The National’s Bryce Dessner and Matt Beringer, with manager Dawn Barger of Post Hoc Management.
As rain clouds drifted across Manchester, threatening rain that almost never came (isolated sprinkles that lasted maybe 90 seconds apiece cooled down an otherwise muggy 90-degree day), business was otherwise good for Bonnaroo’s final day.
Esquire’s Andy Langer moderated the fifth in a series of artist panels that were held in the press tent throughout the weekend, finishing with Bob Saget, Chris Stapleton and The National’s Matt Beringer among his guests. The National swung by the press area before their Sunday afternoon set, and manager Dawn Barger filled in Backbeat on the band’s litany of upcoming projects – a summer headlining tour that kicked off at Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena last week, finding a distributor for documentary “Mistaken For Strangers,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, a pair of chamber-music projects for member Bryce Dessner and last but not least, helming an upcoming Grateful Dead tribute for Red Hot’s “Dark Is The Night” series, a follow-up to the all-star 2009 compilation.
Superfly cofounder and head of marketing Rich Goodstone also stopped by to report a happy, healthy year for sponsors – Garnier, Ford, Ben & Jerry’s and MillerCoors all returned, with Ultimate Ears, Blu e-cigarettes, IFC and Mattel’s Apples to Apples among the new partners. The latter sponsored a Crazy Combinations Lounge in the middle of the grounds that allowed fans to mingle with all-star comedians who swung by periodically. “We have a sea of 100,000 people going through their daily lives who want to experience things, and Mattel helped us bring it up another level and create animated GIFs,” Goodstone said. “We want to provide value to brands, help them provide value to our fans and create different experiences.”
September brings Boston’s Life Is Good, entering its fourth year as a branded festival that also helps raise money for children’s charities – $10 million has been raised from the fest’s first three years alone, said co-founder Bert Jacobs. Life Is Good was gearing up to announce the headliners for this year’s festival Monday morning, which will include at least one of the top performers from this year’s Bonnaroo. The team prepared custom shirts for Tom Petty’s headlining set, including co-founders John and Bert Jacobs (the first “My” and the “!”, respectively, in the lineup)