The National talks Bonnaroo, tours

This year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival features a lineup of musicians, comedians and films that takes its eclectic nature to a whole new level.

Everyone from Dave Matthews Band to Stevie Wonder to Conan O'Brien will be gracing the festival's many stages in Manchester, Tenn. June 10 to 13, and many lesser known artists playing this year will have a unique opportunity to grow their fan base.

Just weeks before the festival kicks off, The National, Cincinnati's indie darlings who released the highly-praised album, Boxer, in 2007, are releasing another LP, High Violet.
The band will be playing this year's festival for the second time, having first joined the lineup after Boxer was released.

The Future spoke with Aaron Dessner, guitarist of the band, who dished on his expectations for Bonnaroo, the band's previous festival experiences and what they have in store once the summer festivals come to an end.

Central Florida Future: What are you most looking forward to about your performance at Bonnaroo this year and how do you think it's going to differ from your past performances there?

Aaron Dessner: I actually don't know what stage we're on, but I'm assuming it will be a bigger stage than what we played after Boxer came out. So that should be a thrill to see. It's always crazy when you get up there and there's a sea of people out there.

The audiences at Bonnaroo are really enthusiastic and kind of happy and full of energy. Usually you get a lot of energy back from the crowd and that really drives us and that's a great feeling. I'm hoping we're there the same days as Baaba Maal and Stevie Wonder — they're just legendary people — and Kris Kristofferson, but I don't know. We know Ashley Capps, one of the people involved in Bonnaroo, who created Bonnaroo, so I'll have to get in touch with him and see if he can put us on the same day, although it's probably already predetermined.

C.F.F: What are some of your favorite festival experiences from the past?

Dessner: Like I said, Bonnaroo in 2007 was great for us. It really helped launch Boxer, I think. We did a festival in Denmark called Roskilde that was really amazing. We played there in 2007. That summer really launched Boxer in northern Europe. It really kind of helped us a lot to be able to do that.

There was a massive crowd and they were really good. There's a great small festival in Germany called The Haldern Pop Festival that's great and, I don't know, we had fun at Austin City Limits. I think Bonnaroo is unique because of where it is and it gets people from all over the country, especially from all over the Midwest and the South to come out.

 C.F.F: Do you know what your plans are after you guys get done playing festivals this summer?

Dessner: We're actually playing festivals pretty much all summer, with a few breaks here and there.  And then in the fall, we're going to tour in the U.S. in September and October and get through the Southeast and Florida and up to the Midwest, and then go to Europe in November and December. That's as much as I know right now.

C.F.F: Can you describe to me a little bit about your day at a festival as opposed to your normal touring regiment?

Dessner: Playing at festival, I find it to be easier for us because we're not under the microscope as much. Oddly, the bigger the crowd gets the more you don't feel like people are staring right at you, kind of thing. So I would say that our music might be better suited to being in a theater — to being in the dark — but we have a lot of fun at festivals.