main thing.

We don't know what music and those sorts of things just yet.

That'll probably come in the next couple of weeks, but it's good stuff.

We do have information about the ticket giveaway.

We will share that next week.

Next week we will talk about the ticket giveaway.

Other than that, let's do a high five clip with First Aid Kit on the What Podcast.

Hello.

Hi.

Oh, hello.

How are you guys?

We are good.

We are good.

This is very good.

Enjoy the sunshine and dark fall.

When we started doing this show, we identified the artists that we really wanted to talk

about on the air and then we started trying to pinpoint the artists we really wanted to

talk to on the air.

You guys were at the top of the list because I find you guys have such an intriguing story.

I love your live shows so much.

The way that you guys harmonize to me is as good as it gets in the business.

You guys do something so interesting with your harmonies.

It's like you choose different ways to say simple words.

You figure out very interesting ways and phrasing is very, very important to you guys, isn't

it?

I think so.

It's a very intuitive book.

It's just something that we design or put any real thought into it.

Yeah, it just kind of comes.

It sounds like it's too easy, but it kind of is.

It's true.

It's true.

I'm glad he asked it that way because a lot of what I hear has a very Nashville, a very

country sound.

Nashville is two hours from us.

You guys are obviously not two hours from Nashville.

How did you get that sort of because it very much is obviously intuitive and ingrained

in you guys.

Where did that come from?

I think just from listening to that sort of music from a very early, I mean, not very

early, but from our early, early formative years.

Yeah, exactly.

I think there's an age when you're around 12 to 14 where the music that you get into

then becomes really important to you.

It shapes you.

Yeah.

Those songs will always be really special to you.

That's the music that we listen to at that age and still do.

I think for us, it was just so refreshing to hear.

We grew up listening to mostly pop on the radio.

Then we heard that kind of music and it was sort of a revelation.

It felt so simple and so real.

There was so much emotion in it and that was what inspired us to want to write.

The startling part of it is that you guys are from Sweden.

I mean, if it was something like from somebody in Missouri, that would make sense, but you

guys are from Sweden.

I guess I didn't think it would take two very, very pretty Swedish women to bring back the

steel guitar.

How did you guys find American music to begin with and not like the stars of Sweden when

you were a kid?

You're talking about being 12 years old and you're into like Emmylou Harris type stuff

and Patty Smith.

That's more 16 angst, not 12 year olds.

Let me pile on to his question.

Well, I think we're pretty premature.

We wanted to be older than we were.

We didn't go through the regular sort of teen angst.

How did you get along?

I mean, a little bit.

It was very short-lived, but we were sort of like, let's be grownups and be serious,

very soft.

Although I will say like, I mean, the band that we started listening to was Bright Eyes

and there's definitely a lot of emo in that.

So, well, I think the answer for you is the internet.

I mean, the internet just doesn't, borders don't matter.

Borders don't exist on the internet.

You can find any kind of music and we found it, you know, we just started searching for

that kind of stuff.

And to us, it was very exotic.

You know, it wasn't what we, I mean, we grew up with American music, yes, but that was

like Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, you know, which is actually written by Swede.

So I'm taking that back.

But yeah, like, you know, it's very exotic to us and it didn't have, like, I think if

you grow up with country like in America, it just has to be a totally different kind

of like, you just have different attitude towards it.

And for us, it was super exotic and like interesting.

And I think we just like, we're very objective in our way of listening to it.

Like, you know, we just came from a different perspective.

And I think you can like tell how much we love it when you listen to our songs.